Aidan's Weblog

Rocketing off to heaven

2011-03-06T19:58:00.000-08:00

In Sunday school, they introduced the concept of Bible bucks. These are rewards you earn for memorizing various Bible verses. I've accumulated quite a lot of Bible bucks and finally decided to spend them on something. I got a water powered rocket. You fill the rocket with a little water and then pressurize it with air. When you release the pressure, the rocket flies high into the sky. In fact, it flew out of the yard on the first go. Fortunately, Mommy retrieved it before a car ran over it. It flies amazingly high!

Nerf Gun Wars

2011-03-06T19:55:00.001-08:00

This last couple of weekends, Daddy and I have been having Nerf gun battles out in the yard. These are super-exciting. I always make a point to choose the Nerf machine gun, so I have rapid fire capability. Daddy chooses the rifle and the pistols. The rifle is accurate but doesn't shoot as quickly. It's so exciting running around and trying to get a good shot in. Daddy is so fast that it's difficult to get a good shot when he's on the run. Better to wait until he's still or surprise him. Nerf guns are awesome!

Card Tricks

2011-03-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

I got a library book filled with card tricks this week. On Friday night, Mommy went out to a fancy dinner, so it was guys' night. Rather than reading stories, we decided to have a magic show. Daddy figured out the tricks from the book and taught several of them to me. Then, on Saturday morning, I tried the mind reading trick on Mommy---it worked perfectly. I love magic.

Hot Wheels Long Jump

2011-03-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

This weekend, we rediscovered an old classic--Hot Wheels Long Jump. This is an amazing racecourse where cars have to jump over a city (!) to make it around the track. We've had a bunch of competitions and surprisingly, Mater won one of the championships!

Bible Project Update

2011-03-06T15:18:00.000-08:00

We've now finished with the history of the kings of Israel. It was a huge surprise that Israel was defeated and sent off to Babylon. I really hope they make a comeback. We just started on the book of Ezra and things are starting to look up, but we'll have to see. The Bible is sooooo interesting. It's my favorite bedtime reading.

Celebi celebration

2011-03-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

Today, Pokemon Black/White goes on sale. To get people (like me) even more excited about this event, local Gamestop stores are running a Celebi celebration. If you bring your DS and Pokemon games into the store, then they beam the legendary Pokemon Celebi onto each cartridge. Now Celebi is extremely rare, in fact you cannot catch him in the wild, so I was super excited about this. A few weeks ago, Celebis were available in San Jose, but this was too far to persuade my parents to drive. Fortunately, Gamestop is not all the far away.

Anyway, I'm so happy to have Celebi. When I got home, I took out one of my Pokemon games and took Celebi to the forest shrine in Ilex. There, a time travel event was triggered, and I got to defeat the head of Team Rocket three years BEFORE the Pokemon adventure even started. Time travel is really mind blowing.

Talent Show

2011-03-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

The talent show is only a couple of weeks away. We're busy rehearsing each week. This year, I'm doing "Soak up the Sun" by Sheryl Crow. I changed some the lyrics so they are more meaningful to me and other third graders. For instance, the first verse of the original song goes: "My friend the Communist holds meetings in his RV. I can't afford his gas, so I'm stuck here watching TV." My version is:

My friend from Alamo. He likes to go to movies. I can't afford to go, so I'm stuck here playing Wii.

It's a fun song to sing. I really like it.

Odyssey

2011-02-28T22:29:00.001-08:00

This past Saturday was Odyssey of the Mind. This was the first year we were competing for prizes, so I was all charged up. We had to make a Rube Goldberg device, so the team came up with a clever idea. Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, wanted a new perfume sprayer, so Artemis and Hermes went down to Earth to find an inventor to make one for her. It was so successful that they decided to tell the world about it. My job was to be the media guy. I created a video ad using my camera and tripod as well as a magazine ad for the product, the Perfumer3000. I even made up a website and 800 number. (Must be 18 years or older to order.)

The device itself consisted of a tennis ball rolled down a tube into a suspended crystal ball. The tennis ball would knock the crystal ball like a pendulum. It would then hit a water balloon, which would fall thereby lifting up some rubber tubing causing water to spray out. At least that was the theory. Unfortunately, we never got to run the device since we ran out of time in the presentation. That was a big disappointment. So we came away with no medals.

In good news, we had a party at our house afterward and got to eat a lovely chocolate cake.

Blue and Gold

2011-02-28T22:25:00.001-08:00

This Friday we had the annual blue and gold dinner at Cub Scouts. It was a Hawaii theme, so I was decked out in my shell leis. I also got my trophy for coming first in the pinewood derby. I really like getting trophies, but I was a little disappointed in this one. For one thing, it wasn't as big as I would have liked. In fact, it was no bigger than the participant trophies. Also, they misspelled my name on the trophy. It lists "Aiden Morgan" as the first prize recipient. Still, I had fun. I also won a solar powered flashlight in the raffle.

Duck Island

2011-02-11T22:06:00.000-08:00

I had a bath last night. Now baths are okay. I still don't like washing my hair, but I can live with it. The best part is doing fun stuff in the tub. Anyway, yesterday I made this duck island. Since the washcloth was pretty dry, I found that it floated like an island. I put some ducks on it and had them float around. I was so excited that I called Mom and Dad in to have a look and shoot a picture. This was really cool. The ducks floated on the island for a long time.

Markets

2011-02-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

Every month we have a market day in school. On this day, kids are free to bring stuff to sell in exchange for tickets, a sort of currency in our class. Today, I brought in lemonade to sell. To get people interested, I set the price really low at first, only 5 tickets. Then, when I got word of mouth out about how good the lemonade was, I ended my "sale" period and raised the price to 10, then 20, and finally 50 tickets per cup. I sold out completely and made a boatload of money. So what did I buy with this newfound cash? Well, one of my classmates was selling her stuffed peregine falcon. I got him for only 50 tickets. I also got a pair of toy cars for just 10 tickets each. I got some silly bandz for 1 ticket each. SinceI don't care much for silly bandz, my plan is to "flip" them next time since they usually sell for about 5 tickets. I love the market.

Investments

2011-02-10T18:54:00.000-08:00

This weekend Mom and I went to Target and I made some additional investments in my plush Pokemon collection. They had several cool stuffies that were so cute I couldn't resist them. Of course, my first instinct was to ask Mom if she'd buy them for me. She reminded me that I had my own money, so I plunked down cash to bring home the cuties. I'm glad I did.

