Move Over Bruce Lee, Here Comes Amanda

Amanda tested for her Little Dragon Black Belt this month. She was very nervous at first, but with the help of Mr. Ken and her instructors she did great! Once she got past her forms she was more relaxed and never messed up once. We are very proud of her!

Amanda and her friend Claire tested at the same time. Here are their instructors.

The girls and Mr. Tony. He has been their instructor for the past year and a half.

Mr. Evan was the primary instructor til he up and went to college. We are glad that he was there that day.

Mr. Ken helped Amanda out alot this day and we are very grateful for him. He is kind and great with all the kids at the Dragon Academy.

Amanda accepting her black belt and shaking the hand of all her instructors.

Amanda's instructor Mr. Tony was testing for his 3rd degree black belt. He is jumping over the stacked pads and landing and rolling. It was fun to watch.

A TRIP WITHOUT THE KIDS!!

Jared and I had the opportunity to go to Connecticut a couple of weekends ago. His mom came and stayed with the kids(bless her soul, she survived) while we went. Our purpose was to find a home for us to rent for the next year that we will be there. I had rented the cheapest, smallest car available. But when we got to the car rental counter the attendant said he had something better for us. He showed us a convertible Volvo C70 and we could have it for only $40 more a day. Uh, no thank you. We had our stuff in the smaller car and he came out and said he could give us the Volvo for $10 more a day. Uh, okay!! Why not? We had no kids with us. Unfortunately the day we got there was the only day it didn't rain. So we only had the top down 1 day. But that's okay. It was super nice inside, and of course I had to drive it the whole time. I didn't mind at all!!

But we had trouble securing a home for us to rent. We had one that we put a deposit down on. The problem was the owners of the house. They were nervous about renting their house and never told their agents what they would do with the house. So long story short, all of the other homes we looked at are gone and we will be living in a home we have never seen in a city we have never been to. But hopefully we will have a nice new home to live in with plenty of space. Cross our fingers that nothing goes wrong. We are still waiting for the lease agreement. But we are lucky to have the most wonderful agent helping us. Thanks Anne!

These are just some of the pictures I took when we walked around the Yale campus. All the trees were in spring bloom. It was beautiful and made for some good pictures.

An old church tower across from the Yale gift shop. We had to bring something home for the kids and Grammie, so they all got Yale shirts.

Cool shot of a tower right next to the secret society "Skull and Bones" house that we are not supposed to know about. But the student in the touring office marked it on the map for us.


TOLEDO ZOO TRIP

The kids and I and some friends from church went to the Toledo Zoo over our spring break. Ethan is sitting on a giant pile of dung(not real of course), and Matthew thought the skulls were very cool!

We went to the farm at the Metro Park a couple days after the zoo trip. The kids thought it was fun to pet the cow. We made sure to wash their hands after this one.

This is Amanda doing her "break holds" where she escapes from a stranger in different positions. The first half of the video is kind of long(just the instructor telling her what to do) so if you want to skip to the halfway point then it gets more interesting.

Below is Ethan. He absolutely loves to do the laundry. He asks me at least 10 times a day if it is laundry time. After he puts in the clothes, he pulls a chair over and watches it agitate til we have to close the lid for the spin cycle. Then he reminds me when it is done that it is time for the dryer. I have never left clothes in the washer since. What a good boy!

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