"En garbage"
Enid was observing a pretend sword fight between Ora 5 and Ewan and heard Ora 5 yell "En Garde!"Ewan responded, "En Garbage!"
posted on Thursday, January 14, 2010
Sledding
I took Ora 5 and Aspen sledding this afternoon. The hill by our church is a long hill and very popular, so many people had gone down it and packed the snow down. We had a great time. The first few runs were not very long as I was getting used to sledding again. Once a remembered how to steer a sled, we had good runs that went all the way down the hills (about 250-300 yards).Aspen saw the teenagers taking jumps over a ramp that they had built and decided that she wanted to try it. I sat as at the top of the hill and I started to get cold feet; the hill dropped quickly, got very bumpy and icy and then up the ramp. The guys who were going down as fast as they could were getting some good air on their jumps; some of them 5-6 feet. I asked Aspen if she was sure she wanted to do it and she said yes. So down the hill we went. I successfully steered us over the icy bumps and we hit the ramp well and we got air. We came back down hard and I heard Aspen, but I wasn't sure if she was laughing or crying. When we stopped she wasn't doing either and exclaimed "I hurt my bottom." Nevertheless, she wanted to do it again.
We had a great time. One of the more interesting sleds was the top half of a car-top carrier that had two skis attached to the bottom of it. They were able to take 3-4 people down at a time and took it over the ramp a few times.
posted on Sunday, January 10, 2010
Tom Sawyer, Satirical, not Obnoxious
I'm not sure why, but Ora 5 wanted to read Tom Sawyer. I wasn't very enthusiastic, but I didn't want to dissuade his interest in a classic. My only knowledge of Tom Sawyer is from movies, so the only impression that I have of him is an obnoxious brat; However, in reading to Ora, I'm discovering an amazingly witty book with plenty of satire. Last night we read of Tom negotiating his way into getting a free bible in Sunday School and the admiration of Becky's father. Today we read about the main service. I thought these paragraphs were telling how good Twain's satire is and how much churches haven't changed:After the hymn had been sung, the Rev. Mr. Sprague turned himself into a bulletin-board, and read off "notices" of meetings and societies and things till it seemed that the list would stretch out to the crack of doom—a queer custom which is still kept up in America, even in cities, away here in this age of abundant newspapers. Often, the less there is to justify a traditional custom, the harder it is to get rid of it.
And now the minister prayed. A good, generous prayer it was, and went into details: it pleaded for the church, and the little children of the church; for the other churches of the village; for the village itself; for the county; for the State; for the State officers; for the United States; for the churches of the United States; for Congress; for the President; for the officers of the Government; for poor sailors, tossed by stormy seas; for the oppressed millions groaning under the heel of European monarchies and Oriental despotisms; for such as have the light and the good tidings, and yet have not eyes to see nor ears to hear withal; for the heathen in the far islands of the sea; and closed with a supplication that the words he was about to speak might find grace and favor, and be as seed sown in fertile ground, yielding in time a grateful harvest of good. Amen.
posted on Sunday, December 27, 2009
Home School Starts Today
Enid begins homeschooling Ora 5 and Aspen today.
Update: Enid reported that they had a good day of school. The kids were excited and very engaged. Aspen didn't show signs of having lost any of her reading skills over the summer. (We read to them so often that we sometimes forget that they should be reading to us!)
We also began new reading books this evening. Enid read chapter 1 of the first Box Car Children book to Aspen and I read an Aesop fable to Ora 5 and a Newbury Honor book called Red Sails to Capri. It was a great first chapter to end a great first day of school.
posted on Monday, September 14, 2009
Discovery Home School Academy Starts Today
The kids' home school academy starts today. Once a week they go to classes at a local mega-church where they can interact with kids their own age and get some of their extra-curricular classes (spanish, PE, art, etc). Plus it gives Enid a day off.
This is Aspen's first year and she will have the same kindergarten teacher that Ora 5 had. She is very excited. She picked out a Tinkerbell backpack to carry her stuff.
I have the day off work today, so it is one of those rare times that I will get to drop them off and pick them up from school.
posted on Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Ora 5's 8th Birthday Pics
We went out today to Swope park so that Enid could take some pictures of Ora 5 at 8 years old. We usually go to JC Penny's to get their pictures around their birthday so that we have a pictorial history of what they looked like each year. However, since Enid is very skilled with her camera, we decided to forgo the indoor portraits and let her take the pictures. The results are wonderful:
posted on Saturday, August 29, 2009
"Curse you Flash!"
I was surfing the web using my iPod Touch when Ora 5 came and sat by me to watch. "Can you go to any website with that, Dad?""Yeah, I can go to any website I want on this."
"What about Webkinz?"
"Um, no. Webkinz doesn't work because it uses Flash." (iPhones and iPod Touches can't display Flash.)
