First grade friends (or not)

While doing some work cleaning out the garage this weekend, I came across a box of old pictures, mostly things just tossed in at random over the years. I found several good ones from high school and college, and so I spent some time scanning them and uploading a few to Facebook. Ethan loved seeing old pics of me and Mitch, friends of ours from school, etc. He even mistook a few old pics of Mitch (during his pre-school years) as pics of himself wearing outfits he does not remember.

I was talking to my mom about all of this at lunch today, saying something to the effect of "it's interesting to see where the people I knew in first grade (or thereabouts) have ended up." I mean, who can really tell, at age 6 or 7, what anyone will become as an adult? Ethan was listening to all of this, and started asking me to tell him about some people. I obliged, telling him Chris is now a doctor, Shannon is now an accountant, and so on. He was quiet for a while and then asked, "What about Dick Cheney?" I said "What about Dick Cheney?" thinking perhaps he'd moved on to another topic, to which he replied, "Didn't you go to first grade with Dick Cheney?" I'm not sure how old he thinks I am, or how old he things Dick is, but I assured him, I did NOT go to first grade with DC. I know all grown-ups look old to kids, so I am not even thinking about the 40 yr age gap in play here.

And if I had gone to school with the Evil One, do you think I'd admit it? I'm sure Mrs Elrod wouldn't admit she'd taught him.

Staggering to the beat of our own drummer

My dear friend Tamara has kindly alerted me to this auction on eBay. I am half-tempted to buy this. The item description alone must be worth something, and Ethan's birthday is coming up in a few days...

It's almost Snacktime!

On Thursday Ethan and I will be going to see Barenaked Ladies. To get in the mod, I'm trolling the web looking for cool clips - enjoy!

This first clip is one of my favs, Raisins, from their new "Snacktime" CD, followed by that oldie but goodie, One Week.

The second clip is an interview about the album.

789 and other brilliant songs

I am all about Barenaked Ladies, as you probably know, and am LOVING their new CD, Snack Time, a collection of original kids songs. "789" is the first single (see video above), though there are some other songs that have already become new favorites of mine (I've only had the book and CD about 3 hrs now!), especially "The Ninjas," "Bad Day," and "Crazy ABCs."

They'll be in town on Ethan's last day of school and we're going to see them - I am counting down the days, believe me! If you love BNL, have a kid, or just love catchy songs, you can't go wrong with this CD. This quote says it all, "Our collective kids now outnumber the band more than 2 to 1," explains vocalist/guitarist Ed Robertson. "We set out to make a record that would be entertaining for them…not strictly a children's record, but a record that children would really enjoy. Our kids are in to all kinds of music. They love the They Might Be Giants kids records, but they also love The Beatles, Fountains of Wayne, Randy Newman, Black Eyed Peas and Green Day. Making the focus about what our kids like was a truly liberating process and fun for the whole band."

A story, by Ethan

Part of Ethan's weekly homework is to write and illustrate a story. Here's today's tome.

My Lost Tooth

On April 6th, my tooth was loose.
I wiggled it and I wiggled it!
It did not come out.
It finally came out on April 10th.
Guess what?
I swallowed it!

Any literary or studio agents reading this, please contact me to begin negotiations for film and book rights ;-)

The St Patrick's Day Massacre

Destruction rained down on Ethan's classroom today, as the class discovered that their room had been overrun by leprechaun vandals over the weekend. Books were tossed around, chairs turned over, name tags on desks switched, and everyone's behavior card was turned to red. No leprechauns were caught (in spite of 20 traps set around the room), but taunting notes, footprints, and gold coins were left in the vandals' wake. Ethan's trap is the one you can see here - the hill with an Irish flag, a pot of gold, and tons of shiny shamrocks and leprechauns glued on to attract the creatures so renown for their love of all things tacky.

