| Wisconsin- June 25 | 6/25/2008 | Read all about vacation day eight here:
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| Wisconsin- June 24 | 6/24/2008 | Read all about vacation day seven here:
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| Wisconsin- June 23 | 6/23/2008 | Read all about vacation day six here:
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| Wisconsin- June 22 | 6/22/2008 | Read all about vacation day five here:
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| Wisconsin- June 21 | 6/21/2008 | Read all about vacation day four here:
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| Wisconsin- June 20 | 6/20/2008 | Read all about vacation day three here:
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| Wisconsin- June 19 | 6/19/2008 | Read all about vacation day two here:
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| Wisconsin- June 18 | 6/18/2008 | Read all about vacation day one here:
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| Thirteen Wonderful Years! | 7/5/2008 | Today we celebrate our thirteenth wedding anniversary!
Details on our Blog, here:
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| Sad news | 6/29/2008 |
We lost a very special family member recently. Harletta our adorable Black Moor goldfish developed swim bladder problems just before we left for our trip to Wisconsin. This is a common problem in older Black Moors (Harletta was at least five year old, which is a good age for a Black Moor) Sadly she didn't recover and we all miss her very much. She was like a little acrobat always doing barrel rolls around the aquarium. Every day Jade would hand feed her, because she was almost blind, and struggled to find the floating food on her own. Harletta always kissed Jade's fingers!
A memorial stone now commemorates Harletta in the Hems Family bird garden. Jasmine wrote a poem in Harletta's memory; read it here.
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| Off to see some Cranes for Jade's Birthday! | 6/16/2008 |
Well there is much excitement in the Hems household this evening; we are all packed and ready to go on holiday!
The Main Event of this particular trip is in fact Jade's birthday, which is this Wednesday - she loves Cranes (the bird, not the construction equipment!) and so as a birthday present Adam is taking her to see all fifteen species of Crane at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wisconsin! We thought as we were going up there we might as well see what else is around and make a trip of it so we are going for a week. Jade used Streets and Trips to find interesting things that are not too far from one another and Adam has plugged all the locations into his GPS. We've made an proposed itinerary here which even has the correct driving times if you'd like to follow along!
So far the weather forecast looks promising but we're all set to deviate completely if circumstances dictate or a whim should overcome us... Expect frequent updates with photos!
We leave the house at 3:00am tomorrow to catch our 5:30am plane!! |
| Daisy Graduates Elementary School | 6/5/2008 | Yesterday Daisy left elementary school behind with a lovely choir performance and a nice graduation ceremony.
We are so proud of Daisy who was chosen as this year's girl Student of the Year, an honor recieved because of all her hard work and dedication to the school. She and the boy Student of the Year concluded the ceremony by leading the class parade through the school.
View all Daisy's graduation photos here. |
| Jasmine is a Cheer Leader! | 5/30/2008 | Jasmine made the Lamar Junior High School cheer leading team for the 2009-2010 school year. Well done Jasmine! |
| Profiled in the May issue of "Emigrate America" Newspaper! | 5/17/2008 | Adam was approached for an article in a magazine for people who are looking to emigrate to the USA, and it just got published! The magazine is subscription-only ( here) but the journalist sent him the article in which we appeared, attached below. :-) |
| Adam gets Infected!! | 4/11/2008 | Today, April 11th, Adam met one of his favourite authors at a book-signing in Houston - Scott Sigler! It was held at a small bookstore called "Murder by the Book" and the book is " Infected", a horror / sci-fi novel.
What's interesting about this book is that although it was only published for the first time on April 1st, Adam has heard the entire story already... This is because Sigler read out the entire book in 2006 on his free weekly podcast and Adam has been addicted to this podcast since he stumbled across the third episode of the sci-fi novel "Earthcore" being read out by Sigler some four years ago. Sci-Fi and horror fans should check him out!
This book is the first one Sigler managed to get printed by a major publisher and so is a huge achievement for him; he writes part-time and records episodes of his podcast in his closet ( article) in his apartment every week in San Francisco to which Adam listens avidly (usually when down the gym).
There were around 80 or so fellow "Junkies" there, as Sigler refers to his fans perpetually awaiting thier next "fix" of story, so this made for a fun evening. Scott read out the first chapter of his book before doing signings.
