Monday, August 22, 2011

skating fun

The small men have been into skateboarding lately. Luckily, we live pretty close to the Etnies skate park. Even more luckily: the skate park is free! We headed there this morning for a little bit of skate practice while it was still cool.
Here's some video I shot of them trying out the ramps....You can see Little Man in the dark shirt and then Monkey Boy in the tie-dyed one.

The funniest thing happened while we were there: MB decided he wanted to go over and check out the "pools", which are like big empty swimming pools for skaters to do tricks on. Little Man went with him and then came back alone. I asked LM where his brother was and LM said "Oh, he's still in the pool."

When I went over to check it out, all I could see from my vantage point 20 feet away (I have to stay on the other side of the fence) was the very top of MB's head as he ran back and forth trying to get out of the pool! He was yelling "Help! Let me out!"

After some pushing and pulling from our friends and LM, Monkey Boy was set free of the pool and went off to skate more ramps. He said next time he tries a pool, he will stick with the one that has a ladder!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

added to my "To-Read" list


My Goodreads list keeps growing. One of the books I just added is "X-Posed: the Painful Truth Behind Yoga & Pilates". I found this post on It's All Yoga, Baby, where the author of X-Posed talks about his own views that not all yoga/pilates is safe.

This should be an interesting read, as I somewhat have to agree. With my own issues stemming from moderate scoliosis, I have learned to alter my practice to fit my body. But as a yoga teacher I regularly see people forcing their bodies into various asana on a daily basis.

One of my opening statements in every class is something along the lines of "Trust your body and your breath- don't force yourself into any pose." But it never fails that I see a student panting, red-faced and grunting as they try to get into 'that advanced asana'.

I know it's their ego taking over- I've been there myself! "I can TOTALLY get into Peacock pose!"

Uh, no, I can't...but that doesn't stop me from grunting and holding my breath and trying! At least nowadays I can usually see this ego/competitive part of my practice for what it is- and I can slow myself down to return to the practice with a more gentle mindset. Hmmm...sometimes at least!


Monday, August 15, 2011

A day at the beach and a letter to the tooth fairy




We have been trying to spend more time at the beach this year. The small men are finally big enough that I feel comfortable taking them by myself. I usually make them carry their own bodyboards and sand toys, which frees my hands up for all the rest of the junk we need to carry.

Our beach of choice lately has been Strands- the boys love taking the funicular and I love the fact that there's FREE parking...a rarity among beaches. The waves break shallowly and far enough out that the kids can bodyboard without getting slammed into the sand.

The Dearest accompanied us to Strands yesterday, bringing his new fishing pole to try out. This made the boys very happy as they got to fish with daddy and dig up plenty of sand crabs as well as play in the water.

The most exciting thing that happened was Monkey Boy *finally* losing his tooth. He was biting into a sandwich and suddenly started shouting that his tooth had fallen out. This baby tooth has been hanging on for over two months, and I was even about to call the dentist to get some 'help' with pulling it out. MB was so excited that it finally came out without help!

The funny thing is, last night he wanted us to help him write a note to the tooth fairy because MB didn't want to give up the tooth! So here's the note:

"Dear Tooth Fairy,
I want to keep my tooth. You can keep your money because I want my tooth. This is for good, so come back when my next tooth falls out.
(signed) Monkey Boy"

!!!!

So did the TF let him keep his tooth??? Yes, she did...and she gave him a $1 gold coin to boot. Probably because he's just too much of a cutie: