tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34942761722027091702012-02-02T11:06:44.408-08:00Something Fun Every Dayjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comBlogger1161100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-65714929147178570192012-02-02T11:06:00.000-08:002012-02-02T11:06:44.417-08:00Winter Hikes on Belle Isle
During this suspiciously mild Michigan winter, we've been spending A LOT of time outdoors (so much that the security guards and ticket punchers at all the local museums are probably a little worried about us). We've got a favorite hike through the woods on Belle Isle, and we've been hiking a ton this winter. Last year we spent a lot of time dogsledding through these woods, but without snow jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-9692914849311846692012-01-10T09:32:00.000-08:002012-01-10T09:32:28.363-08:00Ice Skating at the Belle Isle Ice Tree
We have been spending a lot of time outside during this unusually-warm-(so-far) winter, most of it on Belle Isle. Last week a brief cold spell threatened to freeze the ponds, so we threw our skates in the car and headed to our favorite skating spot on the island where we found the top 1.5 inches of the ice frozen (which wasn't quite enough for me to be comfortable with the little ones skating, jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-13763658247503370262011-12-23T06:41:00.000-08:002011-12-23T06:41:38.830-08:00Christmas Tree maze
This year's trip up to Eastern Market for our Christmas tree (an annual thing for six years now) was a good one. The kids spent the entire time running around getting lost in the maze of trees, shrieking with delight. These kids were so excited about going up there to get the tree I was able to use this trip as an incentive for good behavior all week.
Previous Fun This image is jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-55369889659921148872011-12-02T08:39:00.000-08:002011-12-02T08:39:55.706-08:00Obligatory
We live in a co-op, so all our yard maintenance is taken care of by a landscaping company. This year I had to bring a rake to a public park so my kids jump in a gigantic pile of leaves. Next year I should really offer my services to a someone who needs some extra help (so long as my kids can jump in the pile when I'm done).
Previous Photo This image is Copyrighted. No jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-44426774473281096522011-11-08T11:31:00.000-08:002011-11-08T11:34:04.073-08:00Show Flat Stanley Around Town
The kids' cousin in Vienna (who we visited earlier this year) is doing the Flat Stanley Project in her school, and sent us a Flat Stanley to show around Detroit and send back some pictures. First we went to the westernmost tip of Belle Isle to take a picture of the strait between the United States and Canada that gives the city its name.
The we took Stanley to see the General Motorsjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-27183116152139729322011-11-02T11:15:00.000-07:002011-11-02T11:15:47.234-07:00Flight
My kids are going to be so pissed at me someday when they understand what photoshop is.
But for now, somebody thinks he can fly.
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This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-51211955320981823152011-10-06T11:44:00.000-07:002011-10-06T11:44:42.822-07:00Visit a Terrifyingly-Awesome Ramshackle Playground that Hasn't Been Painted Since the Bicentennial
At the intersection of I-94 and the Southfield Freeway. See also: Creepy Detroit Playgrounds.
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This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-26725199224165381302011-09-19T07:18:00.000-07:002011-09-19T07:33:13.735-07:00Star Wars Day at the Ballpark
Last weekend my son and I went to the ballpark. I was eager to see the surging Tigers in the middle of their 12-game winning streak, and he was extremely excited to see the generous members of the Great Lakes Garrison of the 501st Legion and the Great Lakes Base Rebel Legion scattered around the stadium in full costume. Those costumes are serious and clearly represent a significant jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-35725500405499706902011-09-14T09:42:00.000-07:002011-09-14T09:42:28.210-07:00Put Something You Found in the Trash on Your Face
The place where my daughter takes riding lessons serves as a community center of sorts and it recently hosted a community-wide garage sale. After the sale was over, everyone apparently just left all the crap that nobody wanted to buy in a giant pile out by the dumpsters and we showed up before it all got hauled away to the landfill. Score! While my daughter was ahorseback, my son and I jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-81803075899270649772011-08-30T08:12:00.000-07:002011-08-30T08:12:10.558-07:00Go take a hike! (North Country Trail, Wilderness State Park)
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-42850460963095700442011-08-24T13:07:00.000-07:002011-08-24T13:07:13.559-07:00S'Mores on the Shore
Pro tip: forget Hershey's bars. Use Nutella.
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-72457038594675044082011-08-10T06:52:00.000-07:002011-08-10T06:52:49.673-07:00Play in an Open Johnny Pump
How lucky were we to come back from walking the dog to find city workers had opened a fireplug right on our block on one of the hottest days of one of the hottest summers ever? Even the city workers came and filled their helmets and dumped them over their heads.
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-6563541717684941792011-08-01T13:42:00.000-07:002011-08-01T13:42:56.417-07:002011 Detroit Maker Faire
I had the pleasure of escorting Tiny Robocop to the 2011 Maker Faire on the grounds of the Henry Ford Museum yesterday. Bringing Lil' Robo didn't occur to me until 11:00 a.m. and after I asked my son if he wanted to drag out the robocop costume once again (answer: affirmative) I was sent scurrying to find hot glue sticks and costume parts.
