http://blog.robgirard.net Dig? Mon, 23 Aug 2010 05:22:30 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Three refugees from the east, students from my first class of APELCers at CDO, surprised me with a visit yesterday afternoon at school. Brendan, Michael, and Addie are getting ready to leave Tucson and return to their studies at Swarthmore, Boston, Middlebury, respectively. I didn't plan it, but  the poster ... http://blog.robgirard.net/2010/08/21/refugees/ My Mom looked after the kids while Rebecca and I took in a movie and dinner. The movie, Inception, was terrible, but dinner, at the Gyros Cafe in Oro Valley, was delicious. I had the Kurdish Plow: red and yellow rice wrapped in filo stuffed with beef, chicken, raisins, almonds, ... http://blog.robgirard.net/2010/08/09/gyros-cafe/ The other night was the last of the kids' summer-long sports and activity classes through Tucson Parks and Rec. The picture below is from the week before, Debabu practicing his shot. Thanks Whitney for working with Debabu and Zufan and keeping it fun while maintaining order among all the kids that ... http://blog.robgirard.net/2010/08/07/last-day-of-sports/ Before we left for home, we found a small Ethiopian market, Vision Cafe deep in San Diego. We met and made friends with Mike, the owner, and his daughter Mary and shared coffee and tea. All of the Ethiopian partons at the market were very curious and very welcoming. http://blog.robgirard.net/2010/08/02/mike-and-mary/ After SeaWorld, we spent almost two full days enjoying San Diego, Seaport Village and Balboa Park in particular. My beautiful bride, Rebecca. http://blog.robgirard.net/2010/08/02/san-diego/ We decided to get away from the heat of Tucson for a couple of days before the summer ended for me and teachers had to report back for the looming school year. So we went to southern California and spent our first day at SeaWorld San Diego. Mommy and Debabu after ... http://blog.robgirard.net/2010/08/01/sea-world/ Zufan's language and cognition were assessed since she'll be starting pre-school this fall with her brother. She performed pretty well. http://blog.robgirard.net/2010/07/18/assessment/ Debabu enjoyed day camp at his pre-school this summer where he got to work and play with Krista, a former student of one of my CDO colleagues logging practicum hours working with children to complete her university coursework. He had a great time over six weeks. http://blog.robgirard.net/2010/07/18/last-day-of-camp/ Some shots of the kids swimming at Grandma's pool with our new very cool waterproof, replacement camera. Debabu has just started paddling on his own with encouragement, but here and his sister are practicing moving underwater along the steps. My children are excellent. http://blog.robgirard.net/2010/07/11/underwater/ Shortly after we moved to Tucson in 1977,  my grandparents came from Canada to visit us in our new home on the east side of town. My Mom recently came across this photo of me with my grandfathers and namesakes from their time here: Mike, my Mom's father, on the ... http://blog.robgirard.net/2010/07/09/on-my-birthday/