The Day After Homecoming...

The day after the Homecoming dance, the boys stayed in bed later in the morning. As you'll see below, one boy was a bit Grumpy (a nickname, perhaps?) and the other had fun Facebooking friends...could he be Sunshine 2?

During the day, Rich shopped for groceries, the boys cleaned and played ping pong. We watched the Red Sox and New England Patriots, ate nachos & chicken quesadillas & drank diet grape soda. We built a fire with a "fake" log and rested... later in the evening we read FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN and did other homework as well as the blog.

The Day After Homecoming...

The Guys... Pre-Homecoming Dance Ping Pong Match...(Click on photographs to enlarge)

Luiz, Dylan, Yago, Jordan, & Toni (from Germany) play a few matches of ping pong before heading to the Lapointe's home for pizza at 5pm.

The Homecomng Dance begins at 7pm and ends at 11pm. Last year Alex & Peter had the best time at the dance.

Pre-Homecoming Dance Ping Pong

Homecoming Match... Victory 3-1

Homecoming Match

Homecoming Rally at MVHS

Homecoming Begins

The boys had their homecoming rally this afternoon and Yago joined in with face painting the school's colors on his face.

Here's to American High School memories!

The breakfast table and our morning routine

Each morning, except for Wednesday mornings (late arrival to school), the boys arise at 6:20 am to Rich's very pleasant voice whispering "Good morning."

Rich heats up the kitchen with the stove, sets out the dishes and juices, and lights a scented morning candle... and when there's no sound coming from the second floor, he quietly moves to the bottom of the the stairs and calls out, "YAGO? LUIZ!? Are you up yet?" Some noise sounds... "Uh-uh."

They have a breakfast of cereal and juice, make lunches, empty the dishwasher from the previous evening's washing, catch up briefly on Facebook, checkout the weather for the day, and wait for Aunt Connie to arrive at about 7:10 am.

Another the day begins in America.

Evening studies....

Both boys received a MacBook computer from the high school. The state of Maine has invested millions of dollars into providing laptop computers for our students, ages 12-18, in this rural state.

The computers help connect our Maine students to the world and keep them technologically savvy as well. Such programs provide advantages for kids from all socio-economic classes. The laptop initiative is one of the many reasons I'm proud to be from Maine.

Life at Home

Clean-up after dinner.

Baby Moose in Pam & Fred's Yard

Tuesday's Homework list

The boys wrote out their homework assignments and what they're up to in their classes in Mountain valley High School. We try to stay on top of their work even though their main responsibility right now is to learn English and become fluent.

Skyping to Joinville, Brasil, September 20th (Reminder: click on pictures to enlarge)

Luiz's mom and dad, Guida & Jaco, chatted with their son and their Spanish son on Sunday morning via Skype. Jaco speaks some Spanish, so Yago had an opportunity to chat, too. On Saturday morning Yago spoke with his parents, Blanca and Yago as well as his sisters and brother.

Luiz, Yago, and Kyle-the-Keeper at the Bates College Match, 092009

We went to a college soccer match on Sunday with our favorite goalkeeper with the bad hair, Kyle Gauvin. The match, tied at 3-3 after regulation, finished with a Husson University upset in overtime with a beautiful shot over the Bates' goalkeeper's head. Great match--skillful soccer.

#19, James Crackford, Watford, England

Rich's longtime soccer coaching friend Graham Brown from Watford England has a player in Maine on the Husson University team. The Rumford soccer teams used to host the Watford teams in the 1980s and 1990s during August. Such exchanges created the best training for the Rumford players. Many great memories for all of us.

Any guesses which bed is your son's, Parents?

Another classic story...

Last night after the Red Sox match at 11pm (2300hr), I went to put a few dishes in the dishwasher and then turn on the machine. I noticed that a lot of dirty dishes from the evening's dinner were no longer in the machine. I looked in the cupboards... our over-tired boys put away dirty dishes....

Life goes on and it's all good.

Livermore Falls 3 MVHS 1

A disappointing 3-1 loss that showed moments of brilliance in the first half. But the second half revealed a strength in Livermore that we could not match.

No Mayonnaise on American Hot Dogs

OK. This story is a classic. Yago and I convinced Luiz that there is a Federal Law against putting mayonnaise on American Hot Dogs. All the way home from the soccer match we talked about the UnAmerican move of putting anything but mustard, ketchup, onions, and relish on hot dogs. Luiz believed us because Yago was so convincing about the "law" in the Exchange Student Handbook. When Luiz asked for the mayonnaise, I said, "If it has an American flag on it, you can not use it on American hot dogs." Thus the picture and this lame, long-winded story!

Happy 18th Birthday, Peter!

From a young man

to a man...

Home

The boys' study desk...

with Uncle Fred!

Click on photos to enlarge!

Spanish patriotism.