Sunday, July 18, 2010
Mao!
Penny is a little bit enchanted by our cats. And strangely, they put up with her. I'm tickled about that.
Just this week, Penny has started meowing at the kitties. When she sees one (usually Toby), she says, "Mah," or sometimes just, "Ah." But it's definitely a meow, and it's definitely directed a the cats.
Then today at story time, we read Goodnight Moon. When we got to the third page (And there were two little kittens and a pair of mittens), Penny meowed at the cats on the page. Then after that, whenever there were cats on the page, she would meow at them.
I wanted to pick her up and squeal at her, letting her know just how cute I thought it was. But I refrained and tried to keep her calm for her nap.
But then I came out and squealed to Kevin. Yay! A girl after my own heart!
Just this week, Penny has started meowing at the kitties. When she sees one (usually Toby), she says, "Mah," or sometimes just, "Ah." But it's definitely a meow, and it's definitely directed a the cats.
Then today at story time, we read Goodnight Moon. When we got to the third page (And there were two little kittens and a pair of mittens), Penny meowed at the cats on the page. Then after that, whenever there were cats on the page, she would meow at them.
I wanted to pick her up and squeal at her, letting her know just how cute I thought it was. But I refrained and tried to keep her calm for her nap.
But then I came out and squealed to Kevin. Yay! A girl after my own heart!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Weekly State Department Round-Up
Around the world:
One of the best parts of reading blogs from around the world is the way you get to glimpse places you may or may not ever visit in your life. But you still get to experience it.
Judie is in the Czech Republic, and in her eloquent way, she presents a first-person (okay, okay, third-person, if you want to be technical) account of how someone with disabilities finds challenges and improvements in their surroundings. I love peeking at the world through Judie's eyes!
Some workmen in an Italian elevator obviously know who the man is who does pushups by pushing the world down. And who won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoly card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game UNO.
When you think of snorkeling, make sure that Jordan is on your list of hot spots. Connie writes about their recent beach trip in Aqaba, and it's hard not to be jealous!
Next time you're in New Zealand, after your LOTR tours, of course, you'll have to check out the Agrodome Sheep Show. I never knew there was so much to learn about sheep!
One of the most frightening parts of living overseas (in either Tijuana or San Diego... it's hard to tell) is when a woman armed with scissors takes a stab at your head. And your brother is already sitting in the back of a police cruiser. It's a rough time, I tell you!
Rich in Benin explains that there is more than one way to drive the wrong way on the highway, and even more ways to cross roads-- possibly even without getting hit!
Minnesota Gal, Sarah, writes about the typhoon she experienced in Manila, complete with electricity loss, elevator loss, flooding on the 39th floor, and a night on the lobby couch.
Also in Manila, Barry and Jess got to experience a little bit of Oregon. First, a fir tree:
And then some awesome lightning (Lightning --> rain--> clouds--> Oregon. I'm sure you made the connection as well). You gotta love these photography skills!
One of the best parts of reading blogs from around the world is the way you get to glimpse places you may or may not ever visit in your life. But you still get to experience it.
Judie is in the Czech Republic, and in her eloquent way, she presents a first-person (okay, okay, third-person, if you want to be technical) account of how someone with disabilities finds challenges and improvements in their surroundings. I love peeking at the world through Judie's eyes!
Some workmen in an Italian elevator obviously know who the man is who does pushups by pushing the world down. And who won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoly card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game UNO.
When you think of snorkeling, make sure that Jordan is on your list of hot spots. Connie writes about their recent beach trip in Aqaba, and it's hard not to be jealous!
Next time you're in New Zealand, after your LOTR tours, of course, you'll have to check out the Agrodome Sheep Show. I never knew there was so much to learn about sheep!
One of the most frightening parts of living overseas (in either Tijuana or San Diego... it's hard to tell) is when a woman armed with scissors takes a stab at your head. And your brother is already sitting in the back of a police cruiser. It's a rough time, I tell you!
Rich in Benin explains that there is more than one way to drive the wrong way on the highway, and even more ways to cross roads-- possibly even without getting hit!
Minnesota Gal, Sarah, writes about the typhoon she experienced in Manila, complete with electricity loss, elevator loss, flooding on the 39th floor, and a night on the lobby couch.
Also in Manila, Barry and Jess got to experience a little bit of Oregon. First, a fir tree:
And then some awesome lightning (Lightning --> rain--> clouds--> Oregon. I'm sure you made the connection as well). You gotta love these photography skills!
