Wrestling Rules

Translation:
This is just for people over 1 year old
All wrestlers must have undies on.
No jewelry while wrestling.
Play gently!
and have fun!

Gains by Barter

Lately the girls and I have been bartering for things.  I have a small box on my dresser with interesting odds and ends -  mostly little broken pieces of fun jewelry that I'll never get around to fixing.  I don't remember who came up with it, but we have been "trading" for things in that box for awhile now.

Tonight we took it up a notch.

I have bags full of costume jewelry, trinkets, and fun stuff I've collected literally my entire life.  I brought out one bag and asked who wanted to trade.  I got this:

In exchange for things like this: (note that most of the "good" stuff - rhinestone necklaces, anything bearing a heart - had already been swapped)

When the girls ran out of things to trade, they made me pictures and cards.  This one was by Robin, and shows a Shark (the twisted thing) about to eat a fish (the bubbly thing) and the caption is "SHARK!"

Totally worth it.

Adventure Playground

Remember when we were kids and we could go outside, play with whatever we found, get messy, do things maybe not so safe, and we had a great time doing it? There's a place that still holds this a sacred rite of passage for kids. Berkeley's Adventure Playground. 

Each child has to do a small chore - find nails or scrap, pick up trash, locate nail points sticking out of wood.  Then they get access to tools for the rest of the day.  Tools include: C-clamps, saws. hammers (3 nails at a time), paint, rasps, magnets, and probably some other things I didn't notice. 

What do they get to do?  Whatever they want.  Rules are: no painting on signs. Must wear shoes. Have fun. That's it. They make play structures every week, based on materials they have on-hand.

They then disassemble, with the assistance of kids, a structure every week and build another one.  How friggin' fun is that?!?  

My absolute favorite thing about this place is how much of a "Yes" place this is.

"Mom, can I saw this board?"

"Yes."

"Mom, can I paint this?"

"Yes"

"Mom, can I hammer this?"

"Darling, the universe will be happier if you do." 

Did I mention it's absolutely free?

Glad to have remembered this awesome place. It goes back to weekend-only hours after this week, but must remember it for those times when we all need to just pound some nails randomly into wood. 

Happy Father's Day 2013

What says "Happy Father's Day" more than running 26.2 miles?  Not much.  Brian ROCKED the San Francisco Marathon today, with a time just shy of 4 hours.  Fantastic! The girls and I hustled out to meet him at the finish line.

With flying feet and big grins, B finished one of the toughest 15 marathon courses with a fantastic time.

The girls were ecstatic to see the medal him at the end.

And because he is hardcore parkour, we went to the SF zoo afterward with my folks to spend some quality time with the carousel and petting zoo. 

Happy Father's Day y'all! 

Play invitation: Fuzz Balls and Chopsticks

Super easy set-up, super fun results.  A pack of 80 colored pompoms, a few implements (tiny spoons, kid chopsticks....), and 6-cup muffin tins.  One instruction: sort. 

They had a lot of fun with it, using different tools and different sorting methods.  The only sticking point is (a) Erin only ended up with 1 purple pompom and (b) I could only find one of the "kid" chopsticks.  I pulled out some regular chopsticks and told the kids that the young 2 class in Robin's preschool did this activity with regular chopsticks, hoping to inspire them to at least try. To no avail.  Nonetheless they had fun. And easy setup/cleanup means it was an all-around win.

WW: Robin's Dinosaur Collage

Fun with Clay

I picked up some modeling clay at the dollar store (LOVE that place).  The kids went to town!  Over one hour of free form play.  Robin started by using each stick as its own thing, then resorted to making teeny pieces and constructing the longest archipelago known to Casa de McMiller.

Erin busied herself with making "Mini-Me's".  Note similar pose. 

That was a fine $2. 

How To Make A Scientist

OK, we bought this kit from a friend's recommendation.  It came with everything you need on a wet bench: a beaker, flask, funnel, goggles, test tubes, test tube racks (very important), tweezers, beaker, magnifying glass.  And 10 experiments outlined on laminated cards. Granted, we'd already done every experiment on the cards, but because we now have the official tools of the trade, the experiments took on more luster. 

I walked them through 4 or so experiments on the cards, a bit concerned this would be a play land flop - an expensive toy that has about 5 minutes play time before ending up in the recycling bin.   

Then, a few hours later, the girls took the lab equipment into the bathroom and started running their own experiments. 

This is what I'd hoped for. Forget the laminated cards, we're gonna need more vinegar, baking soda, and food coloring!!!!

