Kate's First Camping Trip

The Kang Weyants packed our tent and bug spray and headed to the woods for a couple of days. Having read "Curious George Goes Camping," "Fred and Ted Go Camping," and "Henry and Mudge and The Starry Night" a million times each, Kate was eager to finally experience camping firsthand. We drove up the San Gabriel Mountains to an elevation of 6,500 feet and camped at "Buckhorn," a pretty campground along a creek, shaded by pine and cedar trees. Kate was so excited, she belted out "Walk Like An Egyptian" and "Mickey" all the way up the mountain until Chris and I were ready to toss the Ipod off the cliff. Next to our campsite was an old phone booth. Kate saw it and asked, "What's that??" I explained to her that a long, long, long time ago, people didn't have cell phones and used coin-operated public phones, some of which were in booths. Kate thought that was very strange. Then she whipped out her "cell phone" (compact mirror) and took a few calls by the fallen tree across the way. Chris wowed Kate by making an actual fire --"Look! A fire! How did you do that, Appa??" Then the smoked burned Kate's eyes, made her cough, and the thrill was over. "I don't like fire." Of course, as soon as she got a taste of the toasted marshmellow, her appreciation and respect for fire was reignited.

After dinner, Kate helped Chris hammer the tent stakes into the ground. And Chris kept all of his digits. For some reason, there was no end to Kate's fascination of the chopped-down tree ("the broken tree branch") near our site. Kate enjoyed checking on it every couple of hours ("It's still broken, Mom!") and touching the yellow sap and green stuff (lichen?) all over it.

I don't think Kate knew what to expect, because once we set up the tent, made the fire, and set up the picnic table, Kate said, "Are we camping yet?" "Let's go camping!"

Kate has always been a bookworm, carrying books with her wherever she goes, but her love of books was taken to new heights while camping. When she wasn't checking on the broken tree, shooing the bugs away, or dancing on her favorite rock, she had her nose stuck in a book. At night when we were all reading inside the tent before bed, Kate put down her "Maisy Goes To Bed" book and asked me to read my book out loud to her. I was in the middle of William Trevor's "The Room," a very child-appropriate short story about a woman who cheats on her husband, a former murder suspect, in a hotel room. Because the woman's name was "Katherine" ("like me, Mom!"), Kate was instantly hooked. I skipped a few words here and there ("sleazy," "tart," "murder," for example) but Kate was gripped ("The cafe was crowded?" "It was raining outside and she didn't have an umbrella??" "I really like this story, Momma!"). This killed any reading Chris hoped to do that night. Thursday night was pretty quiet (aside from Kate's 2 AM night howlings), but Friday night was a completely different story. Chris and I were kept awake by barking dogs and large groups of people drinking, banging on a drum, blasting music, and shouting until the wee hours. There was even a party of Koreans laughing and yakking it up nearby. That noise was strangely comforting, however. Shockingly, thankfully, Kate snored through it all. Phew. Because there's nothing more appealing than having to confront a bunch of beer-guzzling headbangers, or drunk Koreans, in the middle of the night.

Overall, Kate did incredibly well, especially considering the heat and the swarms of bugs that were hovering around her face and body all day along ("Mom! The bugs are back in town!"). The bathrooms, a not-so-deep hole in the ground (yuk) were something out of a sci-fi-horror film but Kate rolled with it ("Ooh, it's stinky in here"). Luckily, we had a portable potty in the car and Kate used that in the middle of the night. Because there was no way we were walking to that bathroom in the pitch dark. By the last day, I had mosquito bites everywhere, including one my eyebrow and was ready to leave. Kate got no mosquito bites, lucky girl, and didn't want to go home. This is a video of Kate doing her "rock dance" by the fire.

This is a video of Kate doing her daily towel dance to the "tree branch." A marshmellow makes a cameo appearance. Twice.

Katharine Sora, Prima Ballerina

Kate's Pop-Pop and Grammy Marianne bought Kate a tutu for her birthday. For the past few weeks she's been wearing it every day and putting on a show ("Mom, Appa, YOU be the audience and clap, while I dance, OK?"). While Kate prances around, Chris and I are supposed to clap continuously until the performance is done.

Midway through the piece, Kate asked her father to join her in a pas de deux ("Appa, YOU be the Prince and say hello to me"), and as you can see, Chris dutifully obliged.

The Prince surprised the audience by busting out some ice-skating moves...

...and pleased his partner with some tosses in the air...

...before collapsing in exhaustion.

"Wall-E"

Chris and I have been eager to see "Wall-E" ever since it came out, and on Saturday, we finally went. Kate had seen the trailer and was excited, too, as you can see from the "natural" smile and pose in the photo above (this is visual proof of why it's better to catch a kid smiling candidly).

But don't let the glazed look fool you -- Kate LOVES going to the movies. It doesn't matter what the actual movie is (for example, she actually enjoyed the Veggie Tales pirate movie) because the thrill is seeing all the people, handing the lady her ticket, finding the right theater herself ("There it is! Number 13! That's US!"), sitting in the plush theater seat, and above all else, eating popcorn. A lot of popcorn. When I ask her what her favorite part in a movie was, she usually says, "Um. The popcorn. " The other day, Kate threw a penny in a fountain and made a wish..."for popcorn."

