Sunday in B-town

The Sunday before finals, Danny and I drove to Bloomington and picked up Emily (actually we drove around for 10 minutes as she wasn't QUITE ready and Danny was happy because he got to visit the McDonalds in town for breakfast) and then picked up Grant, who WAS ready (almost) and then we all went to church - Sherman Oaks Christian Church. The worship service was a lot like the one we attend at Grace and Emily led us to almost the exact same spot in the auditorium that we sit at Grace :)

After church, we went back to Chi-O for brunch (bacon, scrambled eggs (I think?), poached eggs, hash brown casserole, biscuits, fruit, bagels and juice. We ate and visited for a while and then started carrying out most of Emily's stuff - how it all fits in the shared room is a mystery!

Piezer!

The weekend before last, Heather came to town to visit. I picked her up from the airport after work on Friday and we met Durena and Brian J for dinner at El Rodeo. We spent an enjoyable couple of hours catching up with everyone and then came back home and talked some more. We all slept in and in the morning we had coffee and breakfast. Danny went to the BMV and to get Cali for the week. Heather and I walked around the neighborhood and out to the high school. We took Lady for a long walk and then Cali took us for a short one. Danny cut the grass and we got cleaned up and Heather and I headed out for a pedicure - what a treat! We made our way over to Clay Terrace and met Shelley, Heather's sister for lunch at Kona Grill. I forgot my glasses and they took turns reading the menu to me. . . . we ate and visited for a while and after lunch we moved Heather's suitcase into Shelley's car. They stayed to shop and explore and I left for home. It was great to see Heather and while I miss having her here, she is very happy in North Carolina!

USS Gunston-Hall

Sarah finally got her summer assignment - she'll be serving on the USS Gunston-Hall, out of Virginia from June 13 - June 29th. Finals are over next Monday and then she can make plans for when she can be home for a while before she ships out! Anchors Aweigh!

Farewell to Leanne Serrano Paulsen

Last Thursday I attended the Funeral Mass for Sharon's sister Leanne with some friends from FJH. When we saw Sharon at the visitation, she was strong and brave and told us she was glad to see her friends' faces. My heart breaks for her and the rest of the family.

Leanne Serrano Paulsen was born November 17, 1967 in Birmingham, AL to Raoul (Ralph) L. and Suzanne Gant Serrano. She was a 1985 graduate of Carmel High School, where she was homecoming queen, and a 1989 graduate of Indiana University where she was an honor student, a member of Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority and a member and captain of the Red Stepper Dance Team. Leanne was active in the Indianapolis Civic Theatre and the American Cabaret Theatre. She was a member of the Broadway Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar and South Pacific. She was a regular cast member of The Yuletide Celebration in Indianapolis and the New York City Rockette's Christmas Special. A funeral mass will be held Thursday, April 26 at Noon at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church, of which she was a member. Friends and family may call at the church from 10 a.m. until the time of the service. Burial will be in Oaklawn Memorial Gardens. Leanne is survived by her son, Christopher Raoul Paulsen; mother and step-father, Suzanne and Stephen Otis; sisters, Gerri (Mark) Shaffer, Katy Serrano and Sharon (Erick) Deam; three nephews and four nieces. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Christopher Paulsen Trust, in care of any Fifth Third Bank location.

Tigers Volley!

It's been loads of fun watching the new FHS club volleyball team get started. The boys have held their own most of the time and have won a couple of games (matches? sets?). Andrew T is also playing and I have enjoyed catching up with Beth during the games. There are a fair number of fans cheering as well.

Settling in. . . .

The process of moving went very well, even though most of our friends were away on spring break - good timing :) I was grateful that Emily came home both weekends and that Tommy M was available every day to help. Danny and Tommy christened the hot tub the first weekend and convinced Emily to spend the night on Friday so that they could set up the fire pit and continue to enjoy the hot tub. She relented and when they tried to convince her again on Sunday night, she told them "not without my bed". They left in Tommy's jeep and returned shortly afterward with her bed strapped in! The movers came Monday morning and the rest of the day and night was spent getting it all over here and cleaning the old house. Monday night we fell onto mattresses and Tuesday began the process of settling in. I was glad to have the week of spring break to work on unpacking.

Moving Day!

