3 Children & 3 Pictures

Bentley & Matt picked out some matching shirts for the kids in Vegas.  This, of course, simply cried for a photo opportunity!  The only problem with the plan?  It required 3 children (small ones, that is) to all behave at the SAME time.

Yeah right!

So here are 3 pictures, since there are 3 of them.  :-)

Goofy kids!

I've Gone Pro

(ha ha ha ha ha)

Yesterday the boys let me cut their hair.  A few months ago I tried the clippers & scissors out on Jake, but Bentley refused to let me near him.  :-)  That was okay with me, because Bentley has a lot more hair than Jake and I thought Jake would be easier to practice on.  It went okay, but I determined we needed a hair cape.

Amazon to the rescue, and a toy store hair cape later... I was ready for round 2!

Jake AND Bentley let me cut their hair yesterday!  It may not be GORGEOUS, but I am confident I'm well on my way to quality cuts that are not crooked or scary.  Perhaps in time speedy too?

$25 saved!  Or, as I told my husband, 1/6th of the amount of one of those gorgeous Le Creuset pans I'm in love with.  :-)

Here are some post hair cut pictures - not up close shots, but they prove they still look human, right?!?

Who knows.  Maybe Matt will beg me to cut his hair soon (or maybe not... !).

Big kids, big bed!

Before they were all lined up in a row, in their toddler beds.  But they're getting bigger!

So we went bed shopping, and picked out a nice big bunk bed with a pull out trundle.  No one is sleeping on the top yet, but Viva does get to sit up there and read books during her quiet time every day.  :-)  

The kids think the bed is fun, but were most excited about sheet shopping.  Bentley & Jake have Star Wars sheets on their full, and Viva has some tasteful stripes/florals on her new sheets (I purposefully didn't show her the gaudy  Princess ones - is that wrong of me?!).  :-)

Bentley's Favorite Places in Las Vegas, Or, Daddy's Score on the Adventures

Everyday we tried to find some new adventure to go on while we were in Vegas.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, Sharks seem to have been the number one adventure while we were there.  More than half of all the pictures Bentley took were at the Aquarium.  Of course, some of the places we went didn't allow pictures, so that might not be a fair assessment.

In any case, on Monday, we went to the Aquarium.  It was a hit. (+1)

On Tuesday, we went to Mystere - also well liked (+1), but the pirate show was a bust (-2)

Wednesday was kicked off with a long game of soccer, followed by a picnic at the park.  With that over, we made a trip to the Apple store to get my computer fixed.  This turned into an unexpected win for me, in that Bentley discovered the iMacs setup for kids to use, and really liked the Diego dinosaur learning game. (+1).  From the mall, it was a quick walk over to the Wynn to check out the waterfall

... and then on to the Ferrari showroom.  They were a little heavy on stock of the  f450, but that was ok for my sports car afficianado.  Bentley enjoyed the Ferraris, Ford Mustangs, and the exotic cars.  No pictures allowed, and I was told that ALL white cars are ugly - even if they are Ferraris - but it was still a fun time!  (+1)  It wasn't dark yet, so we headed over to the Bellagio to check out the Conservatory.  Bentley was impressed that they could fit a boat in their garden.  A very large boat.

And, of course, we had to check out the fountains.  Based on all the explaining Bentley did of the fountains to Jake and Viva, he seemed impressed.  (+2 for the Bellagio).

Thursday was the day of "unplanned adventures".  Bentley begged to go back to the Apple store, which worked out fine since we needed to pick up my repaired computer.  He spent nearly an hour at the Diego game!  (+1)  From there, we hopped over to the Secret Garden at the Mirage.  Bentley and I both really enjoyed the dolphins as they did their tricks for us, and the lions and tigers were totally ready for Bentley-the-photographer.  He took much better shots than I did.  For some reason, while we could barely see it, I think the black panther may have been his favorite animal there.  I dunno.  I had planned to take him out front to the Mirage's volcano, but he advocated against it, since it sounded hot.