And Megan had a couple epiphanies when listening to the following song.
First, the Spanish language finally just clicked for her. Congrats!!
Second, Enrique Iglesias. Enough said.
Crystal and her Briden Bunch take some time out to reflect and enjoy the spirit at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. And while they were there, she took this BEAUTIFUL shot:
And in photography this week, props to SassAndSweet (what were her parents thinking?! ;) for this amazing shot from Tofino, BC, Canada:
Work and the Foreign Service Life: It's all part of the job
Both Andy and Alex from Travel Orders swear they didn't ask to be in separate classes to learn French before heading to Benin. Hmmm...
Nick and Liz (who went global) discuss some of what goes into makings one's bid for an upcoming post. "Nick and I review the list, pick three countries that sound like fun, and then we get assigned to one of them. Quick and painless, right? Wrong." As is the case with bureaucracy, it's a much more INVOLVED process.
And Michel from the place where Facts are Optional has a dilemma that makes buying Christmas gifts for your mother-in-law seem ridiculously simple and easy.
David, the Hick/Hitchhiker/Diplomat, muses on the mantra, "When we're fully staffed," and some of the benefits and challenges of working in a smaller embassy.
The (Perlmans? Perlmen?) Perlman family reflects on what all is entailed in packing those few big boxes.
And at some point, almost everyone lives at the Oakwood Apartments in DC. Turns out, it's not as bad as it seems.
Not there yet:
Plenty of folks are either waiting for 'the call,' finding out where they go next, or somehow else waiting in limbo.
David, the EF'M, is on his way to Hermosillo, Mexico, but stopped in Nogales, Arizona, and paints a picture of that ghost town.
And at Kitty Non Grata, she is super excited about Cambodia in October, except for the one downside....
Daniela posted about some embarassing scores from her FSOT. The only reason I'm posting that link is that maybe she could use some tips from I'll Take Mine To Go. Take notes for next time!
Valdysses shares this awesome eBay find. It's neat-o to compare then and now, and I especially liked the message to youngsters. We should really resurrect that word.
Exotic America:
At this time of year, it seems that there are just as many FS families visiting the United States as there are around the world. And just because this is home base, it doesn't mean it can't be exotic and cool in its own right!
Anyone planning on ever going on home leave should probably read this post.
The Lees did stuff, went places, and bought some cool new things while they vacationed in Northern California with their youngsters. She beautifully summed up a common sentiment, I believe: "What the time really comes down to isn't what we did, where we went or what cool new things we may have bought. Home is really about seeing the people we've missed the most." Well put!
Massachusetts may not be at the top of some people's "most exotic places" list, but it's obviously because they haven't encountered the giant fauna that inhabit the area. Be careful, it might eat your youngsters!. Or at least certain parts of the area. And the Dinoia family also went exploring to find the wreck of the Titanic, among other treasures.
Kolbi is takin it easy down in Florida, showing us that if your camera is good enough, you can actually tell what kind of bird it is, rather than identifying everything as "some sort of seagull.... or maybe a duck."
And of course, no trip to Florida-- and no blog round-up, for that matter-- would be complete without toe-sock shoes. Or whatever they're called.
And I feel like I should probably post a million more links, pictures, and various updates from around the world. But I'm afraid this is going to be it for this week's blog round-up. Thanks for coming!
PS: If you'd like to try your hand at putting together a massive blog round-up (or if you just want to one-up my attempts!), leave Kolbi a message on her calendar.
Coming soon...
I'm finishing up the Weekly Roundup, so in the meantime, please talk amongst yourselves:
A grand piano is neither grand, nor a piano. Discuss.
PS: I am actually wondering if anyone has any experience regarding the feasibility of moving something so massive and fragile around the world from post to post. Is it possible? Has it been done? Would I be nuts to try? Talk amongst yourselves. ;)
A grand piano is neither grand, nor a piano. Discuss.
PS: I am actually wondering if anyone has any experience regarding the feasibility of moving something so massive and fragile around the world from post to post. Is it possible? Has it been done? Would I be nuts to try? Talk amongst yourselves. ;)
Thursday, July 15, 2010
How to plan a birthday party for your one-year-old
It's not hard to go up from there, especially when it's your birthday!Dad came home with a lifetime supply of blueberries for our little girl, and let's just say it was a good day after that!