"What about PBSKids.org?"
"Um, no. PBS Kids uses Flash too."
Ora 5 then did his best Captain Kirk yelling at Kahn voice: "Curse You Flash!"
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Monday, August 24, 2009
"There were Walmarts back then?"
Ora 5 was asking about my pocket watch and complaining because he wanted one of his own, then asked: "Did you dad have a pocket watch?""No, my dad always wore a cheap $3 Walmart watch."
"There were Walmarts back then?"
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Tuesday, August 18, 2009
KC Ethnic Enrichment Festival 2009
We went to the KC Ethnic Enrichment Festival today. I took a wrong turn and had to go into Swope Park thru the main entrance instead of on Gregory. That would normally be okay, but a lot of people showed up and we were in bumper-to-bumper traffic for about 20 minutes as we tried to get into the park. It was a beautiful day and I overheard one guy saying that he had never seen so many people at the festival: "Usually it's 100° or raining."
The festival was a lot of fun. As we walked in the kids picked up "passports" and each country with a booth had a stamp. The kids loved going from country to county getting their passports stamped. At the Chinese booth, they wrote the kids name in the passports in Chinese. (I assume mandarin, but I don't know.)
After visiting all the booths we ended at Tanzania and spent a long time looking at pictures a teacher had taken while visiting sponsored schools in Tanzania. Kansas City has a sister city in Tanzania and we have a particular interest since on of our Compassion kids is in Tanzania.
At one booth they had belly dancing outfits for sale. I encouraged Enid to buy one, but she settled for a few pictures:
Then we ate. Every booth had ethnic food, but no samples. So if you wanted to try something you would have to spend $1-3 at each booth. Times 47 booths and that's a lot of green. We each picked out what we wanted to eat: Ora 5 had Vietnamese chicken kabobs. I took the vegetables off for him. Aspen and Ewan weren't hungry for supper so they had baklava. Enid had trouble choosing between German and Israeli and chose a sample platter from Israel. I had a gyro from Greece.
Then the kids wanted souvenirs: Ora and Ewan got marionettes from the Mexico booth:
Aspen got a Hello Kitty spoon from the Japanese booth. Enid got a purse, but I don't remember where from.
Labels: Aspen, Enid, Ewan, Ora 4, Ora 5
posted on Saturday, August 08, 2009
Ora's Nintendo DS Lite
After Ora 5 saved to buy himself an iPod earlier this year he decided his next big purchase would be a Nintendo DS Lite. Today he got it. He saved $110 in less than 5 months and I took him to GameStop to buy a refurbed black DS Lite with Pokemon characters etched into the case.He's playing Kirby non-stop.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Ora 5's 8th Birthday
Ora's birthday was celebrated this weekend. He got some fun toys. Today gifts from Grandma and Gramdpa Caley arrived: The first 2 Hardy Boy books.Ora's friends got him interested in Hardy Boy books and he has already read the first 2 chapters of the first book.
posted on
Mom is hoat!
We got into the van tonight and Ora 5 said: "I am totally hot."Dad's pithy comment: "So's your mom."
"Not that kind of hot, dad."
He knows what that kind of hot is? I thought.
"I'm H-O-T, dad. Mom is H-O-A-T."
"Hoat? Mom is hoat?"
"Yes."
posted on Thursday, July 30, 2009
Ora 5's Tooth Extraction
Ora 5 had to have a tooth pulled today. He was excited!? The dentist had told him that he would get "funny gas." So Ora went in with a lot of anticipation. Apparently he was not disappointed, because he enjoyed the "funny gas" and didn't feel the extraction. The dentist gave him a small plastic cube with his tooth in it. When Ora got home and opened it, he found a $1 bill. An early tooth fairy gift. (My coworkers later told me to check the bill to see if there was an odd $1 charge.)Later, when the funny gas wore off, Ora had a lot of pain.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Thursday, July 16, 2009
Caesar Cipher Ring
Ora 5 wanted to make a code for just him and his friends. I assume the he got the idea from little activity sections in magazines and church kids' bulletins, but he began to create a Caesar cipher. After Ora had a little frustration in getting it just right, Enid suggested we may be able to find one online. Sure 'nough; PBS had one: a printable Caesar cipher ringLabels: Ora 5
posted on Monday, May 18, 2009
Upside-down Ants
Ora 5's ants tend to congregate at the bottom of his ant farm. To see if they were alive he tipped the ant farm upside-down. They all began to scatter and he declared "Yep, they're alive."Labels: Ora 5
posted on Sunday, April 12, 2009
Dead Ants
We bought ants for Ora 5's existing ant farm recently. (The ants die after about 3 months and you have to buy new ones.) However, when the new ones arrived today, they were all dead. Probably got too hot or too cold on the way. Enid contacted the company and they are shipping out new ants today, but Ora is very disaapointed.Labels: Ora 5
posted on Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Ora 5's iPod Shuffle
Ora 5 has been saving for a green iPod Shuffle for several weeks. So far he has saved $33. (The iPod Shuffle is $50.)Today Apple announced their new iPod Shuffle which is now $70 and has features that are not very kid friendly (back and forward controls move to the headphone cord that Ora has a tendency to chew on). So I went to Apple's site to see if I could still buy a 2nd-generation iPod Shuffle from their refurbished store. They had a silver iPod Shuffle for $30.