Friday was a lay low day since it got cooler, plus we had some chores to finish up.  We raked up nearly 80 pounds of leaves (Bentley and I split that job evenly), fixed the timer for the watering system, and cleaned house.  We went out to the desert, but based on the pictures Bentley took from his seat in the car... I don't think he was very impressed.  (+0)

How well did Daddy score?  Looks pretty good!  We saved some great activities for the next trip, like going to Hoover Dam, checking out Red Rocks, going to the knights dinner, but we managed to fill our days!

And in case you're wondering if we ever had time to eat dinner with all of these activities.. yes, but it was normally sometime between 8:45 and 10PM.  

Bentley's Trip to the Desert

One of our adventure plans was to go out to the desert - and maybe drive up Kyle Canyon to go check out the Mount Charleston area.  In case you're not familiar with the area, that's a national forest that's just 20-30 minutes outside of Las Vegas.  Bentley had reservations about going to the desert, because to him, that meant scary snakes, spiders, scorpions, and other things that might get him.  There was no way he was going out there.

Well, our last day of the trip, Bentley decided it might be an ok adventure.  We could see Mt Charleston while playing soccer at the park, and could tell it wasn't as clear up in that area as it had been when we first arrived, but we headed out anyway.

Keep in mind that in Las Vegas, it was around 45 degrees.

About 15 minutes into the canyon, we found a great pullover to go check out the area rock formations, see the plain and the lower valley, and for picture taking.

We didn't count on the cold cold wind.  It was as cold as the January wind in Barrow.  I had neglected the whole heat loss problem of coming up 2000 feet in elevation, and neither of us had wintry gear with us.

I don't think we made it more than 100 paces from the car before we gave in and turn around... only to find that the 100 paces away from the car were easy because the wind was at our backs.  Getting back to the car took monumental effort.  I yelled at the wind, and Bentley yelled at me.  

Luckily we made it back to the much warmer car wherein we decided to take pictures of the desert from inside the car.  Bentley took some great shots of the scrub vegetation and rocks and his hand!

And that wind?  It was bringing down one furious snowstorm through the canyon.  We decided to turn around just before we hit it - there was nothing but dark gray swirling masses of doom in front of us.  

Bentley and I came up with a much better plan for the rest of the day: build with Legos, watch Superman, and eat red meat.  

The day was a success, but I think we're going to have to go to Red Rocks or Mt. Charleston on a much sunnier, warmer day next time.

Bentley Gets a Lesson and Gives Daddy One Too

Ok, so I'm not a huge fan of all the glitz and glamour of vegas.  I do like sunshine, some of the shows and attractions (like the sharks I wrote about earlier), and appreciate the opportunity to use Grandpa's house there.  When planning our adventures, I tried to think of stuff I would enjoy with Bentley - and he with me.  

On Tuesday, we played soccer for more than an hour, did more yard work and clean-up, hung out, and then headed to Treasure Island for the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere.  I figured we might get a chance to take in the pirate show out front, too.

What were our lessons that day?

Well, we went through the casino to get to the front with the pirate show.  Bentley wanted to know what everyone was doing.  I explained the concept that the people were paying to play different games.  He asked why they didn't look happy when they were all playing games.  I asked him if he heard what sounded like anyone winning... he thought for a moment, and said no - Right on kiddo.  So we talked about how the house always wins, and he wanted to know who the house was and if we could meet him since he was winning everything.  Hmmm.  Well, he got the basics.

We got outside just in time for the start of the pirate show - and even better - to get the up-front spot right next to where some of the pirates come through between the boats.  A SUPER position, I thought.  Bentley was excited.  The show started, and a pirate ran past us, jumped up and swung across to one of the boats.  Wow!  Then there was some dancing and the other pirate ship came around the corner.  Apparently 5 year olds have an instinct of what comes next.  "I don't like this."  "I don't want to be here."  (I too instinctively realize that being between two ships and next to the water might not be the best spot to be, and move away from the edge).  

KA-BOOM!

SPLASH!

(Fire is erupting everywhere)

"AAAAHHHH!!!!!"

