Musings and Pictures

October has been pretty great so far, albeit, rather full.  I'll start with some musings and get to pictures.  I promise.

Musing #1 - Freedoms I take for granted
Grandma and Grandpa are traveling in China right now.  We have been able to exchange a few emails, but they are unable to access the blog while there.  It's not because they don't have the internet.  It's because the internet they have is only through a firewall that bans Blogger.  Pausing to think that through, I became very thankful for our country.

Yes, there are things here that make me nuts.  Yes, there are things on the internet that I find revolting and untenable.  But censorship isn't the answer.  Heart issues just cannot be legislated in my opinion.  It's like when I discipline my boys for being rude to me or some other adult.  I don't want just behavior modification.  I want heart transformation.  Sticky business, folks.  And probably not the realm of government.  Um...if this is offensive to you...just know that I'm not ultra political at all, and I probably don't know what I'm talking about.  I just feel like the freedom to blog is beautiful.  And I'm grateful for it.  Right?  Okay.

Musing #2 - Why moms should do Taekwondo with their kids
Because it rocks.  We have attended four classes over the past four weeks.  It is true that last week I nearly vomited after our twenty-five minutes of calisthenics, but our 4th degree black belt instructor, Master Niranjan, said I was doing fine.  Note to self: no somersaults for me.  They make me ill.  :-/

ANYWAY, the boys think it is so cool that their mom is punching and kicking alongside them.  Seriously.  Today while doing a round of Ax Kicks, I slammed the ball of my foot down as hard as I could onto the giant sparring pad our instructor was holding, and IT FELT SO GOOD.  Did I mention that I get to yell "HI-YAH!" as loudly as possible.  This sport is perfect for moms.  Every moment of frustration you've carried through the week - HI-YAH!  Every time your kids didn't listen and you wanted to punch something - HI-YAH!  Best. Stress. Reliever. Ever.  Cheapest?  Nope.  But the best!

The boys are actually going to start going twice a week.  I am fairly confident that I would die if I tried to go twice a week, but my desire to improve (and my new fitbit) have me working out more often, including push-ups and sit-ups daily.  WHAT?!?  I know.  There's just something about knowing that there is going to be a dude on Friday at 10am expecting me to get better at this stuff.  It motivates me.  I also don't want the boys to pass me up too quickly. Right?  ;-)

And now for the pictures.  I'm sorry I don't have any from Taekwondo.  I'm too busy being awesome to take pictures.

I'll share from our trip down the Gorge to get apples a few weekends ago.

First the view from the apple farm we visit:

 I took this picture myself!  The days was perfect.

After buying LOTS of apples, none of which I photographed, we needed to kill some time before heading to a house warming party in The Dalles.  So we went to this park, just five minutes from the apple farm:

The play structure was fine, but the Daddy-Man found this stream and that is where we spent the next hour and a half.

What is it with boys and bodies of water?

 This one likes to get dirty.

I posed this picture, but I still like it.  I think it captures so much about my boy.