Sunshine and earthworms

The weather has been quite kind these first couple days back to school. Nice weather always puts the children in a better mood. The big thing on the playground is earthworms. We received a lovely new layer of mulch over the break which holds moisture in its lower layers well; the perfect digging grounds for small hands in search of fat worms. One of our little friends even brought in a tub of worms he'd found at home. I tried to get a picture of a worm in a little hand, but the camera card is still full of Disney photos!

I'm uploading them as we speak, so there will be a nice link to an album full of photos for you at the bottom of the post. In the meantime, tomorrow is already hump day, and I have decided to go back to my Hump Day Goodies making ways. Tomorrow's goody is kettle corn. Ever since I first smelled the delicious salty, buttery popcorn in Disney World, I've been itching to make kettle corn. In fact, I had even planned to make some before our trip for snacking on the plane. Anyway, a nice big bowl is already made and cooling for tomorrow. Tuzi, who seems to dislike the smell of oil and the sound of corn popping is not impressed and even carried his carrot (an offering from the offending MamaTuzi) away to his room. The photo is from before we left. He has taken to napping in a little towel tent on T's office chair, and I managed to capture a few photos. Such the inventive little bun!

Aaaaand we're back!

We started our last day off right with a Character Breakfast at the Garden Grove in the Swan hotel. The food was delicious as expected and we got to meet Pluto and Goofy, too. After a short rest for digestion, we headed off to the Magic Kingdom to finish off our day and vacation.

My favourite park did not disappoint. We managed to get on every ride we wanted, watched the Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade and the castle stage show. We even stayed long enough to catch the SpectroMagic parade again. I definitely can't wait to go back!

For now, the magic has been put on hold as we return to our routine. We were sad to go, but the weather helped usher us out. It stormed overnight on our last night, complete with hail, and didn't let up until sometime just before we took off. Landing at Dulles wasn't too bad since the weather here was a balmy 77F.

Tonight I will spend some time uploading all the photos we took as well as some of the professional PhotoPass ones. I'll link them here when they're all done.

Every Person Comes Out Tired

Today was EPCOT day. We got up earlier this morning and headed over to the park by ferry. One of the advantages of staying at the Dolphin is the ferry transport to EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. But the ferry to EPCOT is even better because it drops you off at an alternate entrance at the back of the park. So, rather than having to fight the crowds through the main gate, we leisurely entered just between France and Great Britain in the World Showcase.

We headed straight for Test Track, another ride T had never done. The wait was already over an hour (the park had only been open for an hour!) but we got our Fast Passes for later. It seemed everyone was rushing to Test Track and Soarin', so demand wasn't quite as high for Mission: Space. That ride has 2 options; the Green, less intense team training or the Orange more intense training. The Orange line had a wait time of over an hour, so we jumped in the Green line for a 10 minute wait. It was well worth it, and I doubt we missed out on much (other than intense spinning, according to others we spoke with).

Lunch was at "The Land" building which houses Soarin' and some other less in-demand rides. The line for Soarin' was still beyond what we wanted to wait, and Fast Passes were being handed out for the afternoon when we hoped to be at the pool. Since we both had the chance to ride Soarin' in DisneyLand (where it started) we didn't feel the need to ride again, even though it would have been great.
Test Track was a great time. Admittedly, it was slightly less cool than my memory hyped it up to be, but still the Disney genius was on full display. Throughout the wait in line, you walk by exhibits and scenes to get you super excited. They really try to make the wait half the fun.

After being whipped around and generally treated like crash test dummies, we headed "home" for some relaxation by the pool. We were not impressed with the service today, especially compared to yesterday when a waitress asked us almost immediately if she could get us anything. But still, it was nice to take a nap and do some reading while we rested our legs for tonight's Extra Magic Hours.

Future visitors note; it really does pay to stay on Disney property. We've bought goodies in the parks and had them delivered to our hotel; items arrive by 1:00pm the following day. You can get your park ticket "attached" to your hotel key card to reduce the number of little things you have to carry. Transport to and from the parks as well as the other resorts is complimentary and constant. Finally, the Extra Magic Hours are provided exclusively for guests of the Disney resorts. These happen before the parks open and after the parks close to the public. Once the EMH begin, guests are required to show their resort IDs to gain entrance into rides; with little to no wait whatsoever!

Lions, rhinos and giraffes!

We started our first full day in Animal Kingdom. Needing a good night's rest after yesterday, we slept in a little longer than we liked and ended up hitting the park around 10am instead of 8am. Again, our tardiness didn't seem to have any ill effects. We headed straight for Kilimanjaro Safari to grab some Fast Passes to evade the lines later (the wait was already up to an hour!). Fast Passes in hand, we crossed the park to get to It's Tough to Be a Bug. I'd seen it before, but T had never been. It's a 3D spectacular show with lots of surprising effects. That was a great way to get a jump start on the day and instantly wipe away any lingering sleepiness!