It was at this point that I came to realize there is a fundamental difference between going to a show (fun time for father and son) and being in a show (not cool).

We made a hasty exit before the inferno ensued and one of the ships sank.  

Mystere, however, was an excellent treat.  Bentley was crazy about the snail (I don't know why), and thought that most of the tricks, gags, and super-human performances were a lot of fun.  Plus there was popcorn.  We enjoyed the drummers, and Bentley's only complaint/concern was that he couldn't take pictures at the show.  He was especially happy that there were no large fireballs.

Bentley Goes Shopping in Vegas

In the first post, I mentioned that Bentley likes to write up grocery lists.  He doesn't really like to do a lot of shopping, though.  I'm happy that he is normally very well mannered, so it's always fun to go with him.

However, this post is kudos to just how well mannered he is.

Had you tagged along with us, you would have found yourself at the local Wal-Mart 5 times, the Smith store, CVS, and almost at ACE hardware.  What could two guys happen to need that much?

Well, there was the trip to buy food.  And we got distracted and bought soccer stuff, too.  And then there was the trip because we needed to get the right toothpaste and nightlights.  Another trip to try to find cookware for the food we bought on the first trip, and a fourth trip to get the food mom would have gotten to go with the other food on the first trip (like chips to go with the hamburgers).  Then there was that other trip to get medicine when Bentley started to get sick (cold or allergies or both), and finally a reward trip to get a new Lego set since getting sick was not making adventures fun.

What food did Bentley pick for us to eat?  Steak.  Hamburgers.  Bread.  Grapes and strawberries and cutie oranges and milk.  And Bentley figured I needed peanut butter and jelly since everyone he knows likes it (except him - he won't touch it).  Noodles - lots of noodles.  That's not enough noodles, get more.  3 pounds of steak and 3 pounds of noodles?  Sure, we can eat that.  5 pounds of fruit too?  Ok.  Crescent rolls, hamburger buns, and a loaf of bread?  Guess I can freeze what we don't eat...

No, I don't normally do the shopping.  I pack food for me to eat in Barrow, and it somehow seemed reasonable to get twice as much food as I normally would for just myself.  

Bentley doesn't eat that much.  And he didn't really like the oranges.  Or the grapes.  Or the strawberries.  Grandpa does the steak better, and I forgot the straws needed to drink the milk.  That pretty much left him with bagels (he brought those in his backpack), and hamburgers.

I would have to conclude that our three successes in shopping was for the soccer set (used every day), the Lego set, and the cookware to bake chocolate chip cookies.

Next trip - we're living off of cookies, hamburgers, chips, and cereal.

Bentley Goes to Vegas and Gets a Tattoo

The first in a "guest" series from Daddy, about his adventure with Bentley in Nevada!

So, Bentley and I called Great Grandma Altman about a week before we were going to fly south.  When Grandma asked him what we were going to do, he told her that he "was going to get a tattoo with daddy and play lots of games!"  It was an unexpected response from the 5 year old, I have to say.  

Nevertheless, he held true to that promise on the first day.  We flew overnight to Las Vegas - with the opportunity to arrive almost an hour early at SeaTac, sometime around 4AM, and get upgraded to first class for the Las Vegas flight (Bentley slept that flight).  Bentley really started his adventure to Las Vegas by picking the rental car.  "We can't get a white one.  I don't like white cars."  (This became important later).  "Dad, do you want the blue car?  It's not very fancy.  You might like it."  Eventually he settled on the red "sports car" (a dodge challenger), and we were on our way.

Apparently, he was a little photobug as we drove down the Strip.  I've never stopped to take a picture at the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign, and Bentley said we didn't need to.  Little did I know, he had snapped a great shot from inside the car.  

Just after the Welcome sign, I pointed out the Mandalay Bay hotel - where we would go to see the Sharks sometime during the week.  

We headed out to Grandpa Tim's house after checking out the monster buildings - and Bentley was quick on to the question of "what do we get to do now?" He had a lot of things to do in his head - and really was dwelling on the sharks - but got distracted.  How?

