Karate Kid

Miranda is thrilled to have been awarded her second stripe on her white belt in Kempo Karate class. We had been alerted ahead of time that today might be the THE day, so after every routine the instructor put her through, she would look at me with an inquisitive look, a smile and a questioning thumbs up? When I would respond with a thumbs up, she would give me two thumbs up and do a little dance. In some ways, the actual receipt of the stripe was almost anticlimactic.

Xavier? Well, he still doesn't have the attention span to get through the Karate class without mishap, so he was awarded only half a stripe. Still, that's enough that I don't get my belt confused with theirs when I am getting my karate outfit on (I only have one stripe -- surprisingly, the promotion requirements are much more stringent for the adult class.)

Sorry I didn't have time to BLOG last week. Xavier was under the weather, so I had to use my evenings to catch up on work.

Xavier and Miranda and I installed solar pagoda-style lights along our sidewalk over the weekend. It started out well, but by the time we finished, I was kind of surprised the neighbors had not called Social Services. First, Xavier got warm and thirsty enough that he started begging to "sit on your lap." I took him into the house to Adam, but his screams of anger and disappointment were more than audible outside the house. Miranda did a little better, but then when I was trying to dig a hole through rock to set the base for one of the lights, Miranda went lurching by using a couple of the light-posts as crutches; before I could stop her, she (of course) fell and scraped her leg. Final Score: two kids screaming in the house with Dad, one parent outside fuming.

But in the end, the lights look great and the kids are proud of their part in the fias- Oops! I mean "effort".