“A little idle talk of this and that . . . “

in bulleted form:

1. James (finally) learned to tie his own shoelaces yesterday. It was a moment of triumph that I was going to immortalize in picture, except that we were at Disneyland, waiting for the parade. I had the camera and had left the card at home, sort of like the days of running out of film.

It was actually symblic of how James learns many things. He starts and stops, starts and stops, I think he’s going to get it and he loses interest. Then one day, he just masters it. No pushing will ever make him learn faster, I could have had him practice everyday for a year and still, yesterday would have been the day. Perhaps longer, because he would have hated to tie his shoes by now.

2. We went to Disneyland yesterday; our passes our expiring and we’re going to let them. Many people love the new free birthday and payment plans for locals. We hate them because of the crowds (hurrah for Disney, they are making even more money). Yesterday, with schools getting out early because they have no money, the crowds were atrocious. However, it was worth it for James to see the fireworks; he is spellbound every time.

3. Speaking of schools getting out early, have you seen this story http://tiny.cc/0S7fo . Yes, because some bureaucrat is bad at math, kids not far from me will be going to school until July 31st this year. Now, I have James going to school year round, but I don’t tell him in May, surprise! 34 extra days of school! Yeah, those kids are happy. At least they didn’t add to the crowds last night.

4. I won! http://blueyonderranch.com/imagine/the-book-so-bright-you-gotta-wear-shades/ How cool is that!

5. Speaking of Blue Yonder and cool, on our way to Disneyland, we saw an Alaska license plate. We started off trying to get 48 states, because let’s face it, we never thought we would get Alaska and Hawaii. But, now we have 46 states, D.C., 2 Canadian province, 1 Mexican state?, province?, region?, someone help me out there, and 1 foreign country we are still attempting to identify. We need a new map. And, if you see us driving, you may want to give us a wide berth, we will drive dangerously to attempt to spot a new plate (particularly NM, WY, KS, or AL).