Home Opener 2011

BALLPARK BOUND: Today's the day we've been waiting for since, oh, OCTOBER. It's back to Safeco Field to watch the Seattle Mariners play. This year will be different, of course. This is the first time in Mariners history that Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus won't be behind the microphone on opening day. We attended his memorial in December. Today will be our first time back since then. He'll certainly be at the top of everyone's mind. Today when she was getting dressed, Annabelle strapped her white shoes on and said to herself, "In honor of Dave Niehaus." :)No doubt there will be thousands of white shoes at the ballpark tonight, as Niehaus had a thing for them, and fans have been asked to wear them tonight in his memory. There will be some special festivities before opening pitch, including a performance by Macklemore of his tribute to Dave. ROCK 'N' READ: This afternoon it was so sunny out, I thought I'd mow the top of our lot. While I did that, the kids sat out in the sun and read for about a half hour. Annabelle started and finished an entire chapter book (Geronimo Stilton's "The Temple of the Ruby Fire") this afternoon. BY THE BOOK: Our kinda sorta math this morning involved CJ and Annabelle learning a bit about how to keep score in a baseball book. First things first, I drew a graph for them explaining how each player on the field has a position number (pitcher = 1, catcher = 2, etc. up through right fielder = 9). Then I let them each pick out a team name and 9 position players' names. We filled out the lineups and then I gave them scenarios and they had to fill in their books, recording balls, strikes, put outs, errors and such. They were doing pretty well until I threw a 6-4-3 double play at them. ;) I'm thinking if they know more about how the game is played and scored, they might be more interested in watching it. I also told them it's fun to keep score because if you do it long enough and well enough, you can seem to be a bit of a psychic, because you will often be able to predict what will happen based on your past observations and statistics.

In Bloom

FINALLY: We got some sun today. Not ALL day mind you. Not even most of the day. But for about 2 hours this afternoon, we did get some sun. And so, we went for (gasp!) a run/ride. Remember that? I barely do. It feels like it's been forever since Christian and I trudged alongside CJ and Bee on their bikes.

As an aside, Kirby may have met her future husband at the park next to Lawton Elementary today. We met a young male Havanese (Manny) and his owner. He was very cute - longer, whiter hair than Kirby. We may have the two get together in the future. We'll see. ...

IN REVIEW: Man oh man did we enjoy the Moisture Festival last night. From the first act, Rob Lok, who was dancing, jumping rope and more while wearing 6-foot high stilts, to the final curtain it was wildly entertaining. We saw Dr. Guy Lafitte, who is described as an entertainer, gambler, teller of tales, living historian, magician and bartender. He was an interesting fusion of all of the above. Wearing a tutu most of the time, Frank Oliver did impressive and hysterical unicycle ballet. At the end of his act he climbed aboard a 6-plus foot unicycle and played the national anthem on electric guitar, a la Jimi Hendrix. Crazy good! Annabelle, especially, enjoyed aerialist Helena Reynolds. I wouldn't be surprised if Bee asks to attend one of Seattle's 'circus arts' schools soon. John Carney was absolutely HYSTERICAL. He performed in the character of Mr. Mysto, and while comedy was a big part of his act, he was a damn fine magician, too. At one point he "channeled" Van Gogh, and the ghost of Van Gogh drew a self portrait with a floating pen. Mysto then signed and gave the portrait to Annabelle (we were sitting in the front row). The kids were so thrilled to have that as a souvenir. Nate Cooper's act was entirely on roller skates. He had his character (a flirtatious, clumsy, temperamental drunk) was very well developed. The crowd loved him. Sunga Rose played ukulele and sang some delightful songs from the 1920s and '30s, including the The Cod Fish Ball, which was an audience singalong. The house band,Doc Sprinsock and the SANCApators, was wonderful. The only performer that had us going, "Um, hmm?" was a man who bills himself as human jazz.

