Bigger than my day

This has not been the most exciting weekend in regards to weather. I had hopes of barbecues, a little baseball toss in the backyard, a fire pit with S'mores. Instead we got the fireplace turned on, indoor projects, and a lot of moping around. We are trying our best to stay positive ~ after all, we can do NOTHING about the weather.

Then, I got an update via email from Wiphan.  A leadership team is over in Zambia this week among the Widows and the Orphans and I can't help but smile.  Here is my favorite part of the email: 

"Each class lined up in single file line to hand select a blanket of their choice.  Next, they headed to the next room to be fitted for a warm, green Wiphan sweater.  As they walked in to be fitted for their sweater, they were so proud of their new blanket.  Many of them were hesitant to put down their blanket to try on a sweater!  Each one of them remembered exactly where they placed their blanket, even if several of the blankets were stacked together and exactly alike!  It was truly humbling, as it was obvious that these new items meant everything to them.  After we handed out the blankets and sweaters, we enjoyed spending time with the children. They are truly a joy to be around!"

It is so rewarding to be part of an organization bigger than my day. Here is the girl that I sponsor with prayers and monthly monetary support via Wiphan and BrightPoint for Children. I can't help but smile back at all her attitude that shines through all that cuteness!

Yes, my weekend is not the greatest with fireworks and wonderful weather and all the outdoorsy fun that I long for, but I know I am helping put a smile on a sweet Zambian face through Wiphan today ~ and that's really enough. 

From Dance Costume to Worms

We have purchased our garden supplies and the kids and husband are ready to plant.  I am fortunate to have a gardener in my family and that he is spurring the kids to enjoy the love of gardening too.  They not only like to dig in the dirt and find worms and critters, but they enjoy the benefits of their hard labor.

My son especially will be known to tend to the garden all summer.  Making sure it is well watered and observing the crops.  He enjoys picking the vegetables and cleaning them off too.

This year in our two planter boxes they are planting: corn, pickling cucumbers, dill, sweet tomatoes, celery, green beans, and sugar snap peas. In a separate container they are planting red potatoes. If we could just get the sun to shine and stay, then we will be set!

Seriously ...

Blah, blah, blah still doing the Tropical Bird embellishments.  The adhesive dried overnight.  After lunch today I started hand sewing each feather onto the costume. Once I got my coordination going, I didn't want to stop.

I'm taking a quick break for dinner and then I will return to finish.  The front and only sleeve have been finished, then it will be working onto the back.  I've only lost one feather in the process.  Not a bad ratio considering there are a bizillion on the costume.

I love my girl, I love my girl, I love my girl (said in my head repeatedly so that negativity does not creep in while I'm fighting the paper thin fabric and reaching up, over, and around the attached leotard that can not be sewn to the outer flowing costume).

Yay, Me!

Bedazzling Tropical Bird

The kids are in the midst of enjoying 4.5 days off from school.  Our district builds in snow makeup days during the regular school year, and if the days are not needed then the kids get those days off.  Our winter was very mild, so during the year we've been fortunate to have some added vacation days; this weekend being one with 2.5 days off from school plus a weekend.

Unfortunately, however, the weather is a complete downpour.  We have hopes that tomorrow will bring the yellow back as they are predicting.  Taking advantage of the necessity to stay indoors today, the kiddos got invited to a fun play date.  I got to get caught up on laundry.  And this evening ...

We are bedazzling!!  In a new sort of way.  We are bedazzling my daughter's Tropical Bird costume for her Modern dance class with faux feathers.  It is a mess.  There are little feathers everywhere. Knowing the challenge that was in front of me, I asked expert seamstress moms at the dance studio this week if they could pass along any advice before I started this endeavor.

Fabri-Tac adhesive was their advice.  Have my daughter put on her costume, and glue the feathers on first.  Allow to dry and then add a small stitch in between the center part of the feathers to reinforce.  Deep breathes too of patience also helps.

