Super Duper Thursday and Beyond

For the last couple of weeks we've been trying to come up with Skye's presentation for the monthly home school show and tell, which is a Science Fair this month. We've been studying Organic Classification, you remember kingdoms(there's 6 now not just plant and animal) , species, phylums and the like, but it's not really a good science fair, show-stopper, kind of subject. So after visiting the Science museum for inspiration and scouring the internet for ideas we narrowed it down to hurricanes and tornadoes and then further down to hurricanes. Mind you this was based greatly on a simple yet cool presentation that I found on the internet, "Tornado in a bottle" that while it does indeed look like a tornado and the vortex of a hurricane in fact the principles are hugely different. However at this point we were committed and were going to do a presentation on hurricanes.

The Super Duper is also a pot luck and of course I always feel like I have to make something, really its an excuse to cook something up and share. I'm beginning to be a pot luck addict which is a good thing because after the Super Duper, in the early evening is an Set Decorator Society meeting which since the writer's strike has taken to the pot-luck format. So two pot lucks, a Science Fair and what ended up being a really good SDSA meeting in the eve.





But not before we got a little visit from this adorable little guy. He hung out for a long time for a hummingbird, hope he's all right. Photo by Skye.

Cooking, practicing a hurricane presentation and then prepping tow additional "fig-trees". Oh yeah and then running down to flower market to adorn "fig-trees". And then driving, driving, driving.




Skye's presentation board. I have a video of her presentation but until I can figure out how to trim it down, well let's just say it goes on a bit.




Skye trying to see a hole in her hand. Neat optical illusion.




There were lots of great and fun presentations. It really keeps the kids attentions. And the interactions and Q and A's are fascinating to watch.




Liquid nitrogen is way cool, literally and figuratively . I had never seen it explained and demonstrated before. Definitely a crowd favorite.





Ok this is a picture of the original "fig tree" from New Year's Eve. Just imagine 3 of them instead of one and around 90 Prosciutto wrapped figs instead of 30. And then imagine me in the back of my Explorer around the corner from the prop house where the meeting was happening attaching these little guys to their hooks. Pretty funny. What Skye is coming away with from all this only time will tell.

This weekend slows down a bit with a friend's son's band Slinky playing at the Knitting factory, Skye's basketball team's playoff game (I'm coach), a couple of birthday parties and then 26.2 mile of fun with the LA Marathon on Sunday.

Skye Journeys; My Stumblings

Last Saturday was a classic example of my good intentions and love for lots of experiences colliding with a one step forward two step back dance I feel I've been doing for a couple months or weeks or years, yeah feeling like a clumsy juggler these days.

Skye's moving up quickly in Taekwondo. She had a belt test in the morning. There's a lot kids doing Taekwondo. So while the upper belts were sparring, I stepped out grab a bottle of water. Upon my return, and I was only gone for like ten minutes, Skye was sitting down after finishing her form. They had slipped in the White Belts testing in between the Black belts sparing and Green belts and Blue belts sparring. So after waiting and watching all these other kids warm up and kick and yelp I miss Skye's kicking and yelping. Meanwhile the clock is ticking and I realize we will be late for our turn manning her girl scout's booth in the annual Tasting Bee(several troops get together and make traditional international foods and then go around and sample one another's fare) . Not to mention I had volunteered to give another girl a ride to the Tasting Bee, oh and I had forgotten my cell phone to inform anyone of my predicament.

Oh this Belt Ceremony is dragging on, hand out the belts and certificates and let me get out of here. Enough with the speeches. Actually it was really nice but the clock was ticking.






Skye warming up. She's still very flexible.



Skye accepting her certificate and belt. A very happy and proud kid. Way to go kiddo. At least I was there for that.




Skye helping out at her Troop's Russian themed booth.




Girl scouts have been a lot more involved and time consuming than I imagined, but well worth the effort.

After racing back to get my phone I was off to coach the Evel Kninevals, (Skye's basketball team, not my idea for the name, in fact I strongly resisted it which is probably why the girls were so adamant about it.) It as an amazingly close game decided in the last minute. We lost by a close 3 points. The play offs start next week.

