Apparently the ear battering language of Klingon is the first language of several students here at the University of Idaho.  Several times a week I am fortunate enough to sit in the Commons near a group of students who converse in Klingon, alternately with English while discussing the first through the tenth dimension.   I really need to start TiVoing Star Trek episodes so I can brush up on this long forgotten language.  

Aside from the language barriers the group can be quite entertaining.  Their topics of conversation range from ethics to who has the best Warcraft character.  There are often disagreements and just this morning I witnessed quite a smashup as two members of the Klingon family 'butted heads' over an ethical question.  

I really think that the word Nerd is just not fitting.  I think I need to invent a word that is a little stronger, but not as mean as Loser.  UltraNerd?  Any ideas?

In case you are feeling a little left out, or your inner UltraNerd is just dying to learn the language, here is the link to the Klingon Language Institute.  Enjoy!!!!!

http://www.kli.org/

While visiting family in Winston, Oregon we made the trip to the coast. We love Bandon, even though they closed down and demolished our favorite cheese factory and ice cream place. Unlike Everett and Simon, our kids don't see the beach very much, any beach. So as you can probably gather, this was a momentous event.

We stopped on the way for a picnic and to play but everyone was anxious to get to the water. By the time we left to go home there was sand everywhere and we had a huge bag of shells and other washed up material. (some of which really smelled later on)

Jon's parents along with Daniel and Derrick came with us while Heather stayed home with new little Riley Ka-Rynn. I think a good time was had by all. It was such a beautiful day, the warmest we have ever had when visiting the Oregon Coast. I really did not want to go, but the lure of blackberry picking on the way home was too much to resist. (We ended up picking six gallons of berries in all.)

During Labor Day Weekend we traveled to Portland, Oregon to go to the Zoo and then to go to Winston and visit Heather and her family. Jon's parents brought Derrick and our friends Bryce and Heather and their girls met us at the zoo. Kyle went with his grandparents afterwards to Winston while Jon, the girls and I met Bryce at Saturday Market downtown.

The Zoo as always was fabulous. The grounds are so beautiful and apart from the horrible smell coming from the penguin house, very pleasant. My favorite animals at the zoo are the polar bears, but we also saw the newest addition to the zoo- a baby elephant. There was much hype surrounding the event, apparently for the first few days the mother was very aggressive towards the baby and they had to be separated. We arrived the first day they were letting the public view the pair together. After a very long line we were a little disappointed. Jon claims that the elephant was dead, but I swear it moved a little.

The coolest part of the day at the zoo though was the aviary. The kids bought cups of sugar water and the birds would land right on you to eat. I think it kind of freaked Derrick out though.


We had so much fun Saturday Market. After being downtown for just a short time Maggie decided that you have to be a little bit crazy to live in Portland. This was after seeing a bicycle with it's own drinking fountain, a toothless man playing the accordion and grown men walking around wearing balloon hats. Don't you love Portland????