I called Ora at home (I was at work) and explained what I had found. I asked if he would be okay getting a different color than he wanted if it meant he could pay less for it. He enthusiasticly told me yes and i bought it for him. I was very proud that he was able to sacrifice a feature he wanted (color) for a better price.
Ora tells me the next thing he wants to buy is a Nintendo DS.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Wednesday, March 11, 2009
"I want to finish my dream."
I woke Ora 5 to go to Bible study at 6am. He looked at me and said "I want to finish my dream."Labels: Ora 5
posted on Saturday, January 31, 2009
Extended-Family Christmas
Every other year we spend Christmas with my Mom's side of the family. I had just bought a new camera and 2Gb cards for it, so I filled it up taking lots of pictures and playing with the video function. Here's some videos from it:Great-Grandpa and Ora playing with electronics:
Aspen, Eden and Ansley playing:
Mitch playing with Ewan and Eden:
Labels: Aspen, Ewan, Ora 5, vacation
posted on Saturday, December 27, 2008
Ora 5's Daddy Day
Ora 5 saw the pottery that Aspen had painted for her Daddy Day and he decided he wanted to do the same thing:
I painted a light switch faceplate for his room:
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Saturday, December 20, 2008
Discovery Home School Christmas Concert
Ora 5's home school group put on a concert. Here's some video I took:Labels: Ora 5
posted on Friday, December 19, 2008
Christmas Decorations
The rule at our house is that Christmas decorations can't go up until after Thanksgiving. Well, it's after Thanksgiving, so the decorations went up:
posted on Sunday, November 30, 2008
A Motion-Sick Martindale
I took the kids to the park where they insisted that I spin them around and around and around on the merry-go-round. What I had not anticipated was that Ora 5 could get motion sick. On our way back to the house, Ora threw up a couple of times. This doesn't bode well for introducing him to roller coasters.Labels: Ora 5
posted on Saturday, November 29, 2008
Our Little Eco-Warrior
Ora 5 and I were on our way to pick up my new iPod touch when he saw a power plant. "Dad, we need to shut down that plant.""But, Ora, if we shut down the plant, then we won't have electricity for our house." He thought about that momentarily.
"Okay, then I'll make it run on water."
"That's not a bad idea, but the rivers have been getting lower and lower so I'm not sure how long that will work."
"Then I'll make it run on the sun."
"That's a good idea, but they are still working on solar technology and it doesn't produce enough energy for us yet."
"Then I'll make it burn wood instead of coal."
"That's a good idea, but burning wood pollutes, too."
I'm sure he'll come up with a new idea soon.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Saturday, November 22, 2008
Halloween Costumes
posted on Friday, October 31, 2008
SpellingCity.com, nfl.com and time to get filtered internet
Yesterday Ora 5 was having trouble spelling. Enid called me, frustrated, to ask if I had any suggestions. I asked what the words were and she gave me a few of them. "He should be able to spell those," I said.Today when I came, Enid said she had found spellingcity.com. It allows you to put in a list of words and then it will use those words to create games. Ora was able to spell every word and spent 45 minutes playing the games, Enid said.
Later that evening, Ora wanted to show off what he could do on the computer: "Look, dad. I can go to nfl.com." He began typing on the keyboard and saying the letters as he typed: "W-w-w dot n-f-l dot com." He pressed enter and the NFL's website appeared on screen. If he can spell that, I thought to myself, he can spell www.sex.com. Time to buy an internet filter.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Homeschool Year Begins
Today is the first day of the home schooling year. It seems a bit later than all the other schools that started mid-August, but we hate the idea of starting before Labor Day.The state requires that Ora 5 have 1,000 hours of school. 600 of those 1,000 hours must be in 6 core subjects and 400 hours of those 1,000 must be in our home. (There can obviously be some overlap of the 600 and 400 hours.)
Enid is going to start Aspen on the Kindergarten curriculum and Ewan will have his own reading times as well.
