Day in the Life of an Idiot

We actually got a lot done this weekend. On Saturday, we headed off to Mason's swimming class, which he continues to excel at -- even though we were almost late thanks to my addiction to coffee. Note: next time get up before everyone else and fetch coffee, or, in a crazy option, make some AT HOME.

We weren't the last ones to class, though, so that was a relief. At any rate, Mason enjoyed splashing around I think he's poised to make more break throughs -- possibly figure out the front stroke (knocking on wood.)

Then we spent the rest of the day finishing up the garden work. I put Mason's veggie garden to bed and cleared out a couple other spots. It's not perfect, but considering how much we should do, we made a good dent in the to-do list. We also raked up the ginormous pile of leaves in/next to which we take our annual fall family picture. My hair is quite long and wonky this year, but I think the picture(s) look pretty good. They'll stack up nicely with all the other, at least.

Sunday was, of course, Halloween. I think though, for Mason, the Dragon Quest at Kuk Sool Wan was a close second in terms of things he was excited about. Our karate (actually kuk sool wan) studio do a kind of maze/challenge thing for the junior members for the school. Mason got to wear his new uniform (gi) and, even though we haven't attended any real classes yet, it seemed to me as an objective observer he wasn't particularly less coordinated, etc., than the others. They set it up as a game, so it's not required that you know much about the martial art, just that you live up to the princples of the thing: respect, teamwork, etc. In fact, I thought Mason was particularly good with teamwork. At one point the kids get "cursed" -- some are without arms (tied to their sides), some are without eyes (blindfolded), and some are melded (tied together) and they have to negotiate a simple obsticle course. The only way to do it successfullly is to work together. Mason had no arms and he was teamed up with a blinded student, and so he had talk the other student through the course. He did really well up to the blocking part. It was hard for him to remember how to describe where the blows would be coming from, but he eventually got it. It was really satisfying to watch, actually. And, compared with some of the others who had been at the school much longer, I thought he did extremely well.

He dressed up as the Grim Reaper/zombie/monster this year. His costume was actually very good. He had a mask, a scythe, and chains that he picked out at Menards. We found a good hoodie to help cover the mask (and keep him warm, an important part of any Halloween adventure in Minnesota), and claws and gloves and a long black robe that was originally meant as a witch dress-up dress given to us at some point by our friends the Jacksons.

I'll post pictures tomorrow.