We were in New York last summer for the inaugural jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-91262734051882559582011-07-28T07:14:00.000-07:002011-07-28T07:18:37.077-07:00While Y'all Were Twitpic'ing Shots of the Temperature on your iPhone Screens, We Were Having Post-Apocalyptic Water Gun Battles #heatwave2011
He came up with that getup all by himself. Zed would be proud:
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-83579840375233141752011-07-20T06:54:00.000-07:002011-07-20T06:54:04.323-07:00Horseback Riding Lesson (as an old pro)
My daughter was so excited to resume weekly lessons with her beloved "Bud" from last summer that I almost couldn't deal with her two days. It was all, "When do I get to go to my lesson?" and "Is it time to go to my lesson yet?" for three days. The car ride there was unbearable. At a particularly long stop light I truly thought she was going to explode.
Previous Fun This jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-55032571765494481932011-07-11T07:44:00.000-07:002011-07-11T07:44:02.906-07:00Man, I love going to the thrift store with my kids. . .
. . .especially when we only bring home a few scabies.
The bargain store is open come inside
You can easily afford the price
Love is all you need to purchase all the merchandise
And I can guarantee you'll be completely satisfied
I had my daughter take those two pictures. Those overalls were waist size 62 and super tall. The bottom of the overalls was actually touching jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-89753616079529172082011-07-06T09:23:00.000-07:002011-07-06T09:26:03.017-07:00Like Mother, Like DaughterOne of my best friends from high school got married out in Guerneville and the kids stayed up late enough to hit the dance floor. I think my wife and daughter had to be ushered off so the bride and groom could dance their first dance. I know these pictures are blurry, but how can any camera capture that much DANCING?
[it was an Indian wedding, so my wife got to wear the awesome dress she wore jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-63557083309969658582011-07-01T09:03:00.000-07:002011-07-01T09:03:51.492-07:00Feeding the birds at the Ferry Building
I know it's probably against some San Francisco city ordinance (what isn't these days?) but man did my daughter enjoy eating breakfast outside the ferry building every morning and feeding the pigeons and gulls.
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-42076880599508055932011-06-21T19:31:00.000-07:002011-06-21T19:31:41.643-07:00Father's Day at the Strawberry Farm
One of the projects we've been working on is a secret strawberry patch we planted a month ago on a vacant lot near our house. While it was a lot of fun, the yield wasn't enough to create jam so we headed out to the country to pick a few (um, 15) pounds of strawberries. I wore my old-timeyest outfit for the occasion:
The best part was having my wife there, after last summer's adventures pickingjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-20359978960140638402011-06-08T08:57:00.000-07:002011-06-08T08:57:24.045-07:00Pegasus Ranch!
One my daughter's favorite stories that I tell is about the time I was on a family vacation to the Smokey Mountains as a child and we saw a hand-painted sign that said Pegasus Ranch nailed to a tree on a country road. This is the only way to find pegasus farms, I tell her, because pegasus ranchers are notoriously secretive and they don't advertise on the internet. Her favorite part of the jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-76787015557455587072011-05-25T11:14:00.000-07:002011-05-25T13:06:58.849-07:00Go fly a kite (in front of iconic abandoned train station. . .)
Our friends threw a birthday party for their son recently, and the only organized activity was flying kites in Roosevelt Park across from the Michigan Central Station (in their neighborhood). Instead of a "gift bag" full of crap that nobody actually wants in their house, each kid just got a cheap kite. Why doesn't everyone do this sort of thing for kid birthday parties? It's definitely our jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-13378706906933986102011-05-19T10:18:00.000-07:002011-05-19T10:18:06.302-07:00Chicken Farmers (Redux)
We "rented" two baby chicks again this year, from J&M Farms at Eastern Market. Johnny and Joey were busy with a lot more chicks this year, and the program has become quite a success. We're looking forward to the eggs "Cheep Cheep" and "Beep Beep" will make for us later this year.
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-7795667700500745512011-05-17T06:25:00.000-07:002011-05-17T06:25:42.131-07:00Lead the Legion into Hostile Territory
When I was a kid, I loved bringing my action figures outside. My dad still finds one once in awhile working on some project out in the backyard.
On a recent warm day I suggested to the boy that we let his "guys" battle outside. Our legion includes figures from several different 1:20 scale lines, including Papo, Bullyland, and (the best-looking though least-durable) from a company called BBIjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-37991978867438853052011-05-10T10:18:00.000-07:002011-05-10T10:18:28.617-07:00Their Favorite Game
My wife took these pictures before she left for her business trip a week ago. It pretty much feels like they haven't let go since.
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-7991333333955465682011-05-03T11:40:00.000-07:002011-05-03T11:40:37.858-07:00Walk the dog. . .
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-74860084233848506502011-04-26T07:23:00.000-07:002011-04-26T07:23:15.092-07:00The Third Annual Georgia Street Community Garden Easter Egg Hunt
This year there was even a mime performance:
Don't forget to vote for Mark as a 2011 Energizer Keep Going® Hall of Fame Finalist.