Labels: Aspen, Enid, Ewan, Ora 5
posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2008
30 miles, 6 miles, huge hills and gimped gears
Enid and I took our 30-mile ride today. We started out of Havensville on monster hills. They almost killed us in the first 3 miles and I discovered that my gears aren't working right: They're bent. When in my top gear my derailleurs are hitting the spokes. I suspect they got bent up when I took my fall on our 20-mile ride. We continued on over many more hills and made it our 30 miles, so we're satisfied by very tired.While we were on our ride, Oma took Ora 5 and rode from Havensville to Onaga. A 6-mile ride on-road. We haven't taken Ora on-road because he weaves so much on the trails that we have been afraid he will weave into a passing car. Oma said that he was very steady on his bike and when she would tell him "car back" he would move right over and stay on the white line of the road. Oma tells us that he also rode up every hill which is impressive because he is on a mountain bike and there are a couple of monster hills on that route, too. We're very proud of him!
posted on Saturday, August 30, 2008
"I'll give you a kiss, Ora"
When we were leaving Wal-Mart, where Ora 5 was denied his request to buy Tic-Tacs (he had already spent his allowance), Ora said "I need Tic-Tacs in case my girlfriend comes over." Ora has been infatuated with a couple of different girls so it was unclear who he was talking about, but I though it would be interesting to see where this went:"Why do you need Tic-Tacs if your girlfriend comes over?" I asked.
"So my breath smells good."
"Why do you need good smelling breath for your girlfriend?"
"In case she kisses me."
"Have you kissed a girl before, Ora?"
"No."
Then from the backseat of the van Aspen said "I'll give you a kiss, Ora."
posted on Tuesday, August 19, 2008
11.4-mile Bike Ride
Ora 5 passed the 10-mile mark for the first time tonight as we rode an 11.4-mile ride. When we stopped for a bathroom break part way, so I pulled out the GPS and saw that we had gone 5.6 miles. Ora 5 still seemed strong so we briefly considered going farther, but decided to turn back and not push it. We're glad we did because he began to wear out the last 3 miles, but we are still amazingly proud of him.posted on Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Ora 5's 7th birthday
We celebrated Ora 5's birthday today with a Wall-E party. I had asked him if he wanted to have a Wall-E birthday or an Indiana Jones birthday, those being this summers kiddie memes. He thought about it for a moment and said "Let's do Wall-E this year and we can do Indiana Jones for my 8th birthday." So Wall-E it was:
We bought him biking shorts, gloves and a jersey:
The jersey has a preying mantis riding a bike.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008
Yellow and Polka Dot Jerseys
We've been watching the Tour de France almost every night and cheering for the Garmin Chipotle team, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the kids have grown fascinated by the jerseys. Ora 5 pulled out his yellow shirt and declared it his yellow jersey. Apsen watches the race looking for the polka-dot jersey (best climber) which is her favorite.posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Ora 5's New Bike
We went shopping for a bike for Enid and ended up with a bike for Ora 5:
We had noticed that Ora would spin out his single-speed bike, so we felt that he could go farther on our rides if he had a bike with gears, so now he has it. He's very proud. Aspen is asking for a new bike now.
posted on Saturday, July 05, 2008
Independence Day in Havensville
For years we have spent the weekend before Independence Day at my parents because my small home town celebrates big. This year there were a couple of new activities. Danny brought his motorcycle, so everyone got a ride:
And Ora 5 and Aspen found picking cherries to be a fascinating time:
They picked enough cherries that we made cherry ice cream and brought enough home to make cherry pie.
posted on Saturday, June 28, 2008
"Yes. Yes I am."
One of the kids' favorite shows right now is Phineas & Ferb. Each episode follows a very silimar pattern in which two kids (Phineas & Ferb) do something completely unrealistic with their summer day: build roller coasters, create a circus, build a snow resort, have chariot races, build a beach, etc.Often when beginning their quest, someone will ask about their age:
"Aren't you a little young to be a roller coaster engineer?"
"Aren't you a little young to use titanium and a welder?"
Phineas will usually answer "Yes. Yes I am."
In one episode, they turned it around when the kids mean Evander Hollifield: Phineas asks "Aren't you a little old to be a heavyweight boxing champion?"
Hollifield answers "Yes. Yes I am."
All this is prelude to what happened today: The kids were playing in the driveway and Ora 5 began riding on Ewan's tricylce. Seeing this I asked "Aren't you a little big to be playing on that?"
A smile slowly emerged on Ora's face and I realized that I was the setup man for his joke: "Yes. Yes I am."
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Sunday, June 01, 2008
Looking for a Bike with Gears for Ora 5
I stopped by the Trek store today. My main goal was to see what size bike frame I needed. I aired up the tires on my road bike yesterday and took it for a spin, but I felt very ungainly on it. I wasn't sure if I had grown slightly in the last 12 years and it was the wrong size for me now; or if it was the 40 pounds I've gained; or that I'm too used to riding a mountain bike yet. Turns out it is the perfect size for me, so I'm guessing it's a combination of the last 2.While there I asked about bikes with gears for boys. Ora 5 has been spinning out the gear so I started looking for bikes with gears, but only found bikes that were 20-inch bikes or larger had gears, but Ora is not ready for a 20-inch bike.