My own pop culture vulture

Ethan is now 6 1/2 years old - time, I am realizing, that he is getting into things on his own, things I don't even know he knows about. Luckily, I'm not talking about anything bad, in fact, this past week has been one delightful revelation after another. It all began a few days ago, as we were driving in the car. I had one of the cooler radio station in the Bay Area, KFOG, on, and the opening riff of the Stray Cats' "Rock This Town" began to play. A small voice from the back seat popped up - "Mommy, I know this!" I thought to myself, Sure, he's probably heard it before a time or two. Then Brian Setzer - and Ethan - began to sing. The kid knew every single word - and even sang a bit of the guitar solo. I looked over my shoulder at one point to see him playing his air bass (he prefers to pluck strings a la Adam Clayton and Sting, instead of strumming, and on this song, who wouldn't?) and rocking out, as much as one can while confined by a seat belt. I asked where he learned it, and he said from one of his Cars games. Who knew? Need I tell you that E was thrilled to learn the band's name - he's always been a cat lover ;-)

Yesterday, Ethan and my mom were discussing Britney Spears and Martha Stewart. Martha was on the Today show demonstrating something when Ethan walked in and said, "Oh, that's the lady who got her kids taken away." My mom was puzzled, so she questioned him some more. Ethan went on to say, "You know, she's a really bad driver, so they took her kids away to keep them safe." "Do you mean Britney Spears?" my mom asked. "Oh yeah, I meant Britney Spears - that lady is Martha Stewart." I think this might possibly be the first time anyone, anywhere, has confused Martha and Brit. Oh how I'd love to see their faces if they knew this - I'm sure both would be horrified!

Finally, this AM Ethan showed mastery of more current pop music, too, singing along with Peter, Bjorn & John's "Young Folks."

I remember singing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," alongside my friend Penny Ehrles, when I was 6 1/2 - it's nice that E is developing some sense of pop music too. Now, I must devise a plan to transfer my absurd love for George Michael and Wham! to him - that may prove more difficult...

You, too, can be a Soccer Mom

Yes, it's true, apparently anyone can become a soccer mom. ll it takes is an excitable 6 yr old (I recommend boys, though I am sure a girl would work too), one pair of shin guards, and a registration fee.

Ethan has been proclaiming his love for soccer for about two years now, and today, he finally joined an official soccer group. He told me before we left today that he wanted to be the goalie, and was thrilled to get to be one for part of their game. I was pretty impressed, too, that he did so well - it was his first time out and he blocked four goals. His team btw, is the Carrots. they devastated the Blueberries this afternoon.

I'm also amazed that, in mid-late November, it was actually comfortable sitting on the ground for 45 minutes watching him. I'm not sure where my coat is, but it was fabulous not to need it or care! This NoCal weather can grow on a girl...

Road Trip, part I

Not much of note happened during the first half of the trip - NC, TN, AR, and OK all look pretty much the same each time one drives through them (with NC and TN being far more pleasant and interesting, imho). When e got to NM, however, we were in for some interesting sights. As we were driving through the desert east of Albuquerque, we could see a massive storm ahead - several miles wide, easily. We stopped and took a few cool pictures of the sky.



The next day we were on through Arizona and up to Las Vegas. Arizona's rock formations, as always, amaze me.


Before we reached Vegas, we drove over the Hoover Dam. Now, I've always heard of it, of course, and love the song by Sugar, but didn't really know what to expect when we got there. I was def. selling the thing short. And kudos to whoever it was that came up with the plan to make a feat of engineering a tourist attraction! I seriously want to go back when we have more time and spend a few hours looking at the displays and wandering around. (Note to self - do not try to drive a massive RV down the windy mountain road surrounding the dam, like someone we were stuck behind for a half hour.)




Mitch was Vegas earlier this summer, but neither Ethan nor I had been before, so we stopped off to take in the spectacle for a day. Like all good, non-corrupting parents, we let Ethan choose which casino hotel to stay at. We offered him a choice between the Luxor and the Excalibur (we were just there for a night, not looking for a place you'd want to stay for ages and ages). Ethan, being my child chose to stay in a castle over a pyramid, so the Excalibur it was. (I was secretly pleased, too, as Carrot Top is in residence at the Luxor, and the idea of encountering him and his scary torso is about enough to give me nightmares.)




