When Crafts Attack

ANNABELLE SAVES THE PLANET: I woke up this a.m. to an email from Stefanie Hess of Watch Indonesia!, a non-profit human rights organization based in Germany asking to use one of the photos I've parked on Morguefile. Ms. Hess wrote, "For a workshop program with elementary school kids I would love to use a picture of yours [see above]. ... The little girl will take part in a story about Agus from Indonesia and Lena from Germany, within that the kids will learn about the tropical rainforest and how the energy consumption here destroys the forest in Indonesia for the production of palm oil. Also the material should get part of an CD used in schools to rise environmental and global awareness. We do not earn money with that and its strictly used for learning material for school kids here in Berlin."

Naturally, I told Ms. Hess that Annabelle (a/k/a Lena) would happily be the face of environmental and global awareness. :) Just yesterday a.m. when we jogged/rode bikes down to Puget Sound, CJ & Annabelle declared themselves the "Green Team" and gathered all of the plastic bottles they could find on the beach at Smith Cove.

GUEST LECTURER: This a.m. I was away from the campus, so MPA had a guest instructor - Mr. Christian T. Kisky. (Incidentally, the kids and Mr. Kisky remembered that it was a school day when I sent a text message home, reminding them around 10:30-ish.) At that point, Christian broke out our favorite Scholastic workbook and had the kids do some worksheets - penmanship and a continuation of our map unit. CJ's penmanship continues to impress me. He has come so far, so fast, it's fantastic.

As an MPA blog follower, Christian knows I usually play music for the kids while they work, so he fired up some tunes for the kids, opting for some "magical" classic rock. First up: "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf, which CTK calls "One of my all time favorite songs." He says he wanted a track "that wasn't going to make them get up and go to the computer" and one that he'd enjoy listening to, too. Apparently it delivered on both counts. In keeping with the 'magic' theme, next was Santana's "Black Magic Woman." Though Carlos Santana played his heart out, the children were unmoved. ; ) Oh well, at least MPA is doing its part to keep Dinosaur Rock alive!

PARK PATROL: The park improvement project at Bayview Park, conveniently located at the end of our block, is inching ever-closer toward completion. We have been following this project every step of the way. I even took the kids to a planning meeting months ago where they got to have some input about what they'd like to see at the new-and-improved park. On our midday walk today we found a sign at the park that says it is set to open on Friday, Oct. 30. Happy Halloween to us!

THERE'S BEEN A STABBING!: Last night Annabelle spied a jar of pickles in the kitchen and asked to have one so that she could make a Pickle Man out of it. OF COURSE! I enthused. At MPA we're all in favor of spontaneous crafting. So, Annabelle made her Pickle Monster and it sat overnight, without incident, until ... at about 1:30 p.m. today, after watching Zula Patrol, CJ was walking around the kitchen and he stepped on a wayward toothpick and somehow the thing sunk into his foot and broke off. We tried to extract what we thought was just a tiny tip of it, but no luck. :( So off to Group Health CJ & CTK went. Poor CJ was hurtin' for certain, enough to warrant a wheelchair upon arrival (he reeeeeally liked the chair, btw). So, Christian and CJ burned three hours at Group Health, where (after a few shots of Novocaine) they dug the toothpick tip out. It was a LOT bigger than Christian and I thought it was going to be, and so we're awfully glad we decided to take him there when we did. The patient is now walking around like a pirate with a peg leg, but he'll be OK by tomorrow, I'll bet. (By the way, in case you were wondering, the lead for the preceding passage was inspired by son Kennedy who alarmed us mightily one day several years ago when he screamed, "There's been a stabbing!" We were actually relieved to learn he'd just stepped on a nail.)
THE COUNTDOWN'S ON:
We're still keeping an eye on Ares I-X. At the launchpad, it has a four hour launch window from 8 a.m. to noon EDT on Tuesday, Oct. 27. If the launch is scrubbed, ground crews will prepare the rocket for a second try at the same time on Wednesday.
Image: The Ares I-X is being prepared for launch on Pad 39B. In the distance on Pad 39A, space shuttle Atlantis awaits its scheduled Nov. 16 STS-129 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Credit: NASA