Toa's Train of Thought

Toa woke up this morning at 7:30. He came out into the living room where he laid on his stomach on the floor by his hamster cage and sang a lullaby to his pets while I was making breakfast. He came into the kitchen to discover that maybe he did like crescent rolls, especially when they were full of grape jelly. He had two slices of pineapples with his crescent roll....a part of one slice ending up on his lap. He discussed with me in length about whether Sweetling discovered the name of the ghost which had stolen Mario's identity in Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door. He had had to go to bed before Sweetling resolved the end of that chapter in the game, so I gave him a detailed account of the action he missed. He went off to get his morning list done, coming back in the kitchen to discuss whether or not he needed a bath today, if he had just had a bath only two days ago.

While I was unloading the dishwasher, he came back into the kitchen, twirling a little Webkinz hippo in his hand and shuffling in and out of the kitchen while he talked. Step forward, step back. Step forward, step back, and round and round the stuffed hippo goes.

Here was the conversation:

Toa: Are hippopatamuses good swimmmers?

Me: Yes, they are very good swimmers. They spend most of their day in the water.

Toa: Can they swim faster than a fish?

Me: I think that would depend on the kind of fish. They probably swim faster than some fishes, and some fishes probably swim faster than hippos do.

Toa: How fast do dolphins swim?

Me: I don't know how fast dolphins swim.

Toa: Are they the strongest animals? Cause of their bite?

Me: They are very strong animals, and they have a very strong bite, but I don't know if they are the strongest animal.

Toa: What's the strongest animal?

Me: I don't know what the strongest animal is.

Toa: And the flea?

Me: ???

Toa: You know the flea and the hippo and the monkey and the owl?

Me: ???

Toa: I'll be right back.

Whereupon Toa takes off for his bedroom. Puzzled, I wonder into the living room and boot up my netbook, intent on blogging that conversation before I forget the sequence of questions. While my computer boots, I reflect on what he could of been talking about.

Toa is back.

Toa: I couldn't find it.

Me: Do you mean the story about Why the Mosquito Buzzes in Peoples' Ears?

Toa: Oh yeah!

Me: Yeah, that was a mosquito, not a flea.

Toa: Yeah, I just got confusing.

I nod.

Toa: But I remember it was an African book.

Now I'm off to do a search for the story of why mosquitos buzz in people's ears.

Robo Hamsters

The sign at Petsmart said that Roborovski hamsters were the smallest, fastest hamsters in the world. It also said that they were very difficult to catch when they escape. The sign was not lying.

Toa of Boy just turned seven, and got a dwarf hamster for a pet. The hamster was an older hamster, who was in need of a new home and a new family to care for him. Toa named his hamster Nibbles. Nibbles was quite obviously in the twilight of his life when he came home, and he lived for less than a week in his new home. Nibbles passing was accompanied by some heartfelt tears. Toa slept in Mommy and Daddy's room that night and was reassured many times that he had done a wonderful job taking car of Nibbles, and that he had made Nibbles' last few days the happiest days of Nibble's life. A full funeral was held the next morning, and a garden stepping stone was carefully painted and place over the burial site as a marker.

Two days later we were at Petsmart. The liveliest, most fun looking hamsters were coming home with us, despite the sign's warning. The hamsters were quickly named Cutie and Crazy. They are virtually indistinguishable from one another, so they 'share' the two names. They don't seem to mind.

What the sign didn't mention was that robo hamsters can a) flatten themselves and squeeze through any half inch wide opening, and b) teleport.

We just got finished cleaning the cage for the first time. Now, to be safe, we set up the "small animal playpen" around the periphery of the cage while we had the door open and were removing items for cleaning. The "small animal playpen" had a gap between it and the main cage at least a half an inch wide.

Have you ever tried to catch a two inch creature which is quick as lightening and can teleport short distances? It isn't easy. I got to do it twice. With an overly excited seven-year old assistant.

