Category: family activities

Toy Story

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Last week I took the boy to see Toy Story 3D.  Remembering the disaster that was our last movie theatre outing, this time I came armed with yarn to tie the glasses onto his head, banned popcorn, and knew that the terror alert level was low.  (Last time, halfway through the movie, he cried, “I can’t see anything!” Looking through his 3D glasses, they were coated in a thick crust of popcorn butter goo.)  The yarn worked like a charm, and there were no PTSD-inducing scenes. All in all a successful outing this time.

I hadn’t seen Toy Story in years, but largely remembered the story.  Now, I understand that any movie that involves talking and walking toys requires some degree of a suspension of disbelief, but for the most part the film stays true to the rules of the universe it sets up for itself.  In the last scene, Woody and Buzz race to get into the moving van taking their owner to his new house.  This is where Pixar loses me.  I can accept that toys could open the back of a moving van door, I can accept the firecracker taking them through the air to land through a moonroof into the car, but there is one thing I cannot accept.

The back of the moving van is largely empty.

Now, as someone who has moved multiple times and finds it to be a huge pain, as do most people, this is too much disbelief for me to bear.  There is no furniture crammed in, no random garbage bag filled with soft clothes, just boxes stacked up only filling one third of the van.  How could a single mom with two kids and a two story house fit into a ten foot moving van with SPACE LEFT OVER? Or why wouldn’t she have rented a smaller van? Really, Pixar, you couldn’t spring to at least draw the couch in?

Sigh.

We then watched a bit of Toy Story 2 last night at home, which is an even funnier movie, I think.  I loved the other movie references thrown out to adults: the “Jurassic Park” scene, when T.rex is running and you see his image in the side-view mirror, the “Star Wars” story line,  and some others I probably missed.  Then I realized, for the boy it will be the other way around.  When he sees “Star Wars” for the first time, he’ll exclaim, (big intake of air) “It’s just like Buzz and Zurg from Toy Story!!”

And thus does the timeline of cinematographic history go awry.

Sprinkler Day

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My sister basically told me that my next post had better be cheerful after the last depressing one left her unable to move for the rest of the day, eating Junior Mints and watching “Million Dollar Baby” over and over, wallowing in the sadness.

So here it is.  An early pick up from school, a hot afternoon, a great idea from Sapana, and here are the results:

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The girl wasn’t nearly as impressed.  After stepping into the grass with some trepidation:

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She quickly realized this wasn’t for her

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and found a more comfortable position.

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All in all, a great way to spend one of the last few summer afternoons.

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Moo Baa Lalala

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The knitting dork that I am, the thing that I was most excited about was that our trip to Estes Park coincided with the Annual Estes Park Wool Market.  A whole day of sheepy fun! When we got there, it was even cooler than I initially thought.  On the schedule was sheep judging, alpaca judging, a whole tent of paco-vicuñas, sheep shearing, and sheepdog herding!  And, of course, a whole tent of yarny goodness.

The boy communed with the sheep:

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We all watched, fascinated, with the sheep shearing:

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There was a children’s tent where you could try out a few different fiber arts.  The boy loved the spinning and the weaving, and did pretty good! He later saw a spinning wheel for sale and wanted me to buy it for him to take home.

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Then it was off to the paco-vicuñas.  I was so enthralled by these creatures I forgot to take a picture, so here’s  a stock shot of them (no pun intended).

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These critters are really cute in person, and make some very soft (and expensive, I might add) yarn.

Then the sheepdog demonstrations, in which we watched how they train a sheepdog to herd sheep, largely by watching a somewhat spastic dog run circles around a quartet of, well, sheepish sheep who obeyed his every command. It was amazing to watch the animals interact with each other and see creatures doing what they are meant to do.  (After hundreds of years of breeding and domesticity, that is.  If the creatures were in their wild form, I suppose the dog would have eaten the sheep.)

Then off to the yarn tent, where I purchased a hole in the head some amazing handspun and hand dyed one-of-a-kind yarn.  This time, I swear, there are projects attached to each piece.  I think.  I’ll take some pics and post them later.

That afternoon we went for another hike, this time to Fern Lake. Our number one hiker was in top form yet again.

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By the end of the hike he had lost a bit of weight, completing the journey shirtless and pack-less.