By the time we got out of Flik's ant hill, we were ready to head back in the direction of Kilimanjaro. We stopped for some delicious corn dog nuggets on the way and got a wonderful photo of the tree. (That's on the camera, so I'll have to upload when I get home.) Kilimanjaro is just as good, maybe even better than everyone says it is! We saw real lions, rhinos, giraffes and all kinds of other animals too! We could have ridden over an over if there weren't a wait!


We also rode the Dinosaur ride. A lot scarier than I thought it was going to be! It's one of the rides where they take a photo of you at some point along the way. When we saw the photo of our car, my head is buried in T's shoulder, I obviously don't have my eyes open and I'm looking down anyway. Not recommended for littler friends. Phew!


We managed to get back to the hotel for a nice relaxing nap in the afternoon. We were greeted by a deliciously large fresh fruit plate and Pellegrino in our room when we returned! Thanks Daddy! After a long, exciting morning in the park the fruit was just what we wanted. We saw this cool (magical?) whale cloud while relaxing in the unfortunately rather uncomfortable chairs at the Dolphin Pool.


Finally, we finished up our day at the Magic Kingdom. We went over to see SpectroMagic which had 2 magical showings tonight flanking the nightly Wishes Come True fireworks spectacular. I'm so glad we got to see them both. We also got to sneak in a round at the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. This is definitely a must see! Probably using the same technology as Turtle Talk with Crush, this is an interactive show. The monsters perform an adlib comedy show and incorporate real people from the audience. As we were getting prepped for the show and transfer into Monstropolis, I was starting to have doubts about the hilarity level. But that was quickly resolved as they snapped shots of people as we were filing into our seats and added captions. We're hoping to get to do that one again on Saturday!

Lights, Motors, Action!

We spent our first day in Disney World at Hollywood Studios (you may know it by its old name, MGM Studios; we haven't discovered why the name was changed yet). We were a little late getting to Dulles, my fault, I never feel like I'm totally ready. We got there about 45 minutes before our flight was due to take off. Luckily, being in the morning in the middle of the week, there weren't many people around. The nice thing was that we didn't have to wait anywhere!

Watched Bugs' Life on the plane; T got it from iTunes since he'd never seen it. It was the perfect length to while away the time. I have to say I quite like JetBlue! It was the first time I'd flown with them. No charge for luggage (unless each passenger has more than one) and they had so many options for snacks and beverages - and also no charge!

Back to the park, T and I were both dragging a little despite all the excitement that comes along with a trip to The Greatest Place on Earth. We didn't sleep much last night getting packed and all. The highlight of the day was "Lights, Motors, Action!" as you may have guessed from the title. Real stunt men perform awesome car stunts twice a day. Though there are claims that park attendance is down 20-30% this year, the stadium was packed. If you think car chases, pyrotechnics and general speed-infused action are cool, you should definitely see this show.


Another highlight of the day was our lunch. We ate at a 50's style restaurant in the park. In true Disney detail, the place was like walking into a 50's house, but with a bar. When your party is called to be seated, the hostess calls you like she's your mom. The delicious food tastes like mom's cooking (if mom made super juicy, deliciously flavourful fried chicken). We both ordered fun drinks - I got a cool Mickey's BeBop, which is basically a Shirley Temple served in a souvenir glittery plastic cup and topped off with an LCD glowing ice cube!

Tomorrow, we're off to Animal Kingdom in the morning. Hopefully we'll be able to pull ourselves away for some pool time in the afternoon and then off to Magic Kingdom in the evening for SpectroMagic!

5 days!

Today is the last day of Spring Break Camp. Sorry I've been MIA a long time, while the auction took over the world. Let's just say it was rather intense there for at least a week. I had a week to catch up on sleep and get my health back in order before Camp started. A week to plan the camp, which I had only half-planned during the onslaught of auction tasks. But now, on the last day, I'm feeling quite good about it. I had the good sense way back in January to plan for an outside group to come in to entertain the children. After some struggles with my first choice, I found a suitable alternative, which as turned out amazingly well.

We've had a lovely lady come in each morning to entertain the children with hands-on Mad Science. She teaches them real science while keeping them involved and engaged via really cool projects and activities. This is just the way children should be introduced to an academic subject, I think. She has the children so interested in learning, the camp has actually become educational! While she runs her program in the morning, I have plenty of time to get myself organized for the afternoon.