For the most part I know that my lack of sewing skills will not be seen by the audience.  But I don't want my daughter to go around the studio, stage, nor backstage with costume awkwardness either. This has to hold through eight wearings of rigorous dancing and a lot of waiting.

So, I asked my husband for some assistance with his creative and artistic professional skills (and his patience).  He did a Fantastic job!  But we all agree that we already see these feathers flying e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e. even when the project is complete.  I guess it will give the true essence of the Tropical Bird character.

We just need warm temps to go with the buckets of rain to give us that true Tropical feel as we Bedazzle our beautiful Tropical Bird.

How does that go?

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it must be a duck.

There was a package on the doorstep when we returned from school yesterday and it had my son's name on it.  He was surprised and excited to see what was inside because the return address did not add up; it read Football Fanatics.  He found the gift note inside and it read:

Congratulations, Grandson!
Green Belt - Oregon Green
Love, Mono and Grandad

He beamed as he pulled out his very first Oregon Ducks t-shirt.  My husband and daughter were home too at the time of the unveiling. They root for an opposing team, and although jokes were sparked back and forth between the two against one, they were good sports that my son received his all-time-favorite college shirt. It made him feel good that he can be confidently solo about his team.

Ready for school ... elementary and college!!
(Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

Knocking at my door

Recently I had just started my car and this song was playing on the radio station.  For some reason I listened intently to the lyrics.  And it fit.  It was the perfect celebration to my signing up to sponsor a beautiful child in Zambia through Wiphan Care Ministries and BrightPoint for Children.



First day of the rest of your life ... what was I continuing to wait upon?  I have been following this ministry for months, thinking and praying consistently, learning more and more and more. Finally. No more excuses.

The time was now.  Answering the call one faithful and willing step at a time.

What's knocking at your door?  And will you answer ....

A Few Good Men

A few good men live at my house.  My husband.  And my son.

Tuesday is my busy after-school day where I am out of the house from 3pm until now (8:45'ish).  All school year this has been the routine.  I pack the TKD outfit and after school snack in the car and drive to the school.  I have my last moments of quiet reading while strategically parked in the pickup line. At 3:30 I go to the school benches to meet my fellow mom friends and chat for ten minutes until the rush of students are dismissed to their appropriate parent.

While both of my children walk to my car, only my son enters and my daughter and I stand waiting for just a few seconds for my husband to drive up next to us to take my daughter home.  While she is at home eating her dinner, changing into dance attire, and fixing her own dance hair, I am at the TKD studio with my son.

At Five o'clock I am driving home with my son to drop him off at home to literally grab my sack dinner from the counter to eat in the car while I travel thirty minutes away with my daughter to dance.  While away, my husband and son have guy-time which consists of wrestling, playing a competitive sports xBox game, building a car model, going fishing, or cooking.

Tonight I came home to the smell of homemade banana bread.  I had merely set out the cookbook to page 42 and wrote a note on sticky paper to my son: If you are interested, you could make this recipe.  I just bought walnuts and they are in the pantry.  Smiley face and loves and I signed my name ... Mom.

My son made the entire banana bread recipe by himself while my husband was finishing work in his office.  But while the bread was a yummy and amazing surprise (Yes, he did it!), I was even more impressed that the kitchen was spotless!!

The dishwasher had been unloaded and reloaded and started; the steam is still rising from the completed wash.  The counters have no residue.  The Kitchen Aid is put away.  The bread is incredibly perfect and equally tasting.

The boys even had time to compete in a baseball xBox game (my son's current favorite), watch some MLB on television, and have time to get ready for bed; teeth brushed and all.

LOVE THE FEW GOOD MEN that live at my house!!  Thank you, Guys!!

LOST is now Found

For those that have not watched the series finale of LOST, or for those who will be starting from episode one forward, please disregard this post.  No need to read this, because I will be sharing spoilers.

We have watched LOST for the last six years. Some episodes got me on the edge of my seat, other episodes I needed my husband to pause the television a multitude of times because I just didn't get it. I desperately needed to talk to someone to clarify what it was that I was watching.

