We've had quite a bit of snow since December started, and the girls took to building a fort on the front lawn with some of their brick-making instruments. Scott and Carly furthered this effort by taking snow boulders created by the snow plows and rolling them across the street and applying them to the walls. Finally, Scott shoveled the snow on the lawn towards the snow fort, thereby creating a "superfort". All area schools were closed on Tuesday as part of a snow day and Gillie, Carly, and their friend, Sabine, spent the time outside building up the walls even further. They even ate lunch in the fort that day!

Hanukkah came and went with a mix of presents that included books, games, toys, earrings, homemade sewing kits, and a magazine subscription. In keeping with the tradition we started last year, we bought only 7 night's worth of presents instead of the customary 8 and we're once again donating a night's worth of time to the Milwaukee Rescue Mission on Christmas Eve. They are one of the few, if any, places in the area that lets kids under 13 volunteer.

As part of a new feature on the website, Scott's compiled his list of picks of the best music of 2007. Speaking of music, our friend, Sarah, scored a set of tickets for us to see Bruce Springsteen on St. Patrick's Day in 2008! This will be Scott's 5th time seeing Bruuuuuce and Kathy's first. Meanwhile, both Gillie and Carly are excelling in school with each of them acing many weekly spelling tests. As part of 3rd grade, Gillie has to know all the United States. She passed that a while ago, moved onto state capitals, then Canadian provinces, and today is testing on South American countries. It's getting to the point where she knows more geography than her parents! And Carly's picked up a new skill; she's now able to swallow pills. We have yet to find vegetarian children's vitamins that taste good so we switched to pills and Carly's able to handle them. Lastly, this Saturday is our next Taekwondo belt test which will include some challenging board-breaking kicks.

Recent website updates:

• We have a new family portrait as well as other new photos in the Photos section.
• Some new Chicago humor was added to the Humor section.

We had a great Thanksgiving as the time off from both work and school was a nice break. As Carly is in second grade this year, she got to take home the second grade class guinea pig, Eddie, for the long Thanksgiving weekend. The girls showed great responsibility in taking care of Eddie. They cleaned his cage every day, brushed him, and fed him fresh, tasty treats such as slices of green pepper. The time off allowed us to perform some huge updates to the website as well. Along with the photo of Eddie, there's also a new photo of Carly in her Halloween costume in the photos section. We've added vegetarian restaurant reviews of The Chancery and Roots. Lastly, Scott finally figured out how to get some old family videos onto the computer (in quicktime/mpeg-4 format) and now there are 10 new videos of the girls in their younger days from 1999 to 2002 in the videos section of the website. If you have limited viewing time, we recommend starting with 2002 and viewing them in reverse chronological order.

It's been about a month since our last update and there's a lot to report on. Scott had another birthday, everyone got their new Taekwondo belts (Gillie and Scott are now brown belts and Carly is now a green belt), and we went to Disney World!

Aside from Kathy having visited during college, it was everyone's first time at Disney World. We chose to go during Wisconsin's teacher conferences and it was a great time to go. The parks were not too crowded and the weather stayed a comfortable 75 to 80 degrees. We flew our favorite airlines, Midwest, but got the Disney package for the rest of the trip. That meant that as soon as we got off the plane in Orlando, they shuttled us to our hotel, the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and picked up our bags for us based on the special tags they had us put on them. The program is designed to essentially get you into the parks as quickly as possible after arriving.

After arriving in mid-afternoon and having a late lunch, we decided to hit the Animal Kingdom since they had extra hours that day. We hit the park around 4 p.m. and went on one of the last safari rides of the day just before 5 p.m. What great timing! All the animals were awake during the 20-minute ride through the savanna and we even had to stop to wait for animals to cross the path of our safari truck. The safari is so well-done that not once do you think that you're driving through a man-made exhibit. Gillie and Kathy went on Expedition Everest, one of the newer thrill rides in the park. The man-made version of Everest looks exactly like a real mountain from afar. The centerpiece to the park is the Tree of Life, a man-made tree that consists of 325 carvings. Since we only saw half the park on our first day, we chose this park to re-visit on our last day as well. Kathy and Gillie went on Expedition Everest again and we all rode the safari ride again. Carly conquered her fears and rode with us down the Kali River Rapids. Aside from a quick 20-foot drop that soaks whomever ends up going backwards in the 12-person raft (usually the heaviest pair of people in the raft); it is mostly a weenie ride. This park is filled with animals around every corner if you're patient enough to let yourself wander rather than being directed to just the biggie attractions.