SYNAPSES AND SUCH: Our reading and science for the day came courtesy of a book called "You've Got Nerve." Apparently it's part of a series - "The Gross and Goofy Body." The layout and graphics are great. It packed a lot of info in its nearly 50 pages, and the kids were engaged for its duration. I had previewed it and since I knew it started out, with the words "A grapefruit," I had a couple of grapefruit ready for the kids to balance on noggins and mull over the fact that their brains are about the size of a large grapefruit.

We stopped several times throughout the book for sidebars to discuss what we'd read. For instance, when we read bout the pons, we learned that its job is sorting through messages entering the brain and filtering out unpleasant ones. Like, think about how your socks feel on your feet right now. OK, fine. But be glad that although you could feel that all the time, if your pons is working properly, you don't have to deal with thinking about them all the time. I told the kids, "Imagine if you were constantly thinking. 'Socks, socks! I'm wearing socks! They're cotton socks. Cozy. Socks. Love my socks!' " If that were the case, your brain wouldn't be able to think about important stuff, like that bus coming your way, etc. They thought that was hysterical.

PRETZEL & PC: I just had to take a picture of Annabelle at the computer this a.m. It was like she was doing yoga while computing.

BOXING DAY: I do believe I've mentioned on these pages that Annabelle loves cardboard boxes. Big, small and everything in between, she loves making things out of them. Today, CJ got in on the act. While it wasn't his idea, he willingly donned the helmet Bee made him. :) I think my favorite part is the scribbled out smile in the nose area, when Annabelle struck upon the idea of using the box flaps to extend the helmet to his chest. I love her explanatory sign, too. :)

CJ saw the practical nature of the robo helmet, saying, "I'm wearing this box just in care there are any injuries coming up."

Smart boy. ;)

GENTLE REMINDER: Please vote for "Sesame Peeps" in the Seattle Times contest, once every 24 hours for the next week-ish. There's a link right here on this page - look for the Peeps pic to the right!

Eggstra, Eggstra!

EGGSCELLENT: Imagine our surprise when we walked into the kids' Shoreline school to find people making pysanka in the lobby. Annabelle immediately wanted in on the action. Meanwhile CJ immediately wanted in on some popcorn. ;) For those new to pysanka it's a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated using a wax-resist method. Wikipedia notes, "The word pysanka refers specifically to an egg decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs, and is not a generic term for any egg decorated using wax resist."

So, it seems, Annabelle's egg isn't truly pysanka. But I digress. ... To do it the "right" (traditional) way, it's a super long, involved process likely spread out over days. Annabelle had about six minutes to do her egg. First, she had to warm up some wax in a tiny bowl on the top side of her stylus (or a kystka) and then draw on the egg. Then she dipped it in turquoise, drew on the egg some more, and then dipped in pink (of course).

In the photo at the top of the page, we haven't even taken the wax off the eggs yet. Maybe we'll melt it off tomorrow. ...Years ago, I wrote a story about pysanka for The Columbian. It mostly centered on an art teacher in East Portland who taught the art to her kids. My oh my were Mary's eggs amazing! VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN: We logged into the Seattle Times' Web site to see if voting in the Peeps contest had started yet or not. I was surprised to find out that not every entry can be voted on. The Times' staff narrowed the field. There were nearly 500 entries in all. That was whittled to 43 adults and 31 kids. Fortunately, "Sesame Peeps" made the cut! Annabelle submitted it, because she did the vast majority of the work. (CJ was more moral support and he kneaded some fondant.) Annabelle would LOVE it if you'd vote for her in the Peeple's Choice contest. You can (and should, har har) vote once a day from now to April 13. Unfortunately, in order to vote, you'll have to register with their Web site. But that only takes a few seconds, and you only have to do it once. (I do believe you'll have to wait for an email confirmation after you register, click on it's link and then you are free to vote.) To view and vote for Annabelle, go HERE.