Chinese Food

2011-02-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

I took out a book on Chinese cooking from the library so I could learn more about how to make Chinese food. This week Mom and I have been making different recipes. I really like helping to prepare the meals. We made fried wontons stuffed with pork and ginger. We also made long life noodles with prawns. Tonight we're making spring rolls. Homemade Chinese food is delicious--even better than the stuff in the restaurants.

The Bible Project: Update

2011-02-07T20:41:00.001-08:00

We're making great progress in reading the Bible. It's so cool and exciting. We just finished 2nd Samuel this morning. Right now, David is the king of Israel. He's had so many adventures: dealing with Saul, switching sides and joining the Philistines, switching sides again to Judah, dealing with his son Absalom taking over. Just amazing.

Sailing

2011-02-07T20:35:00.000-08:00

Saturday wss a perfect day for sailing, so we went off to Walnut Creek for a paper regatta. We made 6 boats: The Tide, The Fire, The Bee, The Yoshi Egg, The Rainbow, and The Leaf. Each boat had a different flag. One had a Japanese flag while the others had custom original flags that I made up. Each boat also had a driver. Some of the drivers included Archie the Artichoke, Alien, Sammy the Snake, and Rapunzel. Off they went down the stream. There was a nice current and some wind so the boats went on lots of adventures. The fire got sutck on the opposite bank, but some helpful ducks made enough splashes nearby to set it free. It was awesome.

Pinewood Derby

2011-02-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

Just over a week ago, the Pinewood Derby was held. My chief mechanic (Mom) and I worked to build the fastest car ever. It is the gold one in the picture above. We worked very hard for maximum speed. We sanded the wheels (one of them melted and we had to get a replacement), polished the axles, and put all sorts of weights toward the back of the car to just hit the weight limit. Within my bear pack, I won a couple of races and came in second as well. That got me to the overall finals where I competed against the best cars from the whole troop. My car finished first in the finals--I was the fastest overall car at the derby! Now, it's on to the Blackhawk 500, the regional pinewood event. I am speed!

Lemonade Stand

2011-02-07T19:19:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful weekend this weekend, sunny and in the 70s. A perfect time to open my first lemonade stand of 2011. On SAturday night, Daddy and I went out and bought lemons and cups. We got up early on Sunday and made our first batch, then set up shop on the corner to attract people going to church, walkers, joggers, and bicyclists. I ramped up the marketing a couple of ways. First, I made three signs to place around the neighborhood advertising the stand. Then, I put on my Hines Ward shirt and got out my two football helmets to tie in to "Super Bowl Style" lemonade. I had a lot of good sales pitches. Some of the best were: Stock up now for your Super Bowl party. Lemonade. It's super delicious. I also talked about how it was fresh squeezed and homemade.

Business was brisk. I sold 2 and a half pitchers---about 35 cups. I made about 30 bucks too. I'm really motivated to raise money since Nintendo is bringing out the 3DS protable platform at the end of March. It features a 3D screen that doesn't even need special glasses to produce 3D effects. It also works with my DS games. Unfortunately, it costs $250, so it's pretty expensive. I've set aside mooney for the 3DS fund, including my lemonade money.

Division

2011-01-04T22:15:00.000-08:00

Back to school. I hate going back. I wish my break could last forever. To make matters worse, math has just gotten twice as tough (multiplication) and I only have half as much time to play as before (division). We're now doing division in addition to multiplication. I don't know why they pose problems that are IMPOSSIBLE in school.

Blech!

My Cake

2011-01-01T17:56:00.000-08:00

I mentioned that my cake was chocolate, but that was only the beginning. It was a Nascar themed cake with two cars on top and a yellow and black checkered flag pattern on top. In addition to looking cool, it tasted awesome!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2011-01-01T17:54:00.000-08:00

I turned 9 recently. While I didn't have a formal birthday party, it was a great day. My friends Chris and Jake came over. We played video games, went to Chuck E. Cheese and had...chcoloate cake. I got a lot of cool stuff for my birthday too including the Pokepark game, which I've spent a lot of time playing.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T17:52:00.000-08:00

When you live on the east coast, you have to wait until midnight for the ball to come down in Times Square. Out west, it happens at 9pm, right in time for my bedtime. The whole family celebrated an early new year on the east coast by popping the champagne early. Daddy made the cork zing off the ceiling and bounce around the room. I myself am partial to apple juice.

Happy new year!

History of the San Ramon Valley

2010-12-12T10:25:00.000-08:00

One project we have for social studies is learning about the history of where we live, the San Ramon Valley. Last weekend, we visited a Livorna Park to learn something about parks. We also visited an indian settlement area as well as an old cemetery to see the graves of some of the early settlers of the region. This weekend, we visited a museum that explains the history of railroading, cattle ranching, as well as prehistoric creatures that lived in the area.

One of the coolest things was a big train layout in the museum. They had an old Lionel train and lots of old school presents in the center of the room about ranching. I got to see an old baby Brownie camera complete with (used) flash bulbs. Cameras sure have changed a lot over the years.

The Bible Project

2010-12-12T10:09:00.000-08:00

As you know, all of the 3rd graders got Bibles from the church. This led to "the Bible Project", an attempt to read the entire thing (except for the super boring parts about all the begats). We went through the books of Joshua and Judges and then decided to double back to the beginning to get some background on all the people and places in the land of Canaan. So we're still in the book of Genesis at the moment.

This project has been going on for some time, but I abandoned it for a while since the Bible never seemed as interesting as reading about Chester Cricket. But I realized that, even though I never think of the Bible as being all the interesting, it really is quite exciting. Yesterday, we finished up the story of Abraham. (How could God have asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac? It makes no sense.) We then covered Isaac and now we're reading about Jacob. The Abraham/Isaac/Jacobites sure are a tricky bunch. They're always pulling off clever deceptions. My only problem with these stories is that God is not busy producing any miracles. I like it when he's more involved. But stay tuned. More miracles are coming.

Play Date...Hooray

2010-11-24T21:33:00.000-08:00

Since I have the week off from school, I've been having a lot of play dates. Today, my friend Chris came over. One of the highlights of the evening was a dance party. We turned on the fireplace, fired up the iPod, and got out props for some dancing excitement. We dressed as football players, complete with uniforms and helmets. We dressed as baseball players. (I was on both the A's and the Diamondbacks). We pulled out the Wii guitars and pretended to be rock stars. Naturally, we got out some stuffies as dance partners. It was super cool.