Auntie Tina Visits

A very good, wonderful, dear, and often missed friend visited today.  Christina "Auntie Tina" spent the afternoon and evening with us and brought, as always, lots of fun.

The girls wasted no time in wrangling her to read.



And convinced her to brave the difficult double-swing.



We had a great visit and really hope we'll get to see more of her next year!

Craft Project: Reusable Snack Bag

I have seen reusable snack bags for sale here and there and though I could do it myself.  A few rectangles of fabric and a strip of velcro later, voila!. 

From the outside:

A crummy picture of the inside.  Sweet fabric, no? 

And I checked out some of the fancy embroidering stitches on my machine.  Cute little leaves. 

So, it's not "waterproof" by any means - I'd have to get some PUL fabric for that.  So snacks left in the bag will quickly get stale.  But they should be fine for a lunchbox, and what a cute way to snack.

WW: Cooking with Dad

Sweet Ride

Last spring we bought a ride-along bike for Erin - you know, the one-wheeler thingie that attaches to the back of your bike so your almost-bike-riding kid can trail along after you. It has been awesome, but it's left Robin relegated to the Bike Trailer. The Bike Trailer is not fun for anyone, really. We used it, with mild success, a long time ago.

After some brief trial runs, this Bobike Maxi+ is SWEEEEEEEET.

Thank you, Dutch Bicyclist Parents. 

Writing practice

Erin has been so excited to actually be able to sound out words and write.  Well, at least sound out the first letter.  She wrote a birthday invitation.  To the sun.

OK, you probably need a translation.  Read from bottom line to top line.  

U (you) r (are) eviDeiD (invited) T (to) M (my)

then the top line

i (second part of my) BFD (birthday) PrP (party)

Below is the picture of the sun, above an ocean. 

WW: Mixed Media Construction

Project: Pipe Cleaner Sight Words

I saw this idea on Pinterest (where else).  Set out a bunch of cards with sight words on them.  Put out a fist full of letter beads and some pipe cleaners.  Let the fun begin! 

Robin tested it out first for me. Her favorite letter is, of course "R" so she liked picking them out and lacing them on the pipe cleaners. 

I set out the invitation to Erin starting just with the letter beads and pipe cleaners.  She first made a bracelet with her name on it and some heart beads, for Brian to take when he goes to PDX so he can think of her. 

I then presented her with the list of 30 words they're working on in her kindergarten. (No, not all at the same time. They've covered about 5 so far.)  She got excited and tore through about 10 of them, reading the words with no problem and stringing the beads happily.  A good 15 minutes of focused activity! Then she said she was done.  I'd say it was a success! 

Robin enjoyed some more bead stringing and made a necklace. 

Project: Dry Erase Markers on Picture Frames

OK, the title kinda tells the story.  Endless writing surface, kind of a thrill because they get to use "grown up" things such as dry erase markers and picture frames with glass.  Nothing like the element of danger, or the forbidden, to make something extra interesting. 

Kids get into the Cube

Last time Brian returned from PDX the girls got a Rubik's cube as their surprise. 

Erin loved it and immediately set to work solving the puzzles Brian set for her.

 Robin loved it too but didn't quite get it.  She loved laughing at Erin's still antics.  

However, Brian got a little too ambitious just one little time, and one of the cubes ended up thus: 

That's more how I like to solve them.

Teaching how to Ride a Bike

Here's how it went.

We went to the playground. Erin put on her helmet.  Erin got on her bike for the first time.  Erin rode away.

I'm not kidding.

No pushing on the back of the bike, no helping her get started.  No falling down even.  Just hop on and ride.  I kinda feel like we missed something about being a parent.  Then again, I'm glad it was so easy.

Grainy video:

Erin's Fiscal Responsibility

This week at the local Thursday night concert, I let Erin loose with  $20 to go buy herself a hot dog.  I was about 150 yards away, watching the whole time.  I advised her to ask for one hot dog, and she should get a lot of money back. Here she is at the snack shop:

And here she is coming back, proud as anything to have successfully bought a hot dog and returned with the appropriate amount of change.

Not pictured is Robin's indignation that her $0.10 did not buy her a hot dog. She was upset for quite awhile that Erin's money could buy food but hers could not.  I have no idea where Robin found ten cents. Erin shared her spoils with Robin, so everything worked out in the end.

Every girl needs tools

Not sure what she's making, but she skillfully cut several pieces of wood.  She has informed me tomorrow she will nail them together, then paint them.  Not with water colors.  With grown up paint.