Hmmm... first let's start with Friday. It was around 3:30, my in-laws had just arrived, we were getting ready to leave for martial arts and we noticed the scent of smoke on the air (it was a nice day so our windows were open). We had also heard sirens but in the city, that's nothing new. But imagine our surprise when we walk out the back door to head to class and notice this...
Yes, the building behind us was on fire. Thankfully it was nothing huge... a flaming couch in the basement.After martial arts and dinner, it was time to come home for Alex's birthday cake with Grandpa and Grandma...
(I actually messed up the real shot so this was his staged shot for me... lol! I was having camera issues that day... nothing directly related to my camera but my mental inability to figure out which lens I wanted, where said lens might be located and that both my external flash and camera should be turned on at the same time... sigh.)
Alex LOVES his Jello cake. He finds great joy in picking the jello flavors... this year the top later was Tropical Fusion and the bottom layer was orange... YUM!
Then it was time to open presents from Grandpa and Grandma and his aunt and uncle. And much to his delight, both sets of gifts included more Lego products!The next day I took Clara to dance and afterwards we met everyone for lunch. Then Clara went home with her grandparents and Alex went with us for a day out. He had two requested destinations... the comic book store and the Lego store.
We started out at Brainstorm Movies, Comics and Gaming (I was going to link to the website, but it seems to be down at the moment, so here's their myspace page). We love this store. We started there not long after moving here after reading about it in the Trib. We were looking for ways to encourage Alex to read more. Our theory at that time was that the beginning readers didn't offer enough action for his taste so comics gave him the action without overwhelming him with text. The kid's section is right up from and Robert was quick to recommend appropriate titles for Alex and got him excited about the stories right away. He was hooked. Saturday we walked in after a 6 month absence, and Robert recognized us right away and had all of Alex's subscriptions pulled before Alex could pull his card from his pocket. Alex selected a stack of comics, which we treated him to for his birthday. Saturday had the added bonus of being Free Comic Book day so Alex left with a bonus of five additional comics (Robert had selected a couple of those specifically for Clara though).
Then we were off to the Lego store! Alex had originally also wanted to go to the top of the Hancock tower but Saturday was entirely too cloudy for that. Alex tried to browse but gave up pretty quickly and went straight to what he was there for... the Indiana Jones Temple Escape. Thankfully it was there and we went straight to the check out counter. We stopped for a treat but we could tell that Alex was antsy to get home and build.
That night was grilled out burgers, legos and wii. Fun night.
Sunday was church. This year's kindergarten class received their Bibles during their chapel time, so we went there to see Clara get her Bible instead of heading straight to service. It also ended up being a big day for Alex as well... we found out when we picked him up from choir that he had been elected as the Junior Officer to the children's choir! He had won over the other choir members with is impromptu speech about his qualifications (he's always at church unless we're on a trip and he's very organized because at home he keeps his legos separated by size... LOL!). After that we said good-bye to grandpa and grandma and hurried off to buy a birthday presents for a party we were going to later.
The kids had been invited to the birthday party of one of their homeschool friends. It was a beautiful day for a party and the kids had a great time playing in the park with their airplanes they had built. One of the presents the birthday girl had received was a body art kit... you should have seen how the kids all made each other up!! I wish I would have had my camera... we had packs of wild tigers and vampires running around their house!
Ugh... which brings us to today. The kids have a belt test for martial arts on Saturday so they needed to get in some extra classes. The normal kid classes are in the afternoon but today we went to one of the primarily adult classes. It was tough for them... this one included a full hour of "peace exercise yoga" along with a full hour of martial arts. They did well though. I finally got up my nerve and did the peace exercise today. It was tough, but it felt good to do something active. I would like to go more often, but I think we'll just shoot for once a week since it was such a long class for the kids.
Besides that it was gymnastics/cooking class day... Alex made a fabulous meal... black bean and sweet potato enchiladas, homemade tortillas and fruit pico de gallo with cinnamon chips... yum!
Okay... now that I've bored any of you out there who attempted to read this all... I'm off to walk the dog!
'nite!
(I'll try to get back to Hawaii pics tomorrow!)
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