OVERHEARD: CeeJ and Bee were working on a cooperative game together this afternoon - "Kirby's Epic Yarn." However, at times it became every man for him- or herself. At one point I heard CJ bark, "Did you even THINK about saving me, Annabelle?!?" In more pleasant times, I heard Annabelle say, "This is fun!" At that, CJ asked, "Do you think it's more fun than Rick Astley?" Gotta watch that CJ. He can be a trickster.

SCREENING: The rock unit continues in the Shoreline class. Today, the kids used screens to sift and sort rocks of various sizes. That was fun. BRING YOUR UMBRELLA: Tonight we're going to the "Moisture Festival" at Hale's Palladium. I'd provide a link to the event Web site, but when I visited it last night, it set off so many malware/Trojan/virus alerts with my anti-virus software, that I'm not going to do that to you. Instead, I'll just share this description of it from their Blogspot page, which didn't set off my alarms.

Comedy/Varietè is an intriguing assortment of entertainment. It is highly skilled performance mixed with many bizarre talents, often humorous, with no limit to the imagination. Presented as a variety show, each act or artist performs his or her routine within a 3-15 minute time slot while being accompanied by a live show band. Aerialists, jugglers, comedians, dancers, rope acts, bubble acts, clowns, acrobats, can can girls, strong women, strong men, tap dancers, drill teams, musical numbers, the weird and the wonderful- all keeping the tradition of Comedy/Varietè/Vaudeville alive. Since 2004, Moisture Festival has presented this exhilarating form of theater to celebrate Spring.

Sesame Peeps

PÈEPS DE RÉSISTANCE: Early this a.m. the kids assembled the Peeps pieces into the finished product. We had the cereal boxes CJ and Annabelle painted as buildings, the Sesame Peeps made yesterday, the sign Annabelle Photoshopped, and some Contact paper as a base/street. We wanted to shoot it this a.m. when the light would be streaming in our big east-facing windows. Our first batch of photos wasn't acceptable. Bert and Ernie just weren't "popping." (BTW, I was really impressed with how discerning Annabelle and CJ's eyes were regarding good and bad photos.) We shot and re-shot and re-shot. Annabelle wasn't happy that Bert and Ernie's hair wasns't showing up. We needed lights in the building. I do believe it was the FOURTH photo shoot when we decided to open use flashlights to light the apartment building so that you could make out Ernie and Bert. Annabelle was a trouper - balancing on a rickety stool on one foot, holding her arms at a crazy, unnatural angle just to get a good shot. That's my girl! ;) Ultimately, Annabelle picked the photo to use, and touched it up in Photoshop, using primarily the clone stamp, magnetic lasso, shadow/highlight, and blur tools. We got done with the shooting and 'shopping about 10:15 - well ahead of the noon deadline to enter it into the Seattle Times' Peeps contest, right?? ... But before you could make a submission, you had to register for their site. And wait to get a confirmation email back, and then login to the site and then submit. Well, we registered, submitted Annabelle's email address, and waited. And waited. And waited. It was only about 10 minutes, but it seemed like forever with the clock ticking away. Finally, we got it and uploaded the picture. Phew.

THE BACKSTORY: I wanted the kids to get some writing in today, but was drawing a blank about a story starter. DUH. I finally realized that they should write a story about the Sesame Peeps. CJ wrote: Cookie Peep is waiting for cookies to be delivered. Bert is talking to someone. Big Peep is starting to walk to his nest. The Peep is crossing the road to his castle. Oscar the Peep is saying "scram!" to everyone. Ernie is playing in his room. Annabelle wrote: Once upon a time ... Cookie was standing by the door, waiting for something to do. "Hey," said the Peep. "Why don't we play musical stairs!" So they did. "Hey," said Oscar the Peep. "I can't play." "Why," they all said. "Because I don't like coming out of my trash can," said Oscar the Peep. So they played catch.

BANDITS AND ANIMALS: For their Musikgarten homework, the kids had to make illustrations of something they remembered from the "Musicians of Bremen" story they were read during last week's class.