The Trek salesman confirmed that I would not find smaller bikes with gears, so I began to wonder about making one. Could I not buy a 20-inch bike with gears at a garage sale, remove the gears and place them on Ora's 16-inch bike. Then I began to wonder if there is a market for that. I would guess there is not since no bike manufacturer is doing it. But they are looking at how much profit they can add to their bottom line by adding a 16-inch bike with gears, which is probably not much. I'm looking at having no bottom line and adding income from the sale of niche bikes, so the economics for the "little guy" are slightly different.
Something to also consider is can a small boy learn gears. I think he can. When we bike Ora has done a great job. While we ride, I am constantly giving him directions: "Stay right. Go slow around this corner. Speed up this hill" etc. Following the same process I think I can teach him to use gears.
posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Kansas City Literature Festival
We went to the Kansas City Literature Festival today. It was a lot of fun and we came home with free books, free bookmarks, free bags and Enid bought a shirt that says "Don't judge a book by its movie."Wonderscope, the local childrens' museum had a large hands on area. Here Ora is decorating a book:
They're writing on windows. They must be math geniuses:
Kansas City Bus where they had story time with kids' books read by the authors:
Labels: Aspen, books, Ewan, Ora 5
posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008
Kindergarten Graduation
When I told my co-worker Rick that I was going to Ora 5's kindergarten graduation, he asked how that could be when we home schooled. Well Ora 5 has been going to a home school group once a week. It works like a regular school with class time, lunch and PE and Ora 5 has really enjoyed it. Tonight was graduation:
posted on Thursday, May 08, 2008
Enid's Birthday
Enid's birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated today. We surprised her with gifts and a cake. Ora 5 handed his gift to her and Aspen said "It's a necklace.""Aspen, don't tell me," Enid told her.
"Shh," I scolded.
Enid opened Ora's gift to reveal a necklace.
Aspen handed her first gift to mom. "It's a candle."
"Aspen, don't tell mom what they are," I reminded her. Enid opened her candle.
Aspen handed the next gift to her. "Now, don't say anything," I reminded Aspen. Enid opened her gift without being told what it was beforehand.
I handed my gift to Enid. "Now, don't say anything," I reminded Aspen again. Enid began to open her present. In the few moments of silence as Enid opened it, Aspen said "It's a flute."
posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Ora's second loose tooth
Ora 5 has another loose tooth. This one is also on the bottom row of teeth. It is the other middle tooth.Labels: Ora 5
posted on Tuesday, January 22, 2008
"Can I Buy My Tooth Back?"
Ora 5 placed his tooth under his pillow last night and I replaced it with $1. I figured 3 children times 20 teeth means that I'll be out $60 over the next 6 years.Ora must have heard us talking about when I lost my at Granny and Papa's house: instead of the usual 25 cents, I awoke with quite a bit more money. Ora brought his dollar to me and asked "Can I buy my tooth back?"
"Why?" I asked.
"I want to put it under my pillow at Papa's house when we go there next month."
At first I wasn't sure what to think: "You greedy little boy!" or "What an entrepreneur!" I decided that if he wanted to give up his dollar and try for more, I would let him, so I gave him his dollar back.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Saturday, January 19, 2008
Losing His First Tooth
I met the family at the library after work today and Ora 5 ran up to me with a big toothy grin. I didn't figure it out at first, but then I saw that his loose tooth was gone. He had lost it at the library and now had it in an envelope.Tonight we'll be at mt parents' house, so he'll put it under his pillow there. What is the going rate for a tooth these days? I used to get 25 cents.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Friday, January 18, 2008
Ora's First Loose Tooth
Ora 5 has his first loose tooth. On his bottom row of teeth, it is the right middle in the center as you look at him (his left).Labels: Ora 5
posted on Friday, January 11, 2008
"Don't be scared. Don't be scared."
Ora 5 went to his first day at Discovery Homeschool Academy, a one-day-a-week school day for homeschool kids. Ora had gotten a new backpack and took his lunch for his "first day of school." As he walked in the door Enid says that he was saying to himself "Don't be scared. Don't be scared."He had a great day liked his teacher, made some new friends and decided he wanted to eat the school lunches instead of bringing his lunch.