Speaking of basketball. The Lakers are on the rise. 10 wins in a row. Go Lakers!!!! Kobe MVP




This was an assume spontaneous moment at one of the home school. This was not staged, in fact us parents were all involved in various discussions and conversations a good 50 yards away. I was too lazy to run over and get a picture so I handed off my camera to fellow home school parent/good friend/photo-journalist Theresa. Notice the nice composition and that the subjects are actually in center of the photo.

Surprise Cindy

Cindy’s birthday came and went a couple weeks back when I was at my lowest with the flu that hit me. I felt horrible that I could barely acknowledge her birthday much less get her a gift or dinner or anything. I managed to find the card that I had bought the week before and scribbled something in a delirious state.

So as I approached full recovery, I hatched the idea of throwing Cindy a surprise party with this three day weekend coming up. I still wasn’t my normal self but I sent out e-vites and suddenly I realized I had to pull this thing off. So I shopped for snacks and such, determined to keep it simple. I hid all the goodies except the things that needed refrigeration in the garage in old boxes and trash bags. Then I did my best to hide and or distribute things in the fridge to not raise suspicions. Skye and I ordered a cake to pick up on day of the party. How I’d do that I hadn’t figured out. Cindy was curious as to if we would do anything or see anybody over the weekend. I played off that I still needed some recovery time, I didn’t feel like doing much of anything.

The night/early morning, like 2 or 3 am, before the party I got up and sort of laid out the platters and bowls and forks and stuff for the party, took some pics and then re-hid everything. I prepared one simple dish that still needed to be cooked, but I’d figure out how to get that done latter. I really didn’t have a plan yet. I went on-line and bought tickets for a movie for the time the guests would be arriving and getting ready to surprise Cindy upon our return. Then I made a little outline with the pictures of where everything was and how everything could be set up. At some point during the day I told Cindy I just had to get out for some “alone” time. It didn’t seem to be too odd of a request. Off I went to get the cake. Upon return I bumped into Cindy as I came into the house through the garage, luckily I left the cake in the car just in case such a chance meeting occurred. I’d sneak it in latter, which I was able to do. We were all in the car ready to leave when I “realized I had left my phone in the house” I went back inside while Cindy and Skye waited in the car. I then retrieved the envelope with the photos and instructions, left it out, unlocked side doors and back doors and headed out hoping that this would work out. I didn’t specify anyone to be in charge and didn’t know who was going to show up when. That was part of the fun of it. Half-way through the movie and the guests would hopefully be arriving and setting up. I had sent out an e-mail to the guests that morning but had no idea if anyone checked it. It was out of my hands now.

After the movie, I received a voicemail that indeed, super responsible good friend Linda was there had found envelope and was moving ahead. What a relief. I called shortly before we got home but couldn’t say anything or even risk Cindy hearing me on the phone, so I hung up after a couple rings. Hopefully that would be enough. When we got home Cindy commented that someone must be throwing a party because of all the cars. Skye had been very discreet the days and hours leading up but she was starting to let it slip. I rang the doorbell and then realized I didn’t have my keys. As I waited for Cindy to get the door open, I wondered what would happen next. Who would be there? Where would they lay in wait?

It worked!!

For a moment Cindy thought it was a home-invasion but then she saw it was people she knew, she was still confused since her birthday had been a couple of weeks before. The guests had done a wonderful job being hosts and the party was in full swing within minutes.

Special thanks to Linda



Yummy yummy cake.




The following morning....a Barbie massacre and a bunch of popped water ballons????????

Happy Valentine's

January ends

Just a quick post

My marathon training or should I say overtraining has come to a pause. I had worked up to a long run of 16 miles and was out running trails for 2-3 hour stints, but it was taking a couple of days to recover. And I'm still doing jui jitsu and working out semi-regularly. Well like I said I guess I overdid it and hurt my foot and am now pathetically limping around. Hopefully I will be in decent shape to run in Snowshoe the Bear, snowshoe 10k I signed up for next weekend.

Skye's basketball team is doing really well. Last week we were short players and still were able to win despite only having 4 girls to there 5 out on the court. We're now 3 wins 0 loses and still have not come up with a name.

The home school Super-Duper show and tell was postponed due to rain which gave us an additional week to study Skye's historical personality, Cleopatra. I was very proud of her presentation. She remembered a lot of the facts and was quite poised.

Cindy continues on with Eagle. I continue to spend too much time on the internet and marvel at its enormity.