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-57891414327543682432011-04-21T11:20:00.000-07:002011-04-21T11:20:56.022-07:00Same fun. . .every day
I haven't posted anything in this space for a really long time. Most days we're so busy after school out on the bikes that we don't have time to do much else. We have a few surprises in store, but for now I'm just really proud of what a great little cyclist she's become. One day she even went about three and a half miles. My son loves that's he graduated to the rear seat that his sister jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-88983068233263681092011-04-01T07:37:00.000-07:002011-04-01T07:37:23.844-07:00Visit the Degobah System
We seriously need an intervention with all the Star Wars stuff around here. For weeks my son has been demanding a "Luke costume." Finally I relented, tucking his pants into his boots and wrapping a dinghy old t-shirt around him, using a toy tool belt to hang his light saber. We didn't have to do anything with his hair. I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before he joins one of those jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-83541945538293165652011-03-29T11:14:00.000-07:002011-03-29T11:14:27.503-07:00The Frozen Playground
A few nights ago I was walking the dog across the woodchips at a nearby playground and my feet sunk into a foot of freezing water. The melting snow had somehow all siphoned into the playground and I was pretty sure I was going to step on Atreyu's horse in there.
A few days later, the cold returned and my son and I investigated one morning to find it frozen solid. We returned with our ice jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-54671445525254538452011-03-23T11:04:00.000-07:002011-03-23T11:04:52.729-07:00Defend the Honor of an Innocent DwarfThe wonderful, kindhearted and sober members of the Friends of the Nain Rouge came out Sunday in force to protest the efforts of a bunch of costumed hooligans to drive our beloved dwarf from the straits. It was a much better showing than last year, and if these miscreants continue their unholy campaign in 2012, I am sure the representation of Friends will be even bigger.
My daughter is pretty jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-87022070115760822782011-03-11T06:58:00.000-08:002011-03-11T06:58:28.852-08:00Climb to a ruined castle on a mountaintop with your Austrian cousin
How is it that a little girl who can take twenty minutes to walk from our front door to the car when it's time to go to school can race to the top of a mountain with her cousin in just a few minutes? We spent a Saturday in the utterly empty and beautiful town of Dürnstein and climbed to the medieval ruins of Dürnstein castle overlooking a huge curve in the Danube in the late afternoon.
It may jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-68876907866620387732011-03-07T12:01:00.000-08:002011-03-07T12:01:57.185-08:00Tiergarten Schönbrunn
The Vienna Zoo calls itself the oldest in the world, having started as the menagerie of Emperor Francis Stephen in 1752. The thirteen baroque buildings surrounding the one in the photo above are all original, but the rest of the zoo is fairly modern and the animals have surroundings built to resemble their native habitats. It is actually an incredibly beautiful zoo, built to terrace up the hilljdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-75951832486233195702011-03-01T01:00:00.000-08:002011-03-01T01:22:46.639-08:00Hofburg Calisthenics
And you thought the Twelve Labors of Hercules were tough.
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This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-74554589163385050082011-02-24T09:41:00.000-08:002011-02-24T09:41:29.599-08:00Flying over the pit of despair (and slush)
During the warm up last week, we went out in shirtsleeves (and super-capes) to play in the melting snow and the kids were THRILLED to spend some time on the playground they hadn't seen in months. We spend hours out there nearly every day in the summer, but hardly set foot there in the winter. The kids climbed into their favorite swings and we played outside until their socks were soaked.
jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-43880620105736629832011-02-18T09:01:00.000-08:002011-02-18T09:56:34.642-08:00Private Tour of the Fire Station!For the past year my wife's job duties have included acting as the city attorney for the town of Grosse Pointe Park. She's starting a new job soon, and before she said goodbye to the officers she's been working with for the past year, they invited our son to come down to the police/fire station to hang out in the fire trucks. Talk about something fun. . .
jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-88178988969189821932011-02-10T07:03:00.000-08:002011-02-10T07:03:35.512-08:00Snowball Fight!
One at a time they're not so tough, but together they're a force to be reckoned with.
Previous Fun
This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-57565264072906998942011-02-01T09:10:00.000-08:002011-02-01T12:22:33.162-08:00Inaugural Skate at the Powerhouse
Our friends Mitch and Gina recently invited us over to the ice skating rink they built outside the now-famous Powerhouse (I first wrote about it a few years ago here), and when we showed up there was a thin layer of snow on the virgin ice. Apparently we were the first people to take a skate there. It was a perfect kid-sized rink, and we had a lot of fun.
We had to special-order themjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-36687252095894420252011-01-27T10:33:00.000-08:002011-01-27T10:33:27.097-08:00Beating Cabin Fever III: More Fun at the Football Stadium
For the past year, my wife has worked in an office right next to Ford Field (the football stadium where the lions play) and a lot of people there walk around the stadium for exercise. On really cold days, it's a great place to meet her for lunch, and afterward the kids can burn off some energy in the huge cavernous spaces of the stadium.
