Cute Kid Pix June 2023

More pictures that did not make their own post...

On a bike ride, we stopped at an exercise area and worked out some other muscles. Some were better at the "horizontal ladder" than others...

A pro about to work

We've been working our way through all the scenarios in Memoir '44, a two-player game set during World War II. It's fun and quick but very dependent on luck, both of the dice and of card draws. The history about the battles is interesting and a nice way to sneak in some educational material.

Ready to fight

My daughter had her spring orchestra concert that was a lot of fun for the musicians and for the adults.

Ready to play

Her eight-grade promotion ceremony was also great--they scheduled it for two hours and it ended a little over an hour after the start time!

Receiving her certificate from the principal

It was a quiet month, though a lot is coming because we ended with a trip to Europe. Posts coming soon!

Rollerskating!

After attending a birthday party at a local roller rink, my daughter loves rollerskating. With soccer done, we decided the kids should try skating lessons. The rink has very reasonable lessons each month. The kids have been going twice a week (Tuesday evening and Saturday afternoon) for lessons.

The local roller rink (unchanged since the 1970s)

The first lessons were pretty tough. Lots of kids and adults started on the first day of class. Many were gone by week three. Our children showed rapid improvement in both skill and enthusiasm for roller skating.

The daughter

Our son, the man in black

By week three, they were so enthusiastic that we stayed for the post-lesson skating session. As a break between lessons, we had a snack from the snack bar and my daughter checked out one of the video games.

The next lessons--learning to drive?!?

They loved skating around the rink and were eager to get back to the action.

Put me in, coach!

Writing Exercise: Rory's Story Cubes Voyages

I managed to convince someone else in the writing group to pick up a set of Rory's Story Cubes, though she bought the Voyages set, which is more fairy-tale themed. We rolled the cubes and got the following symbols:

• A giant and a small person
• A crown
• A chalice or goblet
• A puzzle piece
• A pill
• A ladder
• A badge or a star
• A pagoda
• A bowl with food or something piled inside it

Here's what I wrote:

Once upon a time, a giant left form his enchanted castle. Actually, it was his brother's castle, but the brother had chased that little thief down the bean stalk and not come back. So he guessed it was his castle now. All the geese were gone and the cook too, so food got scarce pretty quickly. Sure, plenty of wine was left and he could drink from any goblet he wanted, but wine doesn't fill a stomach the way it should. So he set off on an adventure. For food.

He dressed in the finest clothes, since he was king of the castle. His brother's crown fit well but the robes were too short. He was curious to meet the other inhabitants of the cloud kingdom and wanted to make a good impression. He came upon an abandoned village.

The town hall was empty. So was the post office. And the stores. Especially the baker's, the fruit seller's, the butcher's, and the pub. It was a strange puzzle. Where had everyone gone? Why had they taken all the good" The village only had one street. It was easy to check everywhere and find nothing. Not even one pill at the apothecary's.

A cough sounded on the breeze. The giant looked up and didn't see anyone. The building were rather tall here. The giant went to the hardware store and found a ladder. He climbed to one roof where he discovered the sheriff hiding.

"What are you doing up here?" asked the giant.

"Uh...hiding from monsters," answered the sheriff.

"What monsters?"

"The ones coming down the road," said the sheriff, pointing down the road. The giant turned and saw nothing. He turned back and the sheriff was gone, only his badge left behind.

The giant looked over at the other buildings, seeing pale, scared faces of the other villagers and their piles of wares. "What's everyone doing up here?" he asked.

The people started to laugh nervously. The apothecary spoke up. "We were afraid of the lord of the castle coming to the pillage the village again. We need our stuff for the coming winter."

The giant nodded and said, "But I'm not the king!"

That's as far as I got. My initial thought was that the giant would use a ladder to go down to the surface world and be in Japan, enabling the pagoda, but that didn't happen. The bowl of food would show up eventually.

Why We Should Stick to Slow Zombies

How many ways can zombies be turned into commodities? Soon they will serve not so much as fitness instructors but as fitness motivators. See this article on Stride Nation about an obstacle course that includes zombies. Good preparation for the coming zombie apocalypse, if you're not a zombie. The race is being run in a city near you, if you live in the United States. Check out the web site http://runforyourlives.com/ for the nearest race. The write up sounds like a lot of fun:

Runners will navigate a series of 12 obstacles throughout a 5K course in an attempt to reach the finish line — all while avoiding zombies. At the end of this adventure race, you get to celebrate survival (or zombie transformation) with live entertainment and music, local celebrities, vendors, food, and of course, beer!

They even made a little movie!



If it isn't coming to a city near enough to you, you can still get a sweet (though health-consciously so) t-shirt with this logo:

Get the t-shirt here.