The Lighthouse Family

It's a title of one of M's most favorite Recorded Books (books on CDs). He listened to the Lighthouse Family: the Storm too many times too count. He also pretend played the story with me being Pandora the Cat, himself - Seabold, the Dog. Also, as I'd take him to our favorite local seafood place, we'd look at the framed prints of lighthouses and tried to choose the one that looked most like the lighthouse in the story. But he'd never seen a real lighthouse before.

Needless to say, he was very excited when I told him that while at the beach, we'll get to see (and climb) a real life lighthouse. Just the kind that Pandora lived in. Hooray!

And so we went there, the three of us and my second cousin, A. M was absolutely thrilled to see a real lighthouse and even more so 'cause this lighthouse was red, M's most favorite color (yes, still). He couldn't wait to go inside. But we had to stay in line which was difficult with two impatient kiddos. So instead we left Chris to stand in line and I took the kids into a gift shop. There I made an unwise promise which seemed like a really good idea at the time...

You see, the brochure said that there were 214 stairs to the top of the lighthouse. I was a bit apprehensive about M climbing them without my help. And I really didn't feel like carrying him up or down, especially in the narrow and steep part of the spiral staircase at the top of the structure.

At the gift shop M was so taken with the little model of the lighthouse and wanted it so very much, that I promised to get it for him IF he were to climb up to the very top and down again without asking to be carried. His cousin wanted a little toy wild horse and a similar promise was made to her except the condition was she had to "behave" (yeah, rather nebulous, but she's 7 so I think she knows by now what it means).

Then we climbed all 214 stairs to the very top. The 360-degree view from the top was amazing! Except (and that's where "not so wise" part of my promise became evident) the kids were in such a hurry to get their toys that they didn't want to stay up and enjoy the scenery. Instead, they wanted to hurry down and into the gift shop! Still, we managed a couple of pictures. I must say, A behaved and M climbed every single step, just like he promised! So both got their gifts (and I got a mood ring for myself 'cause I wanted one after listening to Judy Moody Predicts Future 100 times, another of M's favorite Recorded Books).

We then walked over to get some ice-cream for the kids. This was a good move since it allowed us about 10 minutes of sitting in the shade quietly enjoying the views.

That day M carried the lighthouse toy with him everywhere (did I tell you, turned out it had a little battery-operated light and so was even more amazing). And he listened to The Lighthouse Family while in the car.

Later that night, before going to bed, he wanted to play the Lighthouse story. So we invited A. to join us. She wanted to be Laila, the little Mouse. And the three of us had some awesome lighthouse adventures - several severe storms, a wild horse that showed up and became Laila's pet, and a sudden appearance of Luke Skywalker on the island.

And the next day we went back to the lighthouse. Except we didn't climb it. Instead, we walked over to the Wild Horses Museum. Turned out, they had a "paint your own wild horse" activity going for kids. So M and A got to paint little horses. A's horse turned out all pretty and very real-looking. She spared no details and worked very diligently on painting it. M's approach was different. He worked in bold brush strokes, laying thick layers of paint. I was afraid it was all going to turn "the preschool slime brown" color, but he stuck to the pallete of red, orange, a bit of brown and lots of pink and it turned out kind of sunset colored.

Finally, we walked on a nature trail all the way out to the Pamlico Sound. M was in a terrible mood 'cause he was very tired and just wanted to go back to the house. But we'd have none of it. The Sound was too beautiful and just a few steps away, just past a forest of reeds. Fortunately, after reaching the Sound, M felt a bit better and even joined in on the fun of dipping his feet into a very shallow and very warm water.

I love this picture. Am I not married to like the most handsome guy ever? Just thought I'd brag.

Corolla - Day 1 and 1/2

Last Tuesday was just about the longest day ever! M and I had to wait for Chris to come home from work and the day just dragged. Mostly because M kept asking every few minutes if Papa was on his way home yet. I was busy as a bee trying to get stuff done, like wash the dishes, clean up, make sandwiches, pack, leave extra food and water for the cat and on and on.

Finally, we were on our way. Took us a while to get out of town since we had to make a last minute stop to pick up some wine for when we get to the island. By the time we got to the rental, it was already past 10pm and M was way overtired and past his bed time. So first, I took him to bed and then we just chatted with my cousins and their wives for a little bit.