Yard work, of course!  (It was Bentley's idea, as soon as he saw the rake and broom in the garage).  

Of course, we were short on food and long on hungry, so we had to go to the grocery store.  You might not know this, but Bentley has a thing about grocery lists.  He loves to write them.  And he's really good!  But he needs a lot of help... so our writing and shopping experience took a little longer than the very-tired-and-hungry 5 year old thought it should take.

We got home, and Bentley was very worried that there would be no time for an adventure.  

Things started to go downhill fast.

  He became emphatic about wanting to go to the sharks.

      About not wanting to be with me.

          About wanting to see Mommy.

              Yelling for Mommy to come out of hiding.  (She had to be there somewhere)

          Realizing that Mommy was not going to rescue him, and calling her on the phone.

      And finally, breaking down.

How do you get a very sad kid to cheer up?  Ask him what he wants to do next AND DO IT.

So, what did he want to do?  For me to get him a tattoo and take him to the sharks.

Apparently, he had this all thought out before we left home.  Step 1 - grab Shark rub-on tattoos from Santa.  Step 2 - put on when we get to Las Vegas so they are there the whole trip.   Step 3 - Go see Sharks.  Step 4 - Sleep and Sleep some more.

Well then, we put on that Great White Shark tattoo and headed down to the aquarium!

It was AMAZING!  

Bentley got in free, went through the whole set of exhibits twice, and took probably more than 100 pictures.  We were probably there for 2 hours.  I'll let the pictures that Bentley took (a small fraction of them!) tell the rest of the story, but we did get to see lizards, a crocodile, a Komodo Dragon, and a lot of Sharks.

Scrap Arts Music Concert

Earlier this month we enjoyed a family outing to a concert!  The Alaska Junior Theater brought a group from Vancouver to Anchorage, they make instruments out of scrap metal pieces.  Because Vancouver is on the water, they had a lot of boat yard type materials.

They were part comedy, (playing music with balloons), and lots of good beats and music.  Jake tapped his legs along, and Viva was very good at clapping enthusiastically after every song.  I think they all had a good time, despite being a bit under the weather from colds - it was fun, and they sat still very nicely (with a brief Viva exception... !).

Postcard from Bentley

Our great lover of receiving postcards also enjoys sending them!  While on adventure with his Daddy he sent out a few notes, which he labored over with great love.  Too cute.  :-)

(Viva: I saw fancy cars and sharks.  From Bentley & Daddy)

Puzzle Meisters in Training

A puzzle meister is not created overnight. It takes hours and hours of hard work to instill a skill for puzzles and a love of puzzles in a young child. Oh sure, there is the occasional child with a natural love of jigsaw puzzles who seeks out puzzles on their own, but most puzzle meisters are trained up, not born.

Someone takes them in hand and introduces them to the craft of puzzling. They start with simple peg puzzles where the pieces fit into a single piece slot. Next simple jigsaw puzzles are played with: 9 piece puzzles, 12 piece puzzles, and 20 piece puzzles. Some days the same puzzle is done three times in a row. Other days a new puzzle is tried.

The student in training is given many different types of puzzles to work with, not just jigsaw puzzles with innie and outie pieces, but ones with gentle curves. Both frame puzzles and box puzzles are worked. Foam, wood, and cardboard--all types of puzzles are good training fodder.

Bentley is a grand puzzler (as we've mentioned a few times). He does 100 piece puzzles on his own (sometimes three or four in one afternoon) and he likes to do 300 piece puzzles with a companion. Jake and Viva are not so advanced. Of course, they are not as old as Bentley, but I think he was further along in the fine art of jigsaw puzzles when he was their age than they currently are.

I've been trying to make a special effort lately to do at least one puzzle every day with Jake and one puzzle every day with Viva. Sometimes they want to do more than one. I think they are advancing in their skills. Some days we do 48 piece puzzles together. I still have to coach them, but they are getting better. Viva says she's ready for a 100 piece puzzle, but I'm not sure I'm ready to take on that project with her. I think we'll stick with 48 piecers.