A plane crashed on an island, and there were survivors LOST in the gorgeous tropics.  The island had inhabitants already there. The Others who seem to be out for revenge of some kind, perhaps paranoid, savages, crazies.  The two groups do not mix. The survivors are confused on what is transpiring, because they just want to be rescued and off the island.  The Others will not let them go and much brainwashing type behavior begins. Those whom you assume good in one episode turn out bad in the other.  Or do they?  Perhaps it is just your perspective at the moment and the big picture has yet to be revealed.

The story unfolds throughout the six years of "flashbacks" of each survivor's life pre-plane crash. You see the struggles that each person encounters in their life, some of which you can correlate to the deadly sins. For example: gluttony with Hurley, pride with Jack, and despair with Kate.  During the flashbacks we also see glimpses of the theory of seven degrees of separation.  You see that one character is in the background playing a small role in the life of another character.  The connect the dots are so intertwined and leave the viewer feeling glimpses of "Ah Ha Moments."

Towards the ending years of LOST the show takes you on a "flash forward" or perhaps a "parallel universe" type of scenario of each of the characters.  Perhaps showing us what life would have been like had the characters not been in the plane crash.  How would their life have unfolded?  Would they seek redemption?  Would they have changed and how would each of the character's lives effect the other character's lives?

We also learned about the island.  The final episodes clearly showed the most answers about this island.  The good light versus the bad light; or angles versus demons; or God versus Satan.  There were many theories rolling around on the web's social networking and among friendly conversation with friends, so I feel that each viewer could take what they wished from the symbolism, or lack of symbolism as the case may be.

My husband and I chose to see the analogies and symbolism. I am not claiming that LOST was based on biblical fact, I am simply saying you could draw symbolisms regarding reference to the bible. Just as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R.R. Tolkien's work spurred biblical conversations.

Compacting the six years of ingenious writing showed, in my opinion, that a plane crashed and there were no survivors. In fact they all perished and were lead to the island of purgatory; an intermediate state in which one is between death and final judgement. The island can heal, the island can destroy, there are good and bad choices for each character, and their decisions will affect their final judgement. The flash-forwards are the character's post choice from the island.  They have reached final judgement and have completed their transition to Heaven, for some.  We don't see all the characters for reasons and choices they made on the island.

The reunion at the end of the season finale was touching and symbolic if you were viewing the LOST writing in this Christian/Religious symbolic way.  I know from the web that not every one was pleased with the ending, perhaps they did not view the chapters as I had viewed them with this biblical-religious symbolism.  And that is completely fine. After all, this is just television.  I do not hold any LOST character or writing as truth.  Just interesting, entertaining television that finally had a purpose greater than simple violence.  There was a purpose to the master plan of LOST.  I liked that.

In the end, those who were LOST have now been FOUND.

daughter and son

Here is a picture of my daughter at the game on Friday night with her dad.  She'll smile for the camera.

Here is the picture of my son at the game a few weeks ago.  He'll do everything he can to avoid the camera.

But the one thing that they are good about is playing together.  They have been engrossed with Legos this weekend in my son's room.  The weather has not been conducive to outdoor fun, but they certainly have created an imagination upstairs. My son has a lot of Lego creations that come with a theme, but once he builds the box image a few times, he just mixes the pieces together to create their own masterpieces.

Ta Da ... LEGOS!!  The green knapsack where the Lego's are spilling from was made by my husband's grandma.  She made it for him when he used to play Lego's. The idea is when it is time to cleanup, the kids just land all the Lego's on top of the green fabric, take the rope drawstrings, pull up, and the bag magically closes up tight like a knapsack for easy storage.  It works wonderfully. I wonder if Grandma K knew when she was making that bag over thirty-five years ago that it would be used by her future great grandchildren (and will continue to be passed down to future generations). She made it so sturdy and with so much love; I bet she did know.