In case you can't tell, they are being jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-20431498761225461592011-01-19T10:54:00.000-08:002011-01-19T10:54:34.329-08:00Dinosaurs vs. Dudes
Some days are so cold, there's nowhere to go and nothing to do but get out every single plastic figure you have in the house and have an epic battle. We call it "dinos versus dudes." On this day, a baby Pegasus was kidnapped by a pterodactyl and all the heroes came together to rescue him.
The rescue was successful, but sadly more carnage followed:
That T-Rex is one bad mother. . .
Previous jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-48927661707767646582011-01-14T11:32:00.000-08:002011-01-14T11:32:56.953-08:00Monster Truck Rally!
Okay, maybe we didn't take him to an actual monster truck rally, but they were setting up for one when we were in Ford Field the other day. We were able to stand there for a few minutes and watch the big machines grooming the dirt for the monster trucks (that sat idly by on the sidelines).
Good thing a couple of dinosaurs didn't wander out there; I think he would have exploded.
jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-73695834830114141542011-01-03T08:45:00.000-08:002011-01-03T09:11:57.438-08:00Beating Cabin Fever II: Running around the Renaissance Center
General Motors' corporate headquarters is an iconic skyscraper with a disorienting brutalist interior that's just a few blocks from where we live. Although thousands of people work there, the public areas feel kind of like a ghost mall with all the empty storefronts. But on the ground floor there's this round area where the top new GM models are displayed and you are allowed to climb inside somejdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-39905645108729919992010-12-20T08:16:00.000-08:002010-12-20T08:16:45.127-08:00Ninja School!
We've been stuck inside for way too much play time lately. One day last week the kids decided they wanted to go to ninja school, so I grabbed some old t-shirts and bandannas and two fierce ninjas attended their first day of class.
Subjects included meditation, lock-picking, scowling, stealth, grappling hooks, and the five-fingered monkey's fist of ultimate pain. Oh, and kicks:
jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-43392963691756867582010-12-14T09:52:00.000-08:002010-12-14T09:52:04.873-08:00Go Christmas Tree ShoppingWe've developed a tradition here in Detroit with respect to the annual purchase of an evergreen tree to place in our living room for our annual celebration of yule, etc. It's not quite as cool as the tradition my family had when I was a kid and we lived in the country (before the country stopped being the country and the Wal-Marts and Arbys moved in), but it's still fun. Every year a bunch of jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-70540383881286138162010-12-08T06:57:00.000-08:002010-12-08T11:36:02.073-08:00Munchkinland Outfitters
The kids were invited to a Wizard of Oz themed birthday party, and the invitation said "come dressed as munchkins." The host went out of her way to inform my wife that this did not mean she should sew up costumes just for the occasion, so we raided our piles of old clothes for anything that looked munchkin-like. My son saw the funnel-hat and decided he wanted to be the tin man, so we turned jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-9821410737974719652010-11-30T10:24:00.000-08:002010-11-30T20:11:43.758-08:00The Mud Slide, Part IIWhat good would any unseasonably warm, rainy fall day be if it didn't include peeling the wet, muddy clothes off my son to toss in the washer?
Previous FunThis image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-2500853821917430202010-11-23T11:33:00.000-08:002010-11-23T11:33:42.943-08:00Visit a Mad Scientist's LaboratoryLately, my son has been obsessed with superheroes. None specifically, but he's entranced by the idea of superpowers. We were looking at a magazine and he saw a picture of the old evangelist Dr. Irwin Moon doing his electric finger act from "The Wonders of Science," and he said, "That guy's a superhero, I want lightning fingers, too." and then he proceeded to zap me with his superhero lightning jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-56811502072254799892010-11-17T11:42:00.000-08:002010-11-17T11:42:09.731-08:00Learn to Play Soccer
The other day my daughter says to me that the boys at school asked her to play soccer with them but then told her she wasn't very good. So we grabbed a ball and headed out to the park to practice a bit. On a positive note, my daughter's confidence has returned. On a sad note, she thinks her dad is the worst goalie in the world.
Previous Fun
These images are jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-68356922736490307282010-11-10T11:50:00.000-08:002010-11-10T11:50:28.332-08:00Leaf Pile!
While I love the honeylocust trees that tower over our neighborhood, they make for lousy leaf piles. The other day we visited my grandfather and I noticed he had a whole lot of leaves in his yard and as a 33-year-old guy I was in a much better position to rake them up than a 90-year-old.
The kids were more than happy to scatter them again.