The next day we all slept in, including M, which was very unusual and very nice. Then we went to the beach to find crabs. M's idea, before leaving home, was to catch a small crab, put it into a jar and bring him home as a pet. And he marched off to the beach proudly carrying his brand new catching net. And then, at some point while walking on the soft sand, it occured to M that crabs hide under the sand and can pinch his feet whenever they feel like it. That was the end of crab catching and almost the end of beach going (I had to promise him to go the part of the beach with no crabs from then on).

The water was very cold though so we didn't swim or even waded much (mostly just for pictures). Instead, after a short while we returned back to the cottage and jumped into the pool. Ok, so I might be exhaggerating a bit about the whole jumping in part since the pool was also cold (or it seemed so 'cause it was nearly 100 degrees outside).

M splashed around in his life preserver and inflatable sleeves and had lots of fun with all the different water toys and floaties. His cousin joined us and the two of them had a blast. M learned a new phrase "dog paddle" and was splashing around screaming it off the top of his lungs. Except he was saying it as "paddle dog". Too funny.

Next thing we knew it was time for the little ones (the two toddlers) to take a nap which meant M had to stay very quiet, something he has a hard time doing. I mean, he tries, but keeps forgetting to speak in his quietest indoor voice. It was too hot to go to the beach, so instead the four of us - Chris, myself, M and his cousin - went to the Currituck Lighthouse (to be continued)

How Gaming Got Us to Corolla

Have you heard of Gameful.org? Well, I was researching something not very relevant when I stumbled on it and it looked confusing, but interesting. So I looked through the forums and there it was - a post (can't find it now) from someone who set up a job search game. It sounded cool - turning a stressful and frustrating process into a rewarding game. At the same time, we've been trying to pay off one of our student loans. So we decided, why not make it a game?!

We were already making more than the minimum payments on the loan and figured that we'd pay it off by the end of the year. But it was a drudgery. So we set up a whole system of game levels, points and rewards. Oh, and there were penalties too. I'm not going to bore you with the details. Besides, we tweaked the game as we played it. For example, the way the rewards were originally set up wasn't working; it just wasn't very motivating. So over a couple of beers at the local Flying Saucer we came up with a better rewards system. Our top level reward morphed into an off-season overnight getaway to some place nice, like maybe Edenton, NC or Wilmington, NC.

Long story short, the loan is paid off as of early last week, months ahead of schedule. And we already claimed our reward, thanks to my cousins and their families. They rented a house in Corolla for a week and invited us over. So we had our dream getaway and more - 2 whole days during high season in a vacation rental on the Outer Banks with the family!!! It was AWESOME!

Now we're back (I'll post more pictures later tonight) and are going to set up a new loan paying game (we have LOTS of student loans). This next loan is going to be a pretty big one and we estimate even with the game it'd take us close to 2 years to pay it off. So wish us luck!

Just Random Pictures

I got a bunch of random pix that I took throughout the last couple of weeks, starting with this one above - the first tomato from our garden. So here they are:

This is M and one of his friends at our regular Friday morning park playdate. They usually just run around and have pretend sword fights with sticks, but this time they found a little frog.
And here they are sliding down the slides. They are almost the same age, the other boy being 4.5 already (turning 5 in a couple of months). And while their temperaments are very different, both of them are extremely talkative and really enjoy playing together.
This is an engineering test we conducted. How many bricks can M stack up? How many can he stack up so that they hold a ramp? How many can he stack up so that they hold a ramp loaded with toys (or with him)? Also, we explored how changing the angle of a ramp affects how objects roll or slide off of it. And what angle would be easier to climb. And then M discovered a see-saw (out of a plank and a little chair).

This is M playing a doctor after I (nearly) broke my toe. I was icing my toe, but it still hurt a lot. So he made me wear all sorts of plastic junk and a pair of binoculars to make me look like a robot. Because, as he pointed out, robots don't hurt. So as long as I'm a robot, I won't hurt either. He was very pleased with both the solution and the idea of making a giant robot.

This is Chris and M making a solar oven out of a pizza box. This is our new idea (ok, my new idea) - that they have to do some kind of a father-son DIY project each weekend. Their first project was a solar oven 'cause we already had a pizza box. In case you're wondering - the egg didn't fry, but the white congealed... after about 4 hours.
I picked up several math workbooks from a dollar bin at a Target store. I wanted to keep them 'til our school year officially starts, but M got interested in the PreK workbook and here we are giving it a try.
This is M at a local playground. For almost 3 hours he played with a group of kids from a local camp. They seemed to really like him and accepted him into the group easily. At one point they even made him "the center of everything" in one of their games. He enjoyed it as well especially since the kids were mostly older than him and helped him up and down the stairs.