Update Saturday and a Pizza Recipe

Nothing fancy around the house today with the rain and cold settled in outside, but the perfect day to complete some hanging projects. The first being the completion of transferring all my piano student's monthly songs from my iPod to a CD. My piano recital is in two weeks so I must get going to completion. While time consuming and monotonous it is fun to review the student's work and know that they've put in a good year of learning. 


After much conversation and advice from well qualified individuals, and more importantly the thoughts and drive of my daughter, my girl has signed up for the Accelerated Math Path starting in sixth grade.  She signed the paperwork and mailed it herself, determined to do her best and succeed.  It was fun to listen to her justify and have a game plan ready for this higher honor.  It was no doubt the right thing to do to agree with her decision. 


My son passed to become a Green Belt in TKD.  He was excited to get that new belt tied around his waist and move up the ranks one more level.  His goal is to complete his training to Black Belt, and then evaluate to see what will be next.  We are rooting for him every step of the way. 


As I type, my husband is making another yummy batch of pizza dough.  We enjoyed his making of this recipe back in April so much that it was placed back on the menu rotation for this evening.  I forgot to post the recipe here, so I will post it below.    


My son and I had a fabulous evening together last night.  At one point I tried to get a picture of him with my camera phone.  He is not very cooperative; having a dad with photography skills has burned him out.  I told him he didn't even have to smile, a candid would be fine.  He said, "I think it is kinda odd that you are calling this a Date Night. We're just hanging out."  Sigh.  He grew up too fast already ... kind of ... because he wanted to find every glass elevator at this mall to ride it up and down. So, I put the camera away and took mental pictures of my young man and me enjoying our time together. 


My husband and daughter enjoyed a very late night out on the town at their MLB game.  The team won and the crowd was into the very long, cold, windy, rainy game.  She came in about 11:30pm with a tired but grateful smile to have spent an evening with her dad.  She is our artist at heart and packed her sketch pad in the backpack with her.  She sketched two scenes of the night with her artistic daddy beside her giving tips and tricks. Such a happy duo just hanging out. 


And now, as the sun is starting to peak through the clouds, I better quickly get to work with the CD making. Otherwise if the yellow appears too quickly and too strongly, I just may have to postpone. 


Hand Tossed Pizza Dough: 


4 cups flour
1 tbl instant dry yeast
1 tbl sugar
1 tsp salt
9 oz warm water
little oil for greasing


Add the warm water in a mixing bowl, yeast, sugar, flour, and then salt.  Mix the ingredients for approximately 10 minutes.  Start mixing at low speed until a ball forms, then turn to medium speed.  Stop when the dough is smooth, take it and cut it to two balls.  It is best if you let the dough stay refrigerated overnight (although we don't do this and it still works).  Grease the dough with oil, punch it down, and store it in an airtight container in the fridge overnight.  Take out the dough 2 hours before you begin to make the hand tossed pizza.  Cover it with a clean towel and let it sit in a warm place to proof until it doubles in size.  Toss the dough in the air repeatedly, which if done correctly will stretch and aerate the dough naturally, thus making the pizza crust much more tender when cooked.  Dress the hand tossed pizza crust according to your taste (herbs and spices).  Cooking tip: you should use only the finest quality ingredients for the hand tossed pizza crust, otherwise it won't turn out right.  

Gotta Date

Since my daughter's toddler years my husband has purchased Major League Baseball tickets every year to guarantee a date with my girl. When my son reached about age 3, he was able to go to the ballpark with daddy too.  It has become a long standing annual tradition that the three have enjoyed.  

My husband doesn't necessarily pick the best team match-ups to attend or good weather days.  For him and the kids it is all about the Give Aways. Tonight is my daughter's turn to cheer on our team with her dad on Beach Towel Night.  My son likes to attend Bobblehead nights and the two went two weeks ago. 

She has been looking forward to it all week and the bonus ~ no school today.  They can leave early for the park, enjoy the peanuts and popcorn, catching up on life between daddy and daughter, and enjoy talking ball. 

