One Meatball!

Casey and I went to Merced for a visit this past weekend- we had so much fun- more pictures and comments on our trip to follow....but for now, One Meatball.

Mom, Grandma, Koss and I went to watch Lily's (my niece) tap and dance recital for Denisa's School of Dance. My sister and I had a blast reliving our very own Denisa days (she looks exactly the same as she did 15 years ago) when we used to twirl, tap, and tendu across the same stage every June (I did ballet, tap and baton- my sister stuck with baton only.) Twirlers Unlimited! We laughed about our big bangs, Hot Sticks, and how we could never see our batons in the bright lights- we just kind of stuck our hands out and hoped we'd catch them. Now we were in the audience, holding babies (Koss with Miley, me with Addie). It seemed as though nothing had changed, except the costumes were cuter (ours were heavily 80's/90's influenced) and no one was wearing shimmer tights (what's with that? I thought that was a staple?)!!

Out comes Miss Lily- first in her ballet routine with a tambourine. Super cute.

A few more groups, then Lily again for tap. Out she comes in her yellow tutu with a chef hat on her head and a wire whisk in her hand. She starts tap-tap-tapping to a silly song about a meatball. (I've found the song- Van Ronk Dave's "One Meatball.") Precious. Then they get to a part of the song where they take their whisks and fling them back and forth, back and forth. The little girl next to Lily is getting way into it. She starts whisking in front of Lily's face, at which time, my sweet little niece takes a step back and gives her the six-year-old "oh no you didn't" look that my sister and I know so well.

Oh yeah, she's definitely our niece.

Unfortunately the theater wouldn't allow us to take any pictures, so when we get the professional ones, I'll be sure to post a copy of our favorite little meatball.

Way to go, Lily!

Today's Grammar Lesson

Being a Barnes brings all sorts of new challenges, like how do I handle the plural/possessive form of "Barnes?" Barnes'? Barnes's? Barneses? Barneseseses? Here is what I've learned:

1. More than one Barnes are "Barneses." (Keeping up with the Barneses.)
2. Anything belonging to one Barnes is "Barnes's." (Casey Barnes's wife.)
3. Anything belonging to more than one Barnes is "Barneses'." (We ate at the Barneses' house.)

Looks weird, but it's correct. http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/062501.htm
This concludes today's lesson. Hehe.

Love,

The Barneses

June 2008 San Diego Trip

We headed down to So Cal for Casey's Landscape Architecture Registration Exam. Two days of laying by the pool while my husband racked his brain and blurted out everything he ever learned about Grading and Drainage. We stayed at the BEAUTIFUL Mission Inn in Riverside and had a wonderful time. Wahoo! I'm so proud of him :o)

After the grueling test, we headed down to SD for a little R & R with the fam, to celebrate Buzz's retirement and Father's Day. It was quite an adventure. Don't eat Greek food. Ever.

Unfortunately, Casey's dad suffered a retinal detachment before we got there, but by this modern medical marvel, and keeping his head at "9 o' clock," he's sure to be seeing clearer than ever.




Happy Retirement, Big Daddy!!!

The rest of our trip was awesome. A little sun and lots of fun- Casey drank about 3 gallons of salt water and got his fix for the time being. Hang Ten.
Check out the rad pics of our vacay here!

Sorry!

We are creative right-brainers who are great at coming up with ideas but sorry on the follow-through. We now have a new camera so we'll be posting more and more! For now, check out the 1/2 Marathon that I'm training for in Disneyland, August 31 (ouch!)

http://disneyworldsports.disney.go.com/dwws/en_US/westcoast/events/detail?name=DisneylandHalfMarathon2008EventInfoDetailPage