Day 15: Impact!

Tuesday, May 10

There was frost on the windshield as we headed out to the van at 7:28. It was a brisk 33 degrees, with an expected high in Flagstaff of 47 and 64 in Alberquerque, our destination for the night. More gropple fell as we left the Grand Canyon.

Driving south down the Arizona highway, the Jedi spotted two cowboys on horseback, traversing their range. I wasn't quick enough to get them on camera, but I did get some of the country side.

And a little piece of road side Americana.

Our first stop was the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. This was ranked number one on Sweetlings list of things to see during our return trip. As we pulled into the observatory, its gates proclaimed it as "Home of Pluto."

We arrived at 9:30, and had sometime to explore the small science center before the first tour started.

One of my favorite displays was a small tube that you could look through that framed lights which were suspended from the ceiling to form the big dipper. Then, the display challenged you to walk to a different spot and look at the same set of lights. The lights were all hung to represent the stars distance from Earth. Viewed from Earth, they look like the Big Dipper we recognized, from elsewhere, of course they didn't. It really helped Toa understand that concept much better than I ever could with words alone.

And of course, having a piece of the huge meteorite which had formed Meteor Crater was also very cool.

We gathered by the info desk for the tour, and the tour guide was asking us where we were from. I thought we would win the prize for distance traveled, but no, the family of three who was standing next to us were from England!

Lowell itself isn't used as a scientific research station anymore. Even though nearby Flagstaff has enacted strict lighting ordinances to minimize the light pollution, its still too much for the sensitive equipment today's astronomy needs. Instead, the Lowell scientists have a few different, more removed, locations where the actual research is conducted. As they were relocating equipment to those locations, the casing for one of the telescopes was too heavy to be transported across the unpaved roads. It would sink the truck it was on into the earth. So, the casing was left behind, and a new casing was forged at the new location.

The founder of the observatory was Percival Lowell. He came from a wealthy, well-educated family, who believed each of their offspring should find some way to make a contribution to better the world. So, Percival, who was interested in Mars, went west to find a spot to found an observatory to study our nearby planetary neighbor.

He dedicated his life to astronomy, and when he passed, he was entombed on the hill...

....right beside his original observatory.

The observatory is open a couple nights a week for the public to come in for a stargazing session. We weren't able to be in town on one of those nights, but learning about the observatory, its history and construction, was fascinating.

One of my favorite stories was the construction of the roof. Percival Lowell went into Flagstaff, which was at the time, still a very rural Western town. He saw a sign in the window of a bicycle shop which advertised "We can build anything." Percival went inside, and took the brothers who owned the shop up on their claim. They set to work building and designing the large domed roof of the observatory.

At first the roof rotated on huge cast iron wheels and required several strong men to move the roof around so that the door opened to reveal the appropriate slice of sky. Later, when electricity came to Flagstaff and to Lowell, small motors replaced the manual operation, but they had to be plugged in, unplugged, then replugged, as the roof rotated to different positions. Occasionally, someone would forget to unplug a motor in time, and a cord would get ripped out, generating dangerous sparks inside an old pine timber building.

One of the other attempts at designing a system to move the roof on was a narrow canal full of water built at the top of the side walls that the roof was supposed to float in on little pontoon feet. However, the water would get sloshed over the sides of the canal and saturate the wooden walls of the observatory, causing water damage and risking rotting or warping the wood.

Today, the roof rests on a series of large tractor wheels. The wheels themselves are stationary, and several of them are connected to motors. When the motors are turned on, those wheels turn, and the whole roof turns on top of the tractor wheels.

Our guide described all this and demonstrated how the roof would spin around, how the large doors would open, and how the telescope could be turned and aligned for viewing. Against the side of the observatory was the chair and ladder arrangement used for viewing objects when they were close to the horizon (which required a more horizontal position of the telescope.

The Lowell Observatory telescope was also one of the first in the world to be outfitted with a camera, and the first to take a picture of Hailey's comment. I would never have recognized the bronze tube enclosed in its glass case as a camera, but that's what it was.

After our awesome tour of the inside of the observatory, we spent some time in the gift shop, before hitting the road again at 11:20.

Our next stop was Toa's top pick for the return trip, Meteor Crater. Located in the country outside of Winslow Arizona, the land was flat cattle ranches,

and yet still at 1600 meters in elevation. I was also impressed by the weird, molten looking, red rock that filled the land. It was the perfect set for some low budget science fiction movie. Or the filming of an old Star Trek episode.