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-31335847357700593682010-11-03T09:55:00.000-07:002010-11-03T18:36:06.707-07:00Celebrate Día de los MuertosI've got two kids who are not scared of scary things. That is not to say they aren't intrigued by ghosts, vampires, skeletons, and monsters. They love them. But we are able to talk about ghosts and monsters and even death and we tell elaborate "scary" stories without any of it turning into nightmare fuel. I have always been fascinated with the Mexican festivities surrounding November 2, the Day jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-12461535511173517562010-10-27T06:24:00.000-07:002010-10-27T11:28:05.950-07:00Heidelberg Project II
It had been a few months since we'd biked over to the Heidelberg Project, and on a recent balmy afternoon we headed over. This is one of the best places to bring kids. I can remember wandering around some ornate Renaissance cathedral many years ago, wanting to point out every cool detail that I saw to my (now) wife. Being a kid at the Heidelberg Project is like that times a thousand.
jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-20664946296724934392010-10-22T16:26:00.000-07:002010-10-22T16:26:41.317-07:00One Last Spin on the Popscycle
Indian summers keep coming and going. On a warm afternoon we haul out the old bike and all hop on for a spin. This little guy keeps getting bigger, there's no way around it, and once I put the bike away for the winter it'll likely be the last we'll ever do this. His knees hardly fit below the handlebars. He'll be too big next Spring.
But loads of fun were had on that old thing, you jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-13816699462397564932010-10-20T07:22:00.000-07:002010-10-20T07:22:50.350-07:00Breakfast in Bed (for Mom's birthday)
For her mother's birthday over the weekend, the kid decided she wanted to make her breakfast in bed. Usually my wife gets up before me so she can spend some time with the kids before she has to go to work, but on this day the girl was on strict orders to come over to my side of the bed and knock on my forehead quietly. Of course this happened well before the sun came up. She insisted that jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-46857000173753141072010-10-14T11:47:00.000-07:002010-10-14T11:47:15.054-07:00Go to the Orchard
School trip. Hay ride. U-pick. 10lbs of golden delicious, 5 gala. Hay bales. Two bee stings. Three doughnuts on site (and a dozen to go). One gallon of cider. Applesauce and pie this weekend.
Previous FunThis image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-87245291349878954862010-10-12T19:41:00.000-07:002010-10-12T19:41:07.450-07:00Jump Rope!
The last few days have been so warm, she's insisted on wearing that yellow summer dress over and over. Next week we'll be back in coats, so I let her.
Previous FunThis image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-33907341724414399992010-10-06T08:55:00.000-07:002010-10-06T09:19:00.228-07:00The "Hill"
Our neighborhood is flat. Which is great for bikes, but having returned from spending so much time in hillier country the kids are curious why we don't have mountains. I imagine this will only get worse once the snow starts accumulating and the sleds come up from the basement. There are some hills at the cemetery down the road, but the closest "hill" is between our complex and a nearby jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-29431231780685999472010-09-28T08:06:00.000-07:002010-09-28T08:33:43.299-07:00Free Reign at a Vermont Farm
As we were driving across the back roads of Vermont, we came across this lovely little 180-year-old farm [Taylor Farm, Londonderry, VT]. The farmer said we could go wherever we wanted on the farm and handed us a bunch of slop to feed to the pigs. After wandering around for half an hour or so, when we were loading a few vats of maple syrup into our car, two goats climbed into the front seat (you jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-66691034153454888822010-09-23T10:02:00.000-07:002010-09-23T10:02:50.879-07:00Go Climb a Mountain
To read more about this hike, click here. The little shutterbug's shots of the hike are here.
Previous Fun
These images are Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-76879236708116474272010-09-21T08:02:00.000-07:002010-09-21T08:02:20.457-07:00Learn to Knit
I bought the girl a knitting nancy and some yarn at La Grande Ourse in Montreal. Her mother taught her how to use it to knit a braid that she calls a scarf for her baby doll. During our week in New Hampshire, it grew impressively long.
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-57564821352732857182010-09-15T13:40:00.000-07:002010-09-15T19:02:06.753-07:00Shutterbug
I brought the kid's digital camera with us on our recent trip to Montreal. She was so into it, it took us three times as long to walk a city block as it would have if she didn't want to stop every few paces to aim her camera at something. Still, I was super proud. This was the same camera I used to photograph her with when she was a baby, and now she's using it
I set up a flickr accountjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-33485437454879847342010-09-07T07:41:00.000-07:002010-09-07T07:41:21.852-07:00Sit in a Semi. . .
My mom's cousin has a farm not far from here. We recently went there for a visit. There was a big rig tractor in the barn. And somebody had a strong desire to sit in the cabin and make LOUD POWERFUL ENGINE sounds.
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-9402555058835655802010-09-02T12:50:00.000-07:002010-09-02T12:50:42.677-07:00Slip-n-Slide
When we were at the lumber yard to buy the wood for our horse project, I saw a Wham-O Slip-n-Slide on the clearance table for $5.
Best $5 I've spent in some time.
Previous Fun This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-65736764189602729502010-08-27T05:24:00.000-07:002010-08-27T05:24:26.045-07:00More fun in the mud, more blueberriesWe were blueberry picking the other day and I turned my back for a minute and heard the sound of far more fun than can ever be had picking blueberries. They had, of course, found mud.
It obviously could have been a lot worse. They could have been up to their waists in it. They could have disappeared into the bog, only to be discovered twelve centuries later, with alien archaeologists jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-63223510928168718812010-08-25T07:51:00.000-07:002010-08-25T07:53:18.225-07:00Teach your brother how to draw a zombie
Sometimes, after breakfast, the kids sit at the table and draw (giving me a chance to check my e-mail and maybe throw up a quick post). The other day she was teaching him to draw "a zombie" (his request) and it was such a sweet moment I was glad to have the camera right there.