Well, the buyers for my house were able to sell theirs and remove the contingency offer on mine, and I bought another one - finally! Danny and I were wondering what to do for spring break and now we know! Emily is coming home for IU's spring break next week and is going to light a fire under us to get packed up. We get possession of the new house on 3-29 and will begin moving stuff over that night! Today I met with the inspector (the house is 3 years old and in good shape), got a fence estimate and discussed improvements with a contractor. It was a busy place for a couple of hours and we got a lot done. Danny and I are discussing "rules" for the hot tub. . . to be continued :)

By the time we move from this house, we will have lived here for 10 years - it will be sad to leave here, lots of great memories - treehouse construction, bonfires, camping, night hikes, trail building, driveway art, tree climbing, tree planting :), etc.. . . . .

Fire at St. Anthony's

Adrianne reports that no-one was injured in an overnight fire at the school she teaches in, St. Anthony's in Kailua.

The damage is still being assessed, but it sounds like the art room and supplies were the hardest hit

"I went to the Art Room for the first time after school today, and it's nearly impossible to describe. All of the lighting either exploded and dropped from the ceiling, or melted down from the ceiling onto the tables and chairs below, melting those in the process. There are many "blessings" though and clearly much to be thankful for -- first, that no one was hurt, and second, that the entire school didn't burn down.

Our school is undergoing a church/school renovation called Project Makawao, and luckily this past summer, all the rooms were rewired and a new fire alarm system was installed. Had these two changes not happened when they did, the damage would have been catastrophic to the entire school and parish campus. Also, some materials miraculously survived. The worst items that were destroyed by the fire were our middle school students' artwork portfolios. That is what Mrs. Chang (art teacher) is most sad about, as well as her three college-student children who each had all of their college textbooks in their mom's classroom.

Mrs. Chang has taught at St. Anthony for years, and had accumulated materials and props for every production our school does, and these were also all burned. Someone mistakingly said to her this morning (at 2 am) "well, at least it wasn't your home," and she told us she said "no, it was my home." According to the chief firefighter, had the fire burned for 4 more minutes, the building would have exploded, and likely caused the next part of the school to burn as well as neighbors' houses.

The situation now is that nothing can be touched, removed, or cleaned in the art room until two things happen -- the Insurance Clearance is given, and the danger is assessed. There is lots of broken glass, and all the plastic that burnt cannot be touched to people's skin because of the chemicals it gives off. This has closed down all of our Music classes, Art classes, after-school program, and kindergarten playground.

I felt the blessing of teaching in a small, caring school community today. Our priest, Father Dennis, said a prayer this morning at assembly, someone had brought Mrs. Chang a sympathy lei, and parents/parishioners stopped by all day to offer help. Since nothing tangible can be done yet, it was nice to be in a place where we could pray out loud for what had happened (which was also very important when Lt. Col. McCloud died) and be surrounded by the "ohana" feeling. "

Wedding Video Highlight Segment posted

Posted on the wedding site - get there by clicking here (scroll down to Adrianne and Elliott :)

Chi-Omega Mom's Weekend

On Friday, right after Danny left for the retreat, I headed down to Bloomington for Chi-Omega's Mom's weekend. Although the traffic was heavy heading south on a Friday evening, the ice shining in the trees was beautiful! I got to the house about 6:00 and visited with Emily and Erin (Lenny) until we left for dinner.

Emily's pledge class made arrangements to have dinner at the Colorado Steakhouse and we sat at a table with Cara and her mom (from Carmel), and Erin and her mom and sister (from Little Rock Arkansas). It is always good to be with Emily and her friends and it was good to catch up with some of the other moms as well.

After dinner we drove back to the house for Emily to pick up a few things and headed back to Fishers. We got home about 11 and went to bed soon after. Lady was so excited that Emily was home :)

Saturday morning Heidi and I walked for a couple of hours in the snow - slow going! We got another 4" of snow by the time it tapered off. Emily slept in and finally got up about 11. At 1:15, Laurie picked us up, we stopped by to pick up Debbie and then looked at 11 houses for sale. At the 10th one, the driveway and sidewalk had not been touched since before the first snow and there were drifts a few feet high. Emily volunteered to wade through and look in the windows - the snow was more than half way up her body! After she made footprints that we could all step into, we followed her to the door. It's funny, because this is the one house that I think we will make an offer on :)

After Laurie dropped us off at home, Emily, Debbie and I discussed all the houses, had coffee and a fresh loaf of bread and visited for a while. I drove Debbie home and stopped by Blockbuster to rent "Little Miss Sunshine" and then by Kroger to pick up a cake mix - Emily had been talking about chocolate cake since the day before. I bought a mix by Betty Crocker called "Triple Chocolate Hot Fudge Cake" and made it when I got home. We really liked the movie and Emily was in chocolate heaven when I set the whole cake pan in front of her :)