I apologize that the photo is so bad of CJ's work, as its story was interesting. His illustration recalled the point in the story where a bad guy was waiting outside for his friend who was in a house robbing the place. CJ's Bad Guy Outside thought bubble was a picture of the bandit inside coming out = 2 years? In other words, the guy outside was growing impatient. :) Annabelle's picture incorporated the animals in the story - the rooster, the cat, the donkey and the dog. And her picture smelled good 'cause she used her Mr. Sketch markers. :)During the parent participation part of today's class, teacher Nancy conducted an ambitious 4-part orchestra (parents on recorders, kids on glocks and other chime-y percussion) playing a song about a cuckoo clock. It was ridiculously complicated and amazingly impressive when we got it after about 2 minutes. :)

WE ARE THE FREAKIES: Recently I moved my Precious Freakies Magnets from the Up Up High side of the fridge to the eye level of the stove. This did not go unnoticed by CeeJ and Bee. CJ, especially, has been interested in them, as he is interested in ANYTHING that is a Complete Collection.

Today CJ wanted to know all about the Freakies. The best way to do that was to hop on YouTube. After watching the advertisement, I had the kids try to name each of the Freakies. They need to watch the commercial few more times.

We the Peeple

POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME: The bulk of our day was spent toiling in the sugar arts. Yes, we did some math. And Annabelle had ballet. And we checked on our seedlings. But mostly, we melted, smooshed, shaped, colored and sculpted sugar, as today was the day set aside for a Peeps art project. A couple of weeks ago, Annabelle settled on the idea of doing a Sesame Peeps themed scene. We've been collecting different colored Peeps in our shopping travels recently and first thing this a.m. we made a list of the colors of fondant we needed to make, as fondant was going to be our modeling 'clay' on the project. We had to make red, blue, green, orange, gray, black, brown and yellow. The red and blue above is part of Ernie's shirt.

CJ's hands got a workout mixing colors. It was good for him. In addition to the Peeps, the CJ Sesame Street set had to be constructed, too. It took several hours, but it wasn't hard work and it's coming together quite nicely. It should be finished early in the a.m. tomorrow.

BACK IN THE USSR: The Russian space program figured largely into our day. Case in point: first thing this a.m. I had an email from NASA letting me know the April 19 launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour has been pushed back to April 29 at the earliest. That's a HUGE bummer for Rick and Ken, who had/have flights, etc. booked for the original date. Sigh. I kind of saw this coming. I saw a post by a NASA launch pad engineer/technician on Facebook last week and he said everything was on target for the April 19 launch, but that NASA just had to get things squared away schedule wise with the Russians regarding a mission of theirs to the ISS. As soon as I saw that I pointed it out to Christian and said, "I think this is trouble." Why? Well, because the U.S. is no longer the leader in a lot of things, and one of those things is a space program.

We only have two shuttle flights left and after that, we're just along for the ride to get back to the ISS. Our astronauts will just be buying seats on Russian flights. It makes me a little crazy. So sure 'nough, today word comes that the Russians aren't going to change their schedule to accommodate the Endeavour's launch date. Disappointing, but I don't blame them. The times, they are a changing. And speaking of the Russians and their burgeoning space program, this afternoon, we watched Expedition 27, with crew members Russian Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan, and Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev lift off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan in a Soyuz rocket. (You can watch it too HERE.) The Soyuz, dubbed "Gagarin," launched one week shy of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Yuri Gagarin from the very same launch pad on April 12, 1961, to become the first human to fly in space.

April Fool's Day

SILLY TIME: Here's a photo of the completion of our cupcake project we started yesterday. We gave Rick and Ken each a "TV dinner" tray this a.m. Rick took his to work and said he didn't even get to eat one - they were snatched up in the teacher's lounge.