The next day we went to the Magic Kingdom. We skipped the typical kid things like character breakfasts and meeting the characters and getting their "autographs". While we like Disney a lot, we're just not a "Disney family" that felt the need to do the character-related things. Seeing the lines for these things, I bet we had an extra 2 hours to spend on actual attractions. That said, the Magic Kingdom surprised us the most. While we thought it would be a bit cheesy (and yes, it was), it had some fun rides. Carly really took to blasting the evil Zurg in the Buzz Lightyear ride (she went on it 6 times) and getting to drive a car in the Indy Speedway (2 times). Meanwhile, Gillie convinced Scott to go through Space Mountain which ended up being his first real roller coaster ride. There was a great 3-D movie called Mickey's Philharmagic, a fun Aladdin magic carpet ride where you can control the height of the carpet, and a well-done Peter Pan ride. Natch, we had to check out at least one signature attraction and while we opted out of It's a Small World, Gillie and Scott went through the updated Pirates of the Caribbean and found it to be the most disappointing attraction of the entire trip.

We went to EPCOT on our third day and while it was probably our least favorite park, it had Scott's favorite attraction there, Soarin'. It's a hang glider simulation whereby you sit down and are lifted 30 feet in the air and shown a movie below you, in front of you, and all around you. You're truly given the sensation of hang gliding as they tilt the "car" you are in and blow wind at you. We went on the ride through the EPCOT greenhouses twice and enjoyed a clam-car ride through The Living Seas, which was the Finding Nemo attraction. After enjoying some rides, we wandered through "The World" where food and other attractions from various countries abound. At one point, as we entered the Moroccan section, a belly dancer was dancing. The girls started to spontaneously dance in an attempt to imitate the belly dancer. The 13-second video is an absolute riot. The music you hear is the actual music that was being played there, even though it might sound dubbed in.

We had mostly good dining experiences as we had reservations for a dinner restaurant each night. We had researched vegetarian meals and chose a variety of establishments to visit. Our favorite meal was at the California Grill in the Contemporary Resort. It was a class act and the food was crazy good. After that, we had tasty meals at both restaurants in the Animal Kingdom Lodge: Boma was an African-themed buffet that pleased everyone (although they messed up our reservation) and Jiko, The Cooking Place, served up unusual but very tasty food. Spoodles was on The Boardwalk near EPCOT and had some slow service and seemed the least accommodating to us. They packed up a tasty dessert for us that we couldn't finish at the restaurant and that made for a nice sugar-filled breakfast the next morning.

It was a great trip and it was a real treat to have a vacation where computers and email were left behind in favor of non-stop fun. If you want to see the photos of our trip, then start with photo #38 in the photos section. We took a lot of photos and these are the best of the bunch.

Gillie and Scott attended their first Taekwondo tournament, a Midwest Invitational tournament that hosted schools from Wisconsin and nearby states. Unsure of what to expect, they both did well. Gillie and Scott each competed against others of equivalent age and belt rank in two events: forms and breaking. We decided to skip the sparring event for this year. Gillie's category went first and she showed off the various Taekwondo movements, i.e., her form, for her belt rank. She got a trophy for 3rd place. For her board-breaking technique, she chose to do a back kick, one of the more recent kicks she's learned and as such, a more challenging kick with which she's probably had the least experience. She broke her board and beamed when she was handed the trophy for 1st place in her group.

Scott's age placed him in the seniors category, for those 35 or older. Not knowing what to expect, he did well with his form but ran a little short on space. Nevertheless, he garnered a 2nd-place trophy. For the breaking technique for adults, they can choose to break with either one or two different techniques. Everyone in the group chose two techniques so choosing one was not an option as that would not have been enough to win over the judges. Scott attempted his first-ever knife-hand strike to a board and failed. He was able to smoothly turn and perform a stationary jumping side kick successfully. Since the other competitors had similar failures with at least one of their techniques as well, Scott earned another 2nd-place trophy.

While the family is having success with its athletic endeavors, unfortunately, both our local Brewers and Scott's hometown Phillies didn't get too far with their seasons. We took the girls to one of the final home games on a Friday night so that the girls could say they went to a night game. The Brewers lost the game to the San Diego Padres and it ended up being the loss that eliminated them from post-season contention. Still, it was an exciting season and the Brewers' team of the future has arrived. The next 5 to 7 years will be exciting!