So, flat, cows, molten red alien rocks, high elevations, Captain Kirk, and, just in case all that wasn't enough, possible Indian ruins on the horizon.

Oh, and a giant impact crater. Let's not forget that.

Meteor Crater, if I remember correctly, is still privately owned.

It was used for astronaut training during the Apollo missions to the moon and it retains its strong connection to the astronaut program.

This wall of plagues represents the names of all the American astronauts who have flown in one of our space missions, the first column of three plaques, the top plaque of the second column, and the first four names of the middle plaque all the names of all the astronauts who flew in all the programs before the space shuttle. ALL those other names, all of them, were astronauts who flew as part of our shuttle program.

Inside, we learned that the rim walk tour had been canceled due to some dangerously high winds, but we had fun watching a short film about the Crater, and participating in a brief question and answer session about meteors, craters, and impacts.

And, of course, we had to ham it up a little in front of a "bottom of the crater" photo op wall.

Outside, the first thing we learned was that distance was deceptive. See that tiny little white spot at the middle of the crater? See the fence surrounding the remains of a mine shaft? No, that's ok, it's a tall chain link fence, so probably hard to spot in the photo. How about the six foot tall astronaut and the 3'x5' American flag next to him? You can see those, right? No? Don't feel bad. I couldn't either with my naked eye. That's right, to clearly see a man at the bottom of the crater, you need binoculars. That's how far away the bottom is, how deep and big this crater really is.

Even when we went up to the upper viewing platform and could see the people on the lower one, it still doesn't give the proper sense of perspective.

We had learned during the presentation inside that one reason meteor crater was really valuable to the astronaut training program was the unique way the rock layers get flipped at an impact sight. The scientists wanted to collect some rocks from deeper down in the lunar crust, to see what traces of metals and minerals might be buried on the moon. However, sending up drilling equipment to obtain rocks from a hundred or more feet under the surface would be too expensive, too impractical, and too dangerous to be feasible. However, at the sight of an impact, the rock layers are flipped. The upper rock crust gets buried by lower layers that are flipped over by the force of the impact. NASA brought the astronauts to Meteor Crater in Arizona to train them to be able to recognize this flipping, so that they could distinguish the proper types of craters on the moon, and collect rock samples that represent the lower layers of the lunar crust.

Here, you can see the red rock which is the surface rock of Arizona, which we stared at for miles on the drive to the crater. On top of it, the paler rock of a layer that had been flipped over at impact.

Or, if you are Toa, you can just climb around on the red rock layer.

We stayed at the Crater till 2pm. From the Crater, it was a short drive to Winslow, which began our tour of a few more of the Historic 66 sites.

Also of note, I managed to get through the whole day without singing, or excessively humming, the line from that Eagle's song. Otherwise, I might have found myself standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona watching the van drive away without me. There is a 'Standing on the Corner" Park in Winslow, but we did not make a detour to see it.

What we did visit in Winslow was La Posada Inn, another building by architect Mary Colter.

Since the Inn still operates as a hotel and a restaurant, we didn't go intrude upon the interior of the building, but we did enjoy wandering through the beautiful gardens.

I love secret gardens.

Especially when they contain beautiful settings like this.

From Winslow, we drove a short distance to Holbrook, where we drove through the parking lot of the famous Wigwam Motel.

They did a great job of finding several classic cars to display with the Wigwams. It also looked like at least a few of the wigwams were still in use as rooms that could be rented. Have you slept in a Wigwam lately?

The Jedi was thrilled to see a Studebaker. (I don't even know what a Studebaker is.)

And, of course, they had to play up the Cars theme.

We ate a late lunch, early dinner at Joe & Aggie's Cafe.

It was a great little place with good food, big servings, and excellent and friendly service. The Jedi tried several different flavors of Jones' soda. I ordered and managed to finish a huge "Navajo Taco".

After stuffing ourselves with yummy food, we headed out toward Toa's second most anticipated stop, one of Arizona's famous 'rock shops'....Jim Grey's Petrified Wood.

On the way, we happened to pass by a street named "Bucket of Blood Road." No kidding, that's what was on the street sign. Sweetling happened to spot it, and we all took a turn speculating on how it might have gotten such a name.

The rock shop was a little boy's dream come true. In addition to the fountain, gold fish pond, and spacious planter area in the center of the shop, the place had aisle after aisle after aisle of all sorts of rocks, minerals, fossils, and carvings, furniture, windchimes, knick knacks, bowls, and decorative items made from petrified wood, precious stones, crystals, and what have you.