His only disappointment was "we did letter L today. Next week we are doing letter M. I know them already."
posted on Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Ora 5 Beginning to Read Hymns
I noticed that Ora 5 was beginning to read the songs from the PowerPoint while we singing in church today.Labels: Ora 5
posted on Friday, November 02, 2007
A 6-Mile Bike Tour
I had today off work for Columbus Day, so we decided to go for a bike ride. It was a good chance to test out Ora 5's new ability to bike. We put Aspen and Ewan in a trailer behind my bike and took one of the city's biking/walking trails. We had a good ride and when we were done I looked at the trail map and found that we had bike 5 miles.We then let Aspen and Ewan play on some playground equipment where our car was parked and Ora 5 did a half-mile loop. He did it twice! So Ora did a 6-mile bike ride today. I would not have dreamed he would have the stamina to do that.
posted on Monday, October 08, 2007
More biking
Ora 5 and I worked on his biking some more this morning. He is doing very well, but stopping is still a problem particularly as he begins to pick up speed on the gradually downhill of our street. We worked on braking without coming to a full stop. I ran with him a bit as he did this and then let him try it once on his own with almost disastrous results. He couldn't stop himself fully as he went down the hill and as I watched and yelled he almost entered a busy intersection. So we worked on coming to a full stop for a bit.After about 10-15 minutes he had this mastered as well. There's nothing more for me to teach him.
Aspen, seeing that Ora was riding now, decided she wanted to try her bike which she has shunned up until this point. So I took her out into the road and we worked on pedaling, braking and turning.
posted on Saturday, September 29, 2007
Off with his training wheels
I remember asking dad to take the training wheels off my bike. It may have been just after he put them on. None of my friends had training wheels and I didn't want them either. But after he took them off, I couldn't ride at all and asked him to put them back on; he refused. As a father I now understand that he didn't want to be taking them off and putting them back on repeatedly.
Eventually, the boy across the street, Jared, taught me to ride without my training wheels.
So when Ora 5 asked to take his training wheels off, I warned him that once they were off, they were not going back on. He insisted he did not want them anymore, so I took them off.
I prepared for the quentisential moment when a father, holding on to the handlebar and the seat, brings his son up to speed and then releases him to fall a few times. Instead, I took a couple of steps with Ora and he insisted I let go and when I did, he glided easily down the street.
I was amazed. He figured out how to turn within a couple of minutes and we worked on stopping without falling over, but he picked up on it very fast.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Friday, September 28, 2007
Ewan says "Ora"
Ewan has begun to say "Ora" when he sees his big brother.posted on Friday, September 21, 2007
A Day at the Dairy
Enid took the kids to the church home school group's field trip to a dairy farm today. The pictures below are from that trip:
posted on Monday, September 10, 2007
The Ants Have Arrived
For Ora 5's birthday, one of his gifts was an ant farm. The ants don't come with the farm so you mail (or in our case order off the internet) for the ants and they are mailed to you. Ora's ants arrived today and we put them into their new home.Labels: Ora 5
posted on Thursday, August 09, 2007
Bublebee, where are you?
Ora 5's birthday is coming up and he wants the Transformer Bumblbee. It's the only thing that he consistently asks for, but it is sold out almost everywhere. I find myself willing to pay 3 times the amount so that I can get it for him. Now I understand those Tickle Me Elmo parents from a decade ago.Labels: Ora 5
posted on Sunday, July 22, 2007
"I already paid for Zootles"
Enid and I were talking about Ora 5's Zootles subscription."I already paid for Zootles," Ora 5 interjected. "The mailman came and took it already." He was smiling, obviously pleased with himself.
What he didn't know was that I had found the envelope that he had placed 36 cents within and I took it out of the outgoing mail.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Saturday, July 21, 2007
"Who's Spud?"
I was singing Row, row, row your boat with the kids in the car. After finishing Ora 5 asked:"Who's Spud?"
"Spud? You mean in the song?"
"Yeah."
"There is no Spud."
I sang it again. "Did you hear Spud?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, I'm going to sing it one more time. When you hear 'Spud', you yell, 'There.'"
Row, row, row your boat
Gently down the steam
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
Life is but a...
"There!"
"Is but?"
"Yeah."
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Thursday, July 12, 2007
"I wish my daddy would take me to swimming lessons."
Ora 5 and Enid were walking out of swim lessons today and Ora saw a little boy and his dad. Ora turned to Enid and said "I wish my daddy would take me to swimming lessons." That'll break your heart.Labels: Ora 5
posted on Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Rocket Fishing Rod
We told Ora 5 that if he sold some of his toys at our garage sale, he could keep all the proceeds. We also encouraged him to do a lemonade stand. Afterwards, Ora 5 had hauled in $15 and had enough to buy his Rocket Fishing Rod. We went to Dick's sporting goods to get it and I was so proud. He has been saving his money for almost a year and he paid for it, we took it home and he practiced in the front yard. He even took it to church to show his friends.I thought that it would be a cheap piece of junk, but it actually holds up pretty well. Now to do a little more fishing with Ora.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Sunday, May 13, 2007
Evil Plan
Enid found Ora 5 writing something today. "What are you doing?" she asked."I'm making my evil plan," Ora responded.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Hiking the Hollow Fox Trail
We took a hiking trip this afternoon. There's a new trail that has been a couple years in the making. We walked a bit of it. Here's some pictures for you.