Outback

2010-11-24T21:29:00.000-08:00

Last night, I went on a date with Mom to Outback (Dad's back was killing him, so he didn't go). They have the best bread in the whole world. I cut off a piece for Dad and wrapped it in plastic so he could enjoy some of the goodness too. I also had Macaroo with Cheese. What a great restaurant!

Pika Pika

2010-11-23T21:19:00.000-08:00

This weekend, I did a repeat performance of my Halloween costume for Daddy. He was away in the east for Halloween, so he didn't get to see me live in my costume. I did some classic Pikachu poses including thunderbolt and volt tackle. Above, I'm in my volt tackle pose. Mommy wants you to pay special attention to my cool tail, which she made. It's an awesome tail, but is a bit difficult to get around in.

Super Jump Racing

2010-11-23T21:16:00.000-08:00

Recently, we added a new series to our Hot Wheels racing championships. Previously, we had classic gravity racing. In that form, cars have to go through a loop, then make a jump and continue driving as far as they can. We've also done sveral types of drag racing including the super short and fast 4 lane racing as well as low and high gravity drag racing. Anyway, the new series is super jump racing. The cars, powered by gravity, go down a big hill to a ramp where they do a jump. The car going furthest wins.

In the photo above are the four winners. The gold car is the indoor champ while the other 3 won outdoor series. In the outdoor one, the cars drive from the top of my play structure, so it's a biiiiig hill. The overall champion is the yellow 21 car, a Ferrari.

Trophies

2010-11-23T21:12:00.000-08:00

A week ago, we finished the soccer season. Despite a specatcular run, my team, the Celtic, managed to finish fourth (we lost in both the semis and the consolation match). But this was still good enough to earn everyone on the team a trophy. I also got a participation trophy (the one with the soccer ball) as well. I love trophies. They're so golden and shiny and make me feel proud for how hard I worked at soccer. I improved a whole lot and am looking forward to next season.

Rats

2010-11-23T21:09:00.000-08:00

This week we are babysitting our class rats, Pippi and Squeaky. They are both pretty young and extrmely cute. I like to give them lots of fresh veggies--carrots, mushrooms, celery, and so on. Mom and Dad let them crawl on their arms and shoulders but I don't like their claws on me too much, so I prefer to watch them and pet them, but not pick them up. They're sooooo cute!

Reflections

2010-11-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

Each year, there is a contest across all the schools in the area called Reflections. The idea is to express a theme through some sort of creative arts. They can be drawing, painting, video, music composition, or photography. Last year, I competed in photography, won in my school, but finished second at the regionals. This year's theme was "Together we can..." For a long time, I didn't think I wanted to enter, but decided to try at the last minute. I combed through my photographs and found several that I thought were pretty good. My favorite was a picture of a leaf surrounded by water droplets on the top of Daddy's car after a rainstorm. I also submitted a picture of some bridges Daddy and I built out of paper one weekend. This was one of his crazy experiments where the job was to design a bridge that can hold the most toy cars without collapsing.

I had good luck this year--I was the only entrant in the photography category in my school, so I knew I was going to win. The judges selected the bridges picture over the leaf, probably because it was more consistent with the theme. We'll see how I do at regionals.

The List

2010-11-10T09:45:00.001-08:00

When Daddy was flying back from the east coast, he came up with the idea of "The List." The List is a list of all the many fun games we've played in the past. It helps to remind me of fun things we have not done in a while, so we don't end up doing the same things all the time. I love the list. The first thing that we did, which we had not done since forever, was to play a game of Deal or No Deal. Daddy even made some custom Deal or No Deal cards using index cards for a more realistic version of the game.

We also had our second stuffy mayoral election. You might recall that Fish surprisingly won the first election on a law and order ticket. His idea was to arm all of the stuffed animals with guns so that criminals would be deterred. He tried to run again on this platform, but it didn't work out this time. Our voting system was a runoff system. Six stuffies competed in the first round with the two highest vote-getters competing in the finals for the mayor position. The first round winners were Pikachu, who ran on the platform that every stuffy should have a pet Pokemon, and Bee, who ran on the return to normalcy platform. They defeated Piggy, who ran on fiscal sanity, Ray (a stingray), who proposed water parks, Fish, and Parrot, who ran on a gun control platform.

In the final round, Pikachu prevailed by a vote count of 25-21 over Bee. Apparently, the stuffies though return to normalcy was a boring platform.

Here's The List:

Card Games
Poker
Uno
Deal or no Deal
Card Sharks
Blackjack
Trump Game
Go Boom
Word Card Games
Pokemon Card Game

Board Games
Klutz book games
Backgammon
Risk
Monopoly
Parcheesi
Chess
Sheboygan
Pictionary
Sorry
Axis & Allies
Othello
Pente

Miscellaneous Games
Dominos
Dungeons & Dragons
Marbles
Jenga
Tiddeley Winks
Stuffy Elections
Stuffy Stories
Pass the Pigs
Let’s Make a Deal
Romans and Barbarians

Sports Games
Strat O Matic
Balloon baseball
Hall Ball
Boxing
Sword Fighting
Football plays
Golf – putting
Golf – targets
Vibrating Football
Pick ‘Em
Fantasy Sports
Tiddley Winks Baseball

Racing Games
Gravity Racing
4 Lane Racing
Figure 8 raceway/prediction
Car distance jumping
R/C Car Racing

Wii Games
MLB2k8
Madden
PE Soccer
Wii Sports
Wii Sports Resort
Wii Fit
Boom Blox
Smash Bros
Pikmin
Mario Kart
Super Mario Bros

PC Games
Sim City
Need for Speed
Crazy Machines

Experiments
Bridge Building
Parachute/airplane jumping
Air rockets – distance/time in air
Predict the urn
Rube Goldberg Devices
Simulators

Outdoors
Spaghetti ball catch
Home run derby
Scooter riding
Army Man Wars
Frisbee
Croquet
Bocce
Tennis
Foot racing
Football practice
Soccer – penalty kicks
Treasure Hunt
Kite Flying
Visit Berkeley
Visit SF
Downtown – Farmers Mkt
Swimming
Hot Tub
Amazing Race

Arts
Photo shoot
Scrapbook
Pokemon drawing
Painting
Dance Party
Comic Book Making

Pikachu

2010-11-10T09:40:00.001-08:00

This year was another great one for Halloween. We had nice weather and, best of all, I got to be Pikachu. Pikachu, you might recall, is the cutest Pokemon. Mommy made my Pikachu outfit. My tail is a combination of coat hangers and felt while the stripes on my shirt are also hand made. One of Pikachu's best moves is iron tail. My coat hanger tail accidentally did this move in real life as well. A couple of people got banged with the tail including me! It's hard to sit when you have a big tail.

