Elmo: But wait, Elmo surrenders!

Kai: Too late. You and your third-person self-narration will die!

Elmo: Whoopsie, Elmo fell down.

Kai vs Elmo

Giant mega slinkies were a popular toy. I imagine this captioned, "Elmo! Prepare to suffer the awesome power of my slinky fists of doom!"

Snow Taster

We dug out an old pair of the boys' snowpants and brought Mei out for some snow fun. The oversized hat had her head covered more completely than Sun Bonnet Sue. I laid down in the snow to snap a picture of her face.

She was very comfortable just sitting in the snow and tasting different areas of the yard. I think she was bummed that she wasn't old enough for junior grade extreme sledding.

Kai Slide Slips

During all this, I thought, maybe they're ready to try downhill skiing. I mentioned it to the boys and Kai said, "Sleding is skiing on your butt!" True.

Abandon Ship

Kai demonstrating his abandon ship method.

Wheeeeeeee!

Rowan is fearless.

Rowan After the Fall

Not a bad landing, as these things go.

Rowan Over the Edge

This is the next day. Sunny and warm and the the children have visions of self-disfigurement dancing in their heads. This time it took the form of sledding from the second tier down to the first.

Kai in the Snow

Kai jumped from the second level of our backyard and thought it was hilarious that he could bury himself chest deep.

Reflections

 
Jasmine liked the mirror room in Explora in Albuquerque. 

Dire Wolf

 
Mural and skeleton at the New Mexico Natural History Museum. 

Howdy

 
Rod Ford has an exhibit of eight foot plus tall robot sculptures on display at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, I assume in conjunction with the current, but not here for long, Engineer It!. I had the pleasure to meet Rod about ten years ago when I was doing sculpture and debating the pros and cons of becoming a welder versus a mathematician. 

Got Soup?

 
Yeti's shameless when it comes to leftovers. 

Kai the Pillow

 
Kai and Li Mei both hate going to sleep. Kai's not so bad anymore, but when he was younger he'd fight tooth and nail to stay up. Jasmine doesn't so much fight as giggle herself awake. I suppose they both think there's too many things to do to waste on sleep. Where could they have gotten that from?

Since the holiday's had my schedule all screwy, we'll have a lump 'o posts coming. 

Fashion!

 
Jasmine likes to create her own fashion statement. I'm still trying to have it translated. 

Raptor on Streetlight

 
It was a freezing, rainy, misty day and I finally got a chance to snap a pic of a hawk. I see them all the time, but generally, I'm runnning from one appointment to another and/or don't have my camera.

I'm not a bird expert, but I think this is a Red Tailed Hawk. See its one foot tucked up, tufting its chest feathers up? It was really cold out there. 

Li Mei meets Rosie

 
Of course, one of the critical introductions when joining our family is to meet the tarantula Rosie at the Butterfly Pavilion. Jasmine was very interested in this little furry creature. Although it didn't have a tail (her favorite animal anatomical feature, much to our cats' chagrin), she studied it intently. That's my girl! 

Halloween

I adore Halloween, but the kids almost had me dreading it. That's not quite true, I dread the week leading up to the holiday. Kai and Rowan were so preoccupied with the thought of Trick-or-Treating, they couldn't seem to focus, listen or process any information other than the remain number of hours before they put on their costumes and extorted sugar from the neighbors.



We survived and all that remains is to work through the three moderately sized bags of candy. I hear horror stories about hyperglycemic kids the day after Halloween, but comparatively, my kids are much calmer now that the anticipation is over.




Jasmine seemed to enjoy riding around on my shoulders going from house to house and listening to the neighborhood kids running from lit house to lit house. It wasn't till she got home that I think she realized she was wearing something more than a coat. She discovered she had a tail when playing with her shadow and that kept her busy for another hour after we got home.



I think it did all finally catch up to Rowan. He crashed on the couch about an hour before his bedtime.

Jasmine Appearing at the DMNS

 
DMNS is Denver Museum of Nature and Science, bye the by. Jasmine saw her first movie, it was "Black Holes" at the Gates Planetarium and I think her lack of depth perception added to the experience. She also liked their flashing colored lights outside the theatre.

Doesn't she look like a rock star? 

Pre-Halloween

 
Jasmine likes hats, especially pointy hats. 

Antennae

 
Jasmine practicing walking on the slope of the yard. 

Jasmine at the Moon Festival and Dental Update

 
I think her favorite part was the applause. She loves clapping her hands and shouting "Yea!"

Today (Oct 26th), Li Mei went under general anesthesia to have her teeth cleaned, x-rayed and to fix any existent cavities, perform root canals, extractions, etc. The boys and I were ready for a long wait at the hospital but we'd barely sat down and they were done.

The dentist reported that other than the obvious tartar and calculus (no, I'm not talking mathematics here) she had beautiful teeth and no dental problems. The staff at Children's Hospital said it was the first time they'd only had to do a cleaning in this situation. In the recovery room we found out she likes jello and popcicles. Despite the minor work, she's been sleeping since she was discharged around noon. 

Bored at the Moon Festival Pagent

 
The day after the actual Moon Festival we went to a sort of Chinese community talent and culture show, celebration. I got them a little bit of culture before they started to rebel. 

Early October Snowball Fight II

 
We don't seem to actually get much snow in the winter. We only get precipitation in the Fall and Spring, the rest of the time we're desert-ish.