While they are away I get the pleasure of going on a date with my son.  I got to thinking that this will be a first in a long while.  My son and I hang out a lot together; but going places outside of TKD, and outside of  our snuggle and play times in the house, it has been too long ago since just the two of us had a date.  

He has requested a trip to the Mall.  Really?  Well, yes, but there is a hidden catch.  The LEGO store is at this particular mall.  When I mentioned that we could go to just look and spend time, he got his cute flirt on and said, "Not even a little bitty bucket of Lego's from the wall?"  We'll see what transpires about four o'clock this evening.  We will also be dinning at P.F. Changs; a restaurant that will be new to him. 

I am looking forward to my date with my growing, handsome boy. I love his sense of humor, his deep thoughts, and caring nature. I just love him dearly and look forward to dressing up a little and having a night on the town ~ taking in Mommy and Son time before he grows too fast. 

Better Than An Hallelujah

I have vivid memories of walking back from the college cafe with my sack lunch in hand; turkey sandwich with tomato on the side, mustard and mayo packets at the bottom of the brown sack, along with the Lays potato chips.  Stopping at the vending machine I would put my fifty cents for a return of a Cherry Coke.  Perhaps not the lunch of champions, but a common lunch for a girl solo in the world; studying hard, making wise choices, and holding on to my beliefs. Feeling peace.

Alone in the small dorm room I would insert my Amy Grant ~ Lead Me On or Heart In Motion cassette tape and turn the volume up loud.  I knew all the lyrics and would sing or hum along while I finished some studying while eating my lunch, watching passerby's out my window, before I had to head back to another class. I so-enjoyed those moments alone.

I remember my husband and I went to an Amy Grant concert during our dating college years. It was a great concert, great seats, and she put on a great show. Her music speaks to me in all sorts of ways, and in all sorts of chapters in my life. Never mind the fact that my future husband linked me to looking a lot like her when I was college-aged. Perhaps he was just trying to flirt; it worked (ha).

Today, when I may not have much to share out loud, I want to remember this song.  A new release from Amy Grant that I feel speaks volumes. The being real moments in life... He is always there taking everyone as they are; good and bad, crisis and praise. He finds the melody in all of us. Please enjoy here or watch the video below.

Oh, The Places They'll Go

Why does it surprise me that my son wants to attend the University of Oregon?  Afterall, when I was growing up and his age I had the same dream.  My parents kept their opinions to themselves and just encouraged college in general.  I find myself encouraging college, but with my own opinionated spin on the state in which that college might best be spent.  If he did attend U of O, he'd be a long way from home. As a mother to this adorable nine year old, I can't imagine him away; let alone far away.

We took a road trip the summer of 2006 which landed us in Eugene, Oregon.  I was born and raised a short portion of my life there (big enough portion, however, that I remember a lot on my own).  It is a great town and I enjoyed visiting.  At the time my son was just shy of turning six years old and there was no talk on his part about college. It was the first introduction in fact for both kids about what college meant and why it was important.

But.  From that summer forward my son has been a fan of the U of O.  He can not get the campus off his mind.  We have even taken him to colleges in our neck of the woods and he will not budge his opinion about his school; U of O.

My son got to run on the track and field ~ the same field that my cousin competed when I was my son's age and my cousin was in college.  We have pictures of my brother literally looking up to his older college, full bearded cousin with an awe-inspiring twinkle in his eyes. Once my brother was old enough to run track he did and he wound up lettering in track and cross country in high school.

My son also got to go to the book store and was gravitated to these Duck Paraphernalia's ... over and over he'd try them on and asked if we could purchase them as a souvenir.  We said a picture would do and would be a better memory.  He was happy (enough).

However, what I am most curious about is if my son's fascination regarding the University of Oregon is really due to the fact that there is a great African Safari Animal park just a short hour and a half drive South?  My son's heart is devoted to animals of all kinds ~ and wishes one day to work with animals either in a reserve/refuge/zoo or as a Wildlife Photographer. To say he enjoyed the African Animal Park on this trip would be an understatement.