In order to appropriately plan a child's birthday party, you need to start with a theme. The theme we chose was "She Won't Remember It Anyway," and we proceeded accordingly.
In order to appropriately plan a child's birthday party, you need to start with a theme. The theme we chose was "She Won't Remember It Anyway," and we proceeded accordingly.
I slaved over the hot stove for hours to make some cupcakes and then honed my decorating skills. Obviously I've studied, practiced, and taken classes on cupcake decorating, which is how I was able to make them so thoroughly compliment our theme.
I find that a table knife is the perfect tool to give those cupcakes a certain je ne sais quoi. I could make a whole tutorial on how to decorate cupcakes, but a girl's gotta have her secrets!
We spent the day at grandma's, where Penny dug through the tupperware cupboard. You might notice how absolutely crappy the cupboard finishing is. Well, it's okay, since the kitchen is in the middle of being remodeled. The cupboards are coming out any day now. It will be a day of much rejoicing!
Now, I know some people have fancy cameras and/or pay for fancy photo shoots. Well, we found that if you want some cute pictures, the easiest way is to just put cute kids in them. So we invited our friends with the cutest kids (the Skidmores, Bakers, and Carrolls-- even though the Carrolls didn't make it).
We spent the day at grandma's, where Penny dug through the tupperware cupboard. You might notice how absolutely crappy the cupboard finishing is. Well, it's okay, since the kitchen is in the middle of being remodeled. The cupboards are coming out any day now. It will be a day of much rejoicing!
Now, I know some people have fancy cameras and/or pay for fancy photo shoots. Well, we found that if you want some cute pictures, the easiest way is to just put cute kids in them. So we invited our friends with the cutest kids (the Skidmores, Bakers, and Carrolls-- even though the Carrolls didn't make it).
And yes, that is Penny eating sidewalk chalk. No heartburn for that girl!
Well, hope you picked up some tips. I think we'll always do birthday parties like this-- until she figures out that most kids get presents, party hats, games, and favors at their parties.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Vandalism for the public good
I love going on walks. White Rock is a great little town-- no traffic, no crime, and plenty of beautiful hikes all around it-- and with our two strollers, there is nothing stopping us from attacking most of those trails.
But then we have White Rock's sidewalks. Holy cow! So many people apparently use their cars so often that they forget what sidewalks are for. Are they for letting your weeds and trees grow over? No! Are they for planting large juniper hedges next to and forgetting to trim? Apparently!
So even though our town is graced with beautiful sidewalks, they are often overgrown to the point where you either can't walk through them or your child gets whapped in the face with prickly branches.
And this drives me crazy.
Very sneakily (and now very publicly, in case anyone in White Rock actually reads this), I have equipped Penny's strollers with a pair of garden clippers. If I come across an offending branch or bush waving its unfortunate self in front of my face or my baby's stroller, whack! It's gone!
Part of me wants to pile up the chopped branches on the person's doorstep to show them how much offending brush was covering their sidewalks. But the nicer (and lazier) part of me just piles them out of the way. I'm only doing it to make the neighborhood a nicer place to walk, and I have a feeling that angry homeowners isn't a good part of a friendly neighborhood.
Witness
Example A, before:
Example A, after:
Ahhhhhhhh.....
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Quick! Clean up before the guests arrive!
Eeek! I've signed up to host the State Department Weekly Blog Round-Up here at my blog, and I have so much to do! It's the same feeling as when I invite tons of people over for a party and then realize I have to clean up the junk in my living room, sanitize the bathrooms, buy and prepare food, and maybe even throw together some hasty, cheap decorations.
I need to straighten up my blog, and thankfully this doesn't require rubber gloves or nasty chemicals. I need to update my header. I'm not living in Washington state, and I am now living in New Mexico. Therefore, a subtitle of "Wait, this isn't New Mexico!" is a little more misleading than appropriate these days. I should probably rearrange, add, and delete some of my gizmos to make my blog more reader-friendly (instead of a narcissistic to-do list). But we'll see how much of that actually happens.
I'm going to have to start proof-reading my my posts. Sometimes I just ramble and then post. That has got to stop. This is the part that's like cleaning and sanitizing my bathroom. Yes, I should do it all the time, but it really only happens when I know guests are coming.