This is their home-coming photo. Can you see them? Of course not, cause they are nothing but a blur. Two small blurs. (And no, I didn't use the flash. We had just buried one tiny guy; I didn't want to add two more graves to the garden path.)

Making Memories: Yellow Car Rules

Here are my family's official rules for playing "Yellow Car" while on the road. We often play this game on short trips, but the Jedi announced we were going to have a Yellow Car Marathon game during our road trip to Buffalo NY last fall. All the car activities we did during that trip were a big hit with the kids. So much so, in fact, that when we were discussing our much shorter trip to Marietta OH, Toa immediately asked which car games we were going to play.

After a frantic search, and several stress induced chocolate chip cookies, I found the beat up yellow legal pad with our yellow car rules, the yellow car official tally, and the results of our ABC I Spy games. For yellow car, the person who spots, and calls, a yellow vehicle first gets a point. I kept a running tally on the official legal pad during the whole trip. Many of these rules have been fined tuned after great discussion sprung from hotly contested points during previous, shorter, games. I'm not going to clutter up the rules by explaining why each stipulation was needed, but oh, they were needed.

Sadly, while I can share the rules, I can't share the illustrations children added to the rule page. You'll just have to let your children add their own illustrations. Oh, and everyone should sign their name to the official rules before entering the contest. For our marathon game to Buffalo and back, a homemade trophy topped with a yellow hot wheels car was awarded.

Yellow Car Rules

What Counts?

• Yellow cars, yellow school buses, yellow trucks
• A self-propelled vehicle which is at least half yellow, whether it is currently propelling itself or not
• The yellow trailer of a tractor-trailer truck counts if the whole tractor part is yellow, even if the cab is not yellow
• The cab of a tractor-trailer truck counts, even if the trailer portion isn't yellow

What Doesn't Count?

• Construction vehicles ("snorts" writes in one child) only count if they are doing their job or moving under their own power
• School Buses parked in front of a school building or in a bus lot do not count individually, see below
• In any one group sighting, the entire cluster may only count for two points.

Color?

• Yellow. Not gold, not yellow-green, not yellow-orange, or schmorange, "not," adds a child, "sha-la-la-la morange. Just yellow."

Darkness?

• Yellow car can not be played during mandatory headlight hours. If the headlights of your vehicle must be turned on, the game is on hold.

Ownership?

• When the word "yellow" leaves your mouth, and is heard by at least one other person in the car ("no bat voice" writes a child), the point is yours.
• Ties are allowed and will be awarded by the official scorekeeper or the driver. Yelling yellow as fast as you can after someone else has already said yellow does not qualify as a tie.
• "Look there's one" does not earn a point. Another passenger who then calls "yellow" may take that point.

Calling Wolf?

• Calling wolf too often, chanting yellow,  or trying to mention the word yellow as often as possible in your speech.....all these infractions can result in a 15 to 30 minute suspension from the game.

How about you? Does your family have a favorite road trip game or car activity? Please use the linky tool below to link directly to your post.

Baby Birds

I just walked into my bedroom with a basket of clean laundry on my hip. On my bed are two children, pretending to be baby birds in a nest.

Sweetling asks me, "Do you think baby birds would invite their cousins over?"

"Yes," I answer, "I think that would be a nice thing to do."

Then, "We're debating whether baby birds would go to a bird bath."

"Hmmmm," I ponder, "probably not, since they can't fly yet. They probably have to stay in the nest."

"Then how do they get baths?!?' demands Toa.

"I don't think they do," I say. "I think they don't get a bath until they are big enough to fly."

Toa's eyebrows climb up his face.

"Are you thinking you'd like to be a baby bird so that you'd never have to take a bath?"

Toa of Boy nods his head vigorously. Ah, to be a bird. 

Facebook Friday

Don't read this if you already follow me on Facebook. All this is is a collection of some of my facebook updates for the last 3 weeks. Really. I am that lacking in a life.