I went trick or treating with my gang of close friends: Chris, Katie, and Jake. We made quite a haul. I have two large bags of candy, all of which I actually like. (I carefully study the possibilities when selecting from baskets on Halloween.)

Candy, friends, and Pokemon--Halloween is one of the best holidays.

Playoffs

2010-11-10T09:28:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, my soccer team, the Celtics, won both our playoff games. The second game was played in a driving rainstorm. In fact, they closed the soccer field immediately after the game. While I always wanted to play soccer in the rain, having now done so, I'm not eager to do it again. My long wet hair kept dripping into my eyes, which was no fun.

Despite missing our regular goalkeeper, our substitute let in only a single goal over both games. Our victory means we're going to the semifinals and will finish in the top 4 in the league no matter how we do. We were supposed to go to Arizona this coming weekend, but I don't want to let my team down, so that trip has been cancelled so I can help the team try to get to the finals and win the league.

Soccer is so exciting, but I'm really feeling the pressure in these playoff games.

Bible

2010-10-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

From Aidan's Weblog

A couple of weeks ago, all the third graders got Bibles at church. I thought it looked cool since it has a nice leather cover and silver embossing on the edges of all the pages, but I didn't think it would be all that interesting to read. Well, daddy decided to read Joshua as part of bedtime stories. I have to say, it's pretty interesting. Joshua, with the help of God, has all sorts of tricks to conquer the land of Canaan. We've now moved on to Judges. I wish the Israelites would stop screwing up by worshiping Baal.

Spelling Words

2010-10-08T22:34:00.000-07:00

This was an easy week for spelling. We only had 12 words, and they were ones I knew. One of the exercises we have to do is to come up with sentences using the words. Here was my sentence:

Am I dotty or is that cat playing a violin?

The spelling word was "dotty." Mom and Dad got a big kick out of that sentence. I also have to write stories. My stories tend to have a dark edge to them. One of my most recent involved a husband and wife who lived alone on a mountain. They hated everything and everyone. When they house burned down, they were happy for the destruction. But they got their comeuppance. They wandered to close to an active volcano and in they fell. Volcanoes and lava play a big role in many of my stories.

Game Scarf

2010-10-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

Each week in soccer, the coach awards the game scarf to the outstanding player of the game. Well, two games ago I got the scarf for my stalwart defense. The scarf, by the way, commemorates a "friendly" match between the San Jose Earthquakes and the Tottenham Hotspurs. Oddly, when I first brought the scarf home, Daddy immediately recongnized the symbol for Tottenham but not San Jose.

Outside the box

2010-09-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

As you know, I rarely like the straightforward answer to questions. Instead, I prefer to try to think up unusual answers. Now, not everyone likes this approach, but my teach this year sure does. She made a big point of saying how refreshing is that I think "outside the box." Now, the question is, what exactly is the box?

Soccer

2010-09-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

I'm in Mustang soccer this fall. My team in the Celtics. Happily, we are undefeated this year. While I play defense, there are a number of bigger boys on offense who are amazingly fast and powerful. Winning is excellent!

Cooking

2010-09-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

Homework this year is really different than in the past. This year, some of my homework involves following recipes and cooking things. My favorite homework assignment is fudge cooking. I love fudge.

Another odd thing is that I have to keep track of the cycles of the moon. Each night, I go out into the backyard to make my observations about the phase of the moon. I write this in my notebook to keep a record.

Victory!

2010-09-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

At long last, victory is at hand in my Pokemon game. After about two weeks of battling against the elite four and Lance, the grand champion, I finally managed to prevail (with Daddy's help). I was so happy, I could hardly sleep. I jumped up and down like it was Christmas morning. Hooray for Typhlosion--my best Pokemon.

First Day of School

2010-08-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

...is no fun. I'd much rather be playing and doing what I want to do, not what somebody else makes me do. We even had homework on the VERY FIRST DAY. Yuck.

Let's Go Oakland

2010-08-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

Sigh. The last weekend before school starts. I don't look forward to school, but at least we did something super cool. It turned out my friends family had extra tickets to the A's-Rays game and they gave them to us. Great seats--above the visitors dugout three rows back. It was a very exciting game. Brett Anderson pitched against David Price. Both pitchers were good, and the A's had a 3-2 lead going into the 8th. In the 8th, the A's put in Craig Breslow in relief and he stank. He gave up a 2 run homer and the Rays closed it out with a 4-3 win.

Still, it was very exciting. I especially like to start cheering "Let's Go Oak-Land" and get other people to cheer along. We had some luck with this though it was tough because there were a bunch of Rays fans in the seats surrounding ours. Baseball is so much more exciting in person than on TV.

Check out the photo album here.

Field of Flags

2010-08-20T19:29:00.001-07:00

For the final day of Kids Love Soccer, each of us was asked to make and bring a flag of some country so we could have an international soccer tourney. I painted a big flag of Italia and wore my Gianluca Buffon jersey to the game. Buffon is the keeper for the Italian national team. I acquired the jersey when I was in Venice. It was a great game, and I played my usual solid defense. The coaches think I'm a very effective defenseman.

Pokemon

2010-08-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been obsessed with Pokemon. It all started in Denmark when I got a stuffed Pikachu. I think he's my favorite stuffy right now. Then I got interested in all sorts of Pokemon things. I got a game for the Wii and a much more delux game for the DS. In fact, the DS game comes with a Pokewalker, a little device that measures your footsteps so that you can give your pet Pokemon some exercise (they walk when you walk).

My friend Jake came over yesterday and we had a blast playing pretend Pokemon adventures with the stuffies and the action figures. I also have appointment viewing---every day at 8am, the Pokemon cartoon show is on TV. I try never to miss it.

Spud

2010-08-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

This Sunday, we did our church play "From Acorns to Oaks." I had the role of Spud, the farm foreman. I had several lines and a short solo as well. Everyone remarked about my amazing energy. My favorite line was when I sprayed (pretend) weed killer on the "rumor weeds."

Hasta la vista...weeds!