 A short eight and a half years away and we will see which application he accepts ~ the home state schools, private colleges, or an out of state school.  Oh, The Places They'll Go.

Another Year of Ballet

After this evening, we are down to one remaining ballet lesson for the year.  We then will be attending multiple dress rehearsals per week for hours at a time until Father's Day weekend when my girl will be dancing in two of the four shows of Peter Pan. I love this time of year, but this year will be bitter sweet.

My daughter has danced ballet for six school years and for the last four years she has had an amazing teacher in Miss P*.  The time has flown by in some regards; in that I can't believe four years have passed, but slow in other ways because it does seem like forever of weekly lessons under the direction of Miss P*'s strict guidelines, dry sense of humor, and sarcasm.  I know I have stated it before, but she really is an amazing teacher. Leaving her class is a realization that my girl is growing up.

My daughter will be moving up the ranks to the "big girl class" come September.  The pre-pointe class where she will wear a red leotard and do plenty of bar work.  There are two options; Tuesday with Miss W* or Thursdays with Miss S*.  One more year of weekly classes, and then from here on out she will attend a minimum of twice a week and get the pleasure of having both instructors.

Recently, my daughter was selected to be a Helper in the production of Peter Pan.  For the Preschool and Kindergarten ballet classes, girls in the 5th and 6th grade are chosen to go on stage with the young ones to help guide them through their dance.  The young ones are the stars of the moment, but the big girls help them get in formation and do the dance with them; quietly talking out the steps so that the show does not come to a screeching halt of cute wee-ones in tutu's starring at the bright lights and a mob of 500+ audience attendees. Okay, that sometimes still happens even with the Helpers, but for the majority of time on stage the parents will actually get to see their babies dance.

It is an honor at our studio to be a Helper. For the month of May my daughter has been attending the specific Kindergarten ballet class that she will be leading on stage.  She learned the dance in nothing flat and is now working on the names of the girls so that she can "grab their attention" with a smile and a wink to get them back to ballet dancing and not twirling at their own whim.  It's been a marvelous experience.

The dance year is winding down and the buzz of performance prep and completion is the best experience for dancers and their families.

I remember when my girl looked like this in Kindergarten starting out ...

 And now she looks like this at age eleven ...

Surf's Up Cafe

The kids enjoyed a fun filled Saturday at my parent's house with their cousins.  Originally the plan was to go to the indoor water park that we had been to in April, but the place was sold out and closed with an overload of birthday parties. Jumping back in the car they raced over to the local community pool to have just missed the open public swim.  However, not to be entirely defeated, the four quickly devised a plan of action that was to take place back at my parent's house.

The one thing that the three girls enjoy doing is putting on a show, and the one thing that my son enjoys is cooking.  So they combined the favorites to create Surf's Up Cafe ~ complete with a full course meal and entertainment for my parents.

The entire story would best be told by one in attendance, but what I have gathered is that the girls were Sous Chef's in the kitchen under the direction of the Executive Chef, my son.  The kitchen seemed pretty well run; according to my son "I made sure to make suggestions and not demands." and when asked how much did the girls do, he replied with a roll of the eyes and a smirk, "Well, they spent a lot of time in the bathroom doing each other's hair!"  But in the end all four made dinner, and while dinner and the entertainment were being prepped, my parents enjoyed reading and relaxing.  Kinda nice the kids are of age to handle much more by themselves.

My parents had their own table, the Hawaiian themed show began, and dinner was served.  Followed by a fire pit with S'mores, and multiple games of bean bag toss.

I hope to go to Surf's Up Cafe sometime ~ it sounds like the place to dine!

Hanglider Hike

My brother and his wife are celebrating their twentieth Anniversary with a fun vacation in New York.  That means that their lovely children are in the good care of my parents.  Which also means that there was a cousins gathering planned by the kiddos. What their day entailed will be saved for another post. 

