Parentheticals

Last saturday we got Rea's bike working, so this week she rode it a lot. Sara has been reading a book every day to learn more about reading. We are hoping that if we do this enough she will start to like it. This week Timmy has been singing a lot of songs that he invented himself. Gideon will crawl across the whole house and play by himself now. That is fun. Alison attended her second League of Utah Writer's meeting this week. It was a write in at a coffee shop. She hadn't worked on writing at all since the last meeting, so it was fun to spend some time writing. On Thursday Mike's work had a summer party. We were all invited to Lagoon. We hung out in the water-park area for the first few hours, and then after dinner went on a bunch of kiddie rides. All in all it was a fairly fun time. The kids loved the whale ride the most. It was a bunch of whales that you sit in and go around a circle while bobbing up and down in a sine wave pattern. It was fun to see them h...

Monday was a holiday! Mike had Memorial Day off work, and we had our first barbecue of the season, and the barbecue didn't even blow up or light on fire or anything! Mike made hamburger patties with blue cheese in them, which were great; we also had vegetable skewers with bell pepper, zucchini, and mushrooms in a soy sauce and pineapple juice marinade, which Alison (and everyone) loved, and watermelon, and hot dogs for the kids. Then we went to the play "Pirates of the Caribeener" at the Off Broadway Theater. The kids were ecstatic; they love the OBT plays. They enjoyed this one; Rea might have understood some of the jokes, but probably not because she's never seen Pirates of the Caribbean or Sponge Bob, which was the other reference they pulled in. But they all enjoyed the story and the singing and dancing anyway. Gideon didn't even scream, even though he was obviously very tired but unable to sleep in the noise. Best baby ever! On Tuesday, we went to Forest ...

When asked what we did this week, here are the kids answers: Rea: "This week the we did a lot of leprechaun hunting." Timmy: "We made a library in our house." Sara: "Look, there's a leprechaun's head!" On Monday: Sara "We slept all day." Rea: "What Monday? The hyacinths and daffodils bloomed. Mommy Started riding her bucket bike." Sara: "And there were princess leprechauns. Can you draw a princess leprechaun?" Rea: "Ok" Timmy: "we made a library in our house, and it was fun fun fun! Now we have a library in our house if we want to go to the library in our room" On Tuesday: Sara: "Tuesday we watched a movie" Rea: "Don't cover up my leprechaun seat!" Alison wants to add here that Timmy got sick Sunday and Monday, and on Tuesday Rea and Sara got sick too. They mostly laid around and threw up. On Wednesday: Timmy: "We played legos on Wednesday a...

It rained a lot last weekend, so the kids had a great time seeing how the creek changed due to the weather patterns. We all love Forest Kindergarten, even if we don't have anyone joining us right now. Alison is holding off inviting people more because this baby might come at any point (even though he's not due for three and a half weeks). Thursday we picked more grapes. The kids did a good job of staying on task this time, and they got a lot of grapes in the box. Rea enjoyed climbing up the fence to get the grapes. They have been eating them since. Mike also found a website  to generate planet images. He will use this in creating his games. He is really working hard to try to get them done before December. On Friday we went to a play: Drac Man vs Superior Man. It was one of the plays at the Off Broadway Theatre Utah. It was in their usual style: silly jokes and a light story. They had a few parts where they totally went off of the script and ended up improvising a whole...

This week we went to the Dalyia's  neighbor's house a lot, and while we were there we picked cherries off of their tree. Neither the renters of the place nor the owner of the place wanted the cherries, so we ended up with about 7 gallons of frozen cherries. We also ate so many cherries that the kids don't want them anymore. This is quite impressive because they love fruit with a love that is unparalleled in any world in all possible universes. The kids really enjoyed it this time because the Dalyia's are their good friends. Alison and Sister Dalyia also get along quite well, so it was fun all around. I spent most of my time up in the top of the tree on a ladder, but that suited me just fine. Most of the week was spent in such pursuits, however on Friday we went to the Off-Broadway Theater and saw "The Pirates Of Penzance" - which is one of our favorite plays. The kids really enjoyed it. Rea said: "It was great!", Sara countered with "It was ...

It is eleven fifty eight pm and Sara just woke me up. She was laying in the floor of the sleep room crying. I put her back in bed and patted her back. She seemed to be thirsty so I got her some water. Hopefully that is all she will need tonight. (It wasn't... she woke up three more times so far) We had the primary program today (which Alison was in charge of). It went well. Andrea really wanted to be up there with the big kids. We told her that she would be up there next year. It is amazing how they grow. Sara has been following Andrea around and doing whatever Andrea does (including dancing during their favorite song during the program today). This weekend we went to a Halloween party that a ward member put on, Rea wanted to read all of their books, so that is what we mostly did. I ordered a copy of Puerto Rico, which arrived on Thursday. Alison and I played it that night. It was am interesting game, but if I make my Easter island game that I have been thinking of it will ...

The Dancing Robots website is still being improved pretty much every day. Here is a link to it for those who have not looked at it. I would be especially appreciative of any people who are willing to play it and tell me what they thought about the interface. If anyone is interested, tell me when you will be online and we can play a game. Alternatively you can play against a mediocre AI which I have programmed. I am currently negotiating the commission of temporary artwork for my Dancing Robots cards. If the artwork turns out really good, I might try to use it for the final cards, but my current goal is to quiet the complaints of some of my more visually oriented playtesters/QA coworkers. This Friday we went to 'Charlie's Aunt' at the Off Broadway Theatre . It was hilarious. If you are in the Salt Lake area and want to have a cheap, fun date I would highly recommend it. I especially liked the performance of the butler and Lord Fancourt Babberley (AKA Charlie's A...