Potential disaster loomed when Adam found the bookstore had sold out of copies of Siglers' book prior to him arriving... a frantic internet search on his 3G cellphone located a nearby Borders bookstore which had a couple of copies so Adam raced off and grabbed a copy and just made it back in time to get his copy signed, and have his picture taken (with the phone - sorry about the low quality):
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| Great Backyard Bird Count! | 2/16/2008 |
Today Daisy participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count. She and Jade spent an hour observing and recording species at Seabourne Creek Park in Rosenberg. Daisy had a lot of fun identifying the birds, and her favorite was the Black Vulture. Then when we got home Daisy entered her data into the GBBC website and watched the map as the checklists of other participants were added. This important annual event collects data used by scientists and conservationists to map changes in bird populations and distributions from year to year, and we are very proud that Daisy contributed her time and effort to this event. |
| Home Again! | 12/29/2007 |
Hello again all!
On our last day we explored a number of "birding hot-spots" nearby to Corpus Christi (Photos: http://tinyurl.com/2wrexz). On this: http://tinyurl.com/2ugrf3 map , we did it in reverse; starting at number 63 and working our way North to number 57. There was a wildfire raging right to the road in between 63 and 64 which made it quite interesting...
The birding trail basically involved a number of empty beaches upon which Jade fixedly watched the feathered locals at play, the girls, after showing initial interest and enthusiasm for any nearby flocks, then had a good run around in the sand dunes while Adam just fell asleep (!). The weather was cooler and windier so we had to wrap up but the abundance of aviators and the general lack of humans made the whole thing very pleasurable for all involved :-)
Crossing the ferry to get back to Corpus was fun too; as promised by the guide there were indeed wild bottle-nosed dolphins swimming about which surprised and delighted us!
After we got back to Corpus Christi we had a last stroll around on the beach before heading back home to a rather grey and cold ( http://tinyurl.com/38zzew) Houston.
All-in-all a fabulous break!
Adam is on vacation and the girls are off school this coming week and the Wildlife refuge has whetted our appetites for more; Jade has located another one ( http://tinyurl.com/3becqr) that looks interesting and we passed another State Park ( http://tinyurl.com/2koyjr) on the way so assuming it warms up again (we don't "do" cold!) we'll be heading to those this coming week. Jade gave the girls each the adoption of a Houston Zoo animal for Christmas (Daisy has an orange-spotted freshwater Stingray called "Spot" and Jasmine has a Bald Eagle called "Liberty") so we plan on a visit to them this coming week too, and for fun we're hoping to get time to let the girls ride themselves sick on the roller-coasters at the nearby Kemah Boardwalk ( http://tinyurl.com/3br52d).
Thanks everybody for all your replies to our little updates; it's great to hear how you are all doing (and if you haven't replied - how's life? :-) ). Please keep in touch!!
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| Our Holiday Continues... | 12/27/2007 |
Hello all,
Well the weather in Corpus Christi was great again yesterday and we spent the morning exploring the Texas State Aquarium ( photos) where we saw a bunch of shows including dolphins, birds of prey and otters. After a pleasant outdoor lunch there we swung by the beach, where it proved too windy to swim so we retired to the outdoor pool of our hotel for a bit where Jade and Adam relaxed while the girls made a splash.
Afterward we spent the afternoon exploring the USS Lexington, a WWII-era Aircraft Carrier that was still in service until 1991 so was very interesting to explore around. ( Photos)
Today the weather is predicted to be fine again so we are going to explore the Central Texas Wildlife Trail before heading back to Houston later today. In the meantime, Adam uploaded a couple of five-minute videos of us during our Christmas Day in Aransas if you're interested. :-)
Cheers,
The Hems Family |
| Happy Boxing Day! | 12/26/2007 |
Hello all,
Happy Boxing Day to everybody in the UK and to our fellow Brits Abroad!
Yesterday, our day started at 5am and was promptly followed by a swift prezzie-fest in our room before we grabbed some breakfast at six. (Other than major family-time, gifts for the kids is the only other bit of Christmas we like to partake in, really :-) )
Then it was off to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge! It was dark, foggy and cold when we left and we all enjoyed a spectacular dawn on the way and it was clear blue skies and warming up nicely when we arrived. We charged straight for the Main Event, which was the observation tower ( brochure and map) where we saw three whooping cranes! They were a way out but a nice couple from Sweden lent us all a good look through their high-powered spotting scope so we got a decent look at them. (Adam now has major lens envy!) Still we got some nice photos :-)
We then explored every single walk and track there was throughout the rest of the day, hiking perhaps six or seven miles or so. It was beautifully quiet; there were only a few other people there and we had the place to ourselves, mostly. The weather was in the low 70's as had been predicted and with a light breeze and full sun was just perfect weather all around; we couldn't have got any better. There were some delightful deserted beaches and lots and lots of birds and every step of the way there was something interesting to see. The girls were absolutely great, maintaining positive attitudes the entire day despite sore legs and bone-aching weariness towards the end! We agreed at dinner in Corpus Christi in the evening that it was a fabulous day for all of us! After dinner we relaxed in our hotel room; playing some games and watching "The Incredibles".