The day after the Brewers game, we visited our CSA (community-sponsored agriculture) farm that we get our weekly produce from. They had a potluck lunch and we ended up staying for 4 hours! The girls got to retrieve eggs from the hen house and then we took a tour of the crops and got to pick anything we wanted. Carly dug up a carrot that looked more like an udder. Our CSA farm, Springdale Farm, is about 19 years old and is an organic farm that delivers food for 530 families besides ours. Visiting where our food comes from was a real treat, and we got to see the new solar panels that were recently installed on the barn. The vegetables from there are always tasty and fresh. We ended the day by visiting their two horses and feeding them some grass.

Music-wise, Scott's excited that the new Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuce album is out and is hoping that the current tour with the E. Street Band makes its way to Milwaukee in early 2008. While Kathy and Scott rarely do concerts these days, they had a blast catching The National from the 5th row of the Pabst Theatre last month.

On the site, we've added a restaurant review of Classic Slice, a great pizzaria in Bayview that has a few vegan options.

Links we like:

• Watch Your Car Crash - You select what kind of car you have and watch the Consumer Reports crash test of that vehicle
• Squirrel Obstacle Course - Watch the video of this squirrel making its way through a man-made obstacle course before it eventually gets its reward
• Select a Candidate Quiz - Answer the 11 questions to find out which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions. The results may surprise you!

School has started again this week with Gillie in third grade and Carly in second grade. And, for the first time, Carly has a teacher that Gillie actually had. It's taken 5 years of school before it happened. With the new year comes a new taste for independence. Carly's began asking to walk around the block by herself and we usually let her. Gillie's asked to walk home from school with her friends, which is a bit harder to give in to. However, today Kathy was able to accommodate her and still be within earshot while lagging behind with Carly on the way home.

Everyone passed their last Taekwondo test and broke their board on either the first or second try. That puts Carly at a high purple belt and Gillie and Scott at high green belt, with brown belt to follow. Meanwhile, they're considering participating in their first Taekwondo tournament in early October. They can choose from one to three events: sparring, board-breaking, and form.

Gillie just finished the Harry Potter series, start-to-finish in less than a month for the whole series. That's Gillie. Carly saw The Deathly Hallows, the last book in the series, lying around the house and read only the epilogue. That's Carly.

Five new pictures have been added to the photos section.

Harry Potter fever has caught up with the Yanoff household. Even though the last book in the series is now out, Gillie just decided to finally start reading the series. It's been a little over a week now and she's nearly through the third book already. Meanwhile, we've been completing some overdue projects such as adding some color to our downstairs bathroom. We found a color called "teal bayou" as the photo at the right indicates. It's made the small bathroom seem even smaller, but it adds a much-needed splash of color to our downstairs.

There are a couple of new photos from an outing to the Brewers-Diamondbacks game in which the Brew Crew soundly defeated the Arizona team 10 - 1. There's a new 10-second video of Carly showing off some of her Taekwondo moves to a dance beat. In the vegetarian section, there's a restaurant review of a Milwaukee restaurant, Oriental Coast, a couple of good articles we recently encountered regarding why we use high-fructose corn syrup instead of sugar these days as well as a stunner on bottled water.

Happy golden birthday, Carly! On 7/7/07, Carly had her golden birthday and celebrated it with neighbors who were invited to bash her homemade dragon pinata. After a big swing and a miss at her dragon, her next swat slayed the dragon which meant that the homemade pinata survived the strike of only one kid. We're especially proud of Carly as she is donating some of her birthday money to the Wisconsin Humane Society, her favorite "cause".

Meanwhile, some new photos are up in the photos section, a new quote in the quotes section, and a pair of new videos in the videos section. Also, another one of Scott's essays/stories made it onto the This I Believe website and is now posted in the stories section.

How 'bout them Brewers? Four all-stars, including a bona-fide starter, Prince Fielder.

It is with great sorrow that we report that Kathy's mom, Patricia van Melle, passed away on Tuesday, June 12, 2007. May her memory be a blessing that empowers others.

Our praying mantises hatched! We had them in a terrarium for while, maybe 5 weeks. Then one morning, they were all over the sides. We took them outside and freed them, although a few drowned when it started raining. The egg sag was small but 200 - 300 of the beneficial insects popped out. We bought the egg sac at Hoffer's Tropic Life Pets for around $7 or so. We thought they'd never hatch but when they did, they provided hours of activity as we carried them around the neighborhood and showed them off to our neighbors. We studied them for hours and researched them on the Internet. Several photos of the tiny nymphs are now in the photos section.