This is me and the kids at the beginning of the hike.
Ewan's first walk in the carrier.
Whenever you find a rock that is hanging, you are obliged to get a picture of someone holding it up. Here's Aspen.
And Here's Ora.
This was at the bottom of the hike before proceeding up a hill to return to the nature center. The bridge in the background is Gregory Blvd, just East of the entrance to the zoo.
The Martindale men.
Labels: Aspen, Enid, Ewan, Ora 4, Ora 5
posted on Sunday, April 15, 2007
Meet the Martindales in 3D
We went to see Meet the Robinsons this morning and as you can see we got the goofy glasses.
The movie was great. Some parts were very predictable, but I didn't see the end coming. One interesting side affect of 3D glasses is that the villains are scarier. The hat is a villain and in a couple of parts flies toward the screen. This scared Aspen a bit.
At first I was looking at the screen and trying to decide if the whole movie was 3D or if only seemed that way because it was a 3D animated movie. I quickly realized that the entire movie was going to be 3D and wondered how the did it. I soon saw the answer on the Disney Channel: When animating a 3D movie, you create a scene by placing all the characters into a set in the software. You can manipulate them however you want to create the scene. Then you place virtual "cameras" in the scene to capture what is going on. By adding a second camera beside the first, you create a 3D affect. One camera records the image the left eye will see and the other records the image the right eye will see. The further you pull the 2 cameras apart the more the objects appear to pop out of the screen. Using this technique, it is easy to make any computer animated movie 3D. The only changes that have to be made is deciding how far apart to place the two cameras for any particular scene.
I also noticed that 3D technology has changed a lot over time. This was my first 3D movie (not counting theme park rides like Spiderman, Terminator and Captain EO), but before the movie they ran a 1953 Disney short film with Donald Duck and Chip & Dale. I took my glasses off briefly during the short and you could distinctly see the 2 images that were on the screen giving a very blurry affect. When I did the same thing during Meet the Robinsons, the 2 images were much closer so it looked out of focus, but you could still watch it. (Now that I know that they can move the two cameras apart for certain scenes, I'm curious if those scenes would look much more blurry than the scene I saw without my glasses.) Now, both movies use different degrees of separating the images; however the same glasses worked for both. My children both had "kids packs" and on the back was the older style, blue and red 3D glasses. I tried watching the movie with those. I saw 4-6 separate images which made it so blurry that I couldn't see a thing.
Anyway, very cool movie! Very cool experience in 3D.
Labels: Aspen, Enid, Ewan, movies, Ora 4, Ora 5
posted on Saturday, March 31, 2007
Missed it by that much and broken promises
One hour before the show, I tried to buy tickets online for Meet the Robinsons in 3D.I was the link for the 8:30 show indicating it was not sold out, clicked the link, selected 2 adults and 2 children ($42!?!), and clicked Next. A message said that I could not purchase tickets for this show because it was sold out!
I went back to the first page and, sure enough, the link was gone and time grayed out, indicating the show had sold out.
I turned to my son, whom I had already told that we would see the movie that night, and gave him the bad news. He was so upset. He had been very good that evening on the promise that if he was good we could see the movie tonight.
I promised him we would see the first show the next morning and promptly bought the tickets right then.
posted on Friday, March 30, 2007
"I'm not eating them. I'm licking them."
Tonight, Ora refused to eat his food. (This happens often.) We told him he had to have 5 bites of the main course and 2 bites of green beans. He wouldn't do it until he was told he would not be able to go to the movie I had planned on the family seeing tonight. He grudging ate 5 small bites of the main dish and 2 half green beans. (He had to split them to remove the "seeds."After dinner he ran outside with the salt shaker. I saw him with his back turned to me and his head down in the leaves. "Are you eating a leaf?"
"I'm not eating them. I'm licking them."
He won't voluntarily eat green beans, but he'll eat leaves!
Labels: Ora 5
posted on
Painting and Sticking your Foot in It
Ora 5 and I were painting a second coat on the shelves this afternoon. I had the paint bucket right beside Ora and he took a step and found half his foot covered in orange paint.Labels: Ora 5
posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007
Painting Shelves
Ora 5 and I began the last step of completing his room: the shelves. We began painting them this evening.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Fickle Kids
We went to the grocery store and Ora and Aspen got to pick out their own cereals. Ora picked Chex and Aspen picked Apple Jacks. When we got home they both wanted a bowl of cereal and acquiessed; however, Ora wanted the Apple Jacks and Aspen wanted Chex!posted on Monday, January 29, 2007
Go to town?
