...And I Blinked and it was Tuesday.

Well, the flurry of activity never seems to cease in our lives...

• Friday was Chase's black belt test. It went very well. I was a bit panicky, but I think he did fine. He does need to work on his sit-ups and push-ups, and he didn't break the brick with his hand, but he did break it with his foot. His bare foot. I was mistaken about the tea ceremony. That will happen in December when he officially receives his black belt. (Yes, more waiting. *sigh* And here I thought I could relax after the test.) My anxiety came during sparring and grappling. Some of the parents were getting a bit rowdy, which I felt missed the point of the exercise. This isn't playground fighting, this is learning to defend yourself. The kids deserve better than parents screaming "Come on! This isn't a dance!" from the sidelines. The test lasted about two hours and then we went out for ice cream to celebrate.
  

• Saturday, Marina and I met up with friends in Central Park. Some we've met before, and others we know from an online discussion group we belong to. We had lots of fun trying to find Belvedere Castle and working our way down toward the Central Park Zoo and then FAO Schwartz. In all, we walked from Broadway and 79th St. to 5 Ave. and 59th St. over the course of about five hours. And then we still needed to walk over to the subway to get to my parents house to meet up with the rest of the family and go home. Another long day.

• Sunday I thought I was going to rest. Of course, I forgot the things I needed to do. This was a bittersweet day. After mass we stopped at our church's St. Anthony's Festa. This is the church's annual fundraiser. The kids had a good time playing some games and winning a couple of prizes. That was important to me, because our next stop was to a wake. The wake was for the 8 year old son of one of my husband's co-workers. His son, who was born with a birth defect and was almost always on a feeding tube, passed away in his sleep last Wednesday. It is heartbreaking to watch a family who loved their child so much have to say goodbye much too soon. My heart goes out to them and I hope you will give your own children a hug for them.

• Monday was just busy with catching up on life. The children spent the morning working on their zoo exhibits for my art class. We will have a mini exhibit of our zoos on Friday. The afternoon was spent in and out of the car: library, post office, craft store, pet supplies store...an errand day. And it's been incredibly hot and humid through all of this. The heat is supposed to break tonight. A break would be nice.