Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-YA!

Ok - I have no idea how to spell that or the rest of the stuff I heard thrown about last night at belt testing. In a standing room only studio we watched a lot of drills, and J earned her second belt. This one is gold - though to me it is pretty imperceptibly different from the yellow of last year's yellow with white stripe. Here she is with her sensei giving her the gold belt.

Karate is definitely her thing. She stands at attention riveted to the sensei and the process - while other kids her age showed a less focused approach. I understand little of the significance of things around this. Like the black and white uniform vs the all white one - except for two things B&W costs about $95 and can have patches. The white one still does not quite fit my 7 year old so we will not yet be springing for that more attractive two color number. And then there is the whole shoe thing. At first I was told no shoes were worn for karate, now I am hearing that there are karate shoes and she REALLY wants them. So thanks to a couple of birthday checks, J will be buying a pair of martial arts shoes that I hope last longer than one season.

The other big news in J's life Thursday was placing 2nd in her first grade spelling bee. She can remember only the one word that she missed - again - but out of over 200 first graders, 2nd is none too shabby!

And the topping for J's big day? Krispy Kreme donuts hot off the conveyor belt...finest kind!

Newest on S, you ask? Hmmm...she used Halloween money to purchase Hannah Montana make-up and is sparkly blue from her eye to her brow.

How can it be time already?

I knew it was coming...there were ripplings just before the end of October...yesterday it was confirmed...there it was...Santa at the mall. No lines, so we went ahead and got the traditional photo.


Postcrossing update: Received one from Finland and sent one to Texas

A day at the zoo...

A perfect weather weekend here. Sunny and clear, autumn colors popping and a 'must get out and enjoy it' day so we had an outing to Zoo Atlanta compliments of our friend Toula (an avid zoo supporter, she sent some of her passes our way). It was great fun to have an effortless stroll through the zoo - low crowd, pretty day and not too hot!

We saw the more typical zebra, elephant, rhino, giraffe and the less typical kangaroos, naked mole rats and komodo dragon. We walked through a treehouse for a great view of the lemurs and saw the golden lion tamarin with their irresistable tiny faces. The warthogs had moved and we missed those so-ugly-they're-cute creatures but we did see this little character at the meerkat home.

Zoo Atlanta is fortunate enough to have giant pandas and even more fortunate to have had two cubs born here at the zoo. Mei Lan is this 2 year old cub munching her bamboo and clicking on this link will get you a peek at the young man, not yet named, born Aug 30.

It's not just the pandas having babies, our felines have new little ones too. J never got to see her favorite - the lion - at Animal Kingdom on the Disney trip but the zoo was more accommodating. Two of the triplets born in June made themselves available for a photo. All three of the little guys were male.

We have been to the zoo several times but Sunday hit a new first for us. When you arrive at the zoo you are given a map and the schedule for goings-on that day. My policy has always been to ignore that listing and enjoy the zoo on our own schedule and we did that again. In the past we have caught the bird show and an elephant grooming and enjoyed both and yesterday's event we happened upon, again, did not disappoint. We were at the gorilla's at the time of a presentation on training. The trainer showed everyone how well Taz could participate in a medical exam. She would name a body part and he would press it against the screen, he opened his mouth so she could look at his throat and let her give him 'practice shots'. You can read about the families of gorillas that live at the zoo here and below you can behold a 365 pound gorilla named Taz getting his teeth brushed.

Postcrossing update - sent to Netherlands and California; received from Grant's cabin in Missouri. And a 'friend' postcard from Robin visiting Key West.

Some Final Disney notes

As we are getting ready for our Thanksgiving trip, I am posting the final notes on the Disney trip.

After visiting the Hall of Presidents we stumbled out onto front row seats for the afternoon parade. Here the girls are greeting one of the famous parade-rs. The other fun find following the Hall of Presidents was a great kid's book Smart About the Presidents that my almost 7 year old read over and over.

I was glad to see Animal Kingdom open a few years ago (ten) and one of my favorites there is the Kilimanjaro Safari ride - you never know what great glimpse of an animal is around the next bend. Here is my favorite giraffe and a 'quite close' white rhino - that is our vehicle in the corner of the picture. J was hoping to catch sight of a lion, but not that ride.

No vacation report is complete without talking food. We went with the Disney dining plan and with a full service meal, a counter service and a snack per night's stay, it seemed just about right for us. Advantages - great price for the kids, no looking at prices when ordering, you did eat a 'regular' meal once a day, ate places we hadn't before Disadvantages - more food than you really need - desserts with everything! would have preferred appetizer OR dessert, requires some scheduling and planning to eat and keeping a schedule doesn't always work with Disney lines and crowds. We had a great first day early dinner at Le Cellier at Epcot's Canada (though that probably wasn't the best first day park pick with young kids). Great steaks and the cheese soup appetizer the kids got was delicious. We also traded in two full service credits to eat at Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge. I actually wanted to go to Whispering Canyon but we found that is NOT a dropping in dining place at a resort (Tuesday evening, no less). The food was very good, as expected, but the kids desserts were the best. A white chocolate puzzle delivered on an arist palette with paint that allowed the kids to express their creativity. Here is J's artwork and S's artwork - which necessitated her being in the picture.

Monday musing...

Tonight's dinnertime question...

J: Mom, do you ever wonder if we are God's wooden dolls that He plays with?

age 6 y 11 1/2 mos.

Around the world with two different kids

Their chosen headgear:

Being the totem pole at Epcot's Canada:

With Casey at the bat - check the beginning of the 'curtsy' pose:

And posing with the giant Transformer Lego:

Disney Memories

M: What was your favorite Disney Memory?

S: Toy Story Mania and when you get splashed wet (Kali River Rapids) and Small World.

J: Buzz Lightyear.

I must admit I was hoping for wordier responses so I could have a springboard for writing about the trip.

I have 261 pictures (the age of digital) and am a little overwelmed at the sifting process.

Let's start with the Halloween Party - Mickey's Not So Very Scary Halloween Party was fun for the kids but for the grownups it was an example of getting less for more. Right at $200 for 2 adults and 2 kids and the 'perks' remembered from years past were missing. No travel group portrait and no event buttons. Disappointing...and when we asked about a group photo, we were told that we should get a Disney Photo Pass photographer to do it.

After our unsuccessful hunt for said photographer, we decided to grab someone walking by...so here is our 'unofficial' Halloween photo - That's Aunt Sharon (my cousin) the witch, me the Pirate, J the grimacing basketball player pretending to dribble and S the penguin with her 'piece hair'. In fairness to J - since she looked so much cuter than this - I am also adding in one of her taken pre-party in our room.

We got some trick or treating in (the kids got more than us adults, we noticed-lol), saw the fireworks (from the back of the castle which we were told would be just as good-but I have my doubts), rode several of the must-sees -Buzz Lightyear, Small World, Peter Pan, Goofy's Barnstormer and got autographs from the lesser seen Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip.

The kid's souvenirs from the trip

S: Hairpiece from the Princess dress-up area at Downtown Disney shop, wrapped hair with beads, necklace and earrings with birthstones, Autograph book and smashed pennies

J: Mickey PDA, Figment, Pegasus, Smart About the Presidents book from the Hall of Presidents, Autograph book and smashed pennies.

you knew it was coming....

J is a sensitive curious child. In PreK she attended a Christian pre-school and when Easter came and the related stories of Jesus' life she had trouble sleeping and had so many questions she ended up sitting with the youth minister for a meeting about Jesus. Recently when we were watching "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" Henry the VIII was mentioned and the related facts around his wives kept her from being able to go to sleep that night - she refuses to watch that show again.

Last night at dinner my almost 7 year old finally made the connection...

J: Is steak made of chicken?
M: No, it is made of steak (uh-oh)
J: But what is steak made of? where does it come from?

Now, being one of those people who prefers to believe that steak comes from packages in the grocery store, I have been dreading to having to face this...

M: Steak comes from cows
J: YOU MEAN I AM EATING A COW?

I have always suspected that she did not make a connection between the chicken she ate and the chicken in the barnyard.

Several minutes passed.

J: They must be pretty sad about their friends.
M: Who must?
J: Those cows...about their friends being in heaven. So, what happens to them...are they just cut in half?
M: Honey - this is really not the conversation for dinner.
J: OK - so do they just cut them up at grocery stores?

ugh...what do I do now? I pull the cop-out card...

M: I think these are some good questions for xxx - why don't you ask the next time we see xxx.

ha ha ha...don't you know that someone totally unsuspecting is in for an interesting conversation and I am in for a vegetarian daughter-who hates fruits and veggies and is allergic to soy...


Postcrossing update: Received one from Nova Scotia, Canada