I was getting out paints for the kids to paint pictures. I placed paper for them to paint on, gave them brushes and squeezed blobs of paint onto paper plates for them."Go to town, kids," I said when finished.
"Go to town?" Ora questioned, obviously not understanding.
"Oh, um... start painting."
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Sunday, January 28, 2007
Ah Snap!
"Ah snap!" has become Ora's new favorite expression.Labels: Ora 5
posted on Saturday, January 27, 2007
Bills! Bills! I want Bills!
After hearing me comment about bills, Ora got a bag and headed out the door stating "I need to go to work to get bills.""Well, that's how most people do it," I said, "but I would recommend you work so you don't have any bills."
posted on Saturday, December 16, 2006
Are we home yet?
A while back I grew tired of hearing "Are we there yet?" I told Ora, I would no longer answer those questions and I now remain silent when either Ora or Aspen ask.Today, Ora found someone else to answer:
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
Ora: "Are we home yet?"
Aspen: "No."
All the way home.
posted on
But he didn't tell me
Ora was at the Library playing with a little boy. Ora left for a moment and Enid heard the little boy tell his brother: "Hide me. I don't want to play with that boy."When Ora came back and looked for the boy, Enid had to explain to him that the boy didn't want to play with Ora.
"But he didn't tell me," Ora protested.
As Enid related the event to me, I looked back at Ora. His face showed anguish over it even now. My heart broke for Ora. I was reminded of going to a small school with only 3 boys in my class that didn't want to have anything to do with me. Now I know why mom took it so hard.
You never have to teach children to be cruel. They're born knowing how to do it.
posted on Thursday, December 14, 2006
Mom's Day Out
Enid took the kids out today. The first went to JC Penny's and looked for shoes for Ora.She then went to McDonalds and found that Aspen was missing a shoe, so back to JC Penny's. There was no sign of Aspen's shoe. Enid said that the shoe department was such a mess, I imagined her asking if they had found a missing shoe among rows of unshelved shoes and getting disbelieving stares.
While at JC Penny's, Enid noticed that Aspen's diaper need changed, but no diapers! So she drove to Wal-mart and bought new shoes and diapers.
What a day!
posted on
Ewan, How ya' doin'?
Ora has taken to using the phrase "Ewan, How ya' doin'?"posted on
Jam or Jelly
I'm at home today because my wife is sick. Ora and I were playing a reading game. He would place a letter before the letters "am" and then tell me what word it made. He placed a "j"."What does that say?" I asked.
"Jelly!"
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Lightning McQueen is American Made
When I got home today, our Cars DVD had arrived in the mail. Ora told me "Lightning McQueen was born in the south."Knowing the answer already, I asked "Why do you say that?"
"Because it says so in the song," he replied referring to the lyrics in the movie's first song.
posted on Tuesday, November 28, 2006
New Verses for Old Song
Tonight on the way to Wal-Mart Ora was singing a familiar song:Oh be careful little eyes what you see.He then began to add his own verses:
Oh be careful little eyes what you see.
For the Father up above is looking down in love,
So be careful little eyes what you see.
Oh be careful little nose what you smell.
Oh be careful little nose what you smell.
For the Father up above is looking down in love,
So be careful little nose what you smell.
Oh be careful little skeleton how you move.
Oh be careful little skeleton how you move.
For the Father up above is looking down in love,
So be careful little skeleton how you move.
Oh be careful little brain what you think.
Oh be careful little brain what you think.
For the Father up above is looking down in love,
So be careful little brain what you think.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Monday, November 27, 2006
Ora Reading his first books
We bought Ora some "Bob books." They are simple books and he can read them himself. Enid warned me they were also simple enough that Ora could memorize them and would get lazy and not read them or guess what the next word was.Ora was reading one to me when we came to page that had two sad people on it. The text said "Sad Sam. Sad Mat." The next page had Sam and Mat sitting happily. The page said "Sam sat. Mat sat." However, Ora was already trying to anticipate without reading: "Sam Happy. Mat Happy," he said.
Labels: Ora 5
posted on
I don't want holes in my teeth
Ora wasn't obeying, so I sent him to bed without our usual routine: Brushing teeth and then story. Ora screamed for 10 minutes he didn't want holes in his teeth and the dentist would have to drill and it would hurt."What have you been telling him?" I asked Enid.
"Every night I tell him that if he doesn't brush his teeth he'll get holes in his teeth and the dentist will have to drill his teeth and it will hurt."
"Oh. Well... I guess it worked."
Labels: Ora 5
posted on Sunday, November 26, 2006