On Sunday morning we got up and left the house about 9:15. The plan was to attend the 11:00 service at the church that Emily and Grant attend - Sherwood Oaks Christian Church. While we were on 465 a light started flashing on the dashboard and at County Line Road we pulled off to a Shell station to investigate. Turns out the light is related to the transmission and it was a good thing we were in a parking lot as the car would go no further. Hmmm, what to do? We called AAA and the recorded greeting mentioned long delays. I finally talked to a dispatcher and arranged for a tow, but they could not give ANY estimate of how long it might take - not even if it would be the same day. Because of the long delays, they were authorizing private service, but you had to find a private contractor, pay them, and then arrange for remibursement. I left my info with AAA and we pondered what to do next - then we remembered that we had the rest of the chocolate cake - we found a plastic spoon and fork and we both dug in! We laughed at the situation for quite a while.

Emily called Erin to see what her schedule was and she said she would be happy to come and get both of us and drive me back to Fishers. I started the car to warm us up and slipped it into gear - it would go for a few feet but then just stop. I called a towing company - HIX - and arranged for them to tow my car. At first they said it would be a couple of hours and that was fine (we had the cake!). Erin headed up 37 but the tow truck showed up in about 10 minutes. I was able to ride back to Fishers with the driver but Lenny wasn't there yet. Emily gathered up her stuff and we walked over to the gas station. A clerk named Linda was working and we explained the situation and Emily waited inside with her - I looked out and my car was loaded onto the truck so I left with the driver. Emily and I both made new friends - the tow truck driver races stock cars on the weekends at the Speedrome and Linda and Emily are BFF! We dropped my car at Don Hinds and he was kind enough to take me a little further on down the road and dropped me at home.


Not quite the typical Mom's Weekend! I'm grateful that we both made it home safely and fingers crossed that I don't need a brand new transmission. . . .

Senior High Winter Retreat

Danny and Tommy left yesterday for the Senior High Winter Retreat through Grace Community Church. They are traveling by bus to the Laurelville Mennonite Church Center in Mt. Pleasant, PA . The speaker for the weekend is Chris Jarvis and they are both signed up for skiing on Sunday at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennslyvania. Looks like the weather there is great for skiing! Debbie took the boys for their annual candy run to Target before dropping them off at church - they'll be home Monday evening.

"Lifelogging"

"In the grocery store, clerks asked me if I was doing some kind of crazy university study. Sort of, I replied. "You're recording your life all the time?" people said. "Why would anyone want to do that?"

I thought it was challenging trying to keep my pictures and videos organized - just imagine if your whole life was digitally captured - here's an article on one author's experience with "lifelogging"

Click here to read his article

Mr. Shafer and family in Costa Rica

Sarah's third grade teacher, Mr. Shafer teaches now at Forest Glen Elementary in Lawrence Township. His children go to Sand Creek Elementary, where I saw Victoria right before Christmas. She told me that Dave received a grant that allows their family to live and teach in Costa Rica for this semester and she was excited about the opportunity for their family to share in this together.

Mr. Shafer's classroom was incredible - Sarah loved the hissing cockroaches and the space mission - I volunteered throughout that year (with Danny in tow) and I remember helping put together the "bat unit". It's interesting now to read about the bat unit in Costa Rica.

Mr. Shafer's blog can be found here:

http://dshafer5.blogspot.com/

Snow measures 10+ inches in Fishers!

It's been a crazy week of weather - it started snowing late Monday night and by the time it stopped on Wednesday, we had over 10 inches of snow! School was cancelled for Tuesday and Wednesday and we had a two hour delay this morning. Our neighbor Lee kept the driveways in the neighborhood passable, Danny shoveled a path for Lady many times and also kept the front sidewalk clear. Yesterday afternoon the sun came out and Danny and I dug out the top of the driveway so that we could get the cars out - thankfully they were both in the garage while the snow was falling.

Lady Hikers in the Snow!

Today we hiked at Fort Benjamin Harrison after a 3-4" snowfall early this morning.

The park was beautiful - the line at the admission gate was long,

and the destination for most people was the new sledding hill.

We only saw a couple of other people as walked the Fall Creek Trail,

the Camp Creek Trail and the Lawrence Creek Trail for a total of about 5 miles.

The woods were quiet and blanketed with snow, in places covering a thick layer of ice (ask Durena).

We were fortunate to see a red-tailed hawk as well as several snowmen.