George Will recently wrote a great article on the steroid controversy in Barry Bonds's pursuit of Hank Aaron's career home run record entitled Barry Bonds's Enhancement by George Will. My favorite quote from the article:

The athlete's proper goal is to perform unusually well, not unnaturally well. Drugs that make sport exotic, by radical intrusions into the body, drain sport of its exemplary power by making it a display of chemistry rather than character. In fact, it becomes a display of some chemists' virtuosity and some athletes' bad character.

Lastly, we added a lot more vegetarian-friendly places to dine to our vegetarian restaurants in Milwaukee page.

Spring is here and that means that softball started for Scott as well as biking to work for both Kathy and Scott. Unfortunately, Scott's softball team is off to an 0 - 2 start. Scott's also writing a column entitled "This I Love" on his friend Marek's Think This // After Hours blog.

Along with biking to work, we've switch from a vinyl shower curtain to a more eco-friendly cloth shower curtain that can be washed instead of thrown out. We decided to take our "going green" a step further by selling our gas-powered mower and switching to a human-powered reel mower.

As far as the website goes, we've added some new photos, a new link to Google Reader, a restaurant review of Riviera Maya, and a lot of new vegetarian information.

Lastly, there was a really good article in the Shepherd Express entitled Why We Hate Local TV News about how bad our local news has gotten and it just seemed to hit the nail right on the head. A week later, a good follow-up article entitled Why You Hate Local TV News appeared that included some reader comments.

Last weekend, Kathy helped run Lake Bluff Elementary's 4th annual Rummage Sale. Kathy ran the sale as if she were a contestant on The Apprentice, and it was a huge success as it doubled last year's take!

Everyone had Tae Kwon Do testing today and passed. It was Carly's first test and she was able to break her board with a front snap kick in only 3 tries. She'll be promoted from white belt to yellow belt. Meanwhile, Gillie and Scott broke their boards with a sliding side kick in 4 and 2 tries, respectively. They should be promoted from a low purple belt to a high purple belt.

Gillie had another piano recital last Sunday and played perfectly and spent Turn Off the TV Week working on her second-grade project on crickets. Carly lost another front tooth (on top) and spent the week working on her first-grade project on worms. And, at age 6 Carly has won her first photography contest. She submitted a photograph she took of Shadow to the Wisconsin Humane Society's Be Kind to Animals contest. She'll be attending a ceremony to honor the winners next weekend.

Scott submitted a story to NPR's This I Believe on vegetarianism. Even though it did not make it on the air, they did post it on the This I Believe website. Also, softball is starting up for Scott as he starts his second year with team Metro, assuming enough players show up.

Lastly, here's a new game to try called Guess the Google. You are shown a bunch of random pictures from Google Image Search, but you have to guess the search term that was used to find all the images you are shown.

Here's an interesting thing from my friend Marek's Think This blog: Google Voice Local Search - A free service to locate a business using your phone. Just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411).

Here's another bit of fun: National Geographic's daily GeoBee Challenge. Every day, a new 10-question interactive geography quiz is made available to take.

Gillie wrote a wonderful story about futuristic cars along with an accompanying drawing. For a second-grader, she's already picking up on her parents' ecological mindset! Also, Carly's written more poetry, so it now has it's own page.

There's two new photos on the site, both taken by Carly. She's quite the budding photographer. And, she's decided to join Gillie and Scott in Taekwondo training. She's a brand-new white belt, and Gillie and Scott earned their purple belts in February. Another change for Carly is that she is now wearing glasses. She was having a hard time reading some things and tests revealed that she's near-sighted like the rest of us. So now both her and Gillie have glasses for classroom work.

We continue to put a lot into the vegetarian section/blog of the website, with new links, books, and vegetarian restaurants in Milwaukee. Lastly, check out this video short on a new theory on how the earth was formed.

Poetry by Carly Yanoff

If I could see the ocean, if I could see the sea
If I could see the ocean, who could love me?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For the water is rushing past the boats. "Ahoy"
For the candy in the children's pockets. There is no more.

Happy new year! Gillie and Scott earned their gold belts in Taekwondo and are currently training for their purple belts. Testing is at the end of February. Meanwhile, Carly is currently selling girl scout cookies for the first time. If you would like some, please let us know. We've been listening to The Deuce, WUWM's non-stop music-playing high-definition radio station. Their playlists are all over the place with some really good adult-alternative music, check them out!

Please visit the new vegetarian and vegan information section on the website.