At this point you may be wondering why I train up little puzzle meisters. What is the big deal? You can't earn a college scholarship by working jigsaw puzzles.

Au contraire! Jigsaw puzzles build your brain. They develop your abilities to reason, analyze, sequence, and deduce. These skills help you think logically and solve problems. Jigsaw puzzles improve hand-eye co-ordination and help develop a good working sense of spatial arrangements.

Furthermore jigsaw puzzles exercise both the left and right hemispheres of the brain. The left-brain thinks logically and follows sequence while the right brain is creative, intuitive and emotional. When you put together a jigsaw puzzle, you engage both sides. Awesome! For some people puzzling is a form of meditation. I could list even more benefits of jigsaw puzzling, but this is supposed to be a blog about the children, so I'd best get back on that topic.

My point is that it takes a lot of time and work to help children learn to do jigsaw puzzles, but it's time well spent. It's fun. It's highly educational. And if you work hard, you'll have a full-fledged jigsaw partner is just a few short years.

Jake's Ipad Art

Here's the picture Jake sent Bentley, after Bentley sent us some art while he was on vacation!

The Wizard and his Potion

Here is Bentley's wizard, on his broom, flying over the big bowl of potion he created.

Someone has been watching Fantasia lately with their Daddy this past week.... :-)

He loves his colored pencil sketching, and they have great detail!

Dogs! And More Dogs!

February 25-27 was the annual World Championship Sled Dog Race. It's a big event in sprint dog racing. Teams of 12-20+ dogs race 25 miles daily for three days. On Friday I asked Jake and Viva if they'd like to go see the dogs running. They were quite excited. Then Viva threw up, so she had to stay home. She was not happy, but what could I do?!

Jake tried backing out; he's like that. Leaving the house is not always easy for him. He often balks. I ignored his change of vote and took him anyway. He quickly got over his negativity, although he thought the trip downtown was a little long. "When are we going get there?!"

The weather was fairly warm for winter--34 degrees--so I didn't dress him as well as I should have. I didn't put on his snow pants or boots and I grabbed two right hand mittens.


While 34 is certainly warmer than 0, it's not all that warm if you're standing outside for thirty minutes. Fortunately the location we viewed the races from was a local church and we were allowed to go in and warm up. Mark joined us downtown.

Jake thoroughly enjoyed watching the dogs. The dogs were beautiful--if you ignored their very long tongues hanging out of their mouths and the excessive drool produced by running for 20+ miles. We watched the dogs on their way out of town and on their return back in.



On Saturday we again asked the twins if they wanted to go see the dogs on day two of the races, and again they said yes. This time Viva was able to go. The temperatures had dropped down to 20 degrees, so I bundled the kids up in their snow pants and snow boots and stuffed them into their car seats. Instead of going downtown, we headed over to another good location to view the dogs.

Because it was so cold out, we were only able to watch for a half hour before I had to put the twins in the truck to warm them up. They watched a few more teams race by and then we took them home.


This past weekend was another major dog sledding event--the ceremonial start of the Iditarod. These teams of dogs are a different class than last weekend's teams. They are champion long distance racers--they will run for over 1000 miles in just 10 days. Incredible!

Bentley missed last weekend's races because he was in Las Vegas with his dad, so he was eager to attend this weekend's event. I'm not sure why the children enjoy seeing the dogs race so much. The teams just zoom by and it's over.

Well, zoom is a good term for last weekend's racers; the Iditarod teams were not zooming anywhere. As I mentioned, it's the ceremonial start of the race. No times are recorded. Saturday's event was 100% public relations, so the dogs take it easy and the mushers greet the crowds, sometimes handing out souvenir dog booties. Bentley scored one.


I did not attend this event. Mark went over to get more photos of sled dogs and a short while after that Matt and Kara took the trio so he took a few photos of them, too. I asked him to put together a short slide show because it was impossible to choose just a few shots. (The slide show really is short!)

When I asked how the adventure went, I heard that Bentley had a grand time, Viva had a good time (rolling in the snow?!), and Jake wasn't feeling well. As for Matt and Kara--you'd have to ask them.