We went for coffee afterwards and discussed our summer plans.

Posing with (as) the snowman

Red-Tailed Hawk

Road Trip

Danny and I drove down to Bloomington today to visit Emily - I enjoyed the time spent in the car talking and listening to Danny - even when he stopped "speaking" to me in protest of not stopping for a McDonalds snack wrap - he would only gesture and hum - wonderful impression of a broken heart - good stuff. . .

We picked up Emily and Grant and went to Fazolis for lunch and spent an hour or so catching up - then we went to Barnes and Noble - one of my favorite things to do, although Danny couldn't get out of there fast enough :). Emily got a planner and Danny got a Sudoku puzzle-a-day calendar and I got a present for Adrianne's birthday, which is coming up soon!

We got back to Chi-O and Emily gave us a tour of the new additions - awesome (empty) recreation room downstairs - her room is now on the new 3rd floor - we saw and visited with Lenny for a while - lots of girls were still setting up their rooms, after finishing with Rush last week. We spent some time in the informal and took pictures (of course).

Back to. . . . .

Adrianne and Elliott back to Hawaii

Emily back to Bloomington

Sarah back to Auburn

Danny back to FHS

Me back to work

sigh

On-line links to video and pictures

photographer's collage

photographer's blog

videographer's blog

Videos - click here - they take a while to load the first time!

Indy Star article - when she was home at Thanksgiving, Sarah read an article in the paper about the growth in Fishers and responded to "send us your small town stories". The Star contacted Sarah the day before the wedding and informed her that they would be sending a photographer!

Fishers Star photo gallery

Naval Academy Alumni News picks up story!

Indianapolis Star article on ceremonies at the Indiana Statehouse

More pictures soon!

This shot was captured by Debbie as the happy couple made their way back down the aisle. In Kyle's best man speech he referred to the smile on Elliott's face after the ceremony and I think this is what he saw!

More pictures soon - we had the hardest working photographers with us all day and I can't wait to see the shots. Erin surprised the couple with 8 shots already printed at the reception and they were amazing!!

Aloha!

Newest addition to the family - Elliott! We are all so excited to have a new AX as he was described in the girls' speech at the reception. It was awesome to have Adrianne and Elliott home for almost two weeks - lots of family time. . . .

IU Dance Marathon

November 3, 2006

IUDM

Operations Committee

RUMBLE!

Hawaii Earthquake 'Felt Like a Jackhammer'
Hawaiians Jolted Out of Bed Say Earthquake Was the Biggest They Recall
Oct. 15, 2006 — - Longtime residents of Hawaii say the earthquake that jolted them out of bed just after 7 a.m. local time was perhaps the biggest they've ever felt.
"It's a Sunday morning, so many of us were in bed, and it literally shook us out of the bed," Maggie Wunsch of Honolulu told ABC News Radio.
"It went on for about a minute; it kept going and going and going and going," said Terry, a dispatcher at Volcanoes National Park on the "big island" of Hawaii. "It was rolling and rolling. But it was the duration that was so dynamic about this earthquake. It just didn't seem to stop."
Melanie, who works at the Bamboo Orchid Cottage in Volcano, Hawaii, said the quake sounded like "a semi truck coming right through your house."
"Came downstairs to make some coffee," she said. "And all of a sudden, it felt like a jackhammer goin' through the house. And everything started swaying."
The quake, which had preliminary readings between 6.3 and 6.6 magnitude, was believed centered just off the Kona coast on the west side of the big island, and struck as heavy rain fell in parts of the state. It was followed by numerous aftershocks.

FHS Homecoming

Powderpuff Cheerleaders Unite!

Fans were thrilled by the well executed, well rehearsed display of school spirit led by the fearless cheerleaders!

It's a Dog's Life. . .

HSE Homecoming

Season ends. . . .

Season ends. . . .

Life's a Beach

I went straight to Lanikai to Maureen's (our new landlord) and signed our lease!!! Our new address will be:

Mokulua Drive
Kailua, HI 96734

Toby Keith - Hooking up and Hanging Out!

Toby Keith
Hooking up and Hanging Out Tour
Awesome!!!!!!

Danny "paints" for game

Danny asked me on the way home from practice if he could "paint" for the game that night. . . .I'm wondering, watercolors?. . . .ahhh, this kind of paint!!!!!

Sarahs' new puppy!

