Lego Super Car: She could make anything.

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Originally uploaded by Binky

A really, really cool Lego car that Action Girl (age 5) made today. Front view.

Not so Easy...

We had a very interesting experience this afternoon. The main local army reserve unit had a display set up in the park, complete with a flying Griffon helicopter, all kinds of guns and rocket launchers, and a whole lot of people with assault rifles. As many of you may know, I'm actually a big admirer of the Canadian Forces and pretty firm believer that we/our armed forces and other government agencies should be in Afghanistan. I'm comfortable enough with the military that I walked around most of the displays with the girls. True to her nick name, action girls sat up in the turret of a "G-Wagon" lightly armoured vehicle. A fun half hour...

But... There was something very, well... sobering and wartime about the whole event. It felt like the recruiting fairs that were such a part of the first part of WWI. Maybe that's accurate, maybe that's not... I honestly don't know. Maybe I've finally come to the point in my life where, for me, the military in the necessary sharp end of the stick in a democratic and free society rather that something to idealize and dream about. I certainly don't have any less respect for it, even if my unease with it is new and unavoidable.

Basically, I believe in Canada having a strong armed forces and that we should be prepared to fight when its the moral thing to do (as in Afghanistan). I'd like to think that the fact that Canadians in uniform are dying in Afghanistan stops me from thinking this blindly or without, thinking more about it. It just seems a little more serious now that we're in our first sustained combat of my lifetime. Maybe it has something to do with being a parent...

B.

Weekend in Review

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Originally uploaded by binkygtesby.

A pretty great weekend for us...

1) Friday night: fire side time with Supermom's parents (looked something like this...)

2) Action Girl (5 1/2) started gymnastics on Saturday. She really enjoyed herself and also got registered for skating (starts in October).

3) Potty training: Not going so well with Super Girl... at least we (including her) are trying.

4) Quiet day around home today.

A real entry to follow when I have more time...

B.

Someone Likes our Pizza Pic!

This is a pizza that the girls and I made on August 27, the week before they went back to pre-school and K. full-time...

Interestingly, I put the picture of it in my "Flickr" album and someone picked it as one of their favourite pictures... Here's proof:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/binkygetsby/237196854/favorites/

Never underedtimate the appeal of a homemade pizza that... well, looks like a monkey...
B.

Our Summer in Pictures: Part 5

The Haunted Forest Tree Aug 2006
Originally uploaded by binkygtesby.

"The Haunted Forest Tree" - I don't actually remember this part of summer, but am very glad that Action Girl managed to escape from the scary haunted trees.

Personally, I was hoping maybe she'd draw a picture of our friends in Alberta.

Our Summer in Pictures: Part 4

Animals - August 2006
Originally uploaded by binkygtesby.

More foam animals, this time by Super Girl... man, we love foam animals... doesn't everybody?

Our Summer in Pictures: Part 3

Riding the Rainbow Aug 2006
Originally uploaded by binkygtesby.

Its not every day you get to ride the rainbow... (to the Skittles at the end?)

Our Summer in Pictures: Part 2

Nice Painting
Originally uploaded by binkygtesby.

I look at super girl's painting and just think she must have been happy that day, like she is most days.

Our Summer in Pictures: Part 1

Calgary Zoo 1 Aug 2006
Originally uploaded by binkygtesby.

The girl's artwork is the best, most accurate way to review our summer: Here is Action Girl's picture of the Calgary Zoo.

The Last Two Weeks...

The last two weeks have been a busy, happy, and successful time for us.

To summarize:

Number of Cat Escapes: 2-3 (all my fault)
Number of Parents Going Back to work: 1
Number of Girls entering Kindergarten: 1
Number of Girls entering the pre-school: 1
Number of Dads Fighting off a bad head cold: 1

I was able to take last week off from work to spend some extra time with the girls. Super-Mom was going in to school all last week to get ready for this week. This was a wonderful plan, aside from the fact that I managed to catch a really awful head cold and have been fighting it ever since.

Action Girl (5 ½ years) started Kindergarten at the same place where she did Pre-K last year. She was extremely excited about it and was, we're told, very helpful to the new kids in her class. Super Girl (2 ½ years) is in the pre-school class at the same centre. She hasn't been as happy about being back but seems to be doing alright.

Labour Day was a time for some down time with a big trip to the McDonald's Playland and premium ice cream for dessert. (Not our everyday routine...) Super Girl went down the big blue side at the Playland for the first time, with some help from her big sister. We're back, happy and healthy (except for me, but I'm on my way).

