Bowles Blog

Legoland

You may think Legoland USA is in southern California.

Actually, Legoland USA is in Will & Cuyler's bedroom.

Yep, the boys' room is home to apprx. 8 billion Legos.  Some are loose, some are assembled into small creatures or structures, more still are sets built into complex contraptions such as the X Wing Fighter or The Battle of Endor.

Each day, elaborate battle scenes play out involving not only Legos, but lately Japanese erasers, Magnetix and Pokemon figures.  It's a war zone in there.

Luckily, you can't just wander in unannounced.  The boys have assembled a series of rope-like barriers made out of Magnetix.  They've somehow managed to find or create a magnetic surface in nearly every corner of the room.

They're being creative.  They're problem solving.  Imaginative play, spatial relationships, math, physics--all sorts of skill sets are coming into play.  

Even the 'sobbing in disappointment & frustration' skill set--the last 2 big Lego sets Cuyler has gotten have been missing several pieces.  You can imagine how that goes over when you're on step 38 of 127 and you have to get your dad to email the Lego peeps so they can send replacement parts.  Which arrive in 2 weeks...

One set that doesn't often come into play is the 'tidying' skill set. 

Oh, they clean sometimes.   A process that usually involves piling Legos in a corner, under a bureau or onto the overcrowded Lego table.  You see, once a Lego creation is assembled, it must never come apart.  Or so Cuyler and Will would have you believe.

Recently when I told them they needed to clean their room and put away some of the Legos, they told me they need more space.  They told me they needed a Lego room.  Cole has a whole room just for Legos (it's true, I've seen it--though he does share it with his 2 brothers), they said. 

So I called our carpenter and I said, 'Patrick, we need a Lego room.  Can you help?'  Ha.  Not true.  I called our carpenter and said, 'Patrick, we'd really like to finish the basement.  Can you help?'  That is true.

In the meantime, the boys' room continues to be over run by Legos.  And marbles.  And every other tiny toy you can imagine stepping on in your bare feet when you deliver laundry.

Good thing they're saving their allowance so they can buy more Legos.

Blah Blah Blog

As evidenced by my lapse in posting (over a week!), I haven't felt much like blogging lately.

I've got other things on my mind I guess.  Like earthquakes and a US Senate race and trying to maintain my composure while the boys go careening down the giant sledding hill in the new snow tube that Daddy bought them.

Add to that the fact that it's January and I'm cold and well....blah.

I suppose I should try to snap out of it.  After all, BGD suggested (and then helped me move) my art studio stuff up from the frigid basement into the dining room.  He may have been tired of watching me mope.  Just a guess.

Let's try posting some photos.  I like photos.

My  regular camera has been pretty quiet lately but luckily I have my trusty iPhone camera.  I can capture all sorts of interesting tidbits with that puppy.

Behold:

We went to Jordan's Furniture the week after Christmas (more on that in a moment).  They now have the Enchanted Village on display during holiday time.  They also have what they claim to be the Original Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins.  On sale.  Right there, no lines no waiting, only $2.

I loved the original JM blueberry muffins.  I remember having one fresh from the bakery at JM in Downtown Crossing. {I also remember being pet-ri-fied to step on to go on the down escalator.  Eek, childhood trauma alert...}

Maybe they used the original recipe, but room temperature muffins from the lobby of Jordan's Furniture was nowhere near as good as a fresh from the oven, melt in your mouth Jordan Marsh original.

But they got my $2 so they probably don't care.  The Man's always looking to make a buck on the populace's nostalgia, aren't they?

We didn't actually go to Jordan's to see the Enchanted Village (though we would've if the line wasn't so long).  We went because we had a $200 store credit that expired on December 31st. When we bought our sofa back in February, they were doing the Red Sox sweep the World Series and your furniture is free promo again.  We all know that didn't happen, but everyone got a 'rebate' coupon for a percentage of their total sale.  The nice thing was that there was no minimum purchase requirement.  Seeing as we are chock full of furniture at the moment, we (and I mean I) just set about spending $200 on insanely overpriced accessories.  This white wooden dog shelf was just one of our treasures--to the tune of $64(!?!).  I guess now I know where they get the high end comparison prices on all the stuff at Home Goods.

We also brought home a fish plate, my new favorite square green embossed cereal bowl, a silver chair, a white ceramic trophy cup and a really pretty square pottery casserole dish with a darling little bluebird on the top.  Funny enough, I picked out the dog shelf and BGD found the bird dish.  Go figure.

