Saturday, October 31, 2009

The Fall Phenomenon

The past 2 weeks have been packed with Airborne and pumpkin spice lattes. Both are tell tale signs that autumn has arrived. Jonathan introduced our household to the swine flu which came and went pretty uneventfully compared to the hype in the news. I went to Ga. again to play at CC McDonough and say hello to my little brother who was in town on a business trip. I came back in time to pack our bags and move to a hotel so the hazmat team could tear our kitchen apart. After a week in a hotel doing school in the lobby and P.E at the pool, we are back at home with an almost completed kitchen remodel, piles of construction dust, and mountains of dirty laundry. Tomorrow Manny is heading to Ga. for 10 days with Little Manny to speak in Gwinnett county schools. Jonathan and I will stay here to tackle the dusting and laundry. In the Collazo household we measure how busy we are by loads dirty of laundry. I'm on the 3rd load and maybe halfway done...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Good, The Bad, and the Moldy

The Bad: We have to move out of our house for a week because the owner has to tear up the kitchen to repair a leak.

The Moldy: Our kitchen because of a slow leak which has permeated the wall under the sink and the sub flooring.

The Good: We get to stay in a nice hotel and pretend we're on vacation AND we get a new kitchen before Thanksgiving at no expense to us!

Friday, September 25, 2009

I Vote For a Monthly "Wear Jammies All Day" Holiday...Or On Any Rainy Day- Who's With Me!?

7:00am REE!REE!REE! Wake up to alarm, hit snooze.
7:09am REE!REE!REE! Hit snooze.
7:18am REE!REE!REE! Hit snooze.
7:27am REE!REE!REE! Fine! I'll get up!

I roll out of bed, put my socks, shoes, and sports bra on. I would like to kiss whoever invented comfy pants and t-shirt giveaways- so versatile- but I should brush my teeth first. Hair? Ponytail, bobby pin the bangs, and I'm ready for the day!

"Time to wake up, Johnny. Put your shoes on."

(Groggily)"Why? Where are we going?"

"Don't worry about it, just do what I said." (I've learned not to bother with trying to explain myself to an 11 year old incoherent boy.)

Car Keys? Check. Wallet? Check. Favorite over-sized towel with the hole in the corner? Check.

"Let's go, Johnny."

"Where are we going?"

"Just get in the car."

8:00am We stop at Dunkin' Donuts for carbs and caffeine and head to Yorktown Beach. His science lesson for today is on "Tides". Since Johnny is a tactile and visual learner, I figure the beach is the best place for this class.

While Jonathan digs holes in the sand and stabs dead jellyfish, I talk through the lesson with him. Visuals are plentiful. Who knew shells could stand in for the earth, moon, and sun?

"...gravitational pull creates high tides...blahblahblahblahblahblah..."

"LOOK! AT THE PIER! I THINK THAT GUY JUST CAUGHT A FISH!" (Oh, the attention span of an 11 yea....)

"You're right! Excuse me, sir, what kind of fish is that?"

Fisherman #1: "Eetsuh Spaht--you kin tale bah the spaht jus abuv the geel. They bin bitin' all mornin'. Mus' be the blud werms Ahm usin' fer bayt " (This is how I write a Louisiana or possibly Mississippi accent.)


So, the lesson on tides didn't work out as I planned but Johnny met another fisherman who had an extra pole and took it upon himself to teach Jonathan the secrets of fishin' the briny. Apparently in the Fisherman's Code of Ethics it is standard for the seasoned veterans to show the amateurs the ropes because every fisherman we saw was ready to give advice on places to cast, what bait to use, even where sunken ships are. He did learn that at high tide bigger fish come closer to the shore to feed so not all was lost.


In answer to why that title? We got home at 10:30am and I stayed in my jammies all day! I think there will be comfy pants in Heaven. For sure.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Conjoined Bananas

The boys really wanted to post this on the blog...

Conjoined Bananas from Denise Collazo on Vimeo.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

T-Wolves...

Jonathan's team this year is the Tidewater Wolves. So far, they are undefeated. In fact, I don't think anyone has scored a touchdown on them... Here is Jonathan making a tackle. He's #4.

Johnny's Tackle from Denise Collazo on Vimeo.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Stalactites and Stalagmites

We went on a family "fieldtrip" to Luray Caverns. They are the largest caves in VA. It was AMAZING to see the spectacular mineral formations hidden underground. You'd never suspect that driving through the sleepy town of Luray such magnificence is lurking just beneath the surface of the mountain.


Some curious geniuses discovered that each stalactite (those mineral icicle thingees on the ceiling) produces it's own unique tone when struck with a mallet. They then decided to construct an organ out of them. Here's the video where you can hear the song playing... Those are ROCKS! SINGING! Gives new meaning to "even the rocks will cry out."

Untitled from Denise Collazo on Vimeo.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Proud Mama

Manny is filling in playing bass on the worship team for a month. He's doing great. The audio doesn't do the song justice because of the microphone on my camera...

Manny Playing on Worship Team from Denise Collazo on Vimeo.