To: adrianne, emily, danny, mom
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 8:38:02 PM
Subject: Re: new phone number

I was the first to know! Cuz I'm the coolest :) Just wanted to say hey and send you guys a picture of kylie puppy. From my phone, so it's a little grainy. Hope everyone has a great weekend, try and catch the game if you can. LSU/Auburn game this weekend. I saw old men sitting on the sidewalk in lawn chairs drinking beer and grilling at noon today as I was going to class. Can't be beat. Anyway, love you all!
Sarah

Labor Day Camping

After church on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, Danny and I went for a drive and headed north to Strawtown to visit the newest county park, Strawtown Koteewi Prairie Park. The website information was outdated, saying the canoe launch was to open in the spring of 2005, so we decided to drive up and see. While we were up that way, we drove a little further west and stopped at the White River Campground. After checking in at the office, we got a map and drove to check out the sites for future reference. There were two open spots for that night and after we looked at the location (site A-1) we decided to come back and camp for the night! We drove back to Fishers, ate lunch, went to Walmart for some last minute supplies, packed the tent and Lady and headed back up north! It didn't take long to set up camp, get the fire going and Danny to get a line in the river. We just chilled and ate (hotdogs and s'mores) and talked and maybe even dozed a little bit. . . there was an awesome almost full moon. . . we turned in early partly because we had to get up so I could get home and shower and be at work by 8:00 the next morning.

FHS first boys varsity soccer game

Part of the starting line-up for the first ever FHS boys varsity soccer game, played 8-15-06 at Noblesville. The boys played and defeated Nobleville by a score of 1-0.

Boys soccer results can be found here

Matt C drove over from new teacher training at Pendleton Middle School to catch the end of the game and Adrianne captured a rare shot of the two boys smiling!

Friends gather. . .

To celebrate the time that all four Ax children were home at the same time (before Sarah and Emily went back to school, and while Adrianne was stateside visiting), we enjoyed the company of some of our favorite people. We visited, played badmitton and had an intense game of Catchphrase!

Alumni Soccer Game

Coaches comments:
Well our 2nd annual Alumni game went off well. The HSE team gave a better effort than last year but the Alumni still prevailed 3-2. Meghan W, Michelle P, Lindsey L, Colleen S, Emily A, Shannon E, Sarah W, Vandi O, Lauren J, Lauren A, Annie W, Abbi M, Ashley B, and Carly W played for the Alumni. Annie, Lauren A and Carly W with the goals. Vandi O was voted as top player.

We had fun and then finished with a Pizza dinner. Wish more could have been there. I will try and get the word out a bit sooner next year.

Game was played on July 19, 2006.

Welcome Sasha!

Last Sunday, 7-22, Dee and Steve dropped off Sasha before they left for their trip. We have all spent lots of time getting to know her. The kids that Emily babysits for came over to visit her and even keep track of who gets her when!

Sasha does not like to be alone and we have to watch carefully because she rests on (or under) our feet.

She is sleeping longer by herself each night and Lady is very patient with the new puppy in the house!

Contract Signed!

Aloha Mom and Dad,
Just wanted to tell you that I officially signed my contract for my first teaching job today!!
I was pretty excited :)
Can't wait to come home!

Love,
Adrianne

St. Anthony's website:
http://www.saskailua.org/

Swizzle Sno

Danny has been putting in his time making snow cones in Noblesville. Yesterday, there was a showing and it was too hot to go somewhere and leave Lady in the car, so we went and visited Danny at work!

Danny made me his favorite flavor combination, Tangerine and Tiger's Blood. I enjoyed my snow cone, filled out my application to Conner Prairie (catering) and we all chilled for an hour or so.

"Biggy" Comes to Town

Actually, it's "Buege", as in Jeff Buege from Auburn and it's pronounced "biggy". He is visiting for the weekend and he and Sarah are busy making plans. Earlier this evening we had pizza and we are leaving in a few minutes to pick Danny up (and get snowcones!).

We picked up Kristen and went for snowcones in Noblesville. After we came back home, Chelsea and Ashley were waiting. We showed Buege embarrasing movies of Sarah and then watched the senior video. Fun was had by all!

Happy Birthday!

After I got back from working out (swimming), the kids had fixed a picnic in the family room! It was a rainy day and we enjoyed lunch (and then had to put the food up because Lady wouldn't leave it alone). Everyone got in a comfy spot and we decided to watch Braveheart. Several hours later. . . .

We showered and got ready, it was a secret what the plans were and finally we got in the car and headed out. I was blindfolded. We took the long way over to the Whites, where we enjoyed good company and a good dinner.

There was only one other thing that would have made the evening complete - and she'll be home August 3rd - yippee!