It was just amazing. We bought several souvenirs for other people in here. (I bought small torquoise cross pendents for the girls in my small group.) Toa got his very own, break it open when you get home, geode. That, as far as he was concerned, was one of the best parts of the trip. If we had had 5 to 10K to spend on a table, plus the several hundred it would have cost to have it shipped home, we would have gotten a big petrified wood coffee tables. Those were just beyond gorgeous.

We finally managed to drag ourselves out of the store, past the cool classic car in the parking lot, and were on our way again.

Our goal was to drive through the petrified forest, making one short hike along the Giant Logs trail, and then drive north through the park to see the painted dessert at sunset.

It turned out to be a great plan.

The Giant Logs trail was a perfect short hike. There was plenty to see and experience as it made a loop through the park's highest concentration of petrified wood.

The high winds were still blowing strong, and the temperatures had dropped, so we were happy the hike was a short one.

We drove through the park, taking a couple of photos of the 'petrified dunes' as we passed them.

And reached the painted dessert just at sunset.

Another Mary Colter creation, the Painted Desert Inn, sits perched on the edge of these lovely dunes.

Even the dry desert vegetation seemed to light up in the evening sun.

We finally had to tear ourselves away from this...

...and this...

....and head back to the highway.

Read from Day 1
Back to Day 14
On to Day 16

Day 14: How Deep; How Wide

(Yes, this post took forever to actually assemble. Mostly because we took well over 200 photos, and I was simply overwhelmed when it came time to sort through them select a few of them, then rename them, resize them, and upload them where appropriate in the story.) 

Monday, May 9

Let me say how cool it is that the Jedi snagged us rooms inside Grand Canyon National Park. No, we weren't in the famous hotel that is right on the edge of the canyon and that books up a year or two in advance and costs an arm and  leg, but still, we were inside the park, and that was really cool.

We got in after dark the night before. It was only 9:30, so it wasn't too late, but still, the winding park roads were pitch dark through a pine forest. Our Tom-Tom couldn't figure out where we were, and we nearly didn't either. We eventually found the little building where we checked in, and then drove to our room in Yavapai Lodge.

The morning turned out to be much chillier than we had anticipated, 42 degrees, overcast, and a little windy. The Jedi brought in the "extra" bin which had extra long pants for each of us. We layered our clothes and wore some windbreakers and headed out. In the parking lot, we encountered more of that weird, round, pellet snow like we had seen at Colorado National Monument.

Our first stop was the visitor's center to talk with a ranger and come up with a game plan. We wanted to do a little bit of hiking, but we wanted to make sure we were on a short, kid-friendly trail. There was a rim trail, but our experience with a rim trail in Hocking Hills turned out to be rather scary, and we didn't want a repeat of that, especially at the Grand Canyon.

We had read about the number of people that need to be rescued from the depths of the Grand Canyon. Two hundred and fifty a year, in fact. Most of them are young, healthy men who attempt to hike down to the river and back in one day. There were warnings and cautions everywhere about NOT attempting that. "Do not underestimate the Grand Canyon," was even in the little info binder in our hotel room. And of course, everywhere were also cautions about making sure to drink water and to carry water with you. So, in addition to layering our clothes, we each had a large, full water bottle and carried a few snacks. The kids carried their waterbottles and their snacks in small backpacks they had received just for this hike. I also threw a little first aid kit in Toa's backpack. Between that and checking with the ranger, we felt ready for the Canyon.

While we were at the visitor center, I asked the ranger about the weird, round pellet snow. The ranger said the snow was called gropple, and also affectionately referred to as "styrofoam snow". He said it's only noticeable at higher elevations. What happens is that in the upper level of a cloud, a perfectly normal 6-pointed snowflake forms. As it falls, it passes through a slightly warmer pocket of air and it partially melts, just enough for the points of the snowflake to dissolve in on itself. Then it hits another cold pocket of air and refreezes. It falls then as this tiny little round pellet of snow. The same phenomena might also happen at lower elevations, but at lower elevations, the gropple melts and turns into rain before it can fall all the way to the ground.

At the ranger's suggestion, we took the shuttle bus to the South Kaibab Trail. A few pictures were taken at the top, on a little outcropping, but the cloud cover was so low that most of the view of the canyon was obscured. The Jedi and I were really worried that if the weather stayed like it was, we wouldn't really get a chance to see the Canyon.