Previous Fun
This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-35165564933305240172010-08-16T13:58:00.000-07:002010-08-16T17:01:33.777-07:00Seven Sunsets
Last week up north was so much fun it was hard to choose what to include for this "something fun" section. In the end, I went with these. Every day, as the sun was setting we went for a walk on the beach or one final swim. They are usually in bed before sundown, so the kids really enjoyed the show over Lake Michigan each night.
Here's the girl, out sitting on her "mermaid rock" (don't worry: jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-82560453822017510692010-07-28T06:45:00.000-07:002010-07-28T12:09:59.143-07:00The Mud SlideI must confess to being down in the dumps a bit lately. The weather has been so muggy and hot. My intention to "do something fun every day" has suffered as we've spent a lot of time sitting around the house, and the kids have watched more movies than I'd like to admit. I was reading the kids a book about a sailing ship that gets caught in the doldrums and as I explained what the doldrums were I jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-47730271249024871762010-07-23T08:50:00.000-07:002010-07-23T08:52:52.137-07:00Go for a boat ride. . .
I've lived up to the promise I made to my daughter and kept up with the weekly horseback riding lessons. She can now ride alone and guide the horse herself, as well as trot and gallop and do all kinds of other fun stuff like ride sidesaddle. But the boy and I are stuck watching her on the farm and last week I could tell he was a little bit jealous. I told him the next day we would do whatever hejdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-11256231241639723662010-07-21T11:20:00.000-07:002010-07-21T11:20:17.765-07:00Go Blueberry Picking!
Blueberries are our #1 fruit around here; half of my son's daily caloric intake probably comes from blueberries in some form or another: blueberry yogurt, blueberry pancakes, blueberry muffins, blueberry juice, or blueberries themselves. This is the first year he's really capable of picking them himself so we've been looking forward to our annual trip over to Washtenaw County's blueberry fields jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-49852677180474300272010-07-14T08:35:00.000-07:002010-07-14T08:35:20.898-07:00DIY drum set
We were at the farmer's market a few weeks ago and some of those boys who play the rubber buckets were busking for change and our boy was fascinated. The other day I found a bunch of different sized metal buckets and an old empty glass liqueur bottle and we dragged them out to the playground and he put on his straw Pith helmet and unleashed a sonic assault on the neighbors almost as bad as jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-42443180728382082682010-07-04T20:43:00.000-07:002010-07-04T20:43:23.947-07:00Chasing Fireflies
Previous Fun
This image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-38565150739293134002010-06-29T08:40:00.000-07:002010-06-29T08:44:28.227-07:00Go Cherry Picking!
Last week we went picking tart cherries in rural Lenawee County, Michigan with my mom, my sister, and her kids. My mom grew up down there. I guess tart cherries aren't very common for u-pick around the country, but Michigan is all about cherries this time of year. I grew up with a sweet cherry tree in my backyard, but I had never picked tart ones before, and was shocked to see how bright they jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-77766103018201062882010-06-24T06:13:00.000-07:002010-06-25T09:46:03.744-07:00A weekend of baseballThis past weekend we loaded up the kids and headed over to Greenfield Village (Henry Ford's more-boring version of Disneyland) to watch some Olde-Timey baseball. I thought it would be fun to sit around watching Olde-Timey baseball, but apparently the kids thought it would be more fun to travel around the village in Olde-Timey cars, horse-drawn wagons, and the steam engine train than watch a bunchjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-4693121131475782152010-06-17T07:44:00.000-07:002010-06-17T08:45:03.965-07:00Go Take a Hike: Maybury State Park
(Maybury State Park has $5 pony rides; I couldn't take a picture of Gram because I needed to walk beside the horse while he was up there)
Previous Fun
These images are Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse. jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-71794991420317549262010-06-11T08:01:00.000-07:002010-06-11T08:06:11.610-07:00Go Strawberry Picking!
Word is out that this year there is a bumper crop of strawberries here in Michigan, and there's nothing quite like a freshly-picked organic strawberry to make those gargantuan atrocities grown in California greenhouses and trucked across the heartland taste as disappointing as they truly are. The kids and I hit the highway the other day to spend the morning picking strawberries out in the jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-20025808162627895132010-06-02T09:33:00.000-07:002010-11-16T09:49:10.574-08:00Visit a Foreign Country
The Detroit-Windsor tunnel is "the only vehicular international subaqueous border crossing in the world." I think that translates to the only place on earth where you get to sit in your own car while breathing petroleum fumes in standstill traffic while millions of gallons of water pass over your head and after about an hour you emerge somewhere that you need to visit a bureau de change in jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-83294286158172888032010-05-27T11:54:00.000-07:002010-05-27T11:54:33.160-07:00First horseback riding lesson
Our horse-obsessed little girl would later say this was her favorite part. She described the various brushes to my wife in great detail.
The instructor was impressed that she displayed no fear at all. . .
