Magnolia Preparatory Academy

CHESSFAST: This morning, we assisted Rick with a project he's doing in conjunction with his Master's. He's writing an instructional chess book for beginners. So, our place hosted a photo shoot, and it wasn't an easy endeavor because it was so dark and gray, Grey, GRAY today. Thank goodness for Photoshop. ...

Since the board was out, Annabelle wanted to play. Christian obliged.

MERRY FAMILY:  This morning, I dropped the kids and Christian off at the doorstep of Seattle Children's Theatre (SCT) for a performance of "Robin Hood." The Veterans Day holiday meant Christian could go, which was great. SCT does such a great job, I was glad he got a chance to see it.

"It was one of the best plays I've ever seen," Christian reported afterward, not even qualifying it by saying anything about it being for children. He said it had, "A great set, costumes, acting and it was hysterically funny. Even if you didn't have kids, you'd be glad you went."

After the performance there was a short Q&A session. Of course, CJ's hand shot up. When he was called on, he informed the actors that what he had to say wasn't a question, it was more of an observation. He told them that by looking at the photos in the playbill, he assumed the show was going to be a drama, "but it was a comedy. I laughed my head off."

Needless to say, they took kindly to his non-question.

Below was my view of the play. :) It was POURING down rain when they came out. We had one foggy car on the way home.

UNDER THE WIRE: I have to admit, I darn near forgot to submit our entry for the GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B spacecraft today, the contest's deadline day - Doh!

Fortunately, around 2 this afternoon, a bolt out of the blue (well gray, really) struck me. So, we hopped online and submitted our ideas  via the form on the contest Web site, under the deadline. Phew.

We know our submission was accepted because we immediately got confirmation (we're entry #873), as well as neat-o certificates acknowledging the kids' participation. That was a nice touch!

NEEDLED: Today we stopped by the corporate offices of the Space Needle. Seattle's number one landmark graciously provided me with trinkets to take to the Tweetup. The launch of Mars Science Laboratory is two weeks from today. W00t!

NOT GOOD: News surrounding ill fated Russian Phobos-Grunt mission is dire. From all accounts I've read ground control has zero control. The Russian space agency seems to be taking the 'if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all' approach to the mission. And have I mentioned that the Chinese government had a part in this mission? The first report I heard is that they had some kind of communications satellite on board. A story I read today seemed to contradict that.

CJ asked if the Chinese will get a refund since the rocket didn't work like it was supposed to. I told him I didn't think so.

BIRTHDAY CAKES: Happy birthday to Washington state. I didn't feel like making a cake, so I made lil Evergreen State pancakes instead.