I can't help but want to have equally cool (if not as educational) fun projects for the children on my end. We started the week with a pillow case decorating project. This is the second year I've done this same activity, but learned from last year. Last year I made throw pillow style cases for each of the children, out of very nice (but not see-through) Osnaburg fabric. I bought many, many colours of Sharpies and fabric markers and expected the kids to go wild drawing and decorating their 20" square blank canvases. The whole project took them about 20 minutes. Many of the children just scribbled colours (and these were not our youngest ones!) and declared themselves done.

This year, I made regular, bed style muslin pillowcases and by accident (my fabric wasn't wide enough) had to add on a strip of green quilter's cotton. The green was a lucky, perfectly sized remanant which fairly accurately matches our school's shade of green and the main fabric is the cheapest muslin available. The benefit of the cheap-o muslin is that it's see-through. So I printed simple, generic pictures of animals, dragons (our school mascot) and other child-tracing-friendly images. The children slid the drawings into their pillows and coloured them in, some traced the images first, others just coloured. Both ways, they turned out beautifully. The younger children drew free-hand, their imaginations uninhibited. The oldest children chose more intricate images to trace carefully and then colour in, sometimes complete with shading! The first day, I gave them 20 minutes to work on their pillows which turned out to be way too short. They've been working on them during down time all week long!

What is the purpose of the pillows? Each day, we have "rest & relaxation" time while they watch a movie. The youngest children really need this time because they are keeping up with the older ones all day long. We set out gym mats on the floor, let them take off their shoes and lie down to watch. The pillows provide an obvious boundary so they don't crowd each other, can be sat upon, rested on or used for a clandestine nap.

Buttons, buttons

We celebrated Valentine's Day at school today. The children were all excited for the special day. I think they were as excited to give out the goodies they'd brought as they were to receive. It was nice to see that. They really were delighted to go around and pass out their little cards, placing each one into someone else's bag.


For my part, I came up with what I wanted to make for the kiddos just 2 days ago... Not the best plan given the rest of my schedule for the week. T very graciously helped me when I was still not done in the wee hours last night, buttoning and snipping loose threads.

The idea came with a bit of an ulterior motive. Few of the children in my class are able to button up their own pants after using the bathroom. I wanted a goodie for them that didn't involve food, and while playdough was going to be it, I decided that was a bit lame, and I'd have to buy some kind of cute containers anyway. So the fact that these Tic Tac Toe boards are totally buttony (including the button closure on the pouch), is really my way of getting them to learn how to button. Hopefully, it's a cute and fun enough way and maybe they'll just enjoy putting them on and taking them off. Since it's usually a 2 player game, it has the added (potential) bonus of getting them some quality time with someone, too.

Big Apple

We spent a long weekend up in NYC for T to compete in a Moot Court. The weather was great, considering it's early February. It was a little chilly on Friday, but much nicer than our last visit when it rained (poured) and T bought a faulty umbrella. [Longish funny story, email or comment if you're interested.] I was not allowed to attend the Moot Court proceedings, so I had quite a bit of time to myself. Though I'd had my doubts about our travel and hotel arrangements, things turned out reasonably. Our bus was about an hour late leaving DC, which left us standing in the cold, but such things happen I suppose. The hotel made up for it; the Sheraton Manhattan. It's on the very edge of Times Square as you'd picture it in your head. The rooms were a decent size, check in was painless and prompt and best of all, it was clean; no mildewy bathrooms (like at the W we stayed in last trip)!

While T was away, I pounded the pavement around the hotel. I probably walked a good 5 miles, we suspect. I think I saw everything on Madison, Lex, 5th and Ave. of the Americas, plus a lot of the in between streets from 41st all the way up to 68th. I plotted a course to hit Japanese book stores (searching for crafting books) and Japanese groceries which are quite plentiful actually. It was very fun to see all the "real" Japanese goodies as compared to the primarily Korean and Chinese stuff around DC.

I ended up spending a lot on crafting books, as is to be expected. I found a really cool one for Mom with charts for all kinds of different, very intricate and complicated looking knitted patterns. I also found a "find the differences" book for Sneetch which is comprised of pretty difficult pictures in all kinds of illustration styles. I ended up getting 5 for myself. I will get some pictures when my camera is recharged. I think my favourite is one called Make a Box which comes with a CD of .eps files so you can put your own designs and logo on all sorts of printable packaging templates! I have dreams of making something supercute for the babies, since Valentine's Day is upon us. I'll get photos of that too, if it happens.

Sorry about the blurry photo, my camera seems to dislike me more and more each day. T and I have been contemplating splurging on a nice SLR (I still don't know what that means, and haven't had a chance to research it properly). The idea is that if we had a good camera, we would take more photos. At all the craft fairs we go to, we both see photos and other 2D art we like all the time. But, one of us (ok, me) always points out that we could make it ourselves and it wouldn't cost $x00000.00. So, we don't buy the art, but we also don't make the art and our walls are still bare.