I had a great time doing the play. By the way, some lucky readers will receive DVDs of my performance in the mail.

Kids Love Soccer...

2010-08-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

but maybe not this much. I signed up for a soccer camp this week called Kids Love Soccer. While I really like soccer, the camp runs for 4 hours each day. In addition, my soccer league, Mustang Soccer, starts this week also, so I have 2 hour practices on Monday and Wednesday.

While I love soccer, this is ridiculous.

Food Challenge

2010-08-01T20:37:00.001-07:00

While I was at the Lair, my team won several "food challenges." I got to enjoy the show "Survivor" in the spring, and there, the teams often competed for food. At the Lair, they serve food, but sometimes it is yucky salmon, so I am grateful for real food like Golden Burgers (cheeseburgers). As a result of my team's winning several events in the 8-9 years old battles, I managed to get several food challenges. Hooray for cheese!

Cartoon Shoes

2010-08-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

My Daddy has worn a variety of shoes that Iconsider to be boring. But these are the worst. He looks "cartoony" in these shoes. In fact, if they were brown, he'd look like the character Mario. He had (slightly) better sneakers, but they wore out while we were at the Lair of the Golden Bear. So he pulled these out. Blech. We're going to Target so I can help him pick out some better ones.

Stuffy Yearbook

2010-07-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

Daddy and I are working on a big project. We're making a class yearbook for my stuffies. We've already shot a number of class portraits as well as doing various shots for field trips. For instance, we've got several shots of stuffies on a field trip to Denmark. We're putting it all together in a photobook on Shutterfly, so that, at the end, we'll have a real printed out stuffy yearbook. It's so cool!

Knights

2010-07-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

We went swimming at our next door neighbor's house on Saturday. I spent much of that time with Patrick (my neighbor) and Daddy playing a really fun game--the Knights of the Snack Table. We met a Paradise Falls, a small waterfall that is part of the filter system of the pool, to determine which quests to go on. Daddy was Sir Cumference, Patrick was Sir Loin of Beef, and I was Knight Yoshi (Daddy wanted to call me Sir Plus, but I didn't like that knight name.) We went on the quest for the flowers of youth. One sniff of these flowers makes you 20 years younger. I didn't want to sniff since I would be negative 12 years old! We also made a quest to the Circle of Wisdom (the jacuzzi). Knights ask each other questions in the Circle of Wisdom so that all can become wiser. This was a really fun game.

Electric

2010-07-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been obsessed with the Electric Company. Not the new show, which I don't especially like, but the old one from the 1970s. It's such a funny show where lots of silly things happen. I was interested in it a few years ago when Daddy bought it, but it's even better now that I can read everything.

Here's one of my favorite bits: The Adventures of Letter Man. In one episode, someone was playing a horn; however, the evil spellbinder changed the "h" in horn into a "c", turning the horn into corn. Now the person was playing corn! Letter man fixed the situation and said that the person had a good ear for music.

Pikachu

2010-07-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been in love with Pikachu. I got a cool Pokemon game and, when I went to Denmark, I spotted a cool Pikachu stuffy. He's now one of my favorites.

Tivoli

2010-07-21T17:48:00.000-07:00

There is a cool amusement park in downtown Copenhagen called Tivoli. It has many amazing rides. Best of all, it's open really late. We saw fireworks at 1130 one night since sunset comes really late so near to the North Pole.

Nudes

2010-07-21T17:46:00.001-07:00

When we went to Denmark, we went to lots of art museums. I really like art, but I have to say, seeing naked men is really funny. Every time I'd see their "equipment", I'd laugh and laugh. Somehow, naked women are not nearly as amusing.

Some Great Things About June

2010-06-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

1. No school for half of it.
2. No homework in June--teacher gives us this month off.
3. Warm weather. Can wear shorts every day.
4. Swimming in the club, especially using the hot tub.

Comics

2010-06-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been making a lot of comics. I got a game called WarioWare DIY. Unlike most games, where the main point is playing the game, in this game, the point is building the games. In fact, this "game" is actually a suite of programs for making games, music, and comics---essentially a lightweight object oriented programming language (according to Daddy. I don't know what that is. I only know it's fun.)

Anyway, my comics have mostly been about battles between heroes and evil black goo with fangs. Here's one strip (4 panels): 1. Goo covers the city. 2. It starts eating the buildings with its fangs. 3. Hordes of "clone" heroes descend from the sky and squish the goo flat as a pancake. 4. The city is saved.

I like to share my stuff too. You can upload games and comics so that anyone else with a DSi and this game can check it out.

Play

2010-06-02T21:02:00.000-07:00

Did my play last week. As you know, I was the golden goose in Jack and the Beanstalk. The play went really well. One parent said it was the best 2nd grade production she'd ever seen. We all got a bonus score from our music teacher for the quality of the production. Everyone told me I did a good job. I tried to sing in a really cool and interesting way. I used lots of vocal tricks. It was lots of fun. Some of you will be lucky enough to get a DVD of my performance. Watch your mail!

Lemonade Stand

2010-06-01T17:39:00.001-07:00

On Memorial Day, we ran a special holiday lemonade stand. We used our usual "secret" recipe. I made a big sign advertising and would let passers by know that lemonade was for sale. We ended up selling through two pitchers of lemonade. I made about 10 bucks.

Parachutes

2010-06-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

In another of our science projects, we discovered the art of making parachutes on Saturday. For this project, we cut parachutes out of pieces of paper and then dropped them from off of my play structure. We kept a stopwatch and a notepad to time how long each took to fall. I thought up the idea that we should have some "controls" as well. The controls are regular pieces of paper with nothing done to them. We then replicated the results inside using a stepladder so as to take wind out of the equation. Here's what we learned:

1. The control works pretty well. It was better than all but three of our designs.
2. Circles with scalloped edges work better than glider-like shapes.
3. The wind actually made things fall faster rather than slower. (To determine this, we calculated the height from which we dropped things inside and outside. We had the time from the stopwatch, and speed is height/time).

Bridges

2010-06-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend we did something really cool. We designed bridges made completely out of paper. Daddy set up 2 Lego stanchions 15" apart and announced that the job was to build a bridge to connect them. We engineers tubes out of paper to form support columns, the underbed for the road, and cross-braces. We then kept adding cars to see how many toy cars the bridge could hold before it collapsed. In the first round, Daddy's bridge won. But in round 2, my bridge won. At the time Daddy's collapsed, it was holding about 4 pounds of cars on the roadbed.

