And I'm Supposed to Eat This?

I told Rowan he could have some cotton candy if he shared with his sister. He gave it to her and said in his high-pitched-I'm-talking-to-a-little-kid-voice, "Candy, Jasmine?" She tasted it, said "Candy hair," then gave it back.

She also calls Beef Jerky "Meat Gum", but she likes that. My spearmint Extra chewing gum is "Toothpaste Gum" and she likes that too. She prefers Cheerios over Fruit Loops and also likes ginger, garlic, Caesar salad, olives and mushrooms. The biggest surprise recently (that related to her food tastes) is that she loves Pei Wei's Blazing Noodles. She takes a bite, breathes through her mouth for a moment, flushes a little, drinks some water and then asks for more.

Ninja Prada Shoe Thief

Ayi Cindy ('ayi' means 'auntie' in Mandarin) came to visit with Jasmine the other day. Two years ago, she came to China with us to get Jasmine and they still have a special bond. Miss Mei immediately asked Cindy to take off her shoes when she arrived. It's a common habit around here to keep the carpet nice, so Cindy slipped out of her heels. It quickly became apparent that there were ulterior motives.

Despite the general cleverness, it was a slow getaway.

YOINK

We have a cherry tree. We have many birdie friends. We have yet to eat any ripe cherries ourselves.

Jaded Consumers

Kai called his purple panda "P.P." for a while, then decided "Sammy" might be better. I think Rowan's snake is called "Slink" or something like that. I think they really wanted the five and a half foot tall spring-necked bird thing, I know I did.

Born Yesterday

These are the cutest little knees we saw all day at the zoo. At the time of the photograph, this zebra was one day old. The Denver Zoo had a lot of caution tape around the enclosure so we couldn't get very close.

Running Triggers the Predator Instinct

Jasmine's now fast enough to catch up to some of the joggers. This nice lady was passing us for the third or fourth time as we walked along her circuit. Jasmine must have thought it was an invitation.

As we watched Spiderwick this evening with the kids, Jasmine fidgeted and talked and wrestled and giggled and talked. She must have been watching a little though, the first thing she did at intermission (right after a Mallory fencing with goblins scene) was to pick up a sword. Suddenly she burst out, "Super Jasmine!" I thought I was going to fall out of my seat laughing, which of course caused her to call it out again and again. Then she and Kai engaged in a sword fight (plastic sword and walking stick) and took turns with dramatic death scenes.

Bunny with an Attitude

"I am your plants' worst nightmare."

Actually, I don't mind so much. Cute counts a lot in my book. 'Sides, the local foxes know they hang out in our yard so I think things generally even out.

Quack

Our local tiny pond has a family of ducks. Daddy Duck was in a fowl mood (old but required joke) and was chasing all the young ones around. He steered clear of momma duck though. Some domestic strife, perhaps one of the young ones just wrecked the family car. There has to be a good caption for this top picture.



The duck family was happy with the bread bits we brought. Kai and I threw out pieces, Jasmine ate half and threw half, but happily called out "Duckies!" when they came close. She liked them quite a bit. I'm glad she could see them so well.

Best Bugs Ever

I think Jasmine has found her favorite bug ever. The cicadas were everywhere making noise and walking around in a lethargic way. She spent most of the hike holding one or another of the little creatures. They held on just strong enough that she could feel them, but didn't pinch. They walked, but slowly enough, she figured out how to move one hand in front of the other in the classic holding an animal treadmill fashion. They were also high contrast in her hand and didn't seem to mind beong petted gently or viewed from a few inches away.

All that pink is mind boggling. She's enameled and enamoured with pink nail polish. At least she's holding a giant black bug, otherwise I'd have to give out a Barbie alert.

Walker Mansion

John Brisben Walker built this mansion on Mount Falcon in the early 1900's. It's quite high, but the trailhead to Castle Trail is only about 30 minutes from our home by car. The weather was mild, threatening to rain, but the trails were wide and flat with the exception of some mini-arroyos from previous storms. Cicadas were calling and clicking; pre-storm weather heightens the mood? More on them later.

Going to see ruins creates quite a bit of interest in kids. I think it's easier to get them into nature if you show it taking over something man-made. Maybe it's the spooky factor, or could be the romantic (think Byron, not Harlequin) aspects. Whatever it is, it gives me a general sense of impermanence. How Hindu/Buddhist/Taoist of me.

