Li'l American Gladiators

Tad enrolled the boys in gymnastics, which is great. They're not particularly interested in athletics -- they're protested loudly at any idea of signing them up for soccer or Little League or the like. Luckily, they didn't mind gymnastics too much, otherwise, their skinny little bodies might start to atrophy.

It's also, appealing to us, as it's an activity that they enjoy that doesn't involve whacking each other with toy swords or pretending to otherwise incite violence upon one another. I'm not one of those parents who get really freaked out if they want to shoot at each other with nerf shooters, however an entire weekend of gratuitous mayhem can get a little wearing.

That's one of the reasons we decided to bring them to their gym (The Children's Gym) one Saturday.

We paid for a full hour, but after a while, their interest began to wane, so I got the idea to set up a half-pint version of American Gladiators, which perked up their interest quite handily.

(if you're on Facebook, you won't see the video until you click on "View original post" and go directly to the blog)

Hmmm... a violence-free weekend?

What's a pirate's favorite kind of sock?

Aaargyle, of course!

I'm a little late with this post, but had to mention our fun day at the Portland Pirate Festival. We've been going for years, from its inaugural festival til now and we wouldn't miss it for just about anything.

The tickets might seem a little spendy, but you have to keep in mind that once you're in the gates, everything else (except of course, concessions and gift items) is totally free. This is especially a good deal for a family, as your children can indulge in as many of the bouncy, blow up activity thingies as their stomachs can handle, see puppet shows, juggling shows, check out some friendly parrots (left, Colin seems a little dubious, while Ethan gets a tickling), see Captain Bogg and Salty, likely the greatest pirate kids band in the history of the world, talk to roaming characters in amazing garb (we usually get gifted with some pieces of eight from one particular friendly buccaneer, but this year, we didn't see him. There was, however, a very credible Captain Jack Sparrow who was wandering the premises who very much thrilled my coworker Shirley Karr, who has, to put it mildly, a "thing" for Johnny Depp)(she would also drub me soundly for how much this sentence is running on, but she can complain at her own blog), play some pirate-ish games (whack the rats is one, pictured below) to earn a prize, watch a cannon battle, watch some swordplay and much, much more.


This year, we also got to see a real blacksmith and received some elaborate knotted things from a knot-master.

I couldn't resist buying the boys some wooden swords with some nifty black leather scabbord thingies, which have brought them a ton of joy already.

It was a long day (10 til 4) but we had a blast.

My advice: go early, before the lines form at the bouncy castle thingies (and get them out of the way first -- later on you'll see lines form). Don't miss the cannon battles or Captain Bogg and Salty.

Time Warp

We went home to Medford a few weeks ago to visit my mom's house, aka the home that time forgot.

My mom is a big proponent of weird, generic dollar store "bargains."

There were about a dozen bottles of "L.A.'s Totally Awesome Window Clean tucked away in a spare bathroom. Wouldn't most people make the assumption that any product called "L.A.'s Totally Awesome" anything might be slightly suspect?

Anyway, I put the cleaner through its paces and found that it was really pretty much blue food coloring and a hint of ammonia to make it smell useful.

There are also quite a few products that my mom seems reluctant to throw out, although I can hardly believe that she's keeping that petroleum jelly for sentimental reasons. I took a few pix of some various items.

It was only a few years ago that the threw out the bottle of Jean Nate that I had bought in high school... ummm.... a few years ago...

Anyway, take a look at a few of the things I found at her house.

Doesn't that Beef-flavored Smack look totally delish?

I swear we really do feed these boys.

The derelict look of this photo is enhanced by the work that Tad's been doing on the front porch, stripping, etc.

I mentioned how thin the boys look when they really suck in their guts, leading to this photo op.

Maybe I should solicit donations?

Perception Test

I was sent this video as a perception test. The presenter prefaced the video with remarks that there was a difference in how the sexes were able to catch the number of times the ball was passed between the people wearing white shirts.

Watch very carefully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX2BJC12uXQ

This blew my mind away!

This isn't a political blog....

... but....

This blog was originally created to support my card-making venture on etsy. Then I got carried away adding in tidbits about the family and our goings on. I never really wanted to make any kind of political statements.

Until now.

I really hate being lied to, especially when it is so simple to check up on the facts.

When it was announced that Sarah Palin's teenage daughter was pregnant, I inwardly groaned. Another distraction from the things that really mattered! 

Then I was pleased when Barack Obama spoke against making this an issue. "Let me be as clear as possible," Obama said. "I think people's families are off-limits, and people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president." 

He further said that "if I ever thought there was somebody in my campaign that was involved in something like that, they’d be fired."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/01/palin.daughter/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/02/us/politics/02PALINDAY.html?em

Finally, someone in politics takes the high road!

Imagine my surprise when I found out that Sarah Palin said this in an email solicitation after her nomination: "I  cannot tell you how special last night was for me and how enthused I am to be John McCain's running mate," Palin said in the email solicitation, adding: "Unfortunately, as you've seen this week, the Obama/Biden Democrats have been vicious in their attacks directed toward me, my family and John McCain. The misinformation and flat-out lies must be corrected."

Frankly, I was appalled. A search of reliable news stories online revealed her lie (and there's really no other way to characterize that statement) many times over:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/04/1347741.aspx

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/09/04/Palin_ObamaBiden_Democrats__vicious/UPI-68551220578244/

http://mediamatters.org/items/200809050018

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/palin-accuses-o.html

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212169879.shtml

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080904/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_palin

This is so disappointing to me. It is exciting to see a woman (and a mother) get ahead in the world, even if I may not agree with her views and policies, but when I see someone who should be an inspiration and a role model engaging in such outright falsehood, it makes me doubly discouraged.

It also disgusts me that a political figure has so little respect for the intelligence of the American public that they would tell a lie that is so easily checked upon.

I hope that these types of tactics do not prove effective!

School Days

Last week, Tad had told me that the first day of school was Thursday, so I blocked out that day on my calendar so that I could take the boys in and meet their teachers. I found it odd that every other parent I talked to thought that school started on Wednesday.

On the weekend, I asked him what sort of school supplies they would need on the first day of class. He told me that a list hadn't arrived with their teacher assignments and he assumed that we would receive a list when they showed up.

Luckily, over the weekend, we discovered the truth on both counts, otherwise, we would have shown up a day late, completely empty handed.

A fellow Glencoe School mom, Emily, pointed me to the Glencoe School Supply List online. (Emily and I both worked on the Glencoe School Foundation website over the summer, for which I am very grateful. Prior to that, we had launched her own website for her freelance writing after she purchased my services at the last foundation auction.)

The school supplies list is such a blend of old classics (24 count crayons, a Pink Pearl eraser (I remember wondering as a child WHY Pink Pearl???), wide-ruled paper, notebook) and new, unfamiliar ones (why do they need clipboards? What are the Post-it notes for?).

So, tomorrow's a big day for the kids! Third grade is when they get to go up to the second floor of the building, leaving the little kids behind on the ground floor.