My Birthday Party

2010-05-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

As you know, I was born in December. But it's always a crazy time with Christmas and New Year's. So I usually have a birthday party with my kid friends later. Well, this year, it was a LOT later--about 5 months later in fact. We had a party at my house on Saturday. The Noah's Ark woman came and we made stuffies together. I made Rector the Racoon. We also had a pinata in the backyard. I was lucky enough to strike the massive blow that broke it open and spilled out all the candy. It was a great party.

Golden Goose

2010-05-27T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today is my dress rehearsal for the Jack and the Beanstalk play we're doing at school. I play the role of the goose that lays the golden eggs. Mom just completed my goose outfit. Last week, she made the golden eggs. So I'm all set. My part even features a solo!

Happy Flower Day

2010-05-01T18:41:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, we decided to do something fun and new for dinner. Daddy grilled out but we wanted to have a theme. I chose flower day. We got a bouquet of flowers, and I made napkin rings with flowers on them. I also made a giant flower in chalk on our patio. We sat around the flower and had a toast.

To Flower Day!

Dancing under the Stars

2010-05-01T18:39:00.001-07:00

We did something really fun last Saturday--Dancing under the Stars. We ate out that night and then stayed out (it was a mild night) to have a dance party under the stars. Daddy brought out his ipod and speakers, and we danced to all sorts of songs. I cannot wait to do this again.

Domino rescue

2010-05-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

Daddy and I played a fun game this past weekend, Domino rescue. The idea is that Yoshi and Princess Peach are separated. You need to create a domino reaction (usually across water) to reunite them. Sometimes it's very tricky to balance dominos on islands in the water. It's super fun thinking up and solving challenges.

Tryouts

2010-05-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

This week was tryouts for a play our class is doing, Jack and the Beanstalk. I want to be the goose that lays the golden eggs. The goose has an excellent solo song. Wish me luck, I hope I get the part.

Flag Football

2010-05-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

I did really well in flag football last Sunday. In a practice scrimmage, I took one run into the end zone, fending off the defender with my patented stiff arm move. In the real game, I did a lot of blitzing. I got to the QB a couple of times and blew up a couple of plays. I also almost made a pick.

Blackhawk 500

2010-05-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, the Yoshi-mobile competed in the Blackhawk 500. This is the Cub Scout Pinewood derby race for the winners of the various packs. I was in the Wolf class along with about 15 other cars. I did pretty well. I won one heat, finished second in two others (and third in the last heat). Sadly, I didn't win a trophy though. Maybe next year.

Dr. Seuss

2010-04-04T13:49:00.001-07:00

For Dr. Seuss week, we had to come up with our own book based on his work. We also had to illustrate the cover of our book. Above is what I came up with.

Talent Show

2010-04-03T15:34:00.000-07:00

Last week, we had our talent show. If you'll recall, I've been in talent show since kindergarten. That year, I did "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". Last year, I did the Lion Song. This year was the most deluxe talent show extravaganza yet. I did "Yellow Submarine" backed by my friends Katie, Grady, and Colby. Mom built us a big yellow submarine prop, and we all dressed as sailors. I did a great job singing the song beautifully. I even did the little call and refrain part in the last verse with a little English accent and a crazy laugh:

As we live a life of ease
Every one of us [Every on of us]
Has all he needs [Has all he needs]
Sky of blue [Sky of blue]
And sea of green [sea of green]
In our yellow [In our yellow]
Submarine [Submarine, ah-ha!]

We all live in a Yellow Submarine!

Sound is Vibration

2010-04-03T15:30:00.000-07:00

In science, we learned how sound works. It turns out that sound is caused by vibrations in the air, sort of like ripples in water. Hard to believe since you can't really see the air. We made an instrument that vibrated and this caused it to make sounds. How the heck can sound be vibration?

Flower

2010-04-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

We're learning about the parts of plants in school. To learn more about this, we made flowers. But not the usual kind, this flower is accurate. It has several stamens and a pistil too. As well as the all important (red) petals. Flowers are quite interesting.

Prizes!

2010-04-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

A little postscript on the fun day at the club. After acquiring tickets, you can swap them for prizes. I swapped 20 tickets for this guy--a duck in sheep's clothing. He's so cute.

Donkeys versus Ponies

2010-04-03T15:02:00.000-07:00

Today at the club was a special Easter holiday fun day. They had 3 bounce houses, pony rides, a petting zoo, and a "midway" where you can win tickets for prizes. They also had a buffet featuring corn dogs as well as various kinds of boring adult food. Here are the highlights:

1. Ponies versus donkeys: They had both pony and donkey rides. At first, I was confused and called the donkey a camel. Mom was shocked--a camel ride? Of course, when she saw what I identified as a camel, we both laughed because I got donkeys and camels confused. Anyway, a donkey is a much smoother ride than a pony. The pony bounces up and down when he walks. I had to hold onto the pommel with both hands. The donkey offers a smooth ride--like the TSX. I would occasionally raise both my hands and yell "Yee haw" during the ride.

2. Speed basketball is super fun. Here, you have 30 seconds to make as many baskets as you can. There are 2 side by side baskets, so you're competing against another player for high score. My best game got me 10 tickets. I made 11 baskets including 1 at the buzzer for a 3 point shot--final score = 23.

3. Bounce parachute. In addition to the usual types of bounce houses, there was a bounce parachute ride. Here, you go inside a bouncy tube and strap on your parachute. The house then inflates up really high lifting you up in the air so that you're almost as high as the roof of the club! Then it slowly deflates as you parachute back down to the ground.

4. Petting zoo: Lots of cool animals in the petting zoo including miniature goats and pigs, bunnies, and some very fluffy chickens.

This was super fun.

Paragraph

2010-04-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

A good paragraph is like a burger. The topic and closing sentences are like the bun while the supporting sentences are the "meat" (on in my case the veggie since I don't like meat burgers). At school, we're supposed to use the "burger principle" to make a good paragraph. Here's the paragraph I wrote.

99.98% of things are solids, liquids, or gases. Ice is a solid. Water is a liquid. Vapor is a gas. Solids, liquids, and gases are everywhere.

(Sidenote: The 99.98% figure is a "statistic" that Daddy made up. Apparently some things are plasma, which are not solid, liquid or gas.)