Mountain lions deer kills do that too. It does have subtle differences. It's grosser and more effective in keeping kids from wandering away during a hike. These pictures almost made them seem too cute even though it's in the neighborhood next to the state park we generally hike, Roxborough.

So anyhow, we did about five easy miles, Jasmine managed about three of them and then begged her way into a shoulder ride for the other two. I shouldn't have fallen for it. When I brought her home, Theo took her for a two mile walk and said she ran most of the way. She's scary in the stamina department.


Rowan didn't make it on this hike. He's still suffering from an intermittant fever. Last Tuesday his fever shot up to 103 F and then 104 F. We were having a hard time making any dent in it with Tylenol or Motrin, we ended up resorting to luke warm baths. I think he's had about a dozen this week.

A visit to the doctor on Wednesday wasn't illuminating and then his fever started to climb. The highest it got was 106 F. We got some blood tests, but no word yet on what it might be. No one else is showing any symptoms and he has no other symptoms (other than lethargy). He's currently on antibiotics, but they've only taken the edge off the fatigue and fever heat. Now when his mood deteriorates, we take his temperature and he's back to 103-ish. Another trip to the doctor tomorrow I think. :(

His spirits are good though and he's horsing around with Kai when his temperature is normal. We went to see Get Smart -- I figured he was up for that. People getting hit in the groin, a barf joke, a rat in one's pants and bare buttocks seem to really lighten the spirits of a seven year old.

On the Way

I think that half of the fun of hiking in a new place is the things you see along the way.

I was trying to figure out who lived in this neighborhood (all dependant on tone of course): modest and content people, a group that is expressing just how weird things are, lawyers afraid of overstating the benefits, someone who wanted to give their English spelling teacher coniptions, people who'd just bought a multi-million dollar mountain mansion and realized nine months out of the year they will be snowed in and three months innundated with hikers going to the trailhead, some friend of Kay's... I dunno.

North of Hooper

As you stand at this sign the view is almost identical in all directions and the air has a certain je ne sais quoi or perhaps it's more l'air des fous d'avril. To the left, northward there is a slight white suggestion of a building. This was indeed the pool and a hot springs pool at that.



It was definitely our kinda place with the kiddie pool filled with the nose fluids of a metal dragon fountain.



The boys were kind enough to play a little in the kiddie end since I hadn't brought a suit.

Crime Scene

I should probably be more disturbed than amused, but I'm not.

I found this the other day while cleaning up. It's a fast food kids' meal Sponge Bob Squarepants toy. I believe his dead body has been respectfully covered by a napkin, but the gory "blood" has leaked through. Apparently it wasn't a theft gone wrong, note the Chuck E Cheese tickets left behind.

I never got a clear answer....

Finger Painting

Jasmine loves to check out women's nail polish. Sometimes she'll check to see if they have matching toe nails. I'm not much of a girly-girl. (Okay, that's a bit of an understatement because when I wear a dress or make-up, I feel like I'm in drag.) But if she's into it, s'okay by me -- as long as she keeps playing pirates and bug hunt with us. :) I've done her nails with bright blue, silver glitter and a fairly traditional dark pink. The boys have been following suit. I guess I'm the odd one out.

This time when I got out her paints and she decided to do her own manicure... and pedicure.

Mysterious Path

There is a theme to locations near the sand dunes. There is a great deal of empty space all around them, so much so that each one becomes rather surreal. This particular example was the "Path to the White Rock".

Soundless Woosh

Okay, now I'm really craving something with more oomph in the telephoto department. This is the best my current little lens can do ... but I have to admit, I was happy with this shot.

Rare Event

Here's an actual picture including me. Weird. Kai's looking tough, but I don't know why. He was in a great mood. Maybe he was just posing for the camera.

A couple of gals with their boys took this and I returned the favor. They also helped me set up the shade tent when the wind was still fighting me for it.

The Merely Breezy Day

This was our one non-exfoliating day at the dunes. I still had to weight down our shade tent to keep it from flying away. It was a great day to be out, the creek was running and the boys took their sled up the dunes for a few hours of speed freak fun. My only regret is that it was the only day with mild enough wind that we could fly kites and I left them in the car. Ugh.






I stayed at the bottom of the dunes with Jazz. It's a bit too hard to take her up and she was mostly interested in the water anyway.

She wore her full body UV blocking suit that day and I can proudly say she came home with no sun burns at all. She was the only one of us. Each of the boys had a slight burns on the face from missing spots. I got a mild burn on the back of my neck. Goofy.