kmbrknits

How does Apple know these things?

Here is a cute little ditty that describes the crazy puzzle of motherhood in the 21st century perfectly. Click on it, you know you want to. Its all your fault....

Jeepers, its been a while! Seems like once school starts, time-space gets all out of whack. Suddenly, its practically Thanksgiving? How did that happen?

Sysguy has become Boy Scout Dad Extraordinaire, which is awesome, but time consuming. Here are some pics of his recent Legacy Carpentry Merit Badge workshop. He's the one in the burgundy shirt. 10 mid-size boys in our small back yard, with many and varied sharp implements x 5 hours, and the only casualty was a spontaneous nosebleed. Amazing!

Note the nasal stopper. Always be prepared! Thing 1 didn't participate too much, he's had a horrible cold and was barely awake. Sysguy is doing it all again in two weeks.

The next day was Halloween, which even took the Things by surprise this year, we've been in such a whirl. Thing 1 went for the human-sized 3x lego brick; an homage to his participation in the lego robotics club this fall. It came out pretty well, at least he's pleased, and that's all that counts. Thing 2, in usual fashion, has gone for the most complicated costume. He was a fabulous mummy; here is a wonderful way to repurpose old clothes as a substrate for a roll of paper towels and about a half pound of glue stick. It turned out pretty well, and after all the tedious assembly, I got my revenge by glueing him into it for the night. Ha!

After TrT, Thing 2 is in hog heaven with his best bud, MangaDude. They're having spoils show and tell. Its been ages since I could talk about candy for that long.

Thing 1 turned 11; here he is flexing his mind. Its a bit creepy, this thing—the harder you think, or at least the harder you make the headset think you're thinking, the higher the ball flies. Maybe it'll train him to clean his room telekinetically.

A strategy session between runs at the first lego robotics competition of the year. SysGuy is in the thick of it, though Thing 1 is the actual programmer. They did quite well, made 105 points out of 400 for the run. Check out the obstacles, its not as easy as it looks!

An attempt to get a reasonable picture of the Things. It went well. No drooling!

Their father pointing out how many crappy pictures are required to get a decent one of them. Flash in the eyes will continue until normal children appear.

We're back from our long adventure on the prairie. The Things and I rode Amtrak from Los Angeles Union Station to a little town just outside Chicago, where my sister Cricket lives. Very convenient and WAAAAY cheaper than flying. Added benefit: no security theater, bring all the luggage and pointy objects you want, and omit getting herded like cattle into tiny little "seatlets." The train ride was 40 hours (2 nights) and we managed just fine in the roomy coach seats. The ride, both directions, was a relaxing break from everyday concerns; we just hung out and decompressed.

Once we arrived in Forgottonia, IL, the fun began! It was All Cousins! All the time! We barely saw the kids at all unless it was raining. Not that I'm complaining; its awesome that they all get along so well. No fighting to speak of. Weird. Uncle Paco was there the whole time this year, his National Guard tour being later in the Summer. He's fabulously entertaining, and a welcome addition to what is usually a momfest (brought to you this year by Dr. Who). Our east coast cousin Pickle was there with her dog, so it was quite a crowd of kids and dogs and dogs and kids;

We visited the local wildlife sanctuary, where they had many buffalo, and this particularly rare bovine genetic mutation "pacous kissyius" on display;

The indigenous monarch "redheadium" was freakishly chatty, for a large insect.

My brother Socket and his charming bride brought their own summer home with them, to the delight of all the kids who got to hang out, and even sleep over, in it;

And there was Twister on the very few rainy days.

We Californians were delighted to have some huge midwest thunderstorms pass through during our visit; lots of light and thunder, and rain! Hard rain, soft rain, loud rain, but mostly warm rain, which we never get here on the left coast. This was the year the Things got past being afraid of the sturm und drang of storms, Yay! One particularly intense cloudburst was followed by the ritual of my childhood; using the wet-vac to contain basement seepage. That was a real eye-opener for the Things. Basements aren't all fun and games, you know!

We had fun, and we miss the cousins. Till next year!

The Things and I are in Illinois cornfields with my sister Cricket's family. Playing with their Eastern cousin group, visiting with grandparents and right coast relatives, we are having a pretty great and humid time. We are also missing SysGuy, who stayed home for work; I hope they are appreciating his dedication.

Meanwhile, when SysGuy got home from work yesterday, he encountered this new and interesting spot on the sliding door behind the garage:

That looks like it might have really smarted. No carcass or feathers in the vicinity, though. It was a pretty big bird, too. Yow.

We took Amtrak for the IL trek this year. Notes to follow.

So we spent a few days camping at Lake Tahoe with SysGuy's extended family. It was delightful, and as you can see, ridiculously scenic. That's not a backdrop. Bizarre.

This is officially the most recent photo of the Things, SysGuy and me. All the families took similar—good grief, why wouldn't you!! There was a fairly strenuous hike to get up to this little lake above Lake Tahoe, a path with lots of vertical made of blocks of granite, the majority of which had been somewhat carved into recognizable, if not particularly even, "steps."

Below are photos of our campsite, with the TentMajal about to be furled. In the second photo you can see the other campers with our group (we had 7 tents I think) and on the side is the bear box that came with our site—and yes, it saw some bear action during our visit. Poor bear got nothing from our group but an exploratory chomp on a box of plastic cutlery. The bears totally have a system down; slap the door on a bear box to see if its locked, and move on to the next one if the door doesn't bounce open. Impressive.

Then closeups of the filthy Things as we were leaving. Thing 1 is working on his John Waters hot cocoa mustache. I love how the lens on my camera makes their noses really huge and puppy-like. Last is Thing 2 hair contrast, because its amazing.

...maybe the last time, I don't know....

Thing 1 had his 5th grade band concert tonight. It was a multi-elementary school extravaganza, with a 5th grade orchestra full of brave new string players alternating with a 5th grade band of shiny new brass and woodwind players.

Not sure if I've talked him into continuing in band. 6th grade has other enticements, and he only gets one elective that year. Meanwhile, he does look pretty cute, if I say so myself.

Which I do.