Yep, a tale about free stuff.  I'm feeling better already.

Sledding Sunday

Sunday morning, in a (rare?) burst of motivation, we loaded up our kids, our neighbor's two kids, and 9 sleds and headed to Coast Guard Hill for some winter adventure.

Sure it was cold, but the sun was shining.  Brightly.

Ebby, Will & Cuyler brought their new Zipfy mini luge sleds they got from Pa for Christmas.  Our neighbors brought more traditional plastic sleds.  BGD had a oversized plastic shovel Slope Slider sled from LL Bean.  

The snow was packed down from several days of sledding, one jump was built near the top of the hill and fortunately, there wasn't a lot of ice on the hill.  The town puts hay bales around the trunks of the trees at the bottom of the hill--but if you miss a hay bale you can easily cruise into a parked (or moving) car.  Fortunately that didn't happen. Overall, a good day for sledding.

Let's check out the action.

Everyone knows, before you can sled down the hill, you have to climb up the hill.  {Note the size of BGD's sled relative to the size of BGD's body}

The boys wanted to attack the jump right away.  There were mixed results.

That's Will on the blue Zipfy.  

The other type of sled seemed to work better on the jump--as demonstrated by our neighbor whom will call Cowboy.  Just because.        

Cuyler had some pretty good runs over the jump on his green Zipfy.      

I think they may have been captured better on video.

Will got the hang of the jump eventually. 

BGD tried to go over the jump on his tiny sled.  Unfortunately, it doesn't steer very well and he never made it.  But it was fun(ny) to watch him try.    

Ebby really enjoyed sledding.  For a while.  And then she tried the jump.

I saw just as she hit the jump.  She got some great air.  Then she did some mid air twisting. Quite spectacular. Then her sled proceeded down the hill and Ebby's backside met the hard packed snow.

The first thing I said to her was, "That was awesome, I wish you'd told me and I would've taken pictures!"

The first thing she said to me was "OOOOWWWWW!!!!".  Yep, our first (and thankfully, only) injury of the day.  She landed right on her tailbone.  I was hoping she'd get right up.  She didn't.  Of course she was lying in the middle of the sledding run so I had to go and drag her and her sled out of the way.  She spent the rest of our sledding time hanging out on a hay bale.  She told me later she thinks that was the most pain she's ever been in in her whole life.  But right up until then--good times! 

Thus, the group shot minus the eldest.  She was in the car, nursing her wounds.  I'm happy to report she's moving around just fine today--but none too anxious to return to the big sledding hill.

I'm thinking our next winter outdoor activity should be tubing.  No moguls. 

The other thing I'm thinking?  Zipfys aren't meant for jumping.

Duh.

Our 'Dear Santa' letter

Sure, it's January and we've taken down all of our holiday decorations but I see no reason the Christmas spirit can't live on.  In blog posts.

This year we wrote a collaborative letter to Santa. We didn't set out with a plan to write to Santa, it just sort of evolved. I guess this is what happens when you have a working typewriter, some Christmas stationery, a week of Christmas vacation and a group of dry-witted family members...

Sorry it's a bit hard to read, our vintage Smith Corona Galaxie Twelve is in need of a new ribbon.  Don't worry, I'll translate {in red and italic}. 

It started off innocently enough.

Dear Santa,You know Ebby, right? She keeps kicking me off my computer.  I don't think you should bring her ant {any} presents.

Though I neglected to sign my name, that was my contribution.  I didn't mean it.  Well, maybe I meant a little of it.

Will

Apparently Will was testing the waters and successfully typed his name.  More from him in a minute.

Dear Santa, I still believe that I deserve presents. It is my mother that deserves coal. Love, Ebby

All I can say about this is, no typos.

will rules ////

Told you we'd hear from him again.

Then the big guy gets into the action. No, not Santa. BGD.

Dear Santa, Don't bring anyone anything.  Except me. Daddy

Concise.  To the point. Interesting, though misguided.

Finally, post-holiday, I found this:

Dear Santa,  Thank you for all of the gifts that you brought all of us!!  Love, Ebby  even though it doesn't work...but truly thanks!

The 'it' Ebby's referring to here is her new karaoke machine.  Luckily we were able to work out a North Pole-Kohl's-Best Buy return/exchange/purchase gift triangle and she now has a machine that works.  But hey, check out that gratitude. 

My next plan:  get some Valentine stationery and type in 'Dear Cupid'.  That's all it takes, just one phrase to get the ball rolling.

I can just imagine the love notes now...

xo,

Jen