I loved the water "show" at the Bellagio, sadly, though, we did not see George, Brad, or any of the other Oceans 11-13 people while we were there. We stayed out of Pacino's wonky casino as well. I think Ethan's faavorite thing was our visit to M&Ms World, where he could mix his own color combo of M&Ms. (He went for purple, hot pink, blue, and mixed colors, both regular and Mini M&M size, in plain and dark chocolate.)




After one night in Vegas, we were on to CA...

Long time, no blog

Gads, it's been positively AGES since I've blogged regularly! Where have I been? I suppose a better thing to say would be, where have I NOT been? As we prep more for the move to CA, we decided that we a) ended to get a car out to CA for Mitch to use all the time so his company won't have to keep renting him one and b) we needed a family vacation. It wasn't the most relaxing thing we've ever done, but it was fun. So, we set off - on a mere 24 hrs notice, for Road Trip 2007.

We did the drive (NC to CA) in about 5 days, without really pushing ourselves. We stopped in Knoxville, TN, Fort Smith, AR, Albuquerque, NM, and Las Vegas, NV along the way. I've not got much to report on the first half of the trip, but will be blogging about the more interesting parts of the trip, and the following 2 weeks that Ethan and I spent in CA with Mitch. (We're back in NC now, waiting for school to start and the move to get underway.)

The pool is open!

We had Dale, jane, & Amanda here for Memorial Day weekend, and the kids got to open the neighborhood pool of the year. Luckily, ethan and Amanda are evenly matched in he water - neither is Greg Louganis or the Thorpedo, but they are both happy enough to paddle around and splash each other in the 3 ft area without feeling like they have to have an adult to grab onto at all times.

I think I know how my remaining NC afternoons will be spent once school is out...

Drop dead gorgeous

What's the point of having kids if you can't brag about them now and then? Ethan's spring school pics just came back and I am SO pleased with them. He's a knockout (esp. in the closeup head shot), if I do say so myself :-) Now onder he's the Ladies Man (apols to Tim Meadows) of his kindergarten class!

Elizabethan Gardens, Manteo, NC

One of our favorite parts of the OBX trip was visiting The Elizabethan Gardens, at the site of the Lost Colony, in Manteo. Ethan, especially, enjoyed it, as he loves flowers and birds. I'm including a picture here of him with his activity sheet - a garden search game the ladies in the gift shop gave him. For someone visiting so early in the season, he managed to find quite a lot of the animals and plants on his "to find" list. We also enjoyed looking at the Elizabethan architecture (the ceiling photo is to die for - someday I must have a room with this ceiling!) and the views of Roanoke Sound from the gardens. The photo of the massive oak tree is one of my favorites - it is said that this very tree was living when the colonists first landed on Roanoke Island in 1588.

Illuminating times

I've finally got tie to finish blogging about our OBX trip over Spring Break. (I had 2 new classes start this week, intro to IT, which took up more time than i'd expected).

So, without further adieu, I give you, lighthouses of the NC Outer Banks!

First up, Bodie Island Lighthouse (pronounced "body"), on the Roanoke Sound side, north end of Hatteras Island. This was our first stop on the Grand Tour of Lighthouses.
























































































Next, the granddaddy of all NC lights, the Cape Hatteras Light - the quintessential American lighthouse (I think).













What is most impressive to me about the Cape Light is that it is now standing 2900 feet southwest of its original location (after being moved, intact, in 1999). This picture is taken from the site of the original 1903 foundation, looking towards its new home.


























Next, came the Ocracoke Lighthouse, on Ocracoke Island, one of the most remote areas I've been to in NC - as evidenced by the 13-mile drive from the ferry terminal to the first building on the island,























and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, in Corolla.






















Last but not least, we visited the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse, overlooking the Roanoke Sound, in Manteo.