Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting!

Ever since he was a Power Ranger for Halloween last year, Chris has wanted to chop, kick, and punch his way through any and all bad guys. So what did we do? We enrolled him in karate classes, of course!

He's been in class for the past several weeks (there were a couple of local elections thrown in that screwed up the schedule), and I can't believe how well-disciplined he is. My folks are always telling me how strange it is that my sisters are completely bonkers at home, yet their teachers swear they're the best-behaved, most well-mannered kids they've ever met...I'm starting to understand it now. Apparently, kids only want to impress adults OTHER than their parents, a fact made all-too-clear during the past few weeks of class. That aside, here's my main point: if you've ever wondered exactly what is the definition of hysterical, look no further than a group of four- to six-year-olds taking karate!

These kids are running around like crazy, chopping, jumping, and punching at anything that moves. Until, that is, Sensei Charles rolls in. Sensei Charles is a bad-ass! The guy's got a black belt and an attitude that would make Chuck Norris wet himself (with apologies to Chuck, just in case he's reading this...). From the first minute he walked into class, it was evident...there would be ZERO screwing around in this class. His first rule is that you always answer with "Yes Sir!" or "No Sir!" I love that! The only other rule is that if he catches you screwing around, you've got to sit on your knees with your feet under your butt for five minutes. Doesn't sound like too much trouble...until you've tried it! This move is uncomfortable on carpet, so I can only imagine what it would be like on the hard linoleum floor they work out on. OUCH!

Anway, to make a long story short...Sensei Charles whipped these little monkeys into shape a ridiculous pace, and I'm duly impressed. I also have the feeling that Chris will be taking karate for quite a while now, and that I'm officially the Dad of Christopher-san!

What's that? You'd like pictures and maybe a video? Can do! Here you go...

Want to See What's Under My Skirt?

No, this isn't some kind of sick come on, nor is it a cross-dressing site (bet THAT'LL get the search engines linking to my blog...hmmm...). It's just a damned funny story about Chris's girlfriend, Annabeth.

As I've mentioned, last week was the kids' first week of Pre-K. Part of that first week was a refresher course on colors, how they work, what happens when you mix them, etc. A key part of the week was that everyone was supposed to dress in a particular color each day. Wednesday was Orange day.

Now...if you know ANYTHING about me at all, you know what a major feat it is to locate an item of orange clothing in my house (GO DAWGS!). Such is NOT the case at Annabeth's house...her folks are Clemson fans, and for some reason seem to think that orange is a particularly lovely color, especially when mixed with purple (WTF?!?).

So...I've told you all of that to tell you this:

We go to pick the boys up from school, and all of the kids are out on the playground. Before I've even seen Chris, Annabeth comes running up to me and yells, "Mr. Brian! Mr. Brian! Want to see what's under my skirt?!?" HOLY CRAP! How do you answer this question without falling down laughing? I did my best, and said something to the effect that it's not really cool to show other people what's under your skirt. Meanwhile, the teacher is in absolute hysterics laughing her butt off!

Thankfully, Annabeth's mom showed up about two seconds later. After relating the story to her, you can probably imagine my relief when she informed me that what was under Annabeth's skirt was in fact...SHORTS! Apparently, one of the other little girls in class had been running around showing off her panties when she was wearing skirts, and Annabeth thought it would be best if she kept that kind of thing to herself by providing a little extra coverage. Too funny!

Thanks for the laughs, Annabeth!

Jump Around!

Last weekend was Chris's friend Alex's 5th birthday, and we joined Alex and friends over at one of those cool jumpy places. Actually, it ended up being at the same place where we had Chris's 4th birthday party, which worked out great since the camera we had at that event didn't do a very good job with indoor photography.

This time around, I'm happy to say that we got some great pictures. More importantly, though, we got some awesome VIDEO! Enjoy!