Speaking of art, I come to the only other photo I took that came out well; a giant statue of Miffy. She was standing with some other notable kawaii friends; Hello Kitty, Pochacco, Keroppi, amongst a group of skateboarders doing tricks on their pedestals. An interesting joining of cultures.

Snow (&) owls

We finally got our snow! Yep, snowed almost all day yesterday. We got our first day off. Then it iced and freezing rained last night so we have a second day off today! Snow days are such a nice and unexpected little break from life. Since it was actually quite treacherous driving yesterday (dropped T off at le Metro and then went to get Sneetch from home), we basically stayed in and I got to finish my owly sweater! I suppose snow days are the benefit of living in a place that gets so cold, as opposed to living in Hawaii or somewhere else where it's warm and sunny year round.

Anyway, I finished the sweater! My little owl friends just need button eyes now. I am leaning towards finding some nice little wooden ones. That would look cute and not too scary, right? I also still have a little more than half a skein left. Not sure what to do with it. Since this sweater only used a skein and a half, I'm thinking I might just knit up another and buy another skein. It's quite nice yarn; a little itchy since it is 100% wool, but it's bulky so it knits up quickly. The best part is that it doesn't untwist. I hate it when yarns do that and your needle points get all tangled.

I have decided that my next project is going to be knitting little bear sweaters with all my tiny balls of stash yarns. Then, I'll sew some little bunnies to wear the sweaters. :) I'm starting with this really pretty forest green handspun yarn that has pretty sparkly gold thread spun in it. I got it in a swap on Craftster and haven't been able to come up with the perfect thing to make with it. I think sparkly sweaters for (yet unmade) bunnies will be perfect.

Don Quixote

Last night, T, Flea and I went to the Kennedy Center to see Don Quixote performed by the Mariinsky Ballet. We had quite good seats (thanks Daddy!), and it was wonderful. We didn't know it, but it was opening night, so it was a full house. The dancers were amazingly beautiful and so precise it was unreal. The orchestra was perfectly in time with the dancers, and the dancers were perfectly synchronized with each other.

Of course, we were not allowed to take photos, (and I forgot my camera anyway), but I was able to find this photo from the San Francisco Gate). Look at that point and arch! Every time I see a ballet on tv or live, I wish I hadn't quit. But then, I was never aiming to become a ballerina anyway. Flea and I have decided to look into taking a ballet class together next year. Now, I am just waiting to see if T and I will have a chance to see Swan Lake performed by the Washington Ballet next month!

Still no snow. It's been getting progressively colder, and we are supposed to be getting the coldest air of the season this week, but no snow. We're hoping for "flurries" tonight and "possible light dusting on Sunday." But no real snow. Meanwhile other parts of the nation are being buried in snow and can't seem to shake it. Too bad there's no giant blower device that could blow the snow clouds our way.

In other news, T and I invested in a new bed which has been absolutely wonderful. It's got a 3" pillowtop and we bought 2 sets of new, super lovely sheets. Getting into bed is like climbing onto a cloud. Even T agrees that it's worth every penny. Since getting the new bed last week, we have spent 90% of our time at home in it. The other 10% is reserved for showering and occasional cooking. We've gotten hooked on the show NCIS which has only compounded our desire to never get out of bed. The show itself is pretty good, but the fact that we were able to watch almost all of season 6 on Netflix instantly helps a lot. Speaking of tv, we got a new one to go with our new bed. With the bed being taller and all, we needed a bigger tv so we'd actually be able to see it. SO, now we have a new tv to watch from our new bed. And, since we've figured out how to hook up our wireless speakers to the computer which can be connected to the tv, good luck getting us to do anything outside of the bed from now until... until we finish watching every episode of NCIS I guess.

Not to worry, though. I am still being crafty and productive. I finished my awesome mittens using the pattern and beautiful yarn my sister (Flea) gave me for Christmas. One of these days, I will get a decent photo of them for you. I have knitted 2 presents and am working on a third. I have organized my entire yarn stash (minus some leftover pieces I brought home from work yesterday - working on it) and have been cleaning up photos to be uploaded to Etsy any day now. All I need is to be able to continue along in this mode of relative stress-free crafting for about a month and I think I'll have all my crafting loose ends tied up! Cross your fingers...

Merry Christmas!

We are enjoying the holidays in sunny Florida. We've been watching the Weather Channel each morning, and observing the wrath of Old Man Winter on the rest of the nation. Luckily for us, it's been in the low 80s and mostly sunny here. :)