Hats off to a great evening!

"The hat is the ultimatum moriens of respectability." (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Ollie might have changed his mind if he had been at the AOK party at Ft. Leavenworth tonight. "AOK" stands for "Aussie," "Orange," and "Kiwi," and indeed the Australian, Dutch, and New Zealand officers were our hosts for the evening. As the invitation said, "No hat, no entry. No mug, no beer." No worry--there were hats and mugs a-plenty, but we checked our respectability at the door!

Fred opted to wear his German Volksmarch hat:



I don't get many excuses to wear my Derby hat, so I had no difficulty deciding what to wear:



All other photos are here (you can click on any photo to see it larger in a new tab):

Mike: Gettin' strong!

Mike is continuing this semester with his recently discovered passion for power-lifting. Today he maxed out his squat at 425 pounds!

Annabelle: Party on, dude!

Hooray! Annabelle is on the road to recovery and was able to go to her friend Joe's birthday party tonight:



Two thumbs up for that!

Mike: Roadtrip!

I've living vicariously through Mike right now. While we spent this weekend with temps in the 20s, he and Sarah enjoyed an obviously balmy roadtrip, first to Universal Studios in Orlando:





And then to the beach:



What? Me? JEALOUS???

Annabelle: Get well soon!

Annabelle has had an icky few days. She told me before she left for school on Tuesday that she thought she was coming down with something. Sure enough, well before noon she was texting me to pick her up! She missed the rest of Tuesday and all of yesterday and today. She did manage to drag herself in for play practice yesterday afternoon but not today. Her drama friends made her a get-well card, which made her smile:



Back to school tomorrow (I hope)!

Annabelle and Harvey

Lookit Mike on the teevee!

ESPN's College GameDay was in Tallahassee this morning ahead of the FSU-UNC basketball game. Mike called to ask me to record the show so that he can look for himself when he's home for spring break. Fred and I watched for a bit, and when we saw the camera pan the area where Mike said he was sitting, I hit pause and grabbed my camera:



I don't follow basketball and didn't watch the game, but apparently FSU's victory was quite the big deal. The crowd (including Mike) streamed onto the court after the game:

Band on the run

Annabelle left at the crack of dawn the day after Christmas to join 50-something other members of her high-school band on a marvelous odyssey to Florida. Three theme parks, one parade, and performing in the half-time show at the Champs Bowl (go, 'Noles!), all sandwiched between 2 24-hour bus rides. She had a fabulous time and arrived home Saturday night utterly exhausted.

On Thursday, Fred and Mike and I put on our best FSU finery and went up to the man cave to watch the game on TV:



It's the first time I can remember caring one way or the other about the outcome of a football game. Of course, what I REALLY cared about seeing was the half-time show, but naturally ESPN couldn't be bothered to show that, instead choosing to focus on some bitter old man talking smack about FSU. I've been waiting none too patiently since then for a video clip to come online, and it finally happened today.

If you look at the back of the short line on the left-hand 41-yard-line, you can see the speck that is Annabelle:



The kids were kept busy almost every moment they were in Florida, but Jenny and Jeff managed to surprise Annabelle at supper Friday night before the second 24-hour bus ride:



Annabelle was too tired to stay awake to ring in the new year once she got home, but it was well worth it. She had a blast and made a lifetime of memories!