The idea is straight out of "Hello, Cupcake!" In case you're curious, the 'chicken' is a cupcake topped by a donut hole, covered in frosting and then rolled in crushed cornflakes. The 'bone' is marshmallow fondant. The 'potatoes' are just frosted cupcakes with a Starburst candy as the pat of butter and caramel syrup for gravy. The peas and carrots are green runts and orange Starburst cut up.

CHEAP DATE: This morning we went on a field trip to the Pacific Science Center. A cuple of days ago I got an email from Pacific Science Center announcing a sneak preview of a 3D Imax movie called SeaRex. (Which has a very cool Web site, BTW.) In the email it was billed as a movie about "dinosaurs under water." They offered free tickets, and I had a previous email offering members free popcorn. We're all about free stuff, so you know we went. Though it was pouring rain, we parked a ways away in keeping with our free theme. : )

As we approached the Seattle Center campus, we noticed the Space Needle's top was shrouded in clouds.

We got there a few minutes early, so we checked out the exhibits in the foyer of the Boeing Imax theater. The kids played with the Theramin ... and a percussion instrument made out of tubes ... They also sat at a table that made them feel like little kids (or should I say littler kids?). And they played with funhouse mirrors. After awhile we headed down to the theater and got some good seats in the center.

The movie started v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y and I wasn't sure where it was going. I was expecting prehistoric sea monsters right out of the gate. Instead, it was a bunch of actors playing French guys from the 1700s, and then some woman named Julie at a modern day aquarium with some really tall guy in funny clothes lecturing her/narrating. Curious. (At the end of the film, we learned this narrator was Georges Couvier, the father of vertebrate paleontology.)

Eventually, the film got going, there were SeaRex aplenty and the 3D effects were really great. I can say in all certainty creationists would NOT like this film whatsoever, as it give a pretty complete history of the earth from genesis (in the non biblical sense) to present day.

My biggest beef with the film came when there was long shot of a coastline supposedly during the Jurassic period. Problem was, I noticed a tiny movement on the cliffs. Turns out it was a human walking along with a golden retriever. Hmpf. Not too authentic, eh?

SPECIAL DELIVERY: The mailman came bearing gifts today. CJ tore into it and when he got the brown paper wrapping off he said, "Rice in a bag?"

He probably wasn't too disappointed since he likes rice so much, but I told him that I was pretty sure there was something other than what the box said inside. Sure enough, he opened it and found a couple of books, courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa, with a bunch of game codes and cheats. Score!

WE'RE NUMBER ONE: While yesterday was the first day of Major League Baseball, today was the first game on the Mariners 2011 schedule. You know that was cause for celebration in our house. We worked on baseball themed food (Venezuelan hot dogs, garlic fries, and some peanuts and Cracker Jack topped cupcakes). We even made grand salami on rye bread with mustard sandwiches as a nod to Dave Niehaus, the hall of fame broadcaster who was the voice of the Mariners for 34 seasons, until his death last November.

Opening Day

WE'RE TALKING BASEBALL: Today was the first day of the 2011 Major League Baseball season. It has been a long, harsh winter, so this harbinger of spring couldn't be more welcome.

We started our celebration off by reading "Take Me Out the the Ballgame." I picked the book up earlier this week at a used book store for 50 cents. I liked it because it's about a grandma who takes her two baseball lovin' granddaughters to the ball game. (Girls like baseball too!)

After a couple of pages of introducing the characters, this book by Maryann Kovalski just follows the words to the classic song in its title, so we sang it more than read it. As we paged through it, I couldn't help but notice the distinctive blue font on the players' uniforms and the abstract blue birds on their caps. When we were done, I predicted to the kids that the book's publisher was Canadian. I was right - it was published by a Canadian division of Scholastic.

This led to a conversation about Canada's two MLB teams, and my number one memory of the Toronto Blue Jays - the 1993 World Series. And you can't tell that story without talking about Mitch Williams. ...

