Category: JSL

Fun Times At The New York State Museum, Part 1

Educational, Fun, JSL, Museum, NHL, Photos

On Saturday, with Aunt M, Uncle I, Cousin S, and Cousin B in town, we tried to figure out something fun to do with the kids.  We decided upon the New York State Museum.  Not only is it a nice, bit indoor space with some nice exhibits, but there was a craft activity for the kids to do and a carousel.  Just to sweeten the deal, all of this is free.

As we pulled up, we found a spot right near the museum.  The kids excitedly got out of the cars and headed in.  NHL pointed out one of the only skyscrapers that Albany has.  (I grew up near New York City, so I’m used to seeing a lot more skyscrapers.)  He also spotted that odd-shaped building in Albany known as "The Egg" (used for concerts and shows).

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Heading in, we asked where the kids craft activity was and headed right for it.  On the way, we passed by one of the two 9-11 exhibits.

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The kids weren’t too interested in these, of course, but they got very interested once we found the animal exhibits.

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There were also the minerals/rocks which the kids surprisingly liked.  Mainly, I think, because of the colors and sparkliness.

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Then, we got to one of their favorite sections: Kids Cove.  In this area, were many animal skins, skulls, leaves and other items for kids to examine close up.  Whereas most of the museum is hands-off, this section encouraged kids to pick up and take a closer look at the items.  (Don’t mind the jackets.  The kids were so excited by all that they saw that they didn’t want to stop to remove them yet.)

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Leaving here, we located a Woolly Mammoth.  This was one of our original directions to find the craft table.

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The Woolly Mammoth led us to a Native American village, complete with a house we could walk into.

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And Native American wedding clothing.

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Finally, we found another mammoth.  This one, however, was more skeletal than his friends.

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Right by him was the craft table.  We had located our first major stop: Kid Crafts.  The kids settled in and drew, cut, and pasted shut envelopes.  Into these envelopes went some wild flower seeds.  Then, they glued the envelope shut and were done.

The person running the event was great.  She was able to recover from bad cuts and bad gluing.

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After the crafts were done, I got Cousin S and JSL to pose by a nearby dinosaur fossil.

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Then, off we went to see more.

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Tomorrow: Trains, Fire Trucks and Sesame Street!

Parental Visit Highlights

B, Family, JSL, NHL, Wii

My parents came for a visit this weekend.  Unfortunately, given economic circumstances (on both ends) and the distance between us, we don’t get to see each other as often as I’d like.  The boys kept getting more and more excited as “Bubbe-and-Grandpa day” drew nearer.  Finally, the day arrived and the boys couldn’t have been happier.  Here are a few highlights from their visit (in no particular order):

Wii Bowling

While enjoying some downtime at our house, we started up the Nintendo Wii.  My mother, who I never think of as a gamer, opted to play a game of Wii Bowling with the boys and me.  The end score was quite impressive.  (As usual, click on the photo to enlarge.)

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“Snoopy” was my mother.  That 121 score?  That was JSL!  He was rocking the virtual bowling alley with two strikes and three spares.  He even beat his older brother (who came in with a not-too-shabby 113).

Beating Up My Dad

Ok, this sounds bad, but it really isn’t.  After Wii Bowling was done, we loaded Wii Boxing and I handed the Wiimote to my dad.  Then, he and I duked it out.  I won, but he got some good punches in.  I don’t think he expected a simple video game to give his arms such a workout.

Toy Story Mania

After coming back from lunch (and some shopping), we went back to my house.  Killing time before I had to start dinner, I put Toy Story Mania into the Wii.  This time, NHL, my father and I played.  We all had fun playing the various Toy Story-based carnival games.  For the record, I won easily.  Got nearly my father’s and NHL’s score combined.  Part of that was probably because, due to a quirk in the game, I got to play solo in a lot of games.  This gave me exclusive access to the point generating activities instead of sharing them with another player.

Knitting Bonding

My mother mentioned that she wanted to learn how to knit a scarf.  I pointed out that B has knitted a few.  At the time, she was in the middle of two scarf-knitting projects.  While the boys, my dad and I occupied ourselves with other activities, my wife and mother bonded over knit-pearl.

“Cooking” Dinner

I wanted to show my parents my cooking skills.  I didn’t actually wind up getting the chance to do this.  Instead, we went to BJ’s and bought frozen/refrigerated dishes to heat up and serve.  Still, eating dinner at home with my parents versus in a restaurant was a nice experience.

