Frog's Breath

This is one of my many birthday gifts this year, a bag of Frog's Breath.  At which point Maddie says, "Frog's Breath?  Nothing's more suspicious than Frog's Breath!"  It's actually a specific coffee flavor, a mix of chocolate and other ingredients.  I'm not a rabid coffee drinker, but I like flavored hot drinks and thought this one would be fun for our upcoming party.  The packaging is pretty awesome alone!

Well, today's big news is the death of Queen Elizabeth II, which is just surreal to think about.  Ironically, I was just revisiting this old Batman comic - "Batman 66" - where the Dynamic Duo were teamed up with John Steed and Emma Peel, at one point visiting England.  It's there that on the last page, Batman meets his number one fan, and the last page shows us they're about to meet with Queen Elizabeth II.  Yes, she was queen all the way back then, and even at that time she had been queen for something like fourteen years!  The longevity is astounding.  I've never know there to be a king of England.  She's been queen longer than I've been alive, and in fact she was queen a lot longer than I've been alive.  She met with President Truman and then with all the Presidents since then.  I remember her performance in a video with James Bond just before the 2012 Olympics, although she's been portrayed on film by other actresses over the years (my favorite might be from the movie "BFG").  She always seemed to be the stable one, holding together the dignity of the office and the family, despite the antics that went on and continue to go on the Royal Family.  She rarely called out others in public for bad form - "her majesty's a pretty nice girl, but she doesn't have a lot to say."  I think that's a tremendous thing, and yes there were things that were seemingly covered up, of course.  But she protected the institution and tradition of the monarchy, and made it what it needs to be for her people.  There have been zany kings and queens in the past, but Elizabeth II represented the better side of the monarchy.

Anyway, we were at work today - and school.  I got home to take Maddie to taekwondo, but lo!  We heard music drifting in the air, invisible but everywhere!  It was the song of the ice cream truck!  We hadn't timed it right all summer, and never once saw the ice cream truck.  But today it was there just as we were about to get out the door to taekwondo.  Of course we had to stop and get some ice cream.  Nana, Maddie and I each had a different ice cream bar, and took it on the road with us.

Maddie's teakwoodo was good, and so was our grocery shopping simultaneous.  We were buying up cans of soup and other things that will last longer, part of a strategy shift with our eating.  We were just thinking, what if the power grid goes out?  So anyway, we were getting some items to stock our pantry with, just to plan ahead somewhat.  We're getting some other solar-powered items and supplies, and again we're not trying to be paranoid, but just prepared in case there's a storm or something unexpected.

Moving on!  Maddie had her small group tonight, and Camille had this game where the kids had to identify the baby photo she was sharing.  The photos she shared were pictures of all the girls in the small group, plus Camille's and Lauren's as well.  It was a fun game, as they got to see each other's baby photos. While Maddie was doing that, I was downstairs with Mom watching the latest "Cars" shorts.  This was an ongoing series about Mater and Lightning McQueen on their drive across the country, and it's been a lot of fun.  We nearly got through all of them in one night - we'll have to watch the final two tomorrow.

After Maddie did some homework, we all met in the bedroom for reading, and then after that prayers.  After that, bed time.  We're all rather tired still!