Bocce Ball

This weekend, Daddy introduced me to a new sport---Bocce Ball. We play our version of the game in the living room using my indoor balls. First, Daddy throws the target ball (a small yellow ball) to the other side of the room. Then we take turns bowling balls toward the target ball. A big part of the challenge is that the balls are all of random sizes, shapes, and weights. It's not easy to aim, for example, the soft sort of oblong baseball that makes crashing noises every time it hits the ground. The person whose ball is closest to the target gets one point and the match ends with the first person reaching five points.

I tried to teach Mommy the rules of Bocce Ball, but couldn't remember all of them. In the version I taught Mommy, we lined up all of the balls, then I had her roll the yellow target ball, and then I asked her to use my BIG yellow ball (only that ball was allowed)to doink the target ball over to the fireplace while I watched. This was a rather difficult task for her since the big bouncy ball tended to roll right OVER the target ball, hardly moving it. After lots of rolls, she finally succeeded. Game over.

Butterfly Release

Last week, we let our five butterflies (who grew up from very hungry caterpillars) go free. It took awhile for some of them to leave their happy "habitat" where they had grown up. I was sad to see them leave but understood that they wanted to have room to fly around outside. I ask about them sometimes. Some pictures should be coming soon.

72 = Infinity

When I want to suggest the largest possible number of things, I reach for my trusty largest number---72. You might wonder how I picked 72 to be the largest number possible. Well, having watched the "I Got Six" song in Multiplication Rock countless times, I noticed the following:

In the middle of the song is a "prince" dressed in a dishdasha and sporting a huge afro hairstyle. The prince has 6 diamonds rings on every finger---making 60 diamonds.

The prince goes out to check on his camels who are parked at parking meters. Each of his eleven camels is loaded down with 6 casks of oil and spice (for 66 casks). This yields to him a "princely" sum of money. In the next scene, we see that the prince has twelve wives (dressed in middle eastern garb). The singer mentions in an aside that "He better be rich" to have so many wives. Each of the wives has six kids---making 72 kids. Daddy will sometimes ask whether it would be good to have 72 Aidans in the house. I don't think this would be a good idea at all---it would be too crowded---and I tell him so.

Anyway, the idea of having to share space with 72 guys led me to think that 72 is an awfully large number, and, subsequently, I've use the number 72 as a kind of shorthand for "a lot."

To hear a clip from the "I got six" song as well as to see the complete lyrics, click here.

The Many Adventures of Aidan and Daddy

Yesterday, we went to the city of Martinez. It's about 15 miles north of us, lying right along the Carquinez Strait. The Strait is the body of water connecting San Francisco and San Pablo Bays. Anyway, our first chore was to go to Wal Mart. Interestingly, northern Californians are pretty anti Wal Mart, so that the nearest one to our house. Wal Mart was okay, but not really much of an adventure. Next, we went to Carquinez Strait regional Park for a climbing adventure--and here's where it get interesting.


While Daddy sort of hoped that by going close to the water, the temperature would be cooler, it wasn't. Its was about 94 degrees when we set off on our hike. Our goal was to make it up to the top of a 700' mountain (our elevation was about 100') so that we could get a view of both bays, the strait, and several harbors. The climb up the mountain was interesting. We walked along a dry stream bed for most of the way. There was enough water (from the stream apparently) to support a good sized forest. It was much cooler under the forest canopy than in the sun. About two-thirds of the way up, it got very steep. I got a little scared and had Daddy carry me for parts of the journey up. Finally, we made it to the top. We found a bench and Daddy snapped a couple of pictures of me relaxing.









We saw a tug boat and a big cargo ship motoring around the port. I asked Daddy to take some shots of these and here are a couple.










Finally, Daddy took a couple of shots of just me. I liked playing with gradient fields in Photoshop to make these interesting pictures. We put all of these in our growing scrapbook.





We had a lot of fun going down the mountain, becuase the path was sufficiently dusty, we could kind of "skate" down the steep places. Daddy would say "ooooooohhhhhhh" as he went down, which was very funny.

After we made it home, Mommy was astonished about how dirty and dusty her two boys were. Of course, that happens when you go on adventures. Here's a link to the photos of our adventure.

Some SF Pictures

Daddy uploaded some pictures from our trip to San Francisco. Please note that the black and white shot of me looking pensive is designed to be printed at 8x10, it does not crop nicely to smaller sizes. Here's the link.