Later that same day, after the camp group left the park, M got busy digging the river.
Finally, this is the latest Star Wars toy that we found at the flea market. In case you don't know, it's a TIE Figher. Most TIE Fighter are flown by the bad guys, but this one is different, as M assured me. M repaired it (see the robot changing the solar panels?) and taught it to not be part of the Dark Side.

Our 4th of July - Done Right

Finally, after years of mediocre 4th of July celebrations, we finally got it right! And yes, we've got pix to prove it.

But first, if you've ever had to spend a holiday weekend with a four-and-a-half year old who's going through a phase, then you know how we felt on Day 3 of the long weekend (and tell me honestly, is there an age when they don't go through a phase). On Day 1 we poured over the Events section of the local paper, critically assessing all the offerings - this one's too crowded; that one's too expensive; this one is outside and it's way too hot. Well, let's just say that on Day 3 we were ready for just about anything in order to get M busy.

First, we went to the Bond Park in Cary for an event that was called "The Old Time 4th of July" or something like that. At first it was kind of boring and crowded, plus we missed the children's parade. Unexpectedly, M got quite taken with the little Bond Lake and spent a while watching the ducks and throwing little twigs into the water.

We were just about ready to head home when the Doughnut Eating Contest was announced. Needless to say, M was only too eager to participate. But first we had to wait for 1-3 year olds to eat their doughnuts. Then it was the turn for 4-7 year olds. To my surprise, everyone got the same size doughnuts - the big, nay, giant ones, even the littlest kids.

Another thing that surprised me was M's adherence to the rules. To begin with, he waited very-very patiently for the doughnut to be tied to the string (oh, yeah, I forgot to mention - it was eating doughnuts without using one's hands contest). He then waited for everyone else to get ready (and there were lots and lots of 4-7 year olds) and not once tried touching the doughnut that dangled right in front of his nose. By contrast, some 5-year old girl nearby ate most of her doughnut right away, before it was even tied to the string and had to be issued another one.

But that wasn't all. When the contest began, most kids used their hands to hold doughnuts. But M is not like most kids. He did not, would not. He followed the rules and, whenever he felt like grabbing a doughnut, just clenched his fists. Needless to say, he lost the contest. However, I'd say that it was the classic case of "losing the battle to win the war" since he got to eat his entire doughnut quietly, enjoying every bite.

There were plenty of doughnuts left over after all the kids were done so the contest was open to the 18+ category. Wadda ya know! Chris decided to enter. He did really well and showed some amazing doughnut eating prowess. Yet he lost to some dude who seemingly inhaled his doughnut.

After a short break it was time for the sack race. I was worried 'cause M never tried anything like this and jumping isn't something he is very eager to do. But Chris encouraged M to enter the race and was absolutely right. So what that M came in dead last! He really loved the experience and didn't fall or trip once!

But it was getting very hot and after a celebratory hot dog and lemonade we headed home to cool off and get some more ice-cold water. We then drove to the Joel Lane House. Last year we went there, they had all sorts of cool period crafts and games and the whole living history thing going on. Except last year M fell asleep in the car, so we parked in the shade and then took turns running through all the festivities and hurrying back.

This year was very different. M participated in almost everything even though he felt very shy. First, we stopped by the old colonial kitchen and, if it was totally up to M, we would've stayed there for at least an hour. He loves this stuff. He knows now why we can't have an open hearth kitchen in the house, so now he wants Chris to build it outside for him.

We also toured the main house and looked at the kids' rooms. What impressed M the most were the fireplaces - one in each room, and the fact that back in the days there was no electricity. He then tried his hand churning butter, writing with a real quill pen and real ink, making a lavender-filled satchel, a rag doll, and a tin ornament and pushing the pedals of both the loom and the spinning wheel. And then he volunteered for Her Majesty's Army and got to march around with a real wooden musket that was painted red.

We thought that after such a busy day he would fall asleep on the way home. No such thing! Instead, M and Chris grilled (salmon) and, after a dinner, went to the yard for some fireworks (sparklers, mostly). Except he tried stuffing sparklers into the barrel of his toy rifle, pretending that he was loading a musket. He also insisted on calling Grandpa and requesting 2 more rifles - one for me (red) and one for Chris (yellow) and said that Xander, our cat, would just have to scratch the enemies.

So all in all, it was a great 4th of July. We just need to work on our doughnut eating and sack racing skills and the next year's 4th will be the best yet!

So here we are enjoying the fireworks.