The Amazing Race Returns

I love the TV show The Amazing Race, as well as the game that Daddy and I invented. Happily, Mommy finally unpacked the game from our Washington, DC boxes and we got it out to play. I had to explain the rules to Mommy since she didn't know them. I then went on to defeat her a whole bunch of times. Hooray for me.

Of course, I realize that this game is more about luck than strategy. I'm starting to get an overall feel for which games require strategy and which only require luck. I like both types of games though.

When Daddy came home from work last night, we played it as well---and my luck held. I won all the games but one. When I would win, I'd do my happy winning spin move where I would spin around on my knees on the floor. Hooray for the Amazing Race.

Robot X Returns

This weekend, Daddy and I devised some adventures for Robot X. We got some new furniture from Bombay Company which came in a big box. I was able to acquire the box and use it as a spaceship for the adventure. Next, Daddy and I needed to turn ourselves into robots from the planet X. We made paper hats and then taped on aluminum foil antennae to the top of the hat. Putting on the hat and then making a machine-like voice made us robots. We then got into the spaceship and headed for Earth with a plan to "Destroy the Humanoids." (Robot X is rather single-minded.)

We were able to eventually locate the humanoid leader (Mommy) thanks to some coaxing of the plastic Diego figure and a threat to smelt him with our energy beam. Unfortunately for us, the leader of the humanoids was equipped with the dreaded kaleidoscope ray so we had to flee once we encountered her.

These were some of the best Robot X adventures ever.

Sandy the Squirrel

Lately, I've been enjoying the hiding games played by Sandy the squirrel. Sandy likes the key to my toy cash register. She hides it in various places around the house and then tells Mommy and Daddy where she's hidden it. I then have to ask for clues to figure out where the key is. Sometimes, I can figure out the clues like "He's a friend to the animals", "Treehouse", etc. (where the key was located in Diego's treehouse.

Other times it's harder like, "The key likes to be clean." "Sandy loves locomotion." Sandy likes to visit an island." and "Seeing the cranes on the island makes Sandy cranky." In this case, the key was hidden in the engine wash of my Thomas train set.

Being a detective is lots of fun.

Another Month, Another Birthday Party

On Sunday,I had a birthday party with my school and play friends. It was at a place called Picture Perfect Party. There was a great play area with a big inflatable slide, lots of dress up clothes, some vehicles, and tons of other stuff to do. While all of us were playing there was a lady from the place who took a bunch of pictures of us, some of them really cute.

Next, there was a box with a bunch of candy in it. Below the box were a whole bunch of ribbons, one of which opened the bottom of the box to let the candy pour out. I got a whole bunch of candy in the scrum under the box.

We also had yummy chocolate cake in the Cars theme, and I got lots of presents. It was a great party. To see the picture highlights, click here.

Christmas Evening 2006

Daddy took a bunch of pictures during Christmas dinner this past Christmas. Since he cannot bring himself to shoot photos with flash indoors in poor light, he used Nainnie's camera. Here are some highlights. Most of them are even better than the picture to the right.

Aidan the Dancer

As you know, I love to dance. We had a "glittery show" last night with a bunch of new songs loaded onto the iPod. As part of my dancing, I occasionally have Daddy take some photos. He doesn't like the way pictures look with flashes, so he rarely uses a flash. While that works out well in the outdoors during the day, it's a bit dcey at night. Anyway, the cover photo to this weblog entry is a low light shot taken in Washington, DC. Daddy thought the line was excellent in this picture. The picture is clickable to see it in big size.

Chicago

Daddy went to Chicago for the national economist meetings this January. As usual, he took a little time off (in this case, one morning) to see the city or, more accurately, to take pictures. Here are some highlights.

2 Days in DC

Just before we left our house in DC, Daddy took a couple of days off to actually see the city. As is Daddy's way, seeing involves taking a zillion photos. Here are some of the highlights. Daddy is especially proud of his orchid shots---in larger formats, the purple orchids with the water drops are outstanding.

Here's the link

Chick Hicks

It was rainy at the worst possible time last week---right after I just got my new green bike. Fortunately, things cleared up by Sunday, so Daddy and I went out for a ride. He rode his scooter while I rode my bike. We went to the now slideless "slide park" to ride around.

An aside: The slide park used to contain a slide and other play equipment. Somehow, this equipment was not "up to code" and so was removed. What is left is a kind of playground rubble---a concrete rectangle full of sand and debris with no stuff in it and a mound of dirt where a wooden climbing thing used to be.

Back to our story. After riding around for a bit, Daddy proposed a race between bike and scooter. Eventually, we morphed into characters from the movie Cars. He was The King while I was Lightning. A little bit later, I observed that, since my bike was green, it made sense for me to be Chick Hicks. Now Chick is not a very likable character in the movie and normally I wouldn't want to be him, but somehow it made sense for me to be him this time. We raced a whole bunch of times. Sometimes The King would get a big lead and then decide to visit his sponsor's tent in the middle of the race. He would only realize his mistake when a blur (me) zipped past on the way to victory. Racing is really fun.

My Bike

I rode my bike in the park accross the street today after school. I had one fall, on a turn coming off a small hill, but I got back on and rode some more. I liked riding in circles and ovals on the basketball court area! I *love* my green bike!

A Boy and his Bike

Today, I got a really cool two-wheel bike. It is a spectacular bright green color with black and silver accents. Even the seat is green! I love it! We had been investigating bicycles, but the ones we had seen before were boring blue or red. Then, today, we lucked into one that had just arrived at the store, and it was the color of my dreams! I am so excited. I couldn't ride it much today since it was dark when we got home, but I rode it a bit in the hall (the only day this will be allowed, I hear). When I got off, I was dancing down the hall practically clicking my heels together in the air. What a great day!

(I'm also including a photo of me on Superbowl Sunday. We had some friends over to watch the game and eat lots of snacks. I would have been more interested were my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers playing, but given my choices, I rooted for the Bears. Unfortunately, the team with the boring blue and white uniforms won. I did get a cool football balloon though, as did my friend, Roxy.)

Mount Vernon

After a long delay, Daddy has posted the best of the pictures we took at Mount Vernon. You can check them out here.

Where's my gun?

Are three words you hope you never hear being said by your local policeman. However, for Dieter and Horst, misplacing their gun is a continuing problem. Both of these figures have tiny little Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistols. They're very small and they sometimes fall out of the holster and then require searching around for. Dieter and Horst also use their guns creatively. For example, on Saturday, they decided to make "gun pancakes" by shooting open the pancake mix, then adding the usual ingredients, and cooking. Neither officer is exactly responsible when it comes to gun use or safety.

Art Work

Lately, I've been really excited about a particular art design I came up with. It consists of a rubber band painted to the center of the canvas with a rainbow running around and through the rubber band. I've made several of these including the one pictured here (a poor shot taken with a camera-phone), which is hanging in Daddy's office. I really like this design, and I intend to make lots and lots of them. My only worry is that my school might run out of rubber bands.