BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PINF!!

CELEBRATE IN GRAND STYLE!

Heading South for Turkey

We are furiously packing here in the treehouse. We leave on Monday for Melbourne Bch to spend Thanksgiving with ak's mom. Then, on the 25th, the three of us head to Miami and get on the Crystal Serenity for a cruise to the Caribbean. About 10 of Ak's mom's croney crowd is going as well, and as usual, we'll be the youngest by three decades. We have been looking forward to this for nine months - no cleaning or cooking for 10 days! The ship will be stopping at: Grand Turk, Anguilla, Tortola, St. Barts and St. Thomas.

Pinf-I am all set for my JGlow mist tan inFL, and I have 4 kinds of sunscreen at the ready.
I am trying to get ak to take a dancing class they offer on board ... so far it's a no go, but I am not giving up. I may try snorkeling or scuba, but considering that the excursion is called "Stingray Encounter", I think I will pass. I fear the stingrays and believe that they are rising up against humans.

Okay, break time is over. Back to laundry and outfit decisions. Don't even get me started on the product restrcitions on the plane!

Finally ... a BIG WELCOME for Sophie's World - the newest blog from our youngest posse member!! Chuck, did you send the Fresca?

I'll holla next from down south ....

DANISH TREAT

We received an excellent phone call on Monday - Ak's niece Rikke (Rick-ah) called to tell us that she was #1. in the states, and #2. in DC. She is currently working on her thesis - establishing legitimate businesses in 3rd world countries so they can stop exporting opium, guns, etc. Rikke spent most of last year in Laos working for the UN inspecting boats for the above mentioned items, and also teaching independent villages how to sell/market their handmade goods. She has been conducting interviews with various experts and former teachers in DC and NY, and is hoping to finish her thesis by Christmas.

Arrangements were made, and Rikke took the train from DC to Wilmington on Thursday afternoon. It was so good to see her! We saw her last in Denmark in July '05. It was great to catch up, enjoy a good meal together and a few bottles of bubbly :) Today was spent on tech support for her laptop, picture viewing/taking, and eating. Her laptop has been on the fritz the last few months, so ak gave it the TLC Deluxe- updated her Windows (72 updates), imported her old Outlook files, hooked her up with a wireless card, a new smaller brick, and topped it off with a complete clean. That's what uncles are for!

We dropped her back off in Wilmington at 5pm today, so she should be already in NYC at this time. It would have been nice to have more time to play, but this trip was about her gathering information to complete her work. After she turns in her paper, she is taking 9 weeks and going on a super trip: Burma, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Laos again. After that, who knows....

So, we are all smiles in the treehouse tonight. Oh-we found a great new restaurant in Glenn Mills called the Big Fork. It is off of 202, across from the Glenn Eagle shopping center. Just to tempt you to go, my appetizer was a puff pastry stuffed with beef short ribs-holy magnolia!


Jojo & Rikke

Bar Standoff In Aston

Total craziness today in Aston, especially since my two cousins, Alexis (12) and Andrew (17), were caught up in this, and were "locked down" in their two schools until 6pm. I talked with Alexis after she got home, and she said that the "lock down" = classroom doors automatically lock from the outside so no one can get in, the blinds are drawn, and the kids and teachers all go to the back of the room so that if a crazed gunperson looks in the classroom window, he/she will not see any students.

According to the 4pm news, all parents had been notified via phone and email, and were asked NOT to come and get their kids. This was total BS!!! I talked to their mom (my 1st cousin Maria) many times today, and not once did she receive a phone call to the situation from either school. The only reason she knew what was going on is because her husband is a fireman in Aston, and he got the news over his pager at 1pm today. Both kids were able to use their cell phones to call Maria and let her know they were okay. JGlow might be placing some calls tomorrow.

This upset me greatly - I was so worried that someting would happen to my precious cousins before they even grew up; I love them so much. How dare! I recall the biggest worry I had in highschool was if my bloomers were on straight under my cheerleading skirt. It really sucks to be a kid these days.

Here is the report form the NBC 10 site:

A gunman has surrendered after a standoff at an Aston, Pa., bar near two schools. Nearly 2,000 students were stuck at school during the afternoon.
The gunman surrendered peacefully at 6:30 p.m. after a standoff that lasted 4 1/2 hours. He had been talking with police for several hours.
Gunshots were reported inside a bar just before 2 p.m. The bar, Harrykat's Pub & Grille, was then surrounded by police.
Northly Junior High School and Sun Valley High School were under a lockdown. The schools have 1,800 combined students and they were evacuated safely.
A source told NBC 10 that a bar patron was in the bar and was refused service by a bartender. The man then pulled out a gun and shot several times in the air.

Per Maria, the bar patron recently lost his business that was right next door to the bar, as well as his home. However, this is NO excuse to put my cousins in danger.

JGlow out.