I told CJ and Annabelle there were two things they should know about Mitch Williams. One was that their dad played baseball with him as a teenager. That impressed them. And the second thing they should know? That his nickname was "Wild Thing."

That made them laugh. I asked them why they supposed his nickname was Wild Thing. CJ guessed that it was because he threw beanballs. I told CJ that was close - that it was because of Williams' famous (infamous?) lack of control at times.

And then I told the kids about my Mitch Williams moment. The year was 1993, and I was on a camping trip. Everyone else had gone to bed and it was just me with the towering trees in nearly pitch darkness. There was snow on the ground and I was shivering over a dying fire, holding a transistor radio, begging the scratchy signal not to completely crap out as I listened to the Jays and the Phillies play game six of the World Series. When I heard that Williams was trotting in from the bullpen for the 9th inning, I was beside myself. "My god, don't the Phillies WANT to win?" I asked the evergreens. Though the Phillies were up 6-5, I knew that was about to change. Williams walked the lead off batter (Rickey Henderson), gave up a single to Paul Molitor, and then Carter brought them in with the shot heard 'round the world (well, at least from Toronto to campsite in the foothills in central Washington).

A GAME OF NUMBERS: One of the reasons I love baseball is because it's so full of stats and numbers. While we didn't get into computing OBPs, RBIs, slugging percentages and such today, we did play a number of Web based, baseball themed math games. First up was FunBrain's Math Baseball. I remember the kids playing this last year, and they had a time with even the easy level. This year we bumped it up to medium difficulty and had the type of problem set to "algebra" (meaning that instead of 4x3=? it might say 4x?=12). They were awarded anything from base hits to home run if they solved the problem. Missing it meant a strike. CJ winded up winning the game, 10 to 3, I do believe.

From there it was on to Batter's Up Baseball, which was very similar to the FunBrain game. Next, we visited Exploratorium's Science of Baseball page. Checking out their Fastball Reaction Time feature, we learned that a 90 mph reaches home plate in about one half a second and that the normal human reaction time is about .2 seconds. In the game, when the player sees "swing batter" on the screen, you are supposed to click your mouse ASAP. The site explained that when you see those words, "a signal in your eye sends a message to a part of your brain that controls your muscles. Your brain must then send a signal to your muscles, telling them to click. Although it takes some time for the signal to travel along each nerve, the major delay in your reaction time occurs at the junction points in between the different nerves involved, and between the nerves and the muscles in your fingers." CJ's way to circumvent the whole process was to click before "swing batter" appeared on the screen. :) Nice try, CeeJ. After a couple of strikes, we three were able to "hit" the ball. On the Exploratorium's "Scientific Slugger" page, we learned that the distance a batted baseball travels depends on two primary factors: the angle at which the ball leaves the bat, and how fast the ball is hit. It explained, "The speed of the ball depends on both the speed of the pitch and the speed of the bat. If the bat is standing still and the ball hits it, the ball will bounce off the bat with most, but not all, of the pitch speed. (Some of the energy is wasted in the friction of deforming the ball, making a sound, etc.) If the ball is standing still and is hit by the bat, it's given a good portion of the bat's speed. Combine the two and you can see that a pitched ball hitting a swinging bat gains a good portion of the sum of both the pitch and the bat speed." I used a pencil and a small bouncy ball to help demonstrate some of the principals, then we played the game on the site that let us adjust the angle of the ball, the strength of the swing, and the pitch's trajectory. We each left the yard a couple of times. ;) Next, we checked out a NPR story on why curveballs are so vexing. We listened to a short podcast called "When What You See Isn't What You Get," and checked out their fascinating visual interactive simulating how a curveball confuses the vision (you really should check it out!).

FROM HEAD TO TOE: Though the Baseball Hall of Fame had lots to explore, we settled upon their page about the history of baseball uniforms. We read about the history of shoes, shocks, pants, belts, patches, jerseys, numbers and names and last but not least, the baseball hat.