Cake Wrecks

I showed my parents the Cake Wrecks book and they kept laughing.  When I left it on the table to check on dinner, I saw them flipping through the pages laughing at all of the mangled cakes.  I need to remember to e-mail them the URL for the Cake Wrecks blog.

Cupcakes

We stopped by the new Fluffalicious store and got some delicious cupcakes for dessert.  It was quite the yummy stop to make (and one I think we’ll be making quite a few more times in the near future).

The whole weekend was so much fun that I (*gasp*) forgot to take photos!  We got photos of cupcakes and the like, but realized that we didn’t get a picture of my parents with the boys.  Luckily, just before my parents left to go home, we were able to snag this photo of us.  (B’s manning the camera – and trying to avoid cars in the parking lot it was taken in.)

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I miss my parents already and hope we get to see them again sometime soon.

Wii Bowling Revenge

Games, JSL, NHL, Video Games, Wii

On Saturday, while B was at a family function, NHL and JSL asked if they could play Nintendo Wii with me.  I agreed and tried to think of a game that would be good for JSL to play.  He doesn’t quite get the game controls all the time and this can frustrate him.  That’s when I remembered Wii Bowling.

When we got our Nintendo Wii, back in 2007, Wii Sports was the first game we played.  It was, after all, included with the console.  I’ve loved bowling since I was a kid so I took to the bowling game right away.  NHL, then 4 years old, had some initial difficulty with the controls but soon learned.  Pretty soon, he was bowling scores that he couldn’t get in a real bowling ally with bumpers on!

Fast forward to Saturday.  I located the Wii Sports disc and loaded up Wii Bowling.  I explained to JSL how to bowl and off we went.  JSL, understandably, had a lot of trouble.  He got frustrated quite a few times, but kept at it.  In the end, he bowled a 72.  NHL, meanwhile, stunned me.  While I bowled a respectable 113, NHL crushed me by bowling a 156!

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That’s ok, though.  The next day, we had a rematch.  JSL didn’t fare as well, dropping to a 58.  NHL also dropped to a 95.  I, however, increased my score to a 173.

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I don’t think I need to worry about being beaten by NHL just yet, but he’s improving rapidly.  By this time next year, he might just be beating me regularly.  And, if he is any guide, I don’t have many more years of being able to beat JSL.  Five years from now, I might be posting about how we dusted off the old Nintendo Wii and both of my boys beat me at Wii Bowling.

Missing My Wife When The Crisis Strikes

B, Fatherhood, JSL, Life, Sick

I’m a confident father who is ready for whatever life can throw at me.  If my wife wants to go to a family event, blogging conference, or anything else, I’m more than happy to watch the kids solo.  Most times, it’s father-son-son bonding time.  Fun times at the park, going out to eat, or just hanging around watching TV.  These things I can more than handle.  I live for these moments.  However, when something doesn’t go right, though, I feel my wife’s absence.

Don’t get me wrong.  I miss her when everything’s running smoothly.  It’s just that, when things are going well, everything’s going according to plan.  I’m comfortable on-plan.  The boys are having fun, B’s having some much-deserved time off, and I’m getting extra bonding time.  It’s win-win-win-win.  When bad things start to happen, though, I miss her insights into what we should do as well as her assistance in handling matters.  I just don’t feel as sure of myself when flying solo.

On Friday, B left for a family function.  That night, after going to sleep, JSL woke up with a coughing fit.  It sounded like he was congested and having trouble breathing.  I tried getting him to settle, but it wasn’t happening so I pulled him into my bed.  Usually, this helps him breathe better since his head will be elevated more.  It didn’t seem to help much, though.  I was up half the night with him.

The next night, after talking with B on the phone, I tried to get JSL to drink some liquid children’s Mucinex.  Now, JSL is afraid of taking this medicine.  He’s afraid it’ll make him puke.  He’s so afraid that he gets himself all worked up and… you guessed it.  He puked.  All over the hard wood floor and carpet (and again in the tub.  Somehow, he missed most of his clothes.

At this point, he was not only sick, but overtired.  There was obviously no way he would take his medicine.  Normally, I would change him and then B would stay with the boys while they fell asleep and while I cleaned up the mess.  Instead, I needed to stay with them.  I tried cleaning up the hard wood floor’s mess while asking NHL to get JSL in his pajamas, but that only resulted in NHL laughing at JSL’s shirt being on backwards.  *sigh*  Over I went, corrected the error, got the boys ready for bed (teeth brushed and gone potty), and asleep.  Then, I cleaned the floor and rug.  Then, I cleaned the tub out and reexamined JSL’s clothes just to be sure.

I’m so glad that B’s home again!

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