Our intention was to hike down to the first lookout point on the trail, called "Ooh Ahh Point", and then turn around and hike back. The top of the trail had a sign warning about ice on the trail and recommending the use of crampons. We decided if we got to an icy point, we would turn around and come back. Near us was a couple speaking French having a similar discussion about the possibility of ice on the trail.

All suited up, we headed down.

At the first switch back on the trail was a sign instructing hikers to stay to the inside of the trail if a mule train was coming through.

We could see our destination from this point as well.

Sadly, the obscuring cloud cover made "Ooh Aah" Point rather underwhelming.

So we decided to hike down a few more switchbacks just for fun.

Our endeavor began to pay off. As we hiked down the trail, two things began to happen. We went under the cloud cover, and could therefore glimpse a little more of the canyon...

....and, the morning sun began to break through the cloud cover, lighting up the rock ridge we were hiking along.

And of course, if there was a flower, which there was, you know I had to photograph it, which I did.

We think, based off the map we saw in the visitors' center, we were hiking along a stretch of trail called Cedar Ridge. It seemed like each piece of the trail might reveal something new if we just kept going a little bit further. We had left the steep series of switchbacks, and were now hiking along a genle, nearly level, downhill slope. The Jedi wisely pointed out that we could really fool ourselves at this point and get into some real danger. Since it was so easy and pleasant to hike along this trail, the temptation was to just continue hiking for a while. We could have easily hiked much further into the canyon without realizing how far from the edge we had really gone. Even though we had snacks and a large, full water bottle for each person, we knew hiking too deep in the canyon would make for a potentially dangerous and certainly exhausting ordeal to hike back out of the canyon. Since we wanted this experience to be memorable in a good way, we picked a spot we could see on the trail ahead and agreed that no matter what we could almost see when we got there, that would be our turn around point.

But, can you agree with me that scenes like this were very difficult to turn our back on and walk away?

We hiked to our turn around point and had a short water and snack break. Look at what good sports my children are about having their picture taken on the trail. I, of course, couldn't see their faces in the little view screen of my camera, so I'm treated to this after we get all the pictures downloaded. I love their sense of humor.

Then we turned around and hiked back. Let me tell you how glad I am that we did so. I was sucking some serious air as we huffed back up all those switchbacks. We stopped periodically to catch our (ok, just mine really) breaths as we got to a bend that was wide enough to step off the trail for a moment.

And we made it back to the top, where we had a restroom stop and a snack and drink break while we sat on the rocks waiting for the next shuttle bus to come by. The shuttles ran every 15 minutes or so, so we didn't have to wait long.

Because the shuttles came by so frequently we could get off whenever we wanted and check out some of the other overlooks before we went back to the visitors' center where our van was parked.

We drove out of the park for lunch, and got some fast food so that we could eat lunch in the car on the hour long drive over to the watchtower. Surprisingly, we saw two other Ohio license plates in the Wendy's parking lot...some of the only other Ohio plates we have seen on the trip. Sweetling said, "What, is Wendy's some sort of Mecca for Ohioans?"

As we drove up to the Watchtower, we were reminded that we were indeed in mountain lion territory.

And, as we drove, we made stops at the overlooks. It was just awesome to stand there, hold the Jedi's hand, and marvel at what was before us.

We got our first glimpse of the Colorado River.

The Jedi said he'd be very tempted to try an overnight hike, just to get down there and back, if it weren't for the thought of spending the night outdoors in mountain lion country. I have to agree with him on that point.

Sweetling took several pictures on her new 3DS. She had saved her money, and sold her old DSi just so she could bring the 3DS on the trip with her to take some 3D pictures of the Grand Canyon. They turned out really cool, but of course, I can't share them here. If you see her, you have to ask her to share them with you.

This is our destination in the distance.

The Watchtower was designed by Mary Colter, and has a remarkable story behind its construction. I was delighted in its design and attention to detail in the rocks chosen.

We went out to the point of the lookout....

...and explored the patio of the watchtower....

....before going inside to explore the gift shop.

The interior of the Watchtower was beautifully painted...

...and we spent a good deal of time climbing up through the levels.

Our visit to the Watchtower was a nice end cap to our day. We headed back to our rooms for snacks and showers and a little bit of downtime. It was our intention to then take the shuttles out to the western edges of the park to see the sunset. We did, but the clouds had come back, and there was no sunset to be seen.

There were however, many elk.

We were much closer to some of the elk than this, since a group of about 9-15 were strolling and grazing calm as you please along both sides of the road. It was, in my opinion, far too close to comfort, especially after our buffalo encounter on Antelope Island. So, we refrained from taking any pictures when we were nearer the elk.