Super Speller

2010-04-03T14:56:00.001-07:00

This week, I was a super speller. I got 22 out of 22 right on my spelling test including such tricky words as "proofread", "cartoon", and "rhyme." My teacher wrot my score using a bright yellow marker and conferred on me the title "super speller". Yay!

Odyssey

2010-03-01T09:37:00.001-08:00

On Saturday, we did our Odyssey of the Mind performance. The theme was to create a party celebrating something unusual. As part of the theme, we had to create unusual noisemakers as well. I came up with the idea that we celebrate the thumb since it's a very important finger. The judges thought this was very creative.

One difficulty in the lead-up to the event was that I kept getting into fights about which lines to say. (I didn't like some of the lines.) Fortunately, it all came together in the performance. I was my usual professional self (when not practicing) and things went really well.

Trophy

2010-02-27T21:39:00.000-08:00

Last night was the blue and gold dinner at Cub Scouts. It was a night for recognizing lots of achievements including Pinewood Derby. The highlight for me was getting the 2nd place trophy. I loved getting it. When it was presented to me, I turned to look at all the other scouts, hoisted the trophy high in the air, and then pressed it to my lips giving it a kiss. I was so happy!

Badminton

2010-02-23T11:44:00.001-08:00

Badminton, originally uploaded by Beckywithasmile.

This weekend we put up the badminton net and played in the yard. I really like badminton. One of the things we try to do is see how long we can keep a rally going. The record for this session was 10 shots.

Night Out

2010-02-23T11:38:00.001-08:00

This weekend, Mom and I went to the Chabot Science Center. What made the trip unusual is that we stayed overnight in the museum. Needless to say, with a zillion cub scouts trying to sleep on the floor, not much sleeping took place. Still it was fun. Got to try on an astronaut helmet. (Didn't like the smell though--smelled like dog.) The highlight of the day was supposed to be looking through the giant telescopes at the place (it's a state of the art observatory). Unfortunately, clouds meant that we couldn't look out. The guide instead substituted the world's most boring discussion of the three telescopes. It was so boring that even Mom left before it was over.

Frisbee Golf

2010-02-14T11:32:00.000-08:00

Today we didn't something totally cool--we made up our own frisbee golf course in he park across the street. We brought a big frisbee and a bucket to be the tee box and the hole. We also brought 2 normal frisbees. I had a great time, so much so tat we ended up playing 22 holes of frisbee golf. I like that I get to make up my own holes and then play them. I tend to like holes that are REALLY long. One hole was about 300 yards from start to finish.

Great game.

Walnut Creek

2010-02-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

for the first time ever, we went boating in THE Walnut Creek. There's not much left of the creek in its natural state (mostly it's diverted in underground culverts), but we found a launching point. Since it is rainy season, there was still plenty of water. There was a pretty good current too. Three of our boats made it from the creek into the Contra Costa Canal. This drains into Suisun Bay. Suisun Bay, of course drains into the Pacific. Kind of neat to think of our paper boats making their way all the way to the ocean.

Wendy's... sort of

2010-02-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

One of the things that drives Mom nuts is when Dad suggests that lack of success will lead to working at Wendy's. First of all, Wendy's isn't all bad. I like their shakes--Frosties--for instance. A second argument that Mom makes is that food prep is an honorable profession. Well, I got to see the latter first-hand. We went to McCovey's restaurant for a field trip. I enjoyed hearing about the various baseball players honored there, but I have zero interest in the food...or the food prep.

Microwave Safety

2010-01-31T10:56:00.000-08:00

For class this week, I presented a short public service announcement on microwave safety. Naturally, I wanted to capture my audience's attention, so I focused on all the bad things that can happen if you do not use a microwave properly. In my initial script, I started out with death as the worst possible consequence. Mommy thought this was a bit over the top, so the version above sets up death with other scenarios. I also try to illustrate each of the bad outcomes using my acting skills. For instance, if you burn yourself in a microwave, I jump up and down and yell

Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!

A line I borrowed from Super Mario Galaxy. Mario says this when he falls into lava.

Check it out. It's important safety advice.

Victory

2010-01-30T18:16:00.000-08:00

Today was the Pinewood Derby. This year, Mom pulled out all the science. She got a device to check things like the camber and width of the wheelbase. She got another device make sure the wheels were exactly circular. We hit the weight limit out to 4/100ths of an ounce. I helped too.

Well, all of that hard work paid off. My car came in second in the WHOLE PACK. I was first among the wolves, and I'm off to the Blackhawk 500---the big regional Pinewood race where Cub Scouts from as afar away as Sacramento come to compete. I can't wait.

Hooray for the Yoshi-mobile. And hooray for Mom!

Warriors

2010-01-17T11:40:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, we went to see the Warriors take on the Bucks. It was Cub Scout day. Great game--the Warriors led through 3 quarters only to lose in the end. It was also an historic game. The Warriors only suited 8 players. One of them got injured and 3 fouled out, leaving only 4 players. By rule, each team must have 5 players on the court so Steph Curry played even though he had fouled out. Apparently, this is the first time in the history of the NBA that this has happened.

After the game, we shot free throws on the real court. I almost got it in as this video shows.

Church Choir

2009-12-28T13:04:00.001-08:00

On Christmas Eve, we had a big singing service where the choir featured prominently. I did 3 songs as well as performing on bells. The bells are my favorite part. When there's a part of the song that calls for both my bells to be rung at the same time, I ring them and spread my arms out triumphantly. The audience got a chuckle out of my larger-than-life gesticulations. I sang well too. One problem is that, whenever I first get on stage, I have the endless urge to yawn. I ended up yawning both before and during some of the songs. I don't know why I yawn, I just do.

Above is a post-concert photo of myself and my friend Katie. This was a special moment for Katie's Mom. Normally, Katie does not like to wear "girl clothes", but somehow Mom got her to wear a fancy red dress for the concert. She's one of my best friends.

Giving is Part of Christmas Too

2009-12-28T12:45:00.000-08:00

While I really like GETTING stuff for Christmas, it's fun to give things as well. In my class, we worked on a big project for a gift to our parents. I made the card shown in the image above as well as a yellow and green pot, which I threw myself, for Mom and Dad. I was so excited about my gifts that the very first gift I wanted Dad to open was one from me. Giving gifts is also fun.

Yay Christmas!

2009-12-28T12:30:00.001-08:00

Jumping for joy at my favorite gift--socks!

I had a great Christmas this year. I got almost all the gifts I asked for and have been really enjoying them since opening them.

