Back at home...

The girls began swim classes on Monday. After a week of swimming in Arizona, they were very excited about taking classes - THANK GOODNESS! Before vacation, Marika had been really unhappy about this and we had had to bribe her with ballet class (more on that).

We had the girls re-tested (before vacation, both tested at Level 1). Marika remained at Level 1 (she couldn't take one breath while swimming, she just holds it) but Mika was declared a Level 2. We were so proud of her!

Here's Miss Mika swimming away. Today was their 4th class (out of 8). She was able to do the backstroke ALL BY HERSELF! The lifeguard didn't have to touch her at all, except to occasionally steer her back into a straight line. They've also been learning how to freestyle and to float both face-up and face-down.

And here's Miss Marika. She doesn't seem to like it when her face is wet, so every time she gets out of the water, she has to wipe her face. Before she goes underwater, she takes a huge breath (see left). She's really good at holding her breath, though. That's my Goggle Girl!

We discovered yesterday, that Daddy Dude's benefits include free Open Swim privileges (otherwise, it's at least $45 for 10 passes) so I'll start taking the girls at least twice a week to practice swimming. This means, of course, that Mika will get even DARKER, which is impossible to imagine!

On Tuesday, the girls began their first ever dance class - ballet/tap combo. Don't they look adorable in their clothes? There were only about 8 girls total in the class and the teacher was young and very sweet. After one class, I can already tell you that the girls have NOT missed their calling as prima ballerinas. =) They are, however, having a lot of fun. Once Daddy Dude burns the videotape footage onto DVD, the girls can practice their steps and drive me insane with the leaping, twirling, and foot-tapping for the rest of the summer...

The girls love the mirror, of course. I was watching the footage I had shot and noticed that there was a huge lag between the teacher performing the step and Marika following. I asked her, "are you following Mika or the instructor?" As I suspected, she watches Mika, who was right in front of her. What do they call that, the blind leading the blind? ;)

As many of you know, the girls love to match their clothes - we never make them match, but we do allow them the option. I made these two dresses for about $10 total. It was $7 for one yard of smocked Tinkerbell fabric from Joann.com (they sent a little extra) and then I had to buy some ribbon for the straps. The girls are posing in one of the gardens at the local library... they are participating in a massive summer reading program -in addition to reading books, there is also a scavenger hunt to find things in and around the library (they were looking for a bird nest here).

Though the reading program is a lot of work for the girls, it's keeping Mika's reading up to par and Marika is also working really hard. In fact, I'd say that Marika is reading where Mika was - at the beginning of first grade. However, her reading comprehension is not as good. Sometimes I wonder if she's just reading the words and not paying any attention to what the words mean! It may very well depend on the book, though...

And some big news! We're expecting! No, not us - Hissamina!!! A couple of days before we left for vacation, Marika came running over to me and shouted that there was something yellow on Hissamina. I imagined it was a parasite or that Hissamina was dying, but when I looked more closely, I realized that that yellow blob is actually her egg case, or ootheca. Here's a website that has a huge number of pictures... if you scroll near the bottom, you'll see more oothecas and finally, baby roaches.

For those of you who won't even look at the website (I know who you are!), here's a summary. Madagascar hissing cockroaches are unique in that they retain their egg cases until they hatch - so it *looks* like they are having live births. From what I gleaned from the internet, Hissamina was simply aerating or turning her egg case, before she retracted it again. When we returned to the house 3 hours later, she looked like she always does, as if nothing extraordinary had occurred. We are still waiting for her to deliver, but we did coat the top of her cage with more vaseline.

When I told Marika that Hissamina could have 20 babies, Marika paused and then said thoughtfully, "Mommy... I don't think I can come up with 20 names!". So, in case there's anybody out there who wants to adopt a few roach babies, please let me know... =) On the bright side, we will no longer have to buy any more roaches (we had been planning to buy 1-2 more, to keep Hissamina company).

Marika, of course, is asking when we will start rearing darkling beetles. I guess that that will be later this weekend... and she's already begun rearing her second batch of triopes... and where did we buy these lovely creatures? Michaels doesn't just sell crafts! Marika used her Michaels gift card (a present from her Aunt Misao and Uncle Ken) to buy this and a magic kit. =)

And last but not least... I scored 3 goals during my Monday soccer game! Woohoo! A hat trick! I've never done that before! Unfortunately, I learned during our vacation that I am definitely getting older. A week without any ibuprofen was rather... uncomfortable - because I felt the pain of every ligament I've pulled over the last few months. *sigh* It's my goal to continue playing soccer until I'm in my 50's, but we'll see if that'll happen or not... =) It's obviously time to buy a new pair of running shoes (I think my current pair has over 1000 miles on it) but do you know gets my goat? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY SCRAPBOOKING SUPPLIES I COULD BUY FOR THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY?

Yup, some of you do. ;)