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In the middle of the hike he announced, as 3 year olds will, “Mommy, I have to go poopy.”  Note how he did not say, “Daddy, I have to go poopy.” After a bit of stalling, we realized he meant it and found a spot to go.  I will spare you the details, but suffice it to say that we only left footprints, and took only pictures. I will at some point use those pictures to either blackmail him or embarrass him at his wedding reception.

Today happened to be my birthday as well, and for the occasion the boy came up with a list of 10 things he loves about Mama.  I’ll leave you with that list.  Number 8 is my favorite:

1. Takes me to the Dinosaur Museum.

2. Takes me to the Art Museum.

3. Takes me to school.

4. Helps us clean up.

5. Makes us dinner.

6. Reads books to us.

7. Helps me spell.

8. How she cuts up watermelons.

9. She drives the car well.

10. When we stay in the house and play with me and my sister.

Best. Birthday. Ever.

“Camping”

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This last weekend, the family took its first vacation as a foursome to Estes Park.  We stayed at YMCA of the Rockies, in a delightful little 2 bedroom cabin, complete with fireplace and coffee maker.

I used to be someone who could pack enough for a month long trip into a backpack and have room left over.  This is no longer the case.  Our car before leaving:

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We got up to Estes and took a walk downtown, where the boy competed with a mountain lion statue for fierceness:

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Then we got to our cozy little cabin.  When we arrived, the boy ran around the cabin, declaring, “I love this place!”  We had a nice 2 bedroom cabin with a fireplace and settled in, reading books and playing memory.   The boy did spend a bit of time looking for the switch to “turn on” the fireplace, and was a bit surprised to learn that you actually had to start a fire with real wood. The next day was time for…the big hike!

Hikemaster was ready to go!

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The boy did great on the hike, making it up the 1.1 miles to Dream Lake and back with minimal carrying.  The girl did great, too.

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We saw these cool trees we learned to be limber pines.  They are made of a flexible wood and twist with the wind as it whips around the mountains:

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At Dream Lake we had a nice lunch with some overly inquisitive squirrels.  Sadly, they are completely tame at this point because of people who feed them.  Those buggers are fast, and probably got a bit or two of veggie booty before we could shoo them away.

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When we got back down, though, Eric noticed that the girl’s eyes were completely goopy with yellow discharge.  This made me grateful for the fact that I have a Colorado medical license, we were 5 minutes away from a pharmacy, and I know one pediatric antibiotic eye ointment.  This also made me realize that I really don’t have any interest in remote backcountry camping for a while.  I know you can’t prepare for everything, but I’d like my children to be a bit more independent and a bit less tasty snack for predators.

The next day was the Estes Park Wool Market!! Details in next post…

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Bagel Faces!

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My mom gave me the book Pretend Soup a few years ago, when the boy was about 18 months old.  Since then, we’ve made most of the recipes in it.  The boy loves to help me in the kitchen, and usually gets all dressed up for it in his apron.

This morning, we made one of his favorites, “Bagel Faces.”

Chopping like a pro

Chopping like a pro

You cut up cucumbers, bell peppers, and other veggies and put them on a bagel with cream cheese to make a face.  Most importantly, you must have a lot of sprouts on hand for hair.  This bagel had a face until the boy insisted that he was making a Daddy bagel, and daddies have a lot of hair.

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The best part, of course, is seeing your three year old shove it into his mouth, utterly unaware of the fact that he’s not supposed to like sprouts.

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Bagel Bliss

 

On awkward legs

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No, this isn’t about the Girl learning how to walk. She’s really quite content just to sit there and shows no signs of wanting to crawl anytime soon.

I speak of myself, on skis for the first time. The whole family went cross country skiing yesterday, and had a blast. I was a bit skeptical after seeing cross country skiing so widely mocked, but  I was pleasantly surprised by how fun it was. I like snowboarding, too, but you don’t really get much of a chance to enjoy the surroundings.

We stuffed both kids into a rented ski trailer:

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Hooked them up to the ski sherpa:

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and off we went!

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and then, to the lodge for some well-deserved hot chocolate:

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I did pretty well, with only a couple falls.  At times I felt like an elephant with flippers, but I think I generally managed to get around okay. The Girl slept most of the way and looked a bit disgruntled the other times, as if to say, “Why aren’t you carrying me?” She’s never been in a stroller so she might have found it a bit confusing. The Boy just loved it. He kept searching the woods for heffalumps and was disappointed that we couldn’t go deeper into the woods to look for them as the trails were too steep for me.  I think his favorite part was peeing in the snow, after which he proudly exclaimed, “I made the letter I!!”