Also, the readers of this State Department Round-Up are generally people tied somehow to the Foreign Service. I'm going to need to write about the Foreign Service once in a while (or several times this next week) to make people think I actually have a reason to be hosting this. As of right now, it seems a bit random; New Mexican restaurant reviews, Independence Day festivities in my home town, poetry recommendations by my little brother, and high school reunion recaps don't exactly say, "I blog about the cool and exotic things I do in the Foreign Service." I'll have to make a case for myself.
And what is this State Department Round-Up? It sounds really fancy and official, doesn't it?! Well, after Kevin passed his oral interview and the possibility of our living an adventurous life in the Foreign Service got that much closer, I started scouring the internet to find blogs written by people already living that life. I found many, and as you can imagine, there was so much information, it was a bit hard to process! Hundreds of people write blogs from all over the world, and it would be impossible (and crazy) to try and keep up with all of them-- or even all of the interesting ones!
Then I stumbled across this blog round-up, where a woman named Kolbi had scoured the internet herself and put together a "best of" highlight reel of that week's Foreign Service blogs. It was just what I wanted to read. If I wondered what it was like moving here and there, well, here are three families who just moved this week. If I wanted to read specifically about a certain part of the world, well, here is a blog by someone who lives there and loves to take pictures and/or write fantastic vignettes showing what life is like. I've become a true devotee.
Since it is so much work, however, and someone kind (alas, kinder than I) realized it was a ton of work for one woman, many people have been taking turns hosting it at their blogs. No one signed up for last week, and I missed it-- enough to make me sign up for hosting it myself.
Eeek!
So here we go. Please pardon my mess while we undergo a few renovations!
I need to straighten up my blog, and thankfully this doesn't require rubber gloves or nasty chemicals. I need to update my header. I'm not living in Washington state, and I am now living in New Mexico. Therefore, a subtitle of "Wait, this isn't New Mexico!" is a little more misleading than appropriate these days. I should probably rearrange, add, and delete some of my gizmos to make my blog more reader-friendly (instead of a narcissistic to-do list). But we'll see how much of that actually happens.
I'm going to have to start proof-reading my my posts. Sometimes I just ramble and then post. That has got to stop. This is the part that's like cleaning and sanitizing my bathroom. Yes, I should do it all the time, but it really only happens when I know guests are coming.
Also, the readers of this State Department Round-Up are generally people tied somehow to the Foreign Service. I'm going to need to write about the Foreign Service once in a while (or several times this next week) to make people think I actually have a reason to be hosting this. As of right now, it seems a bit random; New Mexican restaurant reviews, Independence Day festivities in my home town, poetry recommendations by my little brother, and high school reunion recaps don't exactly say, "I blog about the cool and exotic things I do in the Foreign Service." I'll have to make a case for myself.
And what is this State Department Round-Up? It sounds really fancy and official, doesn't it?! Well, after Kevin passed his oral interview and the possibility of our living an adventurous life in the Foreign Service got that much closer, I started scouring the internet to find blogs written by people already living that life. I found many, and as you can imagine, there was so much information, it was a bit hard to process! Hundreds of people write blogs from all over the world, and it would be impossible (and crazy) to try and keep up with all of them-- or even all of the interesting ones!
Then I stumbled across this blog round-up, where a woman named Kolbi had scoured the internet herself and put together a "best of" highlight reel of that week's Foreign Service blogs. It was just what I wanted to read. If I wondered what it was like moving here and there, well, here are three families who just moved this week. If I wanted to read specifically about a certain part of the world, well, here is a blog by someone who lives there and loves to take pictures and/or write fantastic vignettes showing what life is like. I've become a true devotee.
Since it is so much work, however, and someone kind (alas, kinder than I) realized it was a ton of work for one woman, many people have been taking turns hosting it at their blogs. No one signed up for last week, and I missed it-- enough to make me sign up for hosting it myself.
Eeek!
So here we go. Please pardon my mess while we undergo a few renovations!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Ten years!
Last weekend, amid all the 4th of July festivities, was my 10-year high school reunion. I had a blast! We have a really friendly class, and it was great to chat with all the people I loved chatting with back in the day.
It was also a learning experience.
I learned that:
- I was not the only one who had a great time in Middle School. It turns out that most of us (or at least those of us chatting at the reunion) had a fun time and a lot of friends. As Leah Gardner put it, "Sure, it was awkward as hell," but it wasn't the horrible place so many movies portray. Good! I'd started to think maybe I was one of the mean ones, since I didn't remember anyone picking on me!
