Christmas, Moses & Indianna Jones

Nana came to visit this week, and you know what that means... early Christmas! We decided not to decorate the house for the holidays this year because we were going to be spending Christmas in Colorado. So when nana showed-up with a bundle of goodies, we didn't have a tree to put them under. In typical nana-creative fashion, her and the kids colored-up a tree and stuck it on the wall. We even hung the stockings from my camera tripod for added effect. Note the photo.

Katie came to me just before dinner on the day Nana arrived:

Katie: *Excited* "Daddy, We are opening presents tonight!"

Me: "Who decided this?"

Katie: "We voted."

Me: "But I didn't vote"

Katie: *smiling* "You didn't need to!"

OK: 1) when did this become a democracy? and 2) since when does my vote not count? I guess 3 votes is all you need for a majority around here! No problem, I like gifts, so we did the Christmas thing that night. Lots of great presents, thanks Nana!

Andy got an Indiana Jones Lego set which we built last night. It features the "Ark of the Covenant" from the first movie. Andy asked me what the ark was, so I told him the story of Moses, and the Ten Commandments. The story was a bit long and Andy's eyes began to wander toward the end, he was clearly getting bored by my rendition. So at the end to spice it up, I told him that the Ark had the power of God, and some people say that it can shoot fire and lightening. Andy's eyes then immediately lit up, followed by, "WOW, COOL!"



The next morning Andy was telling Nana bout the Lego set:

Andy: "And snakes drop down here, and there's a skeleton on a chain, and these traps fall down...

Andy: :...and Indiana Jones has LASERS!"

Apparently the Moses story translates to 'Indiana Jones has Lasers' Oh well, I still got a few more chances to work on the details.

Gingerbread, Skating, Bolt and Flooding

Here are the pics of the awesome gingerbread cookies Jen and the kids came up with. Pretty rad eh? Also, note the plate they are displayed on. I made that plate 34 years ago!

Yesterday Katie and I went Ice Skating together at the local rink. The Adventure Guides program reserved the whole thing for 2 hours. I was really nervous cause I had no idea how to ice skate. I think I've done it a couple times as a kid -- it's just not a big SoCal thing! So we got there and laced up and hit the ice. It was funny both Katie and I started-out CLINGING to the side of the rink, looking like total noobs as we tried to find some way to stand on our own.

I found it's not too different from roller-skating and was able to get some stability after a few minutes. Then we took each other's hands and started venturing out into the traffic of skaters. After a few laps, I must say we were looking pretty good. Katie would occasionally lose her balance and daddy would pull her back-up, never letting go all the while. By the end of the 2 hours, we had progressed to "advanced-noobs".

Also we participated in "Roostisha-on-Ice", and were treated to a performance from one of the local ice-ballerinas. I think Katie's favorite part was when they turned off all the lights and we skated on the crazy dark disco colors to High School Musical Songs. It was a lots of fun to be sure.

Also earlier in the day, we went and saw Bolt. I was totally happy with the movie and would recommend it. Funny, clever, and a nice new take on a tired genre of dog-based kid's movies.

Unfortunately I came down with a rough cold today. On top of that, it rained like crazy here today, and our driveway started flooding. Jen and I frantically tried to bail out the water, that was pooling in our driveway and called the emergency drain people. We seem to have been successful in thwarting what could have been a major disaster if no-one was home.

Exciting 24 hours.

Digital Natives

A number of things have happened recently to contribute to this post. At work, I have been spending a lot of time trying to figgure out how to identify the next big thing in consumer electronics. One of the perspectives regarding the youth of today, is that they are Digital Natives. This term refers to someone who 'grows-up' in a world where everything is digital... i.e. our kids.

Examples of this mind-shift between us and our kids are common. I am reminded of times when I have to explain to Andy why we can't 'fast-forward' when watching a show because it's 'live TV'. Or when Katie looks at me like I'm lying when I tell her that we can't just watch anything she wants on TV, whenever she wants, that some shows aren't available.

This notion of 'on-demand' pervades the little-tykes heads. The idea that everyone and everything is always available whenever the whim presents itself. It's a bit frightening actually, and I'm sure our parents said the same thing about us when the PC came about, or the Internet.

OK, so what's my point, why all the tech-talk? Hang-on, still more preamble... Well, I was talking with a buddy of mine the other day. He has a few kids who have taken on the video-camera as a new toy. They are making movies and uploading them to YouTube. His kids are scarcely older than mine. They actually have some pretty entertaining stuff. So we have started messing around as well...

Then earlier this week we were getting a new tape in the camera to get ready for Christmas. We decided to watch the old tape that was in the camera for giggles and came across some of our Hawaii video from May. There was one scene in there where Katie did the filming. Katie was emulating the kinds of things her parents say when they interview you on film. It's pretty cute, I especially like how she moves the camera around. Notice how Jen wrestles with either a) to tell her to hold it still, or b) to try and move her face to the center of where Katie is pointing. Check it out.



OK, so to my point, finally. Well, actually I didn't really have one. Just a bunch of semi-related video type stories that I thought might become interesting if spewed forth on the blog. Hey, not every post is a masterpiece.

