Adventures

I know: when it rains, it pours, right?  Now I have “all” this time so I am updating like crazy.  More like, we have actually done things that are worth writing about.  We have had adventures!!

Our first adventure was actually a solo done by Jan with his new easel.  The Occupational Therapist we went to go see (to discuss the food avoidance thing; turned out to be nothing much) told us that Jan is 10 months behind in “grasping.”  What do you know!  This shows up most prominently when he uses scissors and writes.  And apparently, in more of the “what do you know category,” a good thing to work on is cutting and writing vertically instead of down on a table.  And it just so happened that I found a fabulous deal on an easel.  So he has been cutting and writing and painting up a storm.  I mean, he doesn’t really write; it’s more scribbling.  However, he is learning to “pinch” the markers etc.  So here he is loving (?) his new thing:

Some of you reading may receive creations in the mail.

The next adventure was a somewhat mild mannered foray into de-decorating the tree.  Lest you think this is tame, let me remind you that the tree is/was 12 feet tall and 6 feet across.  It required a ladder at the very least, not to mention some chains.  Here we are nearly all done.  Not sure what in the world Jan is doing.

  I should mention also that somehow he got pine sap in his hair.  He now has very short hair.

The next adventure was a true adventure: we went to the Museum of Science and Industry.  There were so many things to see and do!  Jan was so well-behaved and had a great time.  He thought everything was great.  He loved the combine and the tractor:

We didn’t go inside the submarine, but he thought the outside was pretty cool and he loved the periscopes and the little doors:

There was a cool car, the fastest in the world:

And finally there was an exhibit of many many pictures of Dr Seuss.  That might have been a lot cooler if a) Jan were 10 years older so as to better appreciate the pictures on the wall and b) there were about 200 people fewer in the room where the little kid demos (ooblek!) were going on and c) our assigned entry time wasn’t the last thing of the day.  But it was pretty cool to see all that stuff and to really appreciate how much the man accomplished.  I was hoping they would have the picture he did of Joseph as a cat in the coat of many colours (google it; it’s cool). Here are Papa, Jan and the Cat in the Hat:

We grown-ups really liked the exhibit on the eco, modular home.  We weren’t allowed to take any pictures, but that’s okay because you can see a lot of it here at the museum website.   The one thing you can’t see that I am soooo smitten with are their kitchen counters.  They are concrete/paper/glass composite counters.  I have heard some not-so-great things about concrete counters and how porous and therefore stain-able they are, but I’m wondering about the composite kind.  And a really really great sealer.  I don’t know. It seems like it would be a huge pain if you spent all that time making the counters (which of course we’d do ourselves) and they stained in the first week.  So we’ll be researching the biz out of that one.  Also, the only heating the home had was under-floor radiant.  So cool, or actually, warm.  Neato mosquito.

Anyhoo, I could rave all day about that house but I should probably move on to the next adventure.  This was simply a walk in the nearby county park.  Jan had a great time racing about and becoming appropriately exhausted. Not sure what is going on here, but he’s clearly having a good time.  . This is me making the”oh you’re not serious” face (I think that’s what that is) and Jan just being the cutest.  .  A good stick is pretty important on these walks.  A good bit of sneaking up on one another is also pretty important to keep one’s attention and reflexes sharp.  Not sure who is actually doing the sneaking in this picture.

So there you have it.  Some adventures.  I know you were wishing we would have some so we could write about something more interesting.  Now we are back to the almost-usual routine: I’ve parked my bum on a chair by the fire to mark every essay ever known to mankind and write endlessly chirpy and helpful reports (not so much) about the dear darlings I pretend to teach.  Jan was supposed to go to school today except the school didn’t know that and was inconsiderately closed.  The nerve.  So David didn’t go to work, but worked here at home while Jan played with legos.  I’m afraid that’s more of the kind of adventures we will be having from now on, but we’ll keep you posted if something else comes up.