May 15
So, the flowers and baby plants and vegetable seeds that I water and love and fertilize and tend grow pitifully while the weeds that I dig up spray and curse at thrive and take over. I ought to start trying to coddle the weeds and eraticate my plants and then maybe I'd have beautiful garden.

May 17
What do get when you cross Pikachu, a pinata, and Quasi Motto? Answer: The abomination that is now sitting on my kitchen table. I'm lying to myself and telling myself it will look better when the yellow crepe paper goes on it tomorrow.

May 18
I can remember when I was a little girl thinking that pigeons, with their shiny feathers of blue or grren or grey, were really pretty. That's how rosey my glasses were.

May 19
Once again, the o-n-o-f-f dial on the dishwasher defeated me last night. Plus, I'm not entirely convinced that I haven't left a dirty hot chocolate mug sitting somewhere in the house. I did a search for it last night, but couldn't find it. Now, its possible that I had already brought it to the sink, rinsed it out, and ...put it in the dishwasher without remembering doing so, but I find that scenerio highly unlikely.

May 21
Happy Birthday to my beautiful girl!

May 21
We had a wonderful, if tiring, day of birthday celebrations. Quick highlights: Co-Co Keys Waterpark, PizzaHut for lunch, a Rock-Paper-Scissors game during which a special ruling had to be made against tornados and guns, spaghetti diner on china with crystal goblets, ice cream cake, cool beaded bracelets....

May 21
(down with status update limits! Here's the rest of my update.) MarioKart almost became a pillow fight, guest sugar gliders and a guest boa constrictor (not at the same time). Whew. And now, we do another full day of birthday celebrations tomorrow for my great little guy!

May 22
And today, its Happy Birthday to my amazing boy who woke up this morning and said, "I don't think I'm any taller, Mommy."

May 22
More Bday highlights: Eswin's day started with a double decker omelet made by Grandma, then he put candy in the pinata with candy and inflated balloons in large bags for transport. We had beautiful weather for a park party w great games, cake, and terrific presents. At home, the last birthday present of the day must be... kept a secret for now; Eswin wants to share that news himself. Chinese buffet for dinner.

May 24
Just saw a hairless rat for sale at Petsmart. First of all, ewwwww. Second of all, why???

May 25
Today is the first day of our summer cleaning and decluttering "adventure". See, if I call it an adventure, it makes it sound fun and exciting, right?

May 26
Hmmmm....to declare a jammie day and start school on time OR to get a shower and start school late? Decisions, decisions.

May 28
My family has no groceries 'cause we're all watching videos like this on youtube. Watch and be amazed!

May 29
mmmmmmm......ribs and beef brisket from R2BQ :) Plus, new fav method of cooking corn on the cob, microwave the whole ear, with the husk on it, for three minutes. Thanks elderly gentleman at meijer who gave me the tip!

May 31
Sweet Streets play time quotes....the little plastic teacher says,"Let's talk about James Madison. Now, what did he write?"....And then a little later, "Now, let's talk about Barack Obama." This is followed by the little plastic student's comment, "Isn't he the new guy?"

Tuesday, June 1
1) exercised. 2) still have ants in the dishwasher. Yes, IN the dishwasher. 3) signed up for the summer reading club. 4) read Genesis 1-24....granted, I did this yesterday, but Im still claiming it on my morning list this morning. 5) today launches the new system of buying electronic time through earning tokens. I expect a slight adjustment period.

Wednesday, June 2
What's for dinner tonight? Jumbo double chocolate chip muffins, that's what. Don't worry, I bought jumbo blueberry muffins for those family members who don't like chocolate. I am, after all, a responsible adult.

Thursday, June 3
Why is it that the more hours I spend trying to clean and organize the school room, the worse the school room looks?

Friday, June 4
i'm skipping my morning exercises, but i'll be gardening a lot today, so that counts, right?

