Flashlight Balloon Bop

"Bop...Bop...Bop... Don't let it drop!!"

The other day I was organizing the kitchen cabinets.  (No I have not been taken over by an alien lifeform.)  Part of this task was cleaning out the flashlight bucket and servicing them.   Naturally when Miles saw me with a "Flicker" he wanted to play with one and NATURALLY I said, "Yes."

Off he went to play in the closet. 

When I finished my cabinet I picked up a flashlight and set off around the house turning off lights.  I flung open the closet door with a,"GOTCHA!"  What began as a game of flashlight tag morfed into a game of...

FLASHLIGHT BALLOON BOP

The Object: Keep the balloon off the floor/annoy Daddy while he is working on something very "important" on the computer.

To Play:  1. Turn off all the lights

2. Find the balloon we blew up the other day under foot.

3. Try to keep the balloon off the floor preferably by using the flashlight obtained earlier.

The "Winner": is determined by the person who laughs the hardest. 

Needless to say.. Miles and I had a ball (or maybe I should say we had a Balloon!!)

Water Wall

I saw a bunch of "water walls" on an Australian blog that I follow called let the children play.  They allow children to see the flow of water and manipulate it.  I created one for the playground and for in the Yellowbird classroom.  The children love it.  We do have the problem that the water gets stuck in the holes that I drilled in some of the containers.  Sand from the playground very easily clogs the holes.  I've made some of the holes bigger, but that of course changes the water flow.  This caused me to readjust the position of the containers.  I think besides the children's reactions to working with the water wall I am most excited about the opportunity to use so many recycled items.  I do wish that I would have had more items that are common to the children in the class' homes.  I should have asked parents for donations instead of just scouring our own house.  Oh well till next time.

Family Day at the Zoo

Last weekend we went to the zoo, as we often do, and were pleased that they were celebrating Donna the Hippo's Birthday.  (She's the oldest Hippo in the world.) They had all kinds of fun stations set up for the children to participate in.  Miles only wanted to play in the water, so that's the kind of trip we had.  He played in the fountain and slip and slide, and we took our "free" paddle boat ride that comes with our membership.  We also made it to the giraffe exhibit as they had their feeding, so we finally got the opportunity to do that.  Lots of fun!!!

A Car-riffic Weekend!

We've returned from our weekend of cars.  Chris and the Dirty Escort team participated in the Firecracker 24, we went and saw Cars 2 in 3D, and visited the Lane Automotive Museum.

Chris' team drove really well and the engine ran strong.  They ended up breaking and changing the CV joint and were back in the race until 11:00 ish when the rear break drum broke.  All of the stores were closed for the night, so they went to sleep and stalked the auto parts store in the morning waiting for them to opening.  Chris purchased some parts just to find out that they didn't give him the parts for the "Pony" version of  the Escort, and none of the correct parts were available near Nashville Super Speedway.  Unfortunately that was the end of their race, so they packed up and stayed to cheer on our friends "KY Spirits."  (They came in 4th place with just a small fire to show for it.)

After the race was over we went and saw Cars 2 in 3D.  Which I think should be subtitled "Mater is AWESOME."  I loved the spoof on Bond films.  Miles really enjoyed the glasses after the movie was over, but wouldn't wear them in the movie.

To round out our Car weekend we went to the Lane Automotive Museum in Nashville.  It is by far the best auto museum that I've been to.  They pride themselves in displaying things that they've restored to run, but are necessarily polished with a diaper.  There were all kinds of really neat cars that I hadn't seen before.  They also had an original Harley and a military amphibious car carrier.  It even had a nice children's area with car related toys, so Miles had a ball.  They even had the car of the driver who played Doc Hudson in the original Cars Movie.  Miles really enjoyed the Citroen that you can take your picture in. 

What a car-riffic weekend!    

Prepping for a 24 Hour Adventure

Tomorrow Miles and I set off for Nashville to meet up with Chris' Chump Car team for their first 24 hour race.  I'm pretty excited about getting to see them in this type of endurance race.  They have done a few double 7's (a 2 day event that is 7 hours/ day).  So for those of you who are not familiar, Chump Car is a way for the "Average Joe" to get to wheel to wheel race on road courses (some quite famous).  All of the cars in the event are $500 car (minus safety equipment.)   The event this weekend is at Nashville Super Speedway.  Chris' Team's car is a Ford Escort.  The team name is "The Dirty Escort."  Get your mind out of the gutter!!! She's named, because she's never been washed.  Chris has done quite a few updates to Marie (The Dirty Escort).  There have been multiple engine swaps, a turbo added, and an assortment of other smaller projects.

My and Miles' role at these events is cheering section, roach coach arrangement, and comic relief.  I should have some pretty good pictures to share upon our return.

Good luck guys!!

Where to Begin...

I started setting up this blog when Chris and I returned from the BABE Rally, because I enjoyed blogging that experience so much.  I thought that this blog would be about things that we as a family do as well as things that I see and love.  I particularly enjoy children's art, crafts, spending time with my family, experiencing the out doors and recently creating books and games for Miles (and the kids in the Children's Center.) I've already posted some of those things on the Daewhoopteedoo Blog, so I won't re post them here, but I'm pretty excited about them.  I particularly enjoy some of the ideas that I've come up with to keep Miles busy, but safe, while we're working in the garage. While I don't intend to blog daily like I did for the BABE Rally,  I do hope to share some of my experiences as wife, mother, and teacher with my audience.  So here are to future posts... May they not be boring, share fun things (and maybe some not so fun), and be informational from time to time.