What are you gonna buy me, Dad?

My parents enjoy traveling to nearby and not-so-nearby casinos and trying their luck. This week, my dad got bigtime lucky. I believe the total (from three different days) was over $2500.

Can you make a career out of playing slot machines?

Oh Julia, Julia

I got a call yesterday from Julia's teacher. She got in major trouble at school. Apparently, when a first grader needs to go to the bathroom (which is down the hall a little way), they grab a bathroom pass and head off. They do their business and then they come back and rejoin their classmates. This is quite different from last year because the kindergarten classrooms all have attached bathrooms.

Well, it appears that little Julia was taking advantage of the additional freedom of being a first grader to wander the halls instead of heading straight to the bathroom and back. It appears, more than once did she do her wandering. And yesterday, when she went hall-wandering, she took another little girl with her and they ended up at the exit to the school, between the double doors to the outside. They were probably just watching the rain, but if they'd gone out the second door, they would have been locked out of school. This is not cool.

So Julia got busted and started crying. After her teacher set up new rules for Julia's bathroom visits, she let Julia call me. She was crying so hard I couldn't really tell what was wrong, other than she'd been bad and it involved a hallway she shouldn't have been in. I got her calmed down and told her we'd talk when she got home. Then her teacher called a little later and explained.

Julia was punished last night. We need to think of something else though, because she didn't seem to mind No TV all that much.

Yoga

Julia has been doing yoga in her first grade classroom. This isn't part of gym class, just something her teacher enjoys having the kids do, and she likes it too. She says she knows three poses, Downward Dog, Tree Pose, and Snake Pose. She demonstrated Downward Dog for me and Allie the other day. She started by lying flat on the floor.

Julia: And then you have to exhale and out-hale. Exhale and out-hale. To relax, you know.

Ewww!

I was going to walk with the girls to the bus stop, and since the bus always arrives much earlier than scheduled, we needed to get going. I opened the front door and a big black spider fell onto the floor at my feet. I stomped on him, twice, and all that was left was a black spot. I ushered the girls out the door, thinking I would grab a tissue and clean up the spider spot when I came back in.

Four or five minutes later, I opened the door and the spider spot was gone. But Rabies the cat was still nosing around, licking his whiskers!