I asked the kids which hat they thought was most unlike the ones players wear today. They both chose #1. Then I showed them the Pittsburgh Pirates hats from the mid 1970s to the mid '80s. ;) I pointed out #3, the derby style hat (which never caught on with a Major League Club - surprise!) was the most different, IMHO.

POETRY MOMENT: Inspired by Opening Day and daily emails from Grandpa R featuring baseball haiku, we here at MPA tried writing our own baseball haiku today. First, I had the kids sit on the couch and with the Yankees vs. the Tigers on the big screen, I asked them to blurt out things they see and hear, as well as things they might smell and taste if they were at the ballpark. I wrote the words on a big sheet of craft paper (formerly a grocery sack). I asked them to write one poem that was two 5-7-5 haikus together. It's interesting how CJ & Annabelle's haikus really give a glimpse of what the game experience is from their perspective.

Here are CJ's:

People hit the ball

There are advertisements here

The ball is rough

The pitcher pitches

The stadium has candy

Watch it on TV

And Annabelle's:

The whack of the bat

The ball gets hit really hard

The pitcher throws hard

I love the candy!

There are really good hot dogs

Strike 3, you're out Ms!

I tried my hand at one, too:

Angry manager

Pompous, lazy umpire

Batter kicks the dirt

Mutters, "High, outside"

A fastball sails up and in

Punched out, caught looking

CUPPED CAKES: Last night we started an April Fool's Day-related project. The first step was making cupcakes. I used a recipe out of "Hello Cupcake" and followed it exactly, as it was the first time I've used it. The cupcakes looked good in the oven, and after the appointed baking time and a toothpick coming out clean, I pulled them out of the oven. And then disaster struck - they truly did become cup cakes, their centers completely concave. WTH? I went online to research possible causes. Under cooking, over mixing, baking at the wrong temperature were the top 3 suspects. I knew that none of those applied to me. I also knew that I'd followed the recipe to the letter. I'm always super duper careful to do that when trying a new recipe for the first time. My conclusion - it was a bad recipe, period. And so, I got to remake them this morning. This time I turned to Martha. I knew she wouldn't lead me wrong. Though I have to admit, I was really nervous after mixing the batter. It was runnier than any cake batter I've ever seen before. I though for sure I had another FAIL on my hands. Mercifully, this go round they baked into nice little domes. Phew. This afternoon we began decorating them. CJ and Annabelle were quite helpful. And, as Annabelle pointed out, "It's good to practice on things like this for when we have to do more intense stuff, like birthday cakes." That made me LOL. We were making three different types of decorated cupcakes, and one required a crust of corn flakes. Annabelle smashed 'em ... and CJ helped roll the frosted cupcakes in the flakes. ... I can't show you the finished product until tomorrow, for fear of ruining the surprise for a couple of potential readers.

THERE IS ANOTHER: Though NASA's space shuttle program is near its conclusion, there are other space-related enterprises on the horizon, including Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Here's a tour of the craft's inside (preceded by a 10 second commercial) By the looks and description of it, it's certainly NOT a vehicle that could get astronauts to the International Space Station. It's strictly a thrill ride - designed to take rich tourists on a five minute flight in zero gravity.

ANCIENT JAPANESE SECRET, HUH?: So today a Facebook post from Kennedy grabbed our attention. It read, "How I've gone 23 years in life not knowing this I have no idea: after dying and being taken back to the main menu screen in the original Super Mario Bros., if you press and hold A and then 'Start' you will start back up at the world where you died as opposed to World 1-1."

Surely that couldn't be true. I mean, all the hours and Hours and HOURS Rick and Ken spent playing Mario. Though there was no Internet back then, we read the Nintendo magazines, even called the Nintendo hotline, and never heard this tip. And we HAVE had the Internet for a solid 15 years now, and CJ and Annabelle are huge Mariophiles, studying up on him for hours on end, and we'd never heard that. Could it be true?! The answer is a resounding YES!!!! This changes EVERYTHING! ;)