A Leisurely? Saturday Ride

We had such beautiful weather today and tried to make the most of it! We decided to go on a family bike ride to a park to celebrate a friend's birthday. 45 minutes and 2.6 miles later, we made it to the park and had a great time with friends. We are very proud of Kelsie and Brandon for riding the whole way without getting too tired! We are in the process of finding a new (bigger) bike for Brandon and he was such a trooper pedaling his little 12" bike as fast as he could the whole way. Caleb also had a great time in the trailer and hardly made a sound during the ride. Kelsie sang a repertoire of songs along the way keeping us all entertained!

Our ride was pretty uneventful, except for the time Brandon was riding too close to the trailer and ended up flipping over his bike (don't worry, he's OK), so we stopped at 7-11 to get slurpee's on the way home. We made it home exhausted, 5 miles will do that to you especially if you have little legs, but had a great time in the end. We couldn't be more proud of our kids and are (mostly) looking forward to our next family adventure!

9 Years and Counting...

Wally and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on the 21st, and were lucky enough to have some friends from Wally's work offer to come watch our kids so we could go out. We went to dinner, talked, and enjoyed about 3 hours of uninterrupted time with each other--I can't remember the last time we went out together so it was great! Kelsie and Brandon got in on the festivities too and made us some cards. It was a great day (aside from the parking ticket I got that morning because I forgot to move our car across the street for the street cleaners) and it is always so fun to celebrate something special!

"Yay for Sister's Weekend!"

Day 3: Pizza Night!

K and B had been up since at least 6:30. I know this because that was when they had their first argument of the day. Both tried to wake me up to plead their case. Both failed.

After breakfast, we did some jobs around the house and then drove back down to Wendy's to see if they found K's backpack and water bottle (she accidentally left them there on our last trip to Wendy's). They didn't. But we made some signs and asked the manager if we could hang them up. Hopefully, someone will call and give K some very happy news. She's not very optimistic though.

I'm really surprised, but I actually managed to get K to basketball practice. As we were getting out of the car, she asked me if wishes ever come true. After an impromptu motivational speech, I made it very clear that wishes do, in fact, come true, something that I very firmly believe. A few minutes later, I overheard her saying to herself: "I wish I never signed up for basketball. I wish I never signed up for basketball." So I stood corrected. That wish, of course, didn't come true. But you gotta hand it to her. She is NOT a quitter. She played basketball anyway. She's my hero today. Way more motivating for me than my speech was for her.

After basketball, we called up some friends and got together for a little hike in a nature preserve. B collected sticks, and K collected flowers. We almost got rained on, but managed to have a great time anyway.

Then it was back home for Pizza Night. Everybody loves Pizza Night. It's one of the few foods that nobody complains about. So even if I didn't like pizza that much, I'd still like pizza night just so I wouldn't have to hear the normal griping about the "disgusting" food they get to eat free of charge at mealtimes. Call me crazy, but I actually invited some friends over for dinner (Pizza Night wants to be SHARED!). Since I was spread a little thin, they got drafted into helping put together the final products. But I don't think they minded too much. It was pretty much the best Pizza we've ever made.



Then I realized I was tired. B took advantage of this by playing video games for a really long time. After they went to sleep, I suddenly got more energy. And then I realized I still had to do the dishes...

Quote of the week
K: What are you doing?
Me: Laundry.
K: Didn't Mom show you how to do the laundry?
Ouch...

Day 2: Transformers and More!

I'll be honest. This morning was a lot like yesterday morning. Funny thing is that even with a full night's sleep, I was still just as tired as I was yesterday. It might have to do with this unremarkable perception that today was going to be a lot like the day before it, without the fun of making a laser show.


B is kinda on a Transformers kick, so after getting K to school, B and I made paper Transformers. Here's how we did it:

Step 1: Draw a robot on a piece of paper. Colored paper, if you want to get fancy.

Step 2: Fold the paper into a paper airplane.