The first 30 minutes of "Wall-E" held Kate's attention, but when they got to the space station, she lost interest, repeatedly asking, "Where's Wall-E?" and "Where'd Eva go?" (which I'm sure the guy next to us loved). It always breaks my heart when the villain in a film does something "bad" and Kate asks, "Why is he doing that?" Since I can't say, "Well, honey, you're too young and uncorrupted to understand this, but the world can be a dark and evil place where bad things happen to good people," I say, "Because he's making a bad choice. Sometimes we make bad choices." After which Kate usually asks, "But why?" I thought "Wall-E" was one of Pixar's best films, if not the best, but at the same time, I wouldn't call it a young kids' movie. Not because of its sophisticated visual style and theme, but because there aren't any goofy, mugging, furry characters for a 3-year old to latch onto. Still, Kate had a great time, laughing at the screen and eating a disturbing amount of popcorn ("I think I ate too much").

After the movie, Kate wanted to touch "the green man" in the lobby, so Chris, of course, blatantly ignored the rope all around the Hulk statue and let her at him. Her "touch" was more like a slam, and she nearly toppled him over. We left quickly.

Living Room Camping

Our tent arrived a day late, and since Kate had a slight cold, we decided to postpone our camping trip until next weekend. To Kate's great delight, Chris put up the tent in the living room. She immediately tested it out by bringing her tea set into it and inviting us to a tea party. Then Kate had to take an important phone call out in the patio. After dinner, Kate went camping like a true American -- with a DVD player, armchair, snack, and her feet up. We may not even bother going camping outside.

End of Second Week of Swim Class

Last Friday, Kate finished her second week of swim classes. Interestingly, she was a little less comfortable this week than the first time around. But she still had a lot of fun.

As usual, when it was "time to jump," Kate was the first one there. She liked the boy teacher, Ian, the best. Probably because he was silly and made her laugh. On the way to swim class, we passed by a Church with a sign outside: "HOW TO REPRODUCE." Hmm. Chris and I wondered a) who would be attending these classes, b) who would be teaching them, and c) what the class entailed.

Hot, Hot, Hot

Last weekend, Kate and I went to "Music Together" class where the teacher, Nura, sang, played the guitar, and smiled a lot like Paula & Carole from "The Magic Garden." Kate was sleepy for the first part of class, but suddenly came alive when Nura blasted "Walk Like An Egyptian" and had everyone free dance with a scarf. Kate busted out her serious moves. This girl likes to rock out. On the other hand, she can definitely do without the "ba-ba-ba-ba-ing" the teacher does to teach tonal and rhythm patterns ("I don't like this, Mom"). On Saturday night, we went to an overpriced chain restaurant in Pasadena (Gyu-kaku, a Korean-ish BBQ place pretending to be Japanese-ish) which, of course, Kate loved. Ever since Kate could sit up on her own, she's loved eating at restaurants. Chris and I ordered "The Geisha" (no joke) dinner for two (which consisted of Miso Kalbi and a bunch of other Korean-ish things pretending to be Japanese-ish). The highlight/most ridiculous part of the meal was the s'mores (?) that came as dessert. Kate nearly lost her mind when the waitress handed her a marshmellow on a stick to roast over the grill ("I'm SO EXCITED!"). Then she almost passed out when she took a bite of her s'mores sandwich. I don't think Kate knew such joys existed. Ah, to be a kid again. When a marshmellow on a stick at Gyu-kaku is the greatest experience ever. It's been close to 100 degrees every day for the past week, made worse by the recent "humidity" (I put it in quotes because I've gotten soft out here in the desert). I made the unwise decision of taking Kate to the park Sunday morning. Next to the sun, the park may be the hottest place to be. Kate asked to go on the "big girl swing" and learned how to push the swing back herself and jump onto it. I tried to get her to pump so she wouldn't need me to push her (and I could sit in the nice, cool shade), but that didn't last very long. After sweating up a storm, we went home. Kate stripped down and jumped in the sprinkler ("sprinkles," as she calls it) and had a screaming good time. If the weather holds out (it may actually rain!), we'll be headed to the mountains on Thursday for our first camping trip with Kate.

Huntington Gardens

Even though it was 1,000 degrees out, we decided go to the Huntington Gardens to see the LA Photography Exhibit. Our good friend, Mike Bodie, joined us, making Kate very happy. There were a few interesting photos, but seeing LA's past captured on film wasn't all that exciting, truth be told. The photos were mostly of dusty roads, citrus groves, and missions, (with a few shots of Chinese laborers and old movie stars here and there). I think because LA is such a young city, the more contemporary the photo was, the more interesting it seemed to me. What was fascinating was the Library's collection of rare manuscripts and books. We saw the Ellesmere manuscript of The Canterbury Tales, The Aeneid, a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, and the manuscript of Hobbes' Leviathan, among other things. I think living in a city whose history is a handful of decades gives you a new appreciation for centuries old artifacts. The Children's Garden. Kate learning how some seeds are carried by the wind. This was in the greenhouse, where it was so humid, it felt like the E train platform at 50th Street in August. We saw a baby Praying Mantis on the way out. Unfortunately, Mike's finger is what's in focus.