. . .even when they tried a trot.
This was Bud, her horse. She spent all day before the lesson shaking with nervous energy and anticipation. We're going back once a jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-27809255734223148782010-05-21T07:18:00.000-07:002010-05-21T07:18:30.360-07:00The Dirt Chefs
Our neighborhood has this huge community sandbox area, and sometimes the neighbor kids bring out plastic beach toys (probably the same plastic rakes, shovels, and buckets for sale at every Wal-Mart and Target across the country). For some reasons the kids don't really use them in the sand box, but I noticed a few weeks ago that whenever I brought over our real metal shovel the kids would jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-34888209658250680532010-05-19T07:44:00.000-07:002010-05-19T08:03:08.264-07:00The Mummy Hunters, Part 2After sleuthing around on the web a bit to figure out which museums within 100 miles had mummies, we headed for the Ohio border and the lovely city of Toledo. On the drive down, the kid wanted to know how all these mummies came to America after they were buried in Egypt, and what followed was a question-filled discussion that stretched the limits of my knowledge of tomb robbers, Arab mysticism, jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-24815794954133780382010-05-10T06:56:00.000-07:002010-05-10T06:56:47.546-07:00The Birth of the Photographer, Part 2
After I gave those cameras to the kids of the Georgia Street neighborhood, my daughter quietly asked if she, too, could have a camera. I let her use our old Kodak Easyshare a few days later at the Belle Isle Conservatory and she took some pretty great pictures of some beautiful flowers. I'm going to have to get this kid a flickr account.
Previous Fun This image is jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-77519667942146754682010-04-30T07:26:00.000-07:002010-04-30T07:26:13.250-07:00Day Game at Comerica Park!
When we first moved to Detroit I used to walk over to the ballpark all the time for day games, but fell out of practice for one reason or another. Yesterday, one of my wife's coworkers kindly gave her a pair of tickets so the boy and I skipped his nap and enjoyed Dontrelle Willis stomping the Twins' lineup. He enjoyed the game much more once he realized there were guys hitting something withjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-44587053508279920722010-04-20T11:27:00.000-07:002010-04-20T11:27:02.896-07:00Chicken Farmers! (for two weeks)Two weeks ago we picked up two baby chicks at the farmer's market, making an agreement with the farmer that we would return them in two weeks and he would give us some of the eggs they'd lay later in the year. When we picked them up they looked like this:
The girl slept with the chicks in their container at the foot of her bed every night, chirping away; they even came with jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-28011199739754242932010-04-15T16:27:00.000-07:002010-04-15T16:27:05.504-07:00Go Take a Hike: Crosswinds Marsh Preserve @ Waltz, Michigan
Hiking has always been such an important part of my understanding of leisure, and with every year that passes the kids get more fun to take out in the woods. This week we spent a beautiful sunny afternoon at the Crosswinds Marsh Preserve and managed a decent 4-mile trek.
Their short legs help me remember that sometimes it's actually better to take it slow.
My son is at an jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-90193392042883278572010-04-07T07:40:00.000-07:002010-04-07T07:40:25.372-07:00The 2010 Georgia Street Community Garden Easter Egg HuntThis year we continued one of our favorite new Easter traditions and headed over to the Georgia Street Community Collective's annual Easter Egg Hunt. This is a project that started with a few vacant lots that were turned into gardens, and because of the energy of a few amazing volunteers and its inspiring leader (Mark "Cub" Covington) the garden has crept across the road into a burgeoning orchardjdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-91726394538927315842010-04-02T13:44:00.000-07:002010-04-02T13:44:00.867-07:00Cowboys & Horses
W
The kids are now really in a cowboy/horses phase, so we finally dug out the Halloween costume box and found the Pegasus head. She wanted to be a palomino so she pulled out a weird orange velvet dress I found at the thrift store years ago.
The boy seems really content to watch her run while snacking in his pink cowboy hat and leather chaps. Think what you will, but it takes one jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-60747726584132258252010-03-24T10:51:00.000-07:002010-04-09T18:35:02.631-07:00Watch the Ice Break at Belle Isle
The other day we went to the eastern shore of Belle Isle to watch the ice break; it was beautiful and intense and we stared wide-eyed at each other at the sounds the ice made smashing along the shore and against the buoys. Here they are watching for the polar bear I promised might float past.
