Sean earns his yellow belt

We are so proud of Sean and his effort with Tae Kwon Do. This week he earned his yellow belt. He had to learn a creed, some Korean commands and some structured moves. At the test he broke a board by kicking it, something he didn't know he was going to have to do. We are really please with Master Cha of Flying Tigers, and proud as can be of Sean, his effort, his focus and commitment to Tae Kwon Do.

Rippin' it at the skate park

Instead of a party for his birthday, Brian wanted to take his buddy Logan to the skate park. They had fun and found some guys to help them a little, since it was their first time. Riding, that is, not just to the skate park. They actually did all right and had fun. Then we went to Conan's for pizza ... man, the cook a good pie there.

Brian's 9th birthday

Brian turned 9 on Nov. 3. He's really been wanting a skateboard, so we got him one, even though we had told him he couldn't have one until he was 10. He's pretty coordinated, but it is taking him a while to get the hang of it.

A fear factor Halloween

Halloween was fun, as usual. Along with the normal carving of pumpkins, we went to Chandler's Fear Factor Halloween Birthday Party. Yes, that is a real, live worm on Sean's face, which he had to dig out of a bowl of spaghetti, put on his forehead and transport to another bowl. The other game was to put their hands in a box with live mice to pull out beads. Then they went on a hayride to go trick-or-treating.

The Shockers

This year, the boys moved to a bigger field and a bigger team. A couple of guys and the coach of the Raptors joined the Cheetahs and we redubbed the team the Shockers. We had a fun season, though we didn't take that many photos. Melinda made an awesome logo for them.

Caving in the karst

Every year, the area caving club opens up the caves at the Western Oaks Karst preserve so folks can crawl around and learn about them. We live on top of the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, and these holes in the limestone are an important part of our environment, and water that goes down these holes end up in Barton Springs Pool, the signature swimming hole of Austin.