=

You can follow the Iditarod race at: http://www.iditarod.com/ I really enjoy following the race every March. My favorite musher is Martin Buser, but really anyone willing to take on a 1000 miles of cold trail deserves to win.

Jake: The Good & The Bad

There was a little girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
When she was good, she was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.

Are you familiar with this nursery rhyme? Other than girl and curl, this rhyme perfectly describes our little Jakie. When he is good, he is very, very good. He is super sweet and adorable. But when he is bad, he is horrid. He hits. He bites. He tells you he doesn't like you. He screams. He chases you to attack you. He's really rather amusing, but in a "Oh my gosh...who is that child?!" kind of way.

He switches from good to bad without much provocation--a missed nap, a thwarted request, it doesn't always take much to turn the switch. Yes, Jake is the best of children and the not best of children. (I won't say worst because I can imagine a lot worse than he is!)

Viva: The Sweet & The Sour

Viva is our little sweetheart princess. She not only looks like a princess, but she acts like a princess, she dresses like a princess, and she likes to have her own way like a princess. If your way and her way are in agreement, life is easy. If not, she'll stick to her plan unless forced to abandon it. She is still little enough that we can force her to do much of what we want her to do, but I suspect we will have some difficult years ahead of us if we try to keep a tight rein on Viva.

I think it's a fair assessment to describe her as sweet and sour. Sweet when she's in agreement with you; sour when not in agreement. You should see some of the faces that girl produces when she's not in agreement. Preschoolers are vastly amusing. (The same behavior in teenagers would be vastly annoying...why is that?)

Stir Crazy

It's been a long, cold winter. We are all starting to crave MORE--more sunshine (which we are starting to get), more outdoor time (not yet!), and more space. It hasn't helped that the children have been sick the past couple of weeks. Jake in particular is easily upset and Bentley is extra ornery--this is not a great combination.

So what do we do to relieve the crazies? Buy furniture! Okay, that's not a serious answer, although we have in the past two weeks purchased new furniture for three different rooms in the house. Well, if you count a double oven as furniture, make that four different rooms in the house. Cabin fever is a dangerous thing.

How do the children handle their winter confinement? They race around the house chasing each other. They jump on the new couches. (Some parents don't allow jumping on the furniture, but the couches are huge and the children are little; they can't possibly damage them.)


They compose music. They play indoor golf. Today they combined music and sports. Viva told her brothers to grab two hand bells each, so the trio could play a hand bell chorus. That's not so odd, but the boys continued to play soccer while playing hand bells. I'm not sure I could play soccer and hand bells at the same time. They did a fair job of both.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

February's Gone?!

That is so rotten. Where did February go? Why didn't I write more blog posts? The children continue to do amazing, funny things every day. Why don't we share more of their adventures on the blog? I don't know why because I like writing about the grandchildren. They are so awesome. They make every day a good day. Granted, some days are long, exhausting days, but they are still good days.

When I sit down and try to recapture some of the funny moments, I can't. A lot of the humor is in the exact wording the kidlets use, and I can't remember word-for-word what they said. If I were a more dedicated blogger, I'd carry around a tape recorder, but I'm not. I live in the moment, as it unfolds; I live it, and I let it go.

Can I recall anything?!

The other day Bentley taught Viva how to play a new dragon tile game. It's not an easy game, but she was a good sport and played with him for quite a while. He was a good sport and showed her where to play her tiles. The score was 20+ for Bentley and 6 for Viva. I asked him how come her score was so low and he said she just got lousy tiles. He played the best he could for her given her tiles. Really?! A 6 is a very low score for the dragon tile game. The low score didn't bother Viva. She never cares if she wins or loses a game.

Here's Viva fending off her brothers during her iPad time.


If she's not careful they take over her time by showing her how to play this game or that game. Sometimes she lets them hijack her iPad time, other days she's not so mellow. She looks pretty mellow in the above photo.

I'll try harder this month to remember funny moments long enough to blog them