Little Vacuum

Many of you are aware of the fact that, for the most part, I don't like vacuum cleaners. For one thing, they're too loud. Vacuum cleaners never seem to use their "inside voice" when they're busy working. However, I've found a vacuum cleaner that I like. Daddy got out a little Hoover portable vacuum to clean up crumbs after dinner. I was sort of fascinated by it, so I decided to try it. It was lots of fun. I managed to vacuum up lots of crumbs and generally liked the thrill of the hunt in vacuuming. I think vacuum cleaners might be okay after all.h

A Day in San Francisco

Yesterday, I went to San Francisco on the Bart train with Daddy. When we first arrived, we went to the ferry terminal to look at the Bay Bridge and some boats. We checked out the ferry schedule but decided it was too windy for a ferry at that time of the morning. Here is a picture of our view from the ferry terminal.

Next, we started walking along the Embarcadero, passing a whole bunch of piers towards on the way to Fisherman's Wharf. It is a long walk, but Daddy and I have lots of energy. Plus, Daddy promised that we'd see all sorts of different boats along the way. After not too long, we came across the biggest boat I've ever seen---the cargo ship Lihue. It has a giant anchor too.

At the next set of piers, we came across a tug boat named Delta Deanna. I like tug boats a lot, and it was very exciting to see one in person. One of my favorite books I'm Mighty is all about a tug boat. I especially like the bumpers on the front and sides of the tug boat.

Finally, we came to Fisherman's Wharf. We saw a giant cruise ship in one of the piers. We also saw a Japanese navy training boat called the Nippon Maru as well. Nippon Maru has tall masts and lots of sails. We saw several of the sailors on the ship wandering around the docks.

Next, we went to the aquarium. I really liked riding on the conveyor belt to look at the tunnel of fishies. I especially liked the jellyfish and even made a jellyfish of my own in the little art center at the aquarium.


Can you tell which is the real jellyfish and which is the one I made?

We of course also got to ride the double-decker merry go round. I chose to ride in the "tippy chair" which was a lot of fun. After all this, I was quite tired. We rode the Muni train back.
The Muni train is a wooden train built in the mid 1920s in Milan. It was orange. Then we rode the BART back to Walnut Creek, and I took my nap.

After I got up, I made a scrapbook of all my adventures using construction paper and pictures that Daddy took along our journey. What a wonderful day.

Crazy Golf

Crazy golf features two of my favorite things, golf and Kipper. Crazy golf is apparently what they call miniature golf in England. Kipper (the dog) and his friends set up a backyard crazy golf course in one episode of the show, and it made me quite interested in setting up my own crazy golf courses. Anyway, we had out the blocks this morning and I had the idea of setting up a crazy golf course with blocks. This involved setting up a block arrangement and then rolling a golf ball through the myriad obstacles to knock down the "flag" which is an upright block. In my most complicated arrangement, you had to roll a golf ball down a block ramp, it then had to roll along a narrow block "beam" and under a block tunnel. From there, it had to roll up another ramp to jump over an obstacle and then knock down the flag. It took Daddy many tries to succeed at this crazy golf hole.

Fore!

5 Very Hungry Caterpillars

On June 27th, a surprise package arrived for me. It was a very tiny box. When we opened it, I found 5 very tiny painted lady butterfly caterpillars. They have grown an amazing amount each day. Some time in the next week, they should make their chrysallises. Then we'll wait about another 10 days for them to come out as butterflies! This will be very exciting! I love butterflies!

(P.s. Thank you to cousin Molly for the this kit and butterfly habitat that she gave me! We saved it and just sent away for the caterpillars this month.)

Train Day

On Sunday, Mommy took me to Train Day at the old Danville Depot. There was a trackless train that took kids on rides around the parking lot. I loved it! There were also some electric train layouts and some old classic cars. A man let me get into his Ford Coupe and blow the horn. I did this many times.. AAOOGAH! AAOOGAH! There were also fire engines, a regular one and an old one with a big bell that I rang LOUDLY! The firemen gave me a firefighter's hat, a badge sticker and some neat fire engine shaped pencil erasers. I had ice cream too. What a great morning! (Photos were taken with Mommy's old fashioned FILM camera so they are not posted.)

Classic Cars

Last night on our walk around the neighborhood, we met a gentleman named Jerry. He was washing his BMW and had two other cars in his garage both under car covers. I asked Daddy what cars were under the covers, and he suggested that we go ask the gentleman directly. We did and he showed us a 1970s era Mercedes convertible, which was nice, and a Ford Model A from the 1920s, which was amazing. I got to crawl in and pretend to drive the car. I especially liked sitting in the back seat. Jerry offered to give us a ride in the Model A if we were around on the weekend. I can't wait.

Mountain Climbing

Lately, Daddy and I have taken a different outing our walks then the usual one. Instead of going to a park, Daddy and I have been climbing up a very high mountain near where we live. This climb involves a trip up the endless staircase---a set of stairs that rises about four storeys---followed by a hike up a giant mountain. From the top, we have a great view of all the places where we live. I especially like Mount Diablo (pictured here). It reminds me of a dormant volcano in Maui. I asked Daddy if the Mount Diablo volcano was asleep, but he told me that Mount Diablo was not volcanic. I also like to look at the San Ramon valley and the Berkeley Hills in the sunset.