- 2009 was a good year for babies. I think just about everyone who had a child had one born that year.
- Spouses LOVE high school reunions. In fact, Kevin thought it was so marvelous that he wanted me to share the experience with more people. So he graciously donated his ticket to the second night to my friend Sheri Freestone. Kevin would have had a fun time, he assured me, but it might mean a little bit more to someone else.
- I'm a great conversation starter. If your answer to, "So, where are you these days?" is, "I'm unemployed and live with my parents," anyone can top that!
- Whatever! Once the conversation started, I have a pretty good story myself. ("Well, yeah, we'll be living overseas, pretty much anywhere the United States has an embassy....")
- Cash bars are complicated things. Apparently you can walk up and ask for a glass of cranberry juice, and they give it to you free of charge. But you have to pay for a can of soda or a water bottle. I'm still confused.
- Neil Narang is Indian. I literally had no idea until Saturday night when Julia Sorenson asked him something about arranged marriages in India. Then I noticed that, yes indeed, he does look remarkably and entirely South Asian. I wonder what else I've missed over the years....
- Arranged marriages in India these days are more like arranged blind dates. There's more freedom in them than it sounds.
- Voting for your Senior Class President actually does mean something. Becca Fellers Jones may not have known it, but that was more than just a one-year position. Ten years later, here she is, hosting a reunion that falls on her first anniversary, and she's focused entirely on making sure everyone had a great time. We did, and you're great! I was very impressed that on the Friday night BBQ, instead of hiring a caterer, Becca made all the food herself so she could save more money and make a bigger donation to cancer research on behalf of our class. She was incredibly selfless the whole weekend-- and doing all the work leading up to it!
I had a blast! I didn't take any pictures, although other people did and I thought they'd have posted them to facebook already.
(Funny story: we did have one (and only one) raving drunk guy show up. He started out the evening by taking pictures of everyone and yelling inappropriate things to get everyone to look at him. Oh, and he was wearing an atrocious t-shirt with large bosoms on the front and a thong on the back. Classy....)
It was also a learning experience.
I learned that:
- I was not the only one who had a great time in Middle School. It turns out that most of us (or at least those of us chatting at the reunion) had a fun time and a lot of friends. As Leah Gardner put it, "Sure, it was awkward as hell," but it wasn't the horrible place so many movies portray. Good! I'd started to think maybe I was one of the mean ones, since I didn't remember anyone picking on me!
- 2009 was a good year for babies. I think just about everyone who had a child had one born that year.
- Spouses LOVE high school reunions. In fact, Kevin thought it was so marvelous that he wanted me to share the experience with more people. So he graciously donated his ticket to the second night to my friend Sheri Freestone. Kevin would have had a fun time, he assured me, but it might mean a little bit more to someone else.
- I'm a great conversation starter. If your answer to, "So, where are you these days?" is, "I'm unemployed and live with my parents," anyone can top that!
- Whatever! Once the conversation started, I have a pretty good story myself. ("Well, yeah, we'll be living overseas, pretty much anywhere the United States has an embassy....")
- Cash bars are complicated things. Apparently you can walk up and ask for a glass of cranberry juice, and they give it to you free of charge. But you have to pay for a can of soda or a water bottle. I'm still confused.
- Neil Narang is Indian. I literally had no idea until Saturday night when Julia Sorenson asked him something about arranged marriages in India. Then I noticed that, yes indeed, he does look remarkably and entirely South Asian. I wonder what else I've missed over the years....
- Arranged marriages in India these days are more like arranged blind dates. There's more freedom in them than it sounds.
- Voting for your Senior Class President actually does mean something. Becca Fellers Jones may not have known it, but that was more than just a one-year position. Ten years later, here she is, hosting a reunion that falls on her first anniversary, and she's focused entirely on making sure everyone had a great time. We did, and you're great! I was very impressed that on the Friday night BBQ, instead of hiring a caterer, Becca made all the food herself so she could save more money and make a bigger donation to cancer research on behalf of our class. She was incredibly selfless the whole weekend-- and doing all the work leading up to it!
I had a blast! I didn't take any pictures, although other people did and I thought they'd have posted them to facebook already.
(Funny story: we did have one (and only one) raving drunk guy show up. He started out the evening by taking pictures of everyone and yelling inappropriate things to get everyone to look at him. Oh, and he was wearing an atrocious t-shirt with large bosoms on the front and a thong on the back. Classy....)