After spending some time, cold and miserable, on a western lookout waiting for a sunset that didn't happen, we headed out of the park hoping to find a reasonably priced dinner option at a restaurant in the nearby town. Strangely, the selection was rather limited. We wound up at We Cook Pizza and Pasta, whose name pretty much sums up the dining experience.

Back in our room, we played a few rounds of Space Munchkin before turning in for the night.

Read from Day 1
Back to Day 13
On to Day 15

Think Tank

I had this brilliant idea in the middle of the night. (That is the hour that genius strikes, correct?)

A couple of years ago, when Toa first started showing an interest in chess, I tried starting our school day with a simple pawn game or chess puzzle. That worked well for a while, but then began to quagmire for lack of variety OR because simple chess puzzles evolved into full out games which meant no other school was getting done before lunch.

I want to reinstate this practice in some form. Not in the same form, obviously, since that hadn't worked out so well for us. But, I still feel that starting the day with a little brain stimulating exercise has merit.

The solution? (I hope.)

The Think Tank

The Think Tank shall be a container containing a pocket folder for each child, as well as other materials, to be rotated in and out. In the folders each week shall be five challenges, puzzles, brain teasers, math word problems, tangrams, or other activities.

At 8 o'clock (hey, I was nearly dreaming), the Think Tank comes out. Each child picks one challenge from their folder. If they solve it in 5 minutes, fine. If they take 30 minutes and its still not solved, fine. If they finish before 8:30, they may have some free choice time to read, draw, or do any other approved activity.

If they spend the full time on it, and need more time, they'll have to wait and come back to it either the following day or later in their free time if they'd like to. (Or, they can put it away, curse Fibonacci and his rabbits, and never look at it again that week.) After 15 minutes of working on it, they can ask for help if they'd like some. OR after 15 minutes, they can change their mind and pick a different challenge. But I think we are going to set the rule that you must try to solve it yourself for 15 minutes.

With that in mind, I'm starting to scour the internet for challenges that can be printed and put in the Think Tank folders.

Here are a few chess puzzles.  I like these online chess puzzles as well. I've just given myself permission to put online link cards in the Think Tank folder.


Here's a great list of sites which have different brain teasers for kids. And here's a similar list for gifted teens.

And a few more sites with brainteasers.

Math problems just for Sweetling. Fibonacci and his rabbits are not alone.

A scattering of logic or math problems for Toa. And more kids math puzzles.

I have a workbook of Daily Language Workouts which I can toss in for Sweetling.

And of course, a regular Lego Challenge needs to go in for Toa.

Teenager in the House

When I got married, I could cook three things. I could, thanks to Mammaw, make an awesome fruit pie from scratch. I could make a packet of ramen noodles. I could heat up a can of soup or a can of ravioli. That was pretty much the extent of my cooking skills. Notice boiling spaghetti didn't make the list.

To make sure Susan enters adulthood with better cooking and better life skills than I did, I want to take one afternoon a week to do either a home ec class or another life skills class.

Here are, in no particular order, the things I want to make sure she can do before she turns 18. Some of these, obviously, will wait till she's of driving age. Some of things I haven't mastered, but are still good things to be able to do.

• cook several different, healthy dinners
• plan a weekly menu and grocery list that stays within a budget
• know how to safely store foods (how to freeze, shelf life, etc)
• know how to read and understand food labels
• sew from a pattern
• mend and repair garments
• put in a hem
• check and change the oil in a car
• check other fluids in a car
• jump a dead car battery
• change a tire
• read a map
• get a driver's license
• budget income and living expenses
• balance a checkbook
• troubleshoot a computer
• remove spyware
• add memory
• replace a harddrive
• install an operating system
• protect her personal safety
• recognize red flags in relationships
• recognize red flags in financial deals and offers
• plan, plant, and tend a vegetable garden 
• plan and manage a weekly schedule
• plan and manage a home
• be proficient in minor home repairs
• volunteer in a variety of services
• plan and co-ordinate an event
• know how to complete a job application
• know how to put together a resume and a portfolio
• know how to conduct herself on a job interview
• know how to dress professionally

Are there any areas which I am missing?

I'm looking at doing a home ec cooking class this year, perhaps teaming up with another mom who wants to do a sewing class. But, I think I might have her look over the list and pick what she wants to work on first.

My wonderful sister sent me this great link for Jamie's Home Cooking Skills.

Getting Organized

Warning.

This is a boring post.

Despite my friend Insight's lovely compliment, there are some subjects that no amount of snarky comments on my part can liven up.

