Penguins and Pandas

Monterey Bay Aquarium Penguin Cam

San Diego Zoo Panda Cam

Ara and I have been looking online at animal web cams. Looking at the animals in real time is so fun and Ara likes to look for them when they go off camera or when they hide behind trees. Plus I think pandas' are super cute!

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Ara has been counting everything! I asked her this morning what four favorite things are and she sat in my lap talking and laughing. She told me #1 coloring #2 birds #3 balls #4 dancing. For lunch we had my interpretation on corn dogs. I make a corn bread mix, add hot dogs and corn, pour it all into a mini muffin pan and bake for 10 minutes. Ara loves it. They are just the right size and warm cornbread is yummy! Tomorrow I have orchestra rehearsal and A is teaching so Ara will be spending the morning at her Grandpa's house with Joey, Victor, and Kali. She is always excited to go over there now and when we pick her up she is beyond exhausted! I better go, I need to leave for work in 10 minutes and all I've done so far is shower!

Mommy baby TV time

Ok, I have a confession. Since Ara was a new born I have been watching Gilmore Girls with her. We call it "Mommy baby TV time". I'ts a nice escape from reality into a world of happy people who talk fast. Unfortunately, I usually miss the show now because of my teaching schedule. So one night I was updating my ipod and I found a podcast about my show! Woot! It's a really well produced podcast done by this young sounding married couple and it's as charming as the show. If you want to be a nerd like me you can check them out here. After discovering this podcast and one other about the game I play, FFXI I started searching for more. I have always loved listening to talk while I'm driving or falling asleep. Like putting on a movie but leaving the TV off and just hearing the dialouge. Or books on CD! I love those! When I was in school I had this lame data entry job so I recorded the sound of my favorite movies and listened to them at work. Wow, when I tell Ara that she is going to be amazed at how I lived in a pre iWorld isn't she? I'm trying to stay on topic, I really am. So... Podcasts, nifty and free. Now I want to do a podcast but we all know that would end up being the all Ara all the time podcast and no one wants to hear that!

Singing in the Car!

La la la! My little musician singing in the car on the long trip home from Grandpa's house. That violin in her hand is actually something my Sister bought for Joey and when Ara became attached to it.. well it suffices to say she was amused. It actually plays about 5 different songs in the most awful sounding impression of a beginning violinist. In order to make the songs play though you have to press on the strings, when they connect with each other the songs play.

That is how it would work in theory anyway.

In it's current state however, the strings get stuck together and it just sounds one high pitched note incessantly.

That's what it is doing in this picture.

One note.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Ara sings along at the top of her lungs and especially enjoys it when Momma and Daddy do as well. So here we are driving along all singing one note like we are some sort of malfunctioning egg timer. The trip takes about an hour. That's right an hour. Mercifully Ara fell asleep about 20 minutes in but we we're afraid if we reached back and stopped the violin from playing she would wake up. Ah, the sacrifices we make for our little ones.