The winters here are tough, but it's hard to imagine a Spring day feeling this good in jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-86977105843118894632010-03-17T13:09:00.000-07:002010-03-17T13:09:39.619-07:00Go birdwatching on Lake Erie
Last week I took my little bird lover and her brother down to Pointe Mouillee State Game Area for some serious birdwatching. The weather was incredible and the kids had a blast in the woods and thickets. The swampy bits were still really frozen so we walked along them looking at all the birdhouses. I might be blessed with some hikers here. Also note the binoculars slung around the neck. She's jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-88751464545300386432010-03-10T11:03:00.000-08:002010-03-10T11:03:10.450-08:00Snow Much Fun
I haven't been updating this feature of the blog as much lately, but that doesn't mean we haven't been having fun every day. In fact, this past month has been one of the best ever because (after a long winter of useless powdery snow) the snow finally got "packy" and we could build stuff out of it. Nearly every afternoon, we've spent 2+ hours out there playing in it. Here are just a few jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-32167350724995076812010-03-03T11:14:00.000-08:002010-03-03T11:16:58.260-08:00Make some pizza box pyramidsI don't know if I'm mentioned it here, but the kids are really into Egyptian stuff right now. We pretty much spend 2-6 hours every day talking about mummies. So when the boy went down for his nap the other day, we pulled all the pizza boxes from their birthday parties out of the recycling and made some pyramids. I measured the sides of the triangles to match the width of the pizza box and then jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-8997346029097161362010-02-22T12:34:00.000-08:002010-02-22T12:34:45.219-08:00Goofballs
This was happening the entire time I walked around taking these pictures.
Previous PhotoThis image is Copyrighted. No unauthorized reuse.
jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-6110781989276607662010-02-17T07:29:00.000-08:002010-02-17T07:29:39.875-08:00Pączki Day!
With "420 calories, 25 or more grams of fat, and loaded with refined carbohydrates which are directly converted into fat. . ." the Pączki (pronounced "poonch-key") is probably the best thing about winter in Detroit. We don't have Fat Tuesday; because of our sizable Polish population we have Pączki Day (Hamtramck even has a Pączki parade).
My wife got up at 5:00 a.m. to get pączki jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-27163384143694055742010-02-11T11:56:00.000-08:002010-02-11T11:56:45.261-08:00Le petit déjeuner avec son père
au petit zinc.
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jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-16253525388901220972010-02-05T06:15:00.000-08:002010-02-05T06:15:05.668-08:00Befriend a Goat
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jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-77433991781646186002010-01-28T15:51:00.000-08:002010-01-28T15:51:37.654-08:00Beating Cabin Fever 2: Ford Field
There's a cafe inside Ford Field (where the illustrious Detroit Lions play) and we met Wood there for lunch one day and the kids ran around the massive concourse a few times. If we lived in the suburbs I imagine we would just go to the mall or something to run around on really cold days. This is good too.
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jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-28388887999898835432010-01-26T10:35:00.000-08:002010-01-26T10:35:53.232-08:00Beating Cabin Fever I: The Old Tunnels
I insist that we leave the house every day no matter how cold and miserable it is outside. This means we often spend more time bundling up and then de-bundling than actually playing outside. My efforts to do something fun every day with the kids is more challenging in the winter months, but it's also resulted in some pretty cool discoveries.
I took the above photograph a couple summers agojdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-73129464727282673832010-01-18T09:10:00.000-08:002010-01-18T09:10:09.603-08:00Go Out in Public Dressed Like a Ninja
Beware the fearsome purple ninja. SHe may be lurking in the shadows.
Beware the fearsome purple ninja. She may be lurking in the shadows.
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jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-56607607926574885372010-01-13T07:07:00.000-08:002010-01-13T18:23:21.075-08:00Watch Mama Shed Twenty Years in Ten Minutes
Not long ago we went to "open gym" at the place my wife spent most of her childhood learning to become a total gymnastics nerd. For $10, the kids got to jump on the incredible in-floor trampolines, dive into the foam pits, and watch their mother relive her youth, leaping into twists and tossing herself across the floor into handsprings and leaps (and, I think, showing off a bit for all the jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-16474410811845212122010-01-04T06:27:00.000-08:002010-01-04T06:27:53.397-08:00Get a haircut, get candy
Ever since we took the boy to the nice lady who cuts our hair (to rid him once and for all of the damned kindermullet), we have been annoyed by how quickly it returns. And then we have to ask the nice lady all over again to try to trim the pelt of a squirming, unhappy little creature without any notion to tolerate a stranger with scissors getting anywhere near him.
Over the holidays, we werejdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-36091320560057503532009-12-25T09:31:00.000-08:002009-12-25T09:31:33.575-08:00Go Caroling
The other day, a lovely Jewish neighbor of ours organized a fun Christmas caroling expedition through the neighborhood. I don't think the kids knew all the words, but I know they had a really good time.
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jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-66622661947249295092009-12-17T07:35:00.000-08:002009-12-17T07:35:05.654-08:00Trim the Tree (in Elf garb)
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jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-26794039631251323062009-12-10T11:23:00.000-08:002009-12-10T11:28:19.402-08:00Take a Ride on the People Mover!
Uh-oh, it's almost 2010 and look who just figured out how to make animated GIFs.
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jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3494276172202709170.post-48599669430945120712009-12-07T06:53:00.000-08:002009-12-07T07:48:32.829-08:00Visit "the country"
A good friend of ours lives in a neighborhood that realtors optimistically call "north Corktown" (a casino, a stretch of prairie, and some old, lovely houses mixed with newer ones north of I-75 and south of MLK). He wishes they would call it Norktown instead. My kids love dropping by his house for a visit because his neighborhood is full of farmers and the sorts of people begging to get into jdghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17138644775090861195noreply@blogger.com