Today we're probably going to explore the Texas State Aquarium here in Corpus Christi, followed perhaps by another wander along the beach. If we get time we might also check out the USS Lexington, a restored aircraft carrier moored in the bay.
Hope you all are having a nice Christmas break!!!
The Hems Family
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| Happy Christmas Eve! | 12/24/2007 |
Hello all,
Just a quick update this Christmas eve... We were planning to be snug in our sleeping bags in the quiet of Brazos Bend State Park tonight, but the weather forecast is for colder weather than we get typically so we decided to head down the Gulf Coast a couple of hundred miles to Corpus Christi, where it happens to be much warmer at the moment! We arrived after lunch today and relaxed on the beach in very pleasant temperatures; Adam fell asleep in the sun(!!), the girls splashed in the sea and berated us for not letting them don thier swimming costumes and go for a swim (it wasn't that warm!) and Jade spotted birds. Some snaps:
It's still too cold (at night) to camp here, so we're snug in a nice warm hotel...
Tomorrow (Christmas day), after a bright and early 5am start, followed by the odd prezzie for the-terribly-excited-ones ;-), we'll be heading out for a nice relaxing family wander around the Aransas Wildlife Refuge, where a couple of hundred of some of Jade's favourite bird happen to be wintering - the whooping crane. The weather is expected to be sunny and not too cold (70 °F) so we're hoping for a really nice day out :-)
We're staying until the 27th and we havn't decided what else to go and look at yet but there are a number of interesting things we looked at last time (February 2003) so we'll perhaps revisit some of those or maybe just explore some more; however our fancy takes us.... We'll update you as we go.
Have a great Christmas Day everybody!!
The Hems's |
| Season's Greetings! | 12/16/2007 |
Season's Greetings from the Hems family! Click here to see our holiday message. |
| New Flock Members!! | 12/4/2007 |
There are seven new arrivals in Jade's Audubon Birds collection. Click here to see the whole flock! |
| Mime Troupe | 11/15/2007 | Jasmine performed as part of the mime troupe with her Theatre Arts class. It was a fun show and we have discovered she is quite the actress! |
| Daisy sings a solo! | 11/15/2007 | Daisy; our little song bird, performed in the school Veteran's Day performance with choir. She sang a beautiful solo. |
| Project FeederWatch! | 11/15/2007 |
Jade is very excited to be participating in Project FeederWatch this year for the first time. Project FeederWatch is a citizen science project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Jade completed her first watch of the 2007-2008 season today, amid rather cold and windy weather which made for a rather slow start. Jade is looking forward to all the exciting FeederWatch days to come!
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| UIL Contest! | 11/10/2007 |
Daisy made 5th place in the spelling event at the UIL district academic contest! What a star! |
| Trick or Treat! | 10/31/2007 |
Jasmine and Daisy had a great candy filled evening in the neighborhood when they went trick or treating with their friend and neighbor N'Kia. Adam and Jade were left to hand out the candy to all the trick or treaters who dropped by.
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| Camping at Brazos Bend State Park | 10/28/2007 |
Our first family camping trip was a huge success! We spent three days at Brazos Bend State park, taking long walks (with lots of bird watching) playing games and roasting marshmallows around our camp fire. We all had so much fun, and can't wait for our next camp out at Christmas.
To view our photos click here.
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| Adam Geeks out in Seattle! | 7/23/2007 |
Adam flew up to Seatle for the week where he hung out with a few thousand other Microsoft Consultants from all around the world in an internal meeting/party/geekfest! He went to dozens of presentations on whats new and coming soon in the world of Geekdom during the day, and attended various parties, meals and gaming events by night and was quite relieved to get back home at the end of the week for a rest!! |
| LCISD Convocation Performance | 8/20/2007 |
Daisy performed with LCISD Select Elementary Choir at the 2007 Teachers Convocation at River Pointe Church in Sugar Land.
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| Harry Potter book Seven! | 7/20/2007 |
Adam and Jasmine attended a Harry Potter party at thier local bookstore in Houston where they waited until 1:45am to get Jasmine's copy of the latest book!
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| Jade studies Birds! | 8/15/2007 |
Jade completed the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Home Study course in Bird Biology. She passed with flying colours, achieving a final grade of 98.42%! |