B.

My Vacation: The Sequel... Part III

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Originally uploaded by binkygtesby.

And, another pic from the beach. Sunday, August 28, 2006. Not our kite..

My Vaction: The Sequel... Part II

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Originally uploaded by binkygtesby.

Another pic from the beach. Sunday, August 28, 2006.

Vacation: The Sequel

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Yes! Another week off coming up for me, with some good and quiet "down time." Unfortunately, I'm beginning it off with a bad head cold, but that seems to be getting better. Its Monday at 3:28PM and I've only been to the office once...

Yesterday we went to the beach. It wasn't hot, but was quite pleasant. More playground time than time in the water. The girls seemed to have fun and Super Girl (age 2.5) ran right into the water, fully clothed. The toy of the day for her was the fuzzy fellow you can see above- "Wooly Lamb" or as she now calls him, "Bully Lamb." Yes- he is in fact a goat. Click on the above pic to read more.

Here are a couple more pics of him (wait, why am I assuming he's a he... No udder?).

B.

A Question of Screening?

Yesterday morning we were cat-less again. Here is the reason why- the feline-sized hole in the window screen in the girls' room. She went out the same hole for an hour or two this evening too.

Hmmm... Does anyone with more cat experience have a suggestion? This is the third window through which that Mitsu has exited and this will start to get kind of expensive. The weather will soon be cooler and we'll have the windows shut more often but we'd like to be able to open a window or two this fall.

B.

Great Escapes

(1) Last night, someone in our family decided that she would make a hole in the screen on the bathroom window (see above) and escape into the night. At about eight this morning she was meowing at the girls and me from the front lawn. So, at least she walked from the back yard to the front yard. In my mind she was on a far grander adventure…

Then again, she left right before the heavy rain and lightening started. If only she could pay for the ripped screen...

(2) A great escape for a rainy day like today- Lego!

Q: What can you make if you take every Lego piece, big and small, in the house and spend an hour building a castle that uses every piece (well, most of it)?

A: If you’re us- this!

Goin' Digital!

Err... "Sad" news- our 35 mm film camera didn't fare well on the trip to Alberta (even though we didn't use it). I took it to A-Girl's last soccer game and discovered that it had stopped working. With a new battery it won't turn on and there's a visible crack on the zoom switch. So, I'm happy to report that we got a digital camera. Nothing fancy, but its more than we need.

Our new little friend is a Sony DSC S600 and we took her home today. Should make it easier to post...

B.

PS- A big thanks to my mom and dad for lending us their digital camera for the Alberta trip!

PPS- ===> I've added a lotto the Alberta Trip pictures on my flickr page at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/binkygetsby/

Someone's Mind is Opening

Today our two and half year-old told me that we should “keep an open mind” on something we were trying to figure out. She then went on to say that the bears on TV had been told to do that when they wanted to go to a movie. I asked her if she mean the Bernstein bears and she said yes. Good advice…

Tonight involved a first of sorts: Super Girls and Action Girl agreed that neither wanted to have the first bath tonight- I suggested that we flip a coin… Blank stares… Oh… They don’t know!

I explained what we meant by this time-honoured method of settling questions large and small. It worked. The winner (who about 30 seconds sooner protesting that she should ever again have to have a bath) was happily going upstairs bath-bound and, “the winner.”

B.

Scorecard for August so far…

Number of times the cat has escaped since vacation: 1

Number of Soccer Nights Left: 0

Goals scored by Action Girl in the season’s last soccer game: 2

Goals scored by me in the season’s last soccer game: 0

(It was a parent-child game).

B.

Alberta Trip Pictures

We have some great pictures from our trip. I've created a "flickr" photo album with some of them.

You can find it at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/binkygetsby/

B.

Letting Go of my LEGO...

Exciting news: Super Girl (age 2) and Action Girl (5) have inherited the remains of MY Lego collection. Its not that I've REALLY been holding out and keeping to myself all this time, I just really wanted to make sure that S-G wasn't going to put it in her mouth... Yeah, I don't believe that one either...

Technically, we've agreed that its all OUR Lego. That seems to be easing my pain in giving it away, even to my own daughters. They love it! They have a big bucket of "Duplo" sized mega Blocks, but seem to see the "small" (regular) pieces as a quantum leap forward. I even added the two small Star Wars sets that I had acquired in my mid-twenties to the "general population" of blocks. (There goes the plan to keep them both and sell them on E-Bay when they were both worth enough to finance my retirement...).

BTW, playing with them is as fun as giving the set to them. :-)

B.