Friday, July 09, 2010
Do not read "The Lady of Shalott" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the joys of Daniel's summer vacation is the opportunity he has to take classes online in SUMMER SCHOOL! He absolutely loves it! And by "absolutely loves" I mean "painfully dreads and loathes." Same thing! I have the honor of tutoring him. It's actually not too bad. Well, sort of.
He's taking Biology and English, and while I am about to become an English teacher myself (after my student teaching this fall), I know very close to nothing about biology. I think I took a semester of it in college, but it was at 8:00. I couldn't stay awake for more than 15 minutes of it. Sarah said she came with me one time, and I slept through the entire thing. Then since the same lecture was given at 9:00, we just stayed for the next class. Um, I don't remember that.
So now I am tutoring Daniel in Biology. The class is organized pretty terribly, and the websites the teacher gives us to teach ourselves about meiosis, mitosis, alleles, and chromosomes, were apparently written for PhD Biologists, not struggling high school students. But after finding some used Bio textbooks at the library bookstore, we're doing just fine.
English is pretty cool. We just did a unit on Alfred, Lord Tennyson. As part of his assignment, Daniel was to read a poem and give a recommendation to either read or not read it. His critique follows:
Do not read "The Lady of Shalott" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (unless you like to read short novels about an old lady riding down a river on a boat). This is not even a poem. Poems are not short stories that are like five pages long. Poems are supposed to be short and to the point. This is not short or to the point. So I do not recommend this unless you already read it and didn't see this beforehand or because you don't care that it is long.This poem is very boring. But it is very descriptive. Tennyson describes a lot of the scenery on which the Lady of Shalott is floating. It talks a lot about Shalott and Camelot, which rhyme. Every line rhymes. Why would you sit around and figure out words that rhyme all day? And this is like 7 pages long. That's like 50 rhymes!
Thank you, Daniel! If it were up to him, we wouldn't have any poems longer than "Crossing the Bar." But that one was "so boring" he didn't even want to write a critique of it. Ha ha ha! I have a great summer job!
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Independence Day!
My favorite holiday to celebrate in White Rock is the 4th of July. Every year our church hosts a children's parade followed by a carnival, and they rock! When we were little, we'd decorate our bikes with streamers. (Oddly enough, we never used red, white, and blue streamers, but they were very festive, nonetheless.) This year, though, none of us had a bike.
So we had to use Daniel's go-cart! Penny was very excited about this idea.
I guess we decorated with enough red, white, blue, and American flags to make up for all the orange and yellow streamers of my youth.
We drove very fast. Well, we tried to. Apparently you go a bit slower when you have 2 1/2 full-sized people on board. This is okay, because we had to follow the bikes, and not everyone rode their bikes at full speed during the parade. I was so excited to be part of the parade! I hadn't been in it since Riana and I twirled our flags behind the band (the ward band, of course) freshman year in high school. Wahoo!
After the parade was the carnival. I used to do the face painting, and this year Penny got her face painted. This means that I got my shoulders painted, but that's okay. It just made me more festive.
And since we parked the go-cart with a For-Sale sign taped on it, one of the kids at the carnival came home with the ULTIMATE carnival prize. His mom bought him the go-cart! This was sort of the plot of the whole driving-the-go-cart-in-the-parade thing. Daniel has a driver's license, and go-carts aren't quite as cool when you could go drive your own car...
So we had to use Daniel's go-cart! Penny was very excited about this idea.
I guess we decorated with enough red, white, blue, and American flags to make up for all the orange and yellow streamers of my youth.
We drove very fast. Well, we tried to. Apparently you go a bit slower when you have 2 1/2 full-sized people on board. This is okay, because we had to follow the bikes, and not everyone rode their bikes at full speed during the parade. I was so excited to be part of the parade! I hadn't been in it since Riana and I twirled our flags behind the band (the ward band, of course) freshman year in high school. Wahoo!
After the parade was the carnival. I used to do the face painting, and this year Penny got her face painted. This means that I got my shoulders painted, but that's okay. It just made me more festive.
And since we parked the go-cart with a For-Sale sign taped on it, one of the kids at the carnival came home with the ULTIMATE carnival prize. His mom bought him the go-cart! This was sort of the plot of the whole driving-the-go-cart-in-the-parade thing. Daniel has a driver's license, and go-carts aren't quite as cool when you could go drive your own car...So, Independence Day parade: a success!
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