Mini-pear was invited to test for her yellow belt on Sunday morning. Here she is reviewing her moves with Sensei Paul. She passed and is so excited to get her new belt at the beginning of her next class. I didn't expect karate to grab her the way it has. She is even talking about working towards her black belt. I love our dojo. The instructors have a quiet authority and obviously love what they do and (I think this goes a longer way) sharing their knowledge with the kids. The junior classes are multi-level, so the more experienced students are always there for motivation, encouragement, and assistance.
The rest of the weekend was...playful;) On Saturday, we took Mr. Pear down to the wooden roller coaster at Belmont Park before walking along the beach and people watching a bit. Afterwards, we had planned to take in the final roller derby bout of the season, but my directions were all messed up and when we finally realized that we needed to turn around, we got stuck in some ridiculous traffic jam. No roller derby for us.
On Sunday, we took in a street fair in Encinitas. I'd hoped to get a jump on our holiday shopping, but the hand crafted goodies I'd hoped to find were few and far between (which is not to say I didn't manage to pick up some seekrit odds and ends). Oddly enough, there were multiple booths of the pet boutique variety. I love my dog, even though she sleeps on my bed when I'm out and has figured out how to open the bin in the kitchen, but I'm not going to buy her a covered (and cushioned) wagon to ride in or little booties or a San Diego Chargers themed doggie jacket. We did manage to find Mini-pear an all beef hot dog because, as I might have mentioned, she's back on the meat wagon, but I am so sick of the back and forth about it that I'm not going to make special trips to Jimbo's for overpriced lunch meat this time around. Occasional overpriced hot dogs will have to satisfy her carnivorous cravings.
On our way home we stopped at the lagoon. Lots of birds. Since I'm always wishing I knew enough about birds to call myself a birdwatcher, I actually welcomed the bird-crazy old man who accosted me on the trail and proceeded to spout on about every last bird in the vicinity non-stop for about 20 minutes. Then he started to get a bit too bossy with his wife (she moved a little too quickly when some Crimson Teals or Baffleheads or something were about to swim past us and so he hissed at her - the birds appeared to like that a whole lot less than Sharon shifting her weight from one leg to the other) and I noticed that the rest of my family was totally not into my spontaneous conversation of the avian variety.
MiniP looks very serious and focused. yay for the yellow belt!
Posted by: Michele | November 23, 2007 at 12:56 PM