Cincinnati Dayscapes: Big Red Bag Book Sale!

Say that five times fast.

This week, there is a used book sale at the Main Library downtown.

On Friday, June 11, they have what is called a bag sale. For $10, you can purchase a jumbo plastic shopping bag and stuff the thing with books and books and books. You may purchase as many $10 jumbo bags of books as you like, but be careful...its very, very addicting. There is a large number and a large variety of books to choose from, from children's books to non-fiction books, to adult fiction, to craft books....you name it.

The library opens at 9 am, and I would recommend arriving before opening. My favorite place to park is on nearby East Court Street, between Main and Walnut. There are many diagonal parking spaces there (I can't parallel park), and the meters are good for 2 hours and cost 2 dollars. Just be sure to set a phone or watch alarm to go off 15 minutes before your meter expires. You don't want to lose track of time browsing through tables upon tables of books and risk a parking ticket!

Also, while the parking on Court Street is within easy walking distance of the library, its not such an easy trek back to your car with two heavy bags full to bursting with books. When we went last year, the kids and I stayed with the books outside the library, and the Jedi brought the van around to load it up. Of course, if you have strapping teenage boys, you can load them up instead ;) But whatever you do, put some forethought into how you will get your treasury of books from the library to your vehicle.

Happy Book Hunting!

ps---If you are wondering why the title of this post includes "Cincinnati Dayscapes", please read the first two paragraphs of my last post.

Cincinnati Dayscapes: Parcours Anyone?

This post is a result of a conversation I had in my church hallway with my Signing Friend. (On a side note, aren't prepositions amazing little things when you really stop and think about it?)

My Signing Friend stopped me and asked me what was up with this whole blog thing of mine she was reading about on Facebook. So I explained what I was doing with the whole Making Memories idea and why. She thought that was an awesome idea. She also said she'd really like specific ideas for day trips in and around our area.

So, here's the first of my Cincinnati Day Trips...or Day Escapes....thus the extraordinarily clever title of Dayscape. See, inventiveness like that is exactly why I'm pulling in the big dough as a free lance writer. (I'm not by the way, in case you thought for a momment I was.)

Winton Woods has a great parcours fitness trail.

The trail itself makes for a very pleasant, well-shaded nature walk through the forest. (Well-shaded is a very important adjective during the heat of summer.) The activity stations along the trail are spaced just far enough apart that they provide a welcome diversion for active children.

The stations catered to a variety of different exercises and challenges and would appeal to teenagers and older kids as well. (In fact, there were a few stations that our little guys couldn't do at all, but they still had fun climbing around on equipment.)



We've been on this particular trail twice now...once a few years ago with the Incredibles (plus Pinky), and once with the Jedi as a family on Memorial Day. The trail has a short and a long option, but I highly recommend the long option. Its not too long, even the preschooler handled it without any trouble. Both times we've taken waterbottles, and I highly recommend that as well. Nothing kills the enjoyment of a walk more than a thirsty, grumpy hiker. When we walked with the Incredibles, some light snacks, like pretzel sticks, were packed and consumed at some point along the trail.

When we went recently with the Jedi, we were looking for a nice after dinner activity for the family. I wanted to go on a hike, and Toa of Boy wanted to go to a park to play on a playground. So, we compromised and went along the parcours trail....which was like a leisurely hike with playground equipment evenly spaced along its length. We skipped the snack when we went with the Jedi, and no one seemed to miss them. Instead, I made s'mores under the broiler as soon as we got home.

I think it took us about an hour to hike and play along the trail. Not because the trail is that long, but because we took our time at the various stations. So, while the parcours trail at Winton Wood doesn't count for a day-long get away, it still a great destination for a morning's excursion.

If you don't happened to be blessed enough to live in the Queen City, check out your local parks and see what sort of parcours trails they have to offer!

So there you have it, my first "Dayscape" review. Please let me know what you think; I'd love your feedback!