Of course, this set B's mind in Single-Track mode. The only thing he can talk about for the rest of our waking hours is Transformers. I'd tried to get it off his mind by going to the park. He insisted on bringing his new toys. Here's a shot of him trying one of them out:

He's been wanting me to find him Transformers movies online for a long time. So, I finally gave in. It will give him something to talk about instead of (or in addition to) Star Wars for a few days. Here's one of our great finds:

I show that to give you an idea how far the Geek spectrum goes out. I don't want to judge, but if you get out there, you will be socially excluded from the Gene Pool.

Today was also the DEWEY FUN RUN! K's been looking for sponsors, and I have been pleasantly surprised at the generosity of the graduate students, postdocs, and others that I work with. K didn't disappoint either. Off to a slow start, she ended up sailing 35 times around the track! It looked so fun that B decided to join her on Lap 20. He ran 16 laps himself! C tried to join them at least 3 times, only to be pulled off the track by an overprotective (and, after 3 times, a slightly embarrassed) dad.

So where do we go to celebrate a big deal like this?

Day 1: Mr. Mom

RP is away, and I get to take a few days off of work to spend some quality time with the kids. I know what you're thinking: something along the lines of "call social services". But I can assure you I have EVERYTHING ALMOST EVERYTHING under control. That shouldn't stop you from asking again in 4 days. There's a good chance I'll answer differently. If at all.

Actually things are going great. I really appreciate these chances to put my feet in my wife's shoes for a few days (figuratively, of course). So it was very appropriate that today started out at 3:30 am. That's right: AM! Not that my better half gets up at 3:30 every morning, but I should probably start my long weekend taking care of the family in an already-exhausted state. This approximates better the constantly-exhausted state she regularly experiences.

Despite my weakened condition, I'm happy to report (in case she's reading this) that:
1. Everyone was up by 7:15am
2. Breakfast was over by 8:00am
3. All the short people were dressed and ready to go by 8:30 (and yes I brushed her hair :)
4. We got to school on time.

We had a lightsaber fight on the way home. Yeah, it was dorky. Especially when we re-enacted the father-son fight scene in Empire Strikes Back. Especially with C on my back.

Once we got home, B and I went straight to work on our Laser Show. My high school physical science teacher did one of the coolest things and I've wanted to try it ever since. It all came together today.

We took a keychain laser and (with a lot of duct-tape) we taped the button "on" and wired it up to a power supply that we could plug in the wall. You know, so we wouldn't be wasting batteries and time.

Then we (yes, we. After I turned off the TV, B didn't have anything else to do. C, on the other hand, spent most of the morning pulling out anything that wasn't nailed to the floor). So we cut a large balloon and fit it over one of the small DVD player speakers. Using Optical Grade Elmer's Glue, we stuck a small mirror onto the balloon, close to the middle of the speaker.

The next part was tricky. We had to align the laser onto the mirror so that it would reflect onto the wall or ceiling. This required some pretty sophisticated equipment. Since we didn't have any sophisticated equipment, we built a laser stand out of tinker toys. You can see from the picture, that this really is a "work with whatever you got" kinda job here.

We were working so hard we had to take a couple of breaks to get snacks and play soccer. B won 8-4.

After we picked K up from school, we put the finishing touches on the laser system so we could put on a show when it got dark. Here's one of the better shows. Enjoy!

Mama Mia!

Happy Mother's Day! We had a great day here, even though it was pouring rain most of the day and was cold--it is May, right? Wally tried to keep the kids quiet so I could sleep in (which he managed until 8 a.m.) when everyone came in shouting "Happy Mother's Day" and climbed on the bed with hugs and kisses. Brandon colored a Star Wars picture for me and Kelsie gave me some coupons that she made at school. I loved all the cards I got and the yummy breakfast Wally made me. (I know, I'm spoiled because I usually get a warm breakfast every morning, but this one was extra special!) I loved the song the kids sang to all the mothers during church, and enjoyed the relaxing afternoon I had. I had such a great day! I love being a mom!