Aidan the Dancer

One of the things I might like to be when I grow up is a dancer. Here is a link demonstrating my many dancing skills while on the Sugar Cane Train in Maui. They were playing some Hawaiian music over the PA system, so I decided to dance. The other people in the train car were clearly amused and impressed.

Here's a shot of the sugar cane train going around on the turntable.

(Be aware, Geocities has some restrictive data transfer policies, so you might have to wait to preview the links.)

Big Wings

One of the highlights of my trip to Hawaii was sitting looking out on the wing of the plane and disconvering that the wing becomes bigger and smaller. On takeoff, Daddy pointed out that the pilot extended the wing surface to create more lift. Once we're in the air, the wing gets smaller again. Finally, on landing, the wings are extended to their maximum length. I enjoyed watching all of it. Airplanes are neat!

Blue Hawaii

We're just back from Maui. I had a great time. I got to build sand castles. I also built some sand bridges and sand tunnels for the sand railroad to drive on. I made some sand cakes and sand pancakes too. I got to see a whole bunch of fishies in a submarine and in an aquarium. I liked the sharks and especially the crabs. Crabs were a source of endless fascination (and some trepidation) during the trip since the holes they dig are all over the beach. I also got to swim in a waterfall on the Mommy boat and the Daddy boat. (The Aidan boat is not very seaworthy so far so I rely on others.)

Here are some pictures of my adventures in Blue Hawaii. Here's a better link with more description.

Actually...

I've been sprinkling lots of new and interesting phrases into my conversations. One of my favorites is "Actually..." Actually is a great start to any sentence, but is especially good in trying to move the conversation toward an outcome that I view as better for me. For example:

Mommy: Would you like milk or water with dinner.

Aidan: Actually, I'd like juice.

Mommy: But you've already had enough juice today.

Aidan: Actually, I haven't had that much juice, and I'm thirsty for juice and not milk or water.

You get the idea. Actually, I didn't get any juice as a result of these negotiations but it was worth a shot.

Another good lead-in is "in the meantime" or "in the meanwhile". For example:

Daddy: Do you want French toast for breakfast?

Aidan: Yes! In the meantime, I'd actually like to have a little cereal while the French toast is cooking.

Sky Ride

Mommy and I went to the zoo today. This is always fun, but I added a new adventure by going on the Sky Ride for the first time today. I loved it! We had good views of some animals that can be difficult to see from the ground, and I got to fly like my friends from Dragon Tales! Can't wait 'til I get to do this again!

Aidan the soldier

For two days in a row, I told my mommy that after I was a boy, I was going to be a soldier. This really got mommy wondering since she does not promote soldiering for her son. I was very matter-of-fact about this each time, and today we talked more about it. Mommy asked me where I heard the word "soldier" and asked me to tell her what a soldier is. I replied something to the effect, "After I'm a boy, I will be a soldier and then I will be a man." Now, while this may sound exactly like something a recruiter would say, Mommy quickly deduced the word I actually meant from our past (non-military related)conversations about growing up. I meant "teenager"! I must have heard something about soldiers on TV an gotten mixed up! We have often spoken about how I used to be a baby but now I am a boy and someday I will be a very big boy called a teenager before I am a grown-up man. Mommy told me that soldiers do very dangerous work and fight to protect our country. They can get hurt very badly and some of them die. I think that I'll go back to my original career choice-- dancer!

Graduation

My Daddy went to graduation this past Sunday. The best part about graduation is the costumes! We dressed up for a photo shoot outside. Daddy dressed as "the professor" while I dressed as Pooh. Here are some photos of our dress-up as well as pictures from our adventures in the "tunnel park" earlier in the day. Check them out here.

Day Trip to San Francisco

Yesterday, I went to San Francisco with my Mommy and Daddy. Here are some photos. It was a sunny, clear day and we took a bay cruise. I really liked all the boats. Boats were always pretty good, but since one of my current favorite books is I'm Mighty, about a small but strong tugboat, boats are even more interesting now. (I definitely could have done without the wind and the noisy loudspeaker during our boat ride, however!).

We also rode the Pier 39 double-decker carousel again-- my favorite thing in San Francisco! I named my horse "Tony" after the song "Tony the Pony," a song that was a favorite of my mommy's as a child that she has since taught me. (I am yelling, "Tony!" during the very smiley carousel photo.)

Daddy, Mommy and I also had lunch at Bubba Gump's, where they make excellent Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Afterward, we went to The World's Greatest Chocolate Store, where I investagated all of the chocolate items looking for regular chocolate (no nuts, fillings, etc.) and we bought some yummy chocolate Golden Gate Bridges. I ate one of them as we drove home across the Bay Bridge (also a suspension bridge in part much like my chocolates).