What-What?! Week of August 25th

We went on vacation, and have survived!  Mostly, anyway. :P


I don't have a ton of pictures, but I do have some.

When we were in Redding, we found this giant castle-themed playground:

We drove down this time, so there was a lot of this:

I-5, a lot.

Someone moving an entire pool.

Pictures from my sister's wedding:

On our way back home, we stopped in Albany, Oregon at the  Historic Carousel and Museum.

Vaguely demonic-looking rabbit door handle.

In the museum section, this is a giraffe from 1908, stripped of paint and waxed.

This horse has the original paint from 1885!

A miniature carousel Christmas tree stand that the Dentzel family made.

This lion was made in the 80s from an antique pattern.

Osric wanted his picture with the lion, but he wanted to be making the same face!

This is the workshop area, where carousel animals are currently being created.

I thought this was a nice painting.

What-What?! Week of April 21st

Last weekend, we visited California to go see family and get some sun.  The weather was lovely up until the last day we were there, which was a joy -- the other times we've visited home, it's either been cool and rainy, or frustratingly smokey.

While there, we dug out my old RC car -- after all these years, it still works!  Well, even!  The kids and I had a good time driving it up and down the sidewalk, down into the dirt walk, and in the driveway.

We went back to Curiodyssey, which was a really good time again.

This light table is still really cool

Daddy working the crank while Oz arranges pegs to ring some bells

We built this, then destroyed it right after

GODZILLA!

This was a sudoku-type puzzle where the pieces were skyscrapers

We visited Japantown in San Jose, and there was a bonsai exhibition going on:

This is a coast redwood -- I like the playfulness of seeing something that's so big, now in miniature form

This azalea was incredibly fragrant

There were many junipers, but this was one of the most nicely shaped ones

A Chinese banyan tree

Lemon tree with full sized fruits!

Can't quite read the card for this, but I believe it's another banyan tree

Ginko tree

What-What?! Week of September 16th

One of the fun things we did on our trip was go to CuriOdyssey with my sister, which is like a science museum with animal exhibits.  The place was very cool, fairly inexpensive, and we all had a good time.

This was a big tube with a fan at the bottom.  The kids made sculptures out of foam pieces, put them in the bottom, and watched them fly out the top!

Fly!

Saffron catching her creation!

This was a water cyclone thing.  The husband was able to get a big cyclone going.

We spent a lot of time with this activity.

This was filled with teeny-tiny BBs and made a rain noise.

Light table with various colored pieces and right-angle mirrors so you can play with rotational symmetry.

There was tons of art in the place.  This was one of my favorites.

All the Corwins...

The view is pretty too.

And then on to the animal exhibits!  This was a rattlesnake.

Bobcats, all snuggly.

The otters were adorable!  This one came right up to Oz.

Kids climbing on things, 'cuz kids gotta climb.

More views!

Walking the trail near there, we found this awesome chair/throne.

Afterwards, we headed back to my sister and her fiancé's house and enjoyed a fire.

Corwin was really excited.

But the fire was bothering his eyes, so he tried this on for some protection!

Saffron doesn't care.  She got a book.  While she's readin', the rest of the world can wait.

Ozzy had to try it out too.

Corwin and Quenten added some wood to the fire...  Saffron pretending they don't exist.

Oz crashed out at the hotel.  Poor baby was very worn out.

Picture of the hills as we're on our way to the airport.

We had a really good trip, and I am looking forward to next time.  Probably going to go again in the springtime. We might actually make it a roadtrip, though we'll see.