Hiiii-YAH!

A couple of months ago, Parker enrolled
in an after-school program at Martial Arts World
to learn Tae Kwon Do and some mixed martial arts.

Two weeks ago was his first belt test!

Among other things, Parker had to break a board with his foot.
We were pretty surprised to see him do it on the first try!

He's glad to trade in his white belt
for the most prestigious yellow!

Celebrating with ice cream, of course!

Why Richmond is Awesome

Adam & Heather came to visit over Easter weekend,
and they got to see it for themselves:

the awesomeness that is Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens!

Twitterpaited!

That's right!!!!BLUE ORCHIDS!!!! The coolest flower EVER!!!

Oooooh

Ahhhh

I think the best part might have been the adorable
BUNNIES, though!

The Kitchen Saga Continues

So this was the "temporary" new linoleum floor
that we put in after we moved in.
It was temporary for about 3 years, uggg.
It was thin and cheap-looking and I hated it so much that I refused to even mop it.
After the cabinet install, it suffered some major damage
and we finally had an excuse to replace it.

Then came the new tiles!

Our kitchen was a disaster for 2 days
while Jeremy cut, measured, and did his thing.
Parker thought it was hilarious
that we kept the fridge in the living room
and the stove in the dining room during the install.

Now the floor is a thing of beauty!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the rich color and texture.

It's such a yummy brown--a nice contrast to the maple cabinets!

I like the floor so much, I will even mop (occasionally).

Hallelujah

Hopefully, the first of many raw recordings made for the interwebs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoBy4f-AOvY

Fool for Art & Science Festival

Last weekend, my office participated in the County's Fool for Art & Science Festival. After I hosted our table for a couple hours-- giving out information about CFLs, energy conservation programs, and answering random questions about our power plants, it was time to check the place out. (The pics were taken with my old Blackberry, so they're not stellar.)

Parker tried his hand at funeral reconstruction-

These are the mannequin heads and wax used by funeral services to re-create
facial features for a viewing in the event of a ghastly accident.

Would you want this for your face, should you become disfigured?

Continuing in the theme of icky booths...next was the owl pellet dissection station.

Parker was supposed to try to identify the species of animal
recently eaten by the bones found in the regurgitated pellets.

And then he dug up a dinosaur!

Next on the agenda was making his own "fossil."

Moving right along to the GERM table, where he got an eyeful
of the germ cultures grown from cooties found on various surfaces and body parts.
Maybe he will understand why I insist on hand-washing.

He met some interesting people at this festival.

It's one thing to shake someone's hand,
but you REALLY get to know someone
by checking out their inner workings.

It's okay, though--he was a Utah fan.

He took a break from all the dirty stuff
and tried to re-create a Picasso masterpiece with oil pastels.

Here's my company's table...the side without the cool stuff and the candy.
Unfortunately, we didn't have anything that
could be dissected, molded, or dismantled (BORING).

Adventures in Snowboarding

The 3 of us had planned to hit the slopes
pretty much the minute we knew we were going to visit Utah.

It took less time to reach the top than I remembered
from my high school bus trips to the slopes,
probably because I was traveling in, well, a BUS.

And so we arrived at Brighton: 2 newbies and 2 practiced snowboarders.

We almost look like we know what we are doing, don't we?

Jeremy, Angela & Eric, getting strapped in and ready for the first run!

Smooth moves by Eric

Angela, lookin' cool

My adventurous boys!
Parker seemed to get a handle on the mechanics immediately.
I was not as fortunate.

Worn out after giving it their all!
It was great to have 2 "experts" with us,
though I don't think they imparted any helpful tips!
Although if they did, it's hard to remember them when
you're sailing down the mountain at breakneck speeds,
trying to avoid trees and small children!

There aren't any pictures of me snowboarding.
Mostly because whenever I actually WAS vertical, no one was around.
They all ditched me for steeper slopes pretty much immediately.
I think this is the first time I've had a bruise on this part of my body.
Hooray for souvenirs!
Next time I'll wearing more padding :)