Saturday, April 23, 2011

Danger Boy and Paranoid Dad: To the Stars


Danger boy took a trip recently to the St. Louis Planetarium. Paranoid Dad not at all reluctantly volunteered to go along and took the day off. (See Danger Boy and his class above, see what Paranoid Dad wore. The nerdy crowd may see the problem. Others, go here.)
Note the term St. Louis Planetarium as opposed to St. Louis Science Center above. Paranoid Dad grew up- yes, Tired Mom, I miss the dinosaurs- when there was just the Planetarium and everyone knew what you meant. Since the expansion and effective name change, Paranoid Dad went through an adjustment period of being corrected or self-correcting when moving from the term Planetarium to the STL Science Center. Irony of irony, when Danger Boy's field trip is to the Planetarium and not the rest of Science Center. AGGGHHH!

Here Danger Boys has a photo-op w/we assume is Curious George. Luckily, George had no access to any working rockets or telemetry equipment so we involved in any adventures involving monkeys, rockets and zany simian fun!

Danger Boy and Paranoid Dad's assigned companion for this adventure was "Uninterested in hanging w/Us girl". (We'll call her U-girl for expediency.) She was a very well-mannered young lady who was on the losing side of high parent chaperon to child ratio and so was not w/her usual gang. She was also adversely affected w/"the Danger Boy excitement to see everything field". Alas for her.
The star show is still a mainstay at the Planetarium and is a great chance for a nap. ;)

Here DB and U-girl simulate using space suit gloves to do manual task. (Big rubber gloves vs. a plastic nut and bolt.)

Here DB and U-Girl step into a replica access tube where astronauts would pull or push themselves up to different levels of a space station. (Paranoid Dad had to coax them in and their minds numbed and eyes glazed over through his use of the old guy explanation power.)

U-girl does a puzzle of the part of a picture of a planet which was electromagnetic. One had only so long to solve the puzzle before the pieces dropped into the storage bin below. U-girl was very adept at this and tried just about everyone.

Here we see models of some of the fine McDonnell Douglas and Boeing aircraft that protected and continue protect our great nation. God Bless America!

Leave it to Danger Boy to attract one of his favorite dangers: a Dinosaur! Coming soon according to the advertisement.

U-Girl and DB had a definite meeting of the minds w/regards to dinosaurs. Both were all about getting pics w/these simulations of the monstrous monstrosities.

All good things come to an end as did this adventure. Paranoid Dad relinquished DB's bag back to him (lent to carry camera and goodies). DB boarded the bus w/the rest of his class and Paranoid Dad drove home in Ailing, Decrepit Car which once again faithfully wheezed its way home.

***Please note our title bar has changed and now includes a pic of the newly turned one year old superheroine SuperSpy!!!**

Monday, April 11, 2011

Danger Boy: The Last Hairbender

"It's time for to get your hair cut really short for hot weather Danger Boy!" said Tired Mom.

"Can I get all my cut off and be bald like Ang from Avatar? And then you could paint a blue arrow on my head like Ang has on his head!"

"Um..." said Tired Mom. "Or maybe I could make an arrow on your head made out of hair instead?"

"Yeah!!!!" said Danger Boy.

(Below you see what was the result. Not quiet a perfect arrow, but the best Tired mom could do with scissors and clippers.)




Danger Boy learns hairbending!

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Super Spy's Newest Skill


And, Super Spy pulls herself up to her knees. Next step, standing up!
Pulling herself up on the TV stand...
....with an assist from Tired Mom....
.....and here she is pulling herself up on Paranoid Dad's legs!
PS- don't you just love spring flowers?

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Kid Catastrophe and the Ultimate Girly Mobile

I often say to myself that Kid Catastrophe is "Super Girly" because she loves all things that are meant for girls. Her favorite color is pink, she loves dresses and skirts, she wants wear make up already (and has already convinced Tired Mom to let her wear nail polish). Her gestures and her smile even scream "I"M A GIRL!!!!" So, in making her car for her preschool Transportation Parade, it should have surprised no one that she chose every girly thing she could get her hands on from Tired Mom's craft supply crate. She even found a use for the strip of gauzy pink fabric that seemed to not really be that useful (see the bow in the back). She also insisted the ruffle white piece of fabric must go somewhere! We basically just made hearts out of most of the paper, plastic, foam board pieces she wanted to use.

Kid Catastrophe also got to (GASP!) us a glue gun for the first time (it was actually a "junior" glue gun that was supposed to be safer for younger children, though they probably did not envision a 5 year old using it). Kid Catastrophe did great with it and did not get burned once. Tired Mom got burned a little, but mostly because she was hovering 12 inches away and maybe should have given her daughter a little more room.
The car was supposed to be "wearable", so Tired Mom came up with using the long ropes of beads she had to hold it on her. Kid Catastophe also wanted to be a princess while riding in her car, so she got her Halloween costume out of her dress up box and put that on as well. Her whole outfit was just too funny!
Kid Catastophe with her hands together is one of her signature "girly" gestures I was talking about. She thoroughly enjoyed the parade, and so did Tired Mom watching her walk in it. Preschool is such a fun age! I say this about all the ages my kids go through, but it does seem to be true for every one. I might change my mind when they are teenagers though ;)
This parade was also fun to watch because there were so many different kinds of cars that the other kids/parents made. There was a even a car built for two, that unfortunately was a little too heavy for even two kids to carry around the playground though.
I love how she points at me in the last picture. Sort of a "shout out to mom" for helping make such a great parade possible! Couldn't have done it without you mom, but I am still Queen of the Universe, just so you know.

Who could deny their child the right to be the center of everything, at least for small moments. Why else would so many parents show up, other than to let their kids know how special they are?