Suzie Homemaker

I gotta give cred to the wife when it comes to cooking. One of the many things I need to continue to remind myself not to take for granted. This christmas, mommy has been furiously baking for the many Christmas events we have been a part of. Ill post some shots of the masterpieces soon.

Christmas Parade

Last weekend we had the annual La Jolla Christmas Parade here in the village. It's a pretty big deal for our little community, and it feels like the whole town shows up for it.

This year, Katie was supposed to be in the Parade for BOTH Brownies and Adventure Guides. Well, since you can't be in two places at once, we decided she'd walk with the Brownies this time around. Her and Mommy spent all morning making her a 50's costume, and then daddy and Andy sat on the curb and waited for the big 'passing'. It was pretty neat. I think this was the first parade for us where a kid was in the line-up.

Andy and I had a fun time checking out the stuff before the parade, and we got to see the Nativity camel up real close, which was a thrill. Those camels are some funky animals for sure. Good stuff!

There was also this one really strange and wonderful moment that also happened during the parade. Well, let me back-up. So during the parade, the people walking down the street throw a lot of candy at the kids on the curbs. Andy was delighted by this fringe benefit (like most kids) and pounced on the showers of sugar as soon as they came near him. Being the strict dad that I am, I let him eat 4-5 'fun sized' treats in the course of about 10 minutes.

Then the sugar rush took over.

The parade came to a halt and there was a band nearby that was playing some typical marching music, heavy on the drums. The beat and the sugar triggered a reaction in Andy's brain and motivated him to get up and start dancing in street. Like, WAY out there. I think he kinda 'became' part of the parade for about a minute, completely entertaining me, and about 2-300 other watchers. He was seriously shakin' his stuff. I think I saw renditions of the robot and a few other moves that have yet to be invented. The crowd was literally clapping and cheering him on. I was so stunned that I totally neglected to take any pictures!

Anyhow, it was a classic Andy moment that will go on his list of 'very cute things I did when I was a kid'.

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town

Tonight Jennifer went out for dinner with her girlfriends. The kids and I decided to make the most of our 3-some quality time and did a bunch of fun things. After we finally got Andy to eat his dinner, we did a scavenger hunt for dessert. I made a bunch of clues on paper and hid them aroound the house. As Katie is now reading, she would struggle through the clues and the two kids ran all over the place until they finally found some lollipops and candy at the end of the trail.

We then did a reindeer craft that we had picked up last week in Palm Springs, and then finally settled into watch "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" on the DVR. You know, the old animated puppet version with Bing Crosby.

The kids are really thinking a lot about Santa right now, and there were lots of questions from the get-go. I found myself really enjoying the show as the kids would ask questions about Santa and the show was answering them as they went along. They have 100% faith in Santa and are ready for him to come visit. Katie was especially curious aobut the naughty and nice part, and kept asking is she had been 'good' this year. You could tell she was worried about some of her less than perfect moments. I told her that Santa is always watching, and that he knows we aren't good all the time, but the more-good we are, the more presents he is allowed to bring us on Christmas.

As I tucked the kids in for bed, I first put down Andy, and then Katie. As I was leaving the room and turning off the lights, she started to get out of bed...

Me: "What are you doing Katie?"

Katie: "I'm going to say a prayer."

(I smiled and nodded, and walked about the door. Of course I couldn't help myself but to linger and eavesdrop a little... her prayer was something like this...)

Katie: "Dear God, thank you for making me happy, and thank you for my friends and my school. I love Andrew. And I love all my family. I will be really good and I will not fight with Andrew. And he will be good too. I promise to be nice and to sing Christmas Carols..."

At this point our noisy heater came-on and I couldn't hear anymore! Realizing that god was probably trying to tell me to stop eavesdropping on a private conversation, I walked off feeling pretty good about life, and thankful for my kids, and for Santa himself.

I am ready for Christmas now, it's gonna be awesome!

Here's the youtube on the show we watched in case your own Chrismas spirit needs a little kindling...

Upside Down

Katie is definitely developing her motor skills. I see her climbing trees, doing the monkey bars, and most recently... cart-wheels. Oh and how can I forget, climbing counters and cabinets... The last ones are becoming quite a concern as you can imagine. We can officially say that nothing is out of reach in the house anymore and we are needing to get more creative and resolute with hiding things in the name of protection.

Also last night our Indian Guide's 'vests' arrived. These are suede vests that Katie and I wear for our events, we put patches on them, and so on. They are kinda cool, however, they arrived pre-assembled! So daddy busted out the needle and went to town on the sewing last night. I was up into the wee hours of the morning stitching these things together. My fingers are so sore today I can barely type on my PC! However, those home-economic classes from high-school really paid-off as I can say that the look pretty sweet.

Thanksgiving

We decided to have a rather non traditional Thanksgiving this year. We packed up the kids and headed out to Palm Springs for a few days. Our room was super tiny so we crunched-in and tried to spend most of our time at the pool and outside. The weather was great and there were all kinds of fun events going on at the resort where we stayed. Each day they would bring in some fun activities for the kids, right on the front lawn. Here were some of the activities: Jumpie-jumps, hula hoops, carmel apple stations, petting zoo, reptile show, train ride, mini-golf, bubble making stations, craft stations, and more.

Thanks mommy for arranging it all!