Top of the list are Wii games. I especially like Super Mario Bros. One really cool thing about this game is that it has team mode where 2 or more players work as a team to get through levels. Teamwork is quite helpful since this game is very tough, much tougher than Super Mario Galaxy. Right now, Daddy and I are stuck at the first Bowser level. (For those who don't know, the plot in all of these games is the same: Bowser, the evil dude, kidnaps Mario's friend Princess Peach. Mario must then defeat Bowser and his endless hordes. To be more precise, Mario must defeat Bowser many times since defeat on a lower level simply causes Bowser to retreat to a higher level without relinquishing the Princess.)

I also got a cool electronics circuitry kit. Last night, Mommy and I built a light and fan combo using first serial and then parallel circuitry. Electricity is interesting.

Happy Festivus!

2009-12-23T21:40:00.000-08:00

December 23 is the traditional day for Festivus--the holiday for the rest of us. You might recall Festivus from Seinfeld, but it turns out it's much older. It was invented in 1966. Tonight, for the first time ever, we celebrated Festivus.

We started with the bringing in of the bare aluminum pole--prized for its combination of lightness and strength. Here I am bringing in the pole.

From Aidan's Weblog

Next, we had the traditional airing of the grievances. Here, we point out all the ways other family members have failed us throughout the year. It's really fun. Since Festivus is on the 23rd of December, I decided we had to make a list of 23 grievances. Here's the beginning

From Aidan's Weblog

While initially, it was hard to come up with grievances, eventually, the whole family got into the spirit of the occasion and the grievances came flowing forth.

From Aidan's Weblog

Following the airing of the grievances, we had the traditional Feats of Strength. As you might know, the holiday continues until the head of household is pinned in a wrestling match. Initially, I was overmatched by Daddy...

From Aidan's Weblog

But I soon spied a weakness and pinned him!

From Aidan's Weblog

Festivus is a truly great holiday--amazing more people don't celebrate it.

Graham Crackers

2009-12-21T22:28:00.000-08:00

From Aidan's Weblog

In addition to my artistic skills in gingerbread, I also work in another important medium--graham crackers. Here is a graham cracker house I built in school all by myself. The key to this structure is a "skeleton" made of a milk carton, which provides stability for the grahams. As you can see, my education is not confined to marshmallows. Frosting and M&Ms are also important components.

The duck is supposed to add to the visual interest of the shot since everyone likes to look at rubber ducks.

Gingerbread

2009-12-20T15:52:00.000-08:00

One of the best Christmas traditions is making gingerbread houses. I made one out of graham crackers in school, but it doesn't compare to the real deal. So Mommy and I made a house on Friday afternoon. It's beautiful. I think it's our most deluxe one ever. It even includes Sun Chips as part of the decorations.

The image above is a politically correct version of Hansel and Gretel, which we read in a zillion versions (including the original German) in school this week. Here "Hansel" (the African-American) and "Gretel" (the Asian) meet up with the (Caucasian) witch at the gingerbread house. Shockingly, despite her black pointy hat and black moon and stars dress, they don't recognize her as such.

Science!

2009-12-20T15:46:00.000-08:00

We finished up the last week of school before vacation with a little sceince. This week's episode--the mystery of molecules. We made a whole bunch of molecules out of marshmallows and toothpicks. This was totally cool. When Daddy came home, he offered a couple of mysterious comments about the project. First, he asked me about "covalent bonds" (which I have no clue what he's talking about). Then something a bit more delicious--he observed that the hydrogen atoms never link to each other and never link to more than one other atom. I hadn't noticed this, but it's interesting.

Snow!

2009-12-07T09:41:00.000-08:00

Well, for the first time in my life, it snowed in Walnut Creek. I woke up this morning and couldn't believe it. The yard was white with snow. We went out before school and made snowmen, had snowball fights, and generally were amazed. I went over to the Bennetts (our next door neighbors) to tell them incase they hadn't noticed. It turns out, they had. They built a snowman in their backyard too. Hooray for snow!

I hate spelling

2009-12-04T14:51:00.000-08:00

Friday is spelling test day at school. I really don't like spelling. I'm okay at it, but it's a lot of work and very frustrating. Last night while studying, I got quite upset. Mommy got upset with me as well since I didn't want to keep on going. Here's my biggest beef with spelling--why did all these other stupid countries take over England at various times and leave their crazy spellings behind.

This week's episode: A million different ways to spell the long e sound. I had to spell between, piece, belief, believe, reason, mean, least, and so on. It makes no sense to spell the same sound so many ways!

ghost

2009-12-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Daddy and I had a little fun making a ghost picture. Here's how it's done. I first pose backlit in front of a window. Then, I move from the area and Daddy shoots the same picture with me absent. You have to use a tripod for this to work. Then we import both photos into Photoshop and lay the Aidan on on top. We then twiddle with the translucency on the top image until the appropriate ghostlike effect is attained.

Boo! Did I scare you?

Homework Marathon

2009-12-01T11:25:00.000-08:00

Sadly, my weeklong vacation from school is over. My teacher kicked off the week with what seemed to be a "homework marathon". In addition to the usual homework, she forgot to give the spelling pretest so instead of having to correct only the spelling words I got wrong, I had to do all 22 of this week's words. Daddy, thinking that this wasn't exactly fair, administered the pretest to me at home, so I only had to do 13 of the words (I got 9 right). But even the pretest took a long time. Better was the math, which I rock at. 25 for 25 on tonight's math quiz.

Tonight's homework lasted about 1.5 hours! The photo above is taken during my 20 minutes of reading.

Daddy technical notes: The lighting on this shot is done using a remote strobe placed to Aidan's left and front and set manually at 1/2 strength. The camera is over his right shoulder thus creating the sidelighting effect.

Aidan technical notes: It's not really helpful in reading when Daddy is setting up complicated camera arrangements and shooting with flash while I'm trying to read.

Aidan in the Rain

2009-11-30T08:21:00.001-08:00

Another dance extravaganza with props.

Cinema

2009-11-30T00:55:00.001-08:00

Daddy and I made a new movie this weekend--my first sequel. It's railroad crossing of doom II. This time we used stop action techniques for added realism. We also did a series of vignettes rather than a single story--sort of like episodes of Cops.

Enjoy!

Geotrax

2009-11-29T22:20:00.000-08:00

Nothing new to report. This is just a better shot of Geotrax. Here we see the diesel making its early morning run for various machine tools at the plant.