Late last year the boys took a real shine to a video in which Prof. Walter Tschinkel used molten metal to create casts of ant colonies. Now, through the imponderable power of little-kid free association, the name “Walter Tschinkel” popped up in a new ant-related story Finn’s devised.
I suggested to Dr. Tschinkel that Finn’s novel hypothesis that “10 ants equal 1 dog” is largely unproven. We’ll see what he says. 😉
[Update: Well, we didn’t have to wait long. He writes, “Mighty cute kid you got there! And now I have a hypothesis to test—- 10 ants equal 1 dog. Should keep me busy for a while.”]
Margot’s grandmother had a famously dry wit. Margot writes,
My dad, Jack, grew up in a very tiny rural town, where nothing exciting ever really happened. Once, Grandma and her equally crazy friend Ag were picking up their kids from school and taking them to the city park down the street. The traveling circus – including a few elephants – had just come and gone, which laid the foundation for the following:
As they were walking to the park that day, Grandma and Ag start looking into the distance, through the trees in the park, exclaiming “Oh, look, there are the elephants, I bet they’re going to race! Kids, do you see them? This is going to be great!” The kids start craning their necks, looking around, befuddled, “We dont’ see them! Where are they?” Grandma & Ag: “There they are! They’re lining up, there they go! Now they’re running behind the tennis courts! Here they come around the bend!” All the while the kids are crestfallen because they don’t see anything, and keep moaning “But we didn’t see them! Where are they?” Cut to Grandma and Ag laughing hysterically.*
So, you might readily imagine that when Jack told me that Leadville featured teams of horses that pull skiers down Main Street, flying over jumps and collecting rings on their arms, I gave him a long & skeptical gaze. “What’s next,” I thought, “he’s gonna tell me that the word ‘naive’ isn’t in the dictionary?” And yet, dang if it wasn’t true! Behold the bizarre, obscure, and thrillingly dangerous sport of skijoring! Here’s a little gallery plus some video of the goings-on.
*The second half of the “elephant race” story happened about 25 years later when Margot’s Grandpa had a car dealership near main street. Again, a circus was in town with their elephants, but this time they were legitimately advertising elephant races “downtown” (which was all of about 4 blocks long). On the big day, Crazy Ag and her husband Les grabbed their lawn chairs, set up next to my Grandpa’s dealership garage, and waited and waited and WAITED for elephant race, which they never saw. Turns out, the race was on a different street and they had missed the whole thing!
I just stumbled across this little vid from last fall & got a chuckle from it. Finn got really into what he dubbed his “iPod”—a tiny educational computer he’d gotten as a birthday gift from pals Bettie & Quade. For whatever reason he dubbed the songs it played “Chuckbone” and “Sackbone.” Here, without further explanation (which I’d find impossible anyway), are the tunes:
Perhaps you’ve glimpsed Happy Hollow’s famous “Froggy Double Shot” from afar, as I had—but until now I’d never gotten to experience the vertical mayhem. Here, won’t you join us? 🙂
Galena was blessed with a great mixture of snow (let’s say 8-9″ plus periodic reinforcements throughout the week) and freezing-but-not-freezing temperatures that kept things clean & fluffy throughout our stay. Thanks to our old neighbor Christy, the boys were outfitted with snowpants & boots, and they relished helping Grandpa shovel & helping me craft a snowman (“Beardo,” Finn dubbed him). We tore up the hills, too, packing in three separate sledding trips. Check out the frosty gallery!
I’m delighted to say that the will-they won’t-they saga of our trying to ride Chicago’s Holiday Lights El Train ended in success last night!
Our friend Samantha had told us about the train a couple of months ago, and ever since then we were hoping we could catch it with the guys. It runs only on certain days, and the CTA doesn’t publish the exact times it runs until a few days ahead of time. We’d hoped to catch the train after our visit to the Murrays yesterday, but Henry got sick & we had to leave early. We thought our plans might be toast, but fortunately within a couple of hours he recuperated enough that we could drive to a different station & try again. We were all set to catch the 6:32 train (the last one of the night!), but then trains came & went with no sign of it. We were just about to give up hope when a nice family appeared alongside us & said that the train was running half an hour late. Thus we held our ground, and you can see the results below. 🙂
We had a (surprisingly non-puke-inducing) ball taking the lads on all manner of rides at San Jose’s Christmas In The Park carnival. I’ve said it before, but man, what a godsend that Hen’s finally tall enough to accompany Finn, bombing through all sorts of pirate ships, cartoon houses, and more. Check it out:
We spent a delightful day at the Oakland (or as Henry kept calling it, “Oklahoma”) Zoo, checking out lions, learning more than we might’ve wanted about elephants’ pooping (“He must have a really large large intestine!” noted Hen), and hanging out with the Wiggii. We all braved the semi-fearsome Tiger Coaster, as you can see here:
What started small a few weeks back is quickly becoming an addiction, and the guys are clamoring to check out the rides of the San Jose Winter Carnival tonight. Wish us luck!
I might adopt Audi-style nomenclature for Henry, dubbing him the “H3L” (as in, “Extra Long Edition”). His finally having breached the 3′ mark lets us at last enjoy things like Happy Hollow’s “Froggy Double Shot” (our mash-up of its real name, “The Frog Hopper,” with that of the enormous Beach Boardwalk “Double Shot”). Here our guys fly around with the little Wiggii:
Finnster & Mr. L. enjoyed some most unusual “bicycling” (and more) this morning. Check out their antics below. (It kinda reminds me of “Grandpa vs. Dr. Chaos,” aka the far chubbier 1-year-old Finn.)
At long last Henry has surpassed the all-important 36-inch mark. Why all-important? Because that’s when a guy gets eligible for a whole lot of rides!
Hen had been patiently waiting for his chance to ride the fancy Pacific Fruit Express Family Roller Coaster at Happy Hollow. Despite being a bit peevish in general, he’s always done well with this kind of mayhem. For example, when he was two we took the boys on the Monster Kool Bus, and Henry wrapped up the ride by saying, “I crying, ‘Do it again!'”
Today we found that Henry’s tall enough to ride the coaster with a grown-up, and Finn’s old enough to ride by himself. Let the wild coasting begin!
For comparison/retro fun, here’s how Finny handled his first ride some 18 months earlier:
Man, I should work as a sheep in a pumpkin patch petting zoo: I sure know how to get fleeced! ;-p Actually I had a ball taking the lads to nearby Spina Farms Sunday while Margot was in class. We rode the little train, climbed aboard ponies, and jostled around in a hay wagon with our pals the Wiggii. Sure, the proprietors know how to soak you for a few bucks, but it sure buys a lot of tot-delight.
Because, you know, our little sons were insufficiently interested in bodily functions… ;-p
This all transpired at little Charlotte Henshall’s 4th birthday party yesterday. Finny observed, “Look, Dad-O, there’s a picture of a geyser on the bag!”
We had a ball taking the lads to the Take Flight for Kids shindig a tiny nearby airport today. Amidst all the bouncy-house horseplay & “Angry Tiger” launching (think Angry Birds, but with stuffed tigers in a real slingshot), one highlight was riding on “mutant vehicle” The Lunapillar:Â
On Sunday the lads had a go at milking “Contenta,” a plywood cow on display at San Jose’s History Park. I’m not sure we’d impress our relatives/ancestors back in Ireland yet, but not bad for a first try, I think.
