Marsh trail.

We enjoyed the sunny (but a bit chilly) weather yesterday. We started out with a walk on the marsh trails.


We were discussing what might live in this hole that we found.

Bug, trying to see what might be in the hole on this tree.

Another hole in a tree. Do you notice a theme yet?

One of the trees that Bug always looks for when we're on the trail. It's decaying and she enjoys seeing what has changed since last time...oh, and she counted 7 (I think) holes in & around this one.

This is another shot of the previous tree.

One more tree with a hole.

Bug saw a couple of geese on the water that were eating. She got out her nature journal and settled in to do a quick drawing.

When we were done at the marsh we climbed up the hill to Bug's favorite playground.

Not only can Bug cross the monkey bars by herself (mastered last year) but she's tall enough to get started all by herself. Yay!

Bug's dad gave her a pretty big push. She's holding on for dear life!

Today's outfit.

I just wanted to share Bug's clothing choices for today. I think it'll make you smile. Or laugh. Whatever.

Free Energy on Late Night with David Letterman

These guys played on Letterman last night. 3 of them (singer, bassist & lead guitarist) grew up in my hometown.
CLICK HERE

I updated the link as the previous one was taken down.

Molly the Barn Owl

We are hooked on this webcam. Molly is sitting on 5 eggs which should be hatching any day now.
Online video chat by Ustream

Orange belt!

Bug had her orange belt test tonight. She was so excited! She did really well and stayed pretty focused. Here are some pictures from the evening:

 

  

Here she is with her new orange belt.

With her friend, Laurie who is a 3rd degree black belt.

Bug and Mr. T. This is serious business...

 

The best part of earning a new belt? Going to The Pearl for ice cream!!!

A look back...

I was looking at my old blog and thought that I'd share the pics that were there. Bug looks so little in them! In these photos, she's about 3 1/2.

In the first one, she'd been "painting" the sidewalk with water. This would keep her busy for a LONG time.

She then found a pile of leaves to play in. She decided that it was a volcano and in this shot, she is erupting out of the volcano.

Lastly, here is Bug working on making letters.

This next set is from Feb. 2006, so Bug is not quite 4 years old.

I had found a great pattern for a knitted/felted wizard hat. Bug, of course, had to try it on BEFORE it was felted...

I think that it fit just a little bit better after the felting...

Bug's dad was telling her about different kinds of wood and one day he brought some pieces home, along with some shellac. Here is Bug, experimenting.

 
And, finally, it's time to wash the dishes.

Polar Plunge!

Today was the Polar Plunge which raised money for the Special Olympics. Bug raised $125! Thank you to all who donated. Here's a photo of her team (from karate school). Together they raised over $6500!

Since she was "Too Chicken to Plunge", Bug got to hang out in the Chicken Coop.

At one point they had all of the chickens gather there to do the chicken dance. Bug wasn't sure what to think about that.

Here are the kids before the plunge. Look! Sand! They had to cut and remove a bunch of ice from the river so there was a place to do this. The good news is that the temperature was in the mid-40s today. The water temp, however, was 31 degrees.

I was only able to get one photo of the kids running in.

 

After the plunge, we all headed back to the karate studio for a party. Bug decided to make a bed and relax.

Mandarin Chinese links - updated Sept. 18, 2010

Here are some links that I have found to be useful. I will be updating this regularly.


PRONUNCIATION HELP
Type in a word and hear how to say it. - standardmandarin.com


FREE READING MATERIAL

Beginner-level, free reading material. - chicool.com

A variety of reading material. - A Chinese Text Sampler


GAMES

Learn Chinese characters - Sagwa on PBS Kids


CARTOONS

Cartoons in Mandarin - click on a picture and see what you get! - cartoons


SONGS

Chinese children's songs

Children's songs in Mandarin


WHERE I GET OUR MANDARIN BOOKS

Child Book

Better Chinese - we're using My First Chinese Reader Level 1. We found them here, but ordered from Child Book. (see above link) There's a great free online trial available, as well.


VIDEO - STORIES

Many stories from Sun Flower Language Studio

Crouching Ox, Crowing Rooster

A Fox and a Cat

The Very Hungry Caterpillar


VIDEO - SONGS

Lion King - Can You Feel the Love Tonight

Lion King - I Just Can't Wait to Be King

Lion King - Hakuna Matata

NEW - Jungle Book - Bare Necessities



LESSONS

Language Guide GREAT interactive site.

Kids Chinese Club only 3 lessons, but they got Bug off to a good start. We did a 12-week subscription for $12, then canceled. She got a lot out of it.

Chinese For Kids

Free online lessons


BLOGS

http://mandarinkids.wordpress.com/

http://wenjonggal.wordpress.com/


Posts from my blog

Bug's first try at Chinese writing

Video of Bug counting to 10 in Mandarin

Chinese New Year's Eve party 2010

新年快乐 (xīn nián kuài lè) Happy New Year!

Today is Chinese New Year. We were invited to a New Year's Eve party last night at our local Chinese restaurant. Bug was excited because it meant that she would get to stay up late, as we didn't head over there until 9PM. Here she is with the kids whose parents own the place.

We have a couple of Flat Stanley's visiting us right now, so they came along for the party, too.


Red envelopes = money!Many pictures were taken...

Our hosts for the evening.

Here's a shot of just about everyone that was there.
There was food. A lot of food. They were unable to tell us what much of it was. Other than the one container of soup (below), there were 2-4 plates of each of these. There also was a really good saugage (we think) and asparagus dish that I didn't get a picture of. It came out later, and I forgot to take a shot.


The butter shrimp was tasty.

Bug was fascinated by these shrimp.

We're pretty sure this was octopus...

Very yummy fish.

Pickled chicken feet, anyone? When they brought this out they said "chicken legs". We all looked at it and said "No, chicken feet." This was followed by laughter all around.

Duck and beef. Quite tasty.

Too Chicken to Plunge

While she's "too chicken to plunge", Bug does want to help out the Special Olympics along with her fellow karate students. Will you help her raise some money? Click here to donate: https://www.specialolympicswisconsin.org/pp10/pledge.asp?id_p=5738