While the kids were being well taken care of, my husband and I, with our dog Cora, hiked a ridge that we always pass on the route to good shopping and my brother's house. The ridge is famous around here because hangliders jump from the top and go sailing over the houses and cars and woods below. We've always wanted to go to the top to observe and yesterday was our chance. 

We leashed up the dog and we set out to the trail head. I am thankful that we did not research this mountain until after our return. I think if I had known ahead of time what I know now, I'm not certain that I would have accomplished the hike. Not for fear, but for questioning how exhaustive that would leave us and I'd put it off for another day. 


The hike is four miles round trip with an average grade of 18% ... that yes, you feel the entire time as you wind and switch back to the top on sometimes skinny trails that clearly fall to the right or left.  At one point you can get a peek-a-boo view of the cars traveling below and it almost made me a little dizzy.  It was so far down and we had not been hiking for very long.  Looking up and seeing nothing but tree trunks, I knew that we had ways to go.


The dog and the two of us did amazingly well.  I credit it to my use of the treadmill at a 10% grade; one of the perks for my years of working out in what I was considering a boring routine. I finally got my pay out.  On the way down as I was more in the cautious mode (it seemed to be more rough going down and I did stumble once) I shared my thoughts that I enjoyed walking up much better.  Which is usually the opposite.


We had a steady and good sweat by the time we reached the top and I actually liked that.  The dog was panting but had water breaks to get her to keep going.  It was a perfect 75 degree day. The scenery was a dense green forest with streaks of yellow from the sun. Gorgeous.


While there is a bus that can take the hangliders up, there were a hand full that we passed that opted to carry their pack up the mountain.  They had the real workout!

 It was very relaxing at the top and every one seemed to think that you had to talk at a low whisper as it was very quiet.  You could hear the gliders swoosh off the mountain and hear the pilot check clear for take-off in their built in walkie talkies.  Their chutes were very colorful against the backdrop of the sky and land below. Cora was fantastic ~ just a bundle of curiosity with her ears perked and sweet eyes taking it all in quietly. I am so very proud of her for climbing that mountain. She was awesome!

 A mother who had reached the top with her family after us made two comments: "Oh, I want a turn! I would love to do that!" to which I thought I had absolutely no interest but could appreciate the beauty and their wanting to do it.  And two, "You guys passed us and I told my girl that if the cute little beagle could hike up this thing, that she could. But then she pointed out that the cute beagle had four legs and she only had two."  Ha!

 A gorgeous day to celebrate our climb. I would do it all over again.

On to Green

While it is not official, my son is crossing his fingers that he passed his Green Belt testing in Tae Kwon Do.  I am confident that he did because he was spot-on.  It has been the most fun watching my son grow these last eight months.  His strength has increased, his coordination and flexibility are a marked improvement, and he just shines with confidence.  I could not be more pleased. Regardless of belt rank he passes in my book!

My husband got some fantastic photographs of the testing. He took so many photographs of my son and all the other testers too; I had to narrow it down to "just" these:

The favorite moment of the night perhaps is when belt rank Yellow and above get to break a board.  The higher ranks, Red and Black, can even muster up enough energy to break multiple boards at once. That is an incredible feat to watch first hand.  No injuries, no blood, they make it look so easy.  Focus, confidence, and determination.

Kick and break through:

This is my son's training partner.  The two work well as a team; they are not only matched in ability, but personality and discipline as well.

And no person would want to find this young man in a dark alley trying to pull one over on him.  He has got the moves and strength to go with it.  The cool part, however, is that he is the most gentle and caring fifth grade boy.  He watches out for the underdog and encourages the younger belts with his humbleness.  We've gotten to know him this year because he is also a homeroom classmate of my daughters. Look at his height and then imagine the power of a tornado as he spun.  He made it look so easy.

My son is on to Green ... I just know it.  Great work, Son!