Schedules are one of them.

I have a love/hate relationship with schedules. I love the sense of control and calm order that they bring. I hate the dose of cold hard reality I have to swallow when I'm first forming them.

We start school on August 8. I spent some time last week making my final curriculum choices and patching together a basic weekly schedule.

All the experts I have read on organization and home and time management have said that one should have a basic plan for the week in place. Women who have their act together recommend a day for errands, a day for laundry and housework, a day for desk work, a day for baking, etc. Women who have their act together also recommend a basic menu plan that dovetails with the basic week plan. Since my act more often resembles mayhem at the circus, I'm trying to heed the advice of others.

Here's what I got:

...	Main Focus	Afternoon	Dinner	Evening
Sunday	Church & Family	moderate cleaning	big family dinner	pack for co-op
Monday	Co-op	library	casserole or crock pot dinner	counseling or family night
Tuesday	School	Home Ec Class	new foods and recipes	Tae Kwon Do
Wednesday	School	grocery shopping	quick and easy meal	Church
Thursdary	School and Laundry	Deep Cleaning	breakfast for dinner	Tae Kwon Do
Friday	School	something fun	family favorites	more fun stuff
Saturday	Free Day	free	leftovers or dinner w friends	free

Now, here's the problems with this schedule. Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi.

1. Home Ed Class is the day BEFORE my grocery shopping day. This is going to be a problem, cause I'll need specific ingredients for the cooking part of this class. I would prefer to switch those two days, but I'm co-ordinating with another mom, so it's not all about me.
2. No, I can't switch library and grocery shopping. We're at co-op from 9 am till 3:30 pm. I can't try to tack a two hour grocery trip  on the end of our co-op day. It's just not happening.
3. I've got a deep cleaning day on Thursday, which is sparring night at Tae Kwon Do. I'd rather have some easier activities on the afternoon before sparring night, so I'm not exhausted before I even get to class. But, I don't see another day to switch it to, so?
4. I'd love to have some time to blog and write during the week. I usually don't feel like blogging or writing on Saturday. Friday afternoon is a possibility, but a slim one.
5. I don't have a whole lot of time between the end of school and dinnertime on any day. I'm worried that the activities I do have slated for the afternoon are going to be totally unrealistic and I'm going to be frantic and getting dinner on the table late three nights of the week.

Here is my basic school day schedule. Click on it to enlarge the image. I'm finished with my teaching part by 3pm, but I need to have dinner on the table by 5pm. See the time crunch problem with the afternoon activities?

Riddle me this, Batman

Let's pretend that a certain family went on vacation for three weeks. Let's pretend they ate very well for those three weeks, and that, aside from a few hikes, they didn't get a lot of exercise. Let's pretend that three of the family members gained a little weight. (One member stayed her sweet and lean junior black belt self.)

Let's pretend that this week, one member of the family decided she was getting back to running. Let's pretend that she also severely limited her sweets for the week. Severely. Like one single cup of hot chocolate for the week instead of one each morning and one each night and no desserts, with two small exceptions. That's severe.

Let's pretend this person also jogged for 30 minutes every morning this week.

So then, please tell me, purely hypothetically speaking of course, how it could be remotely possible that every single morning this week, the Wii Fit has been recording this persons weight as increasing slightly every day? Really? How is that possible?

More importantly, how is that even remotely fair????

WFMW: Lego Quest

We are on a token system in the summertime. Which means, that to watch TV or play video games, my kids need to have some tokens to cash in. Its a pretty simple and straightforward system, if it wasn't, I could never stick with it. Here's how it works, in case you missed it.

One of the thing on our blue list for earning tokens is "building"...with the stipulation that the building be appropriately challenging. We have an awesome construction kit, but it requires a lot of adult guidance. I was looking for some building challenges that Toa could tackle all on his own.

I found this awesome blog called Lego Quest.

It looks like the blog takes a break during the summer, but that's ok. We went back to quest #1 and just started from the beginning. (Ok, I lied. Technically, we went back to quest #2. The first quest was "build a car". Toa proclaimed that he built lots of cars all the time and that this was not new or challenging.)

Quest #2 is monochromatic.

Pick a colour, any colour, and use only that colour of Lego.

Build anything. The sky is the limit. A structure, a sculpture, functional, non-functional, anything at all, but you can only use one colour!

Toa went off to build the Statue of Liberty.

I'll post a photo up when he is done.

I really love the list of quest ideas on Lego Quest site. It Works for Me!