Tyler in Motion

So - Tyler now has a driver's license. He did the driving test - only missed 6 points and we chanced by the DMV - it was open so we finished the task. Now we only need to get his insurance so that he can start driving. Yikes!

I bought the things that mom asked for in her email. Hopefully you can hook me up with someone who can get it to you.

Tyler update

Dear Grummy and Grandfather,
I'm sorry I haven't written in a while. i haven't really had a lot of time. I've been spending most of my days out lounging with friends, watching movies and such. I hope you have both been having a good time in Indonesia. We're all fine here, and all having a good (and very warm) summer.
We had a great fourth of July yesterday. We got up early and went up to Snowbird for a big buffet style breakfast. Then I went swimming for most of the day, and then at 8 we met some friends for a picnic and a fireworks show. It was a great time.
I still haven't gotten my driver's license yet. I finally finished driver's ed, and I was going to take both my tests on Monday, but the people I'm taking the test through are taking the week off for the fourth. The whole week!
There's not really much else to talk about that's going on around here, so I'll just end by saying that I hope that you guys are having a good time on your mission!
Love, Tyler

From Krista

Hello Brother and Sister Pier,

How are you, I am having so much fun this summer. I hope that everything is going fine with you. Did you have a fun Fourth of July? We had breakfast at Snowbird, and it was very good food, and we are going to have a picknick with some of our friends from church and we are going to watch fireworks while we are eating. On Thursday we rescued a Quail from the basment when Tyler accidentally let a baby quail into the basement. Tyler was taking the suitcases into the basement when he saw a trio of Quail (A mom a dad and a baby) in the little pocket next to hte basement. When he came into the pocket to put the suitcases into the basement the mom and dad Quail flew away and the baby went into the corner and as soon as he opened the door the baby darted into the basement and hid. We couldn't get the baby out of the basement no matter what we tried until we recruited our dad to help and then he was able to get the baby out of the basement.
Have Fun,
Krista

Not tonight, Mom and Dad

Hey! Tonight we are hosting the Fast Sunday nieghborhood dinner, so we won't be around to get on Skype. I just wanted you to know. But I added tons on info and pictures to this blog, so that should help. I still have lots to tell - including about rescuing a baby quail from our basement. Monday I am taking Tyler around to hopefully become a licensed driver! Wish him luck!!

Author, authors, books

Saturday was devoted to the ALA convention. We left too early and had to stand around while they did the whole ribbon-cutting ceremony thing. Then the crowd decended en masse on the vendors and their booths. I walked a fine line all day between ushering the kids around to meet authors, buy books and getting autographs, plus making sure I stopped places and I needed to go and talkto people that I wanted to say "hi" to.

The kids were in hog heaven, meeting authors, or course. But, when we went to the Penguin booth, my contact there, Lucy Del Priore, dragged the kids off and loaded them down the review copies of books. They thought that was fantastic. ALso, when we stopped by the Simon and Schuster booth, Kimberly Lauber invited us to their dessert reception the nexy day.

Mike was his sparkling self, charming women everywhere. We actually went by one booth that he was interested - digital books on handy individual players by Playaway. Dad - do you listen to books on tape? This might be the besy way for us to send Harry #7 to you. They are about $60, though. We even ran into our friend Steve Young (not the football player) and we will meet him for dinner some night.

So, we spent all of the day Saturday and most of Sunday at the exhibit hall. Sunday was when the Lubar/Green encounter took place. For dinner we went over to Georgetown. It is the way I wish modern malls would look. All the shops that you find in the mall, but all in restored old buildings. We went by the oldest (pre-revolutionary) house in the area. They have restored the garden and let us peek into the rooms. The builder wasn't particularly an interesting historical figure, but the history is still cool. I like National Park Service rangers. They really know their stuff. That night was the dessert reception. We saw John Green there - he said he was crashing the party. We also had a great talk with Neal Shusterman and Bruce Coville.

Monday, Krista and Tyler went to the exhibit hall while Kime and I went to a session about the 65% solution and advocacy. I asked Mike to go, becuase his mind is much more political than mine and he is great for bouncing this kind of discussion off of. After we met up with the kids, Tyler and Mike took off after T got the signatures he wanted. They went to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. Unfortunately, the American History museum was closed. That night we met up with Steve and had dinner somewhere up by his hotel.

Memorial memories

Friday we devoted our time to the memorials around the Mall. Before we did anything, we made an all important stop at the closest 7-11 that we could find, so that we could have a=the all important refreshment. Slurpee for Mike and soda for the rest of us. I think we saw them all - Vietnam, Lincoln, Korea. We even walked all the way around the Tidal Basin and went to Jefferson, so that he wouldn't feel lonely. Afterwards we kept our appointment at the Holocaust museum. The kids were dreading the idea of the experience, after having seen so much when we went to Europe. Afterwards, they said it went better than they expected. The exhibits are extremely well done. We also went to the special exhibits. On eon children in the Lodz ghetto and a cool setting of a fictious young man and what he might have gone through. In the gift shop I saw Ruth Sender. She is a Holocaust survivor and wrote a book called "The Cage", which is about her childhood in the Lodz ghetto. I've had it in my library for years.

For dinner we went to Chinatown and ate at Fuddrucker's of all places!

DC tours and fun

SO, I know you are dying to hear more about our trip to Washington DC. I finally have my laptop connecting to the home network, so I can work on this and still admire Mike and Tyler's Jedi skills as they play the PS2. Family connectivity.

The first place we went to Thursday morning was the White House. They were very strict, so we didn't take a camera with us. So, no pictures. After seeing it, I don't understand the problem, because it was spectacularly gaudy and boring. The only mild entertainment was that we got to see the backs of all o f the people waiting to say bye-bye to Georgie as he embarked on a helicopter ride. And a slight glimpse as he waved to his fans and left. Afterwards Mike and I were wondering why on thhe heck we cared. I mean really, this is George W. Oh well, its the idea of it that counts, I guess.

Later in the day, after luncheon, we headed over to the Capitol, for our tour there. Because of security, you tour must be led by a member of Congress' staff. I think idea is that you go thru your own congressman. But, for various reasons, we went with a gentleman from Washington state. We even sat in on some debate in the House. Rob Bishop was in sight, not Cannon or Matheson. The best part was the 'subway' ride on the mini trolley back to the reps' offices.


Lastly for the night, we went over to the convention center and picked up our registration materials. Next year it is in Anaheim, so they had propaganda available and this lovely photo op.