Quick Update

No new photos or anything, but some news here:

The construction here is going pretty well. We have a room now (or at least the frame of a room) where the roof deck used to be. Laundry is a pain though- you have to trek through a temporary trapdoor to the upstairs, ducking and crawling while carrying your load because a basket is too bulky. Fine if the clothes are dirty, but you'd better be careful when they're clean! And of course there's no power upstairs right now and we operate the washing machine with about 10 extension cords strung together. The dryer keeps blowing the fuse out so we have to air dry everything on racks in our bedroom. Which means one load per day or else we have no place to dry it. And we can't do the load until the workers leave since they need the power from the extension cords. And there's no power, so no lights. So you'd better get the clothes from the washer before it gets dark or it's tough to navigate your way down and keep them clean!

On to better (but maybe not as comical) news--- Nils is completely toilet trained in quite a short time! We went swimming last week and today and the kids loved it. I want to get them into lessons during the school year. The pool is a public one but spotless and brand new. So we get cheap facilities that aer well maintained too- bonus!

Nils has been going through a bit of a rebellious period lately. He does a lot of creameing and shouting to anyone in his voice range (a lot of people then) and places his hands on his hips and says "go straight to bed!" or "time out on the sofa!" You know who he must sound like then- uh oh.

I'll try to get some construction photos in this week.

Smaller Handbags, Here I Come!

Nils chose this week to no longer wear diapers- yay! Of course, we've had crappy weather for 2 weeks and were trapped inside. And the day that it turned nice again he decided this and we're still trapped at home. And next week the work on our house begins, so it will be hard to take the kids out a lot. But I am still very, very happy that he decided, on his own, to wear underpants. And that he's doing very well with it too. Yipee!

We took our first outing today sans diapers and it was a success. Of course, it was just a walk for about 15 minutes.... we wanted to go to the playground, but ominous looking storm clouds and thunder scared us off and we took a quick spin around the main street here. Jay was the same age when I took away his diapers- it took him barely two days to get it down. But 2 years, 7 months- not bad!

Friday, we had the scaffolding put up on the house. The roofer comes Monday and we'll be fully underway. I cannot believe that it took six months to get a building permit for a new roof and to build a room on our rooftop deck. Until I spoke with my neighbor and it took them two years for a permit to tear down an old building and build a new one. It is the historical district after all.

Amusement Park

I've meant to make this blog post for about 2 weeks now. Or at least since I made my last posting, since we did these both on the same weekend.

We took the kids to their first amusement park. It was geared to younger kids and actually looked like a ten year-old would be bored here. Anyway, the kids loved it. Michael, Nils and I went on a pirate water ride- Jay chose to stay on shore. Smart for him because Michael and I got soaked. Nils stayed dry- he started crying so I huddled over him and then he loved it. Go figure, he's a fish and cried because he got wet. (It was pretty intense though).

Michael took Jay and Nils, individually, on the huge Ferris wheel too. They loved the view and everything. I can't deal with heights like that when I'm in a non-enclosed space (see the Switzerland entries for an angst-filled photo of me ready to go in a gondola- and that's closed!). We also went on a tractor ride, trampolines, massive slides, a train ride and a huge play/climb-ground.

Before I had kids (shoot, even three days before we went!), I always swore that I would never, ever be the type of mom who would let her preschooler run around in only a diaper and tee. Well, I became that mom! There was water on the playground and rather than try to limit Nil's playing, we just took off his shorts- we had more diapers but not more pants! Of course, I shall choose not document evidence of this alleged incident- no photos of Nils playing in his diaper!

Legoland

Since Michael was away all last week, we did nothing but family stuff over the weekend. I made sure our errands were all taken care of and he passed on his weekly badminton game. Saturday was beautiful and we decided to go to the newly opened Legoland in our area.

I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed when we first got there because I always thought it was an outdoor park for smaller children. Instead, it was inside- why would we want to be inside on such a beautiful day? Well, we went anyway and it was good because it was about 11:00 and we wouldn't want the kids in the sun at that time anyway.

Legoland had a ride through a castle with a dragon, an Indiana Jones exhibit (complete with quiz questions for the kids), a lego factory and more. Look at how thrilled Jay is to be next to Batman (!). Notice the cool Foos tee too! We even bought the photo of use that was offered at the end of the dragon ride- very unusual for us! I have to scan it in later this week so you can see it.

Of course the best part for the kids- the huge play area in the cafe at the end. Oh, and eating fish sticks and fries outside while watching ducks. After eating, we went on a paddle ride on the water. Nils, the fish, looks like he's about to fall in a couple of times, but he was safe. Notice that I have a photo of myself in the blog now twice within a one-month period! Amazing.

Linkin Park

Ten days and two concerts- what a life! We went to see Linkin Park last night. After the Foo Fighters (and my well-known obsession with Dave Grohl), I wasn't ready for Linkin Park. We were still listening to the Foos- and watching Jay and Nils headbang/air guitar to Monkeywrench and other Foos songs! So I didn't expect much for the show.

The show had three opening acts. We missed #1 (arrived just as they finished) and missed #2 (N.E.R.D.- we were eating dinner). But we saw #3 (HIM). Linkin Park came on at 10 pm and played only about 1:15 or so total (including the encore!). But for a short show, they rocked. Chester's vocals were amazing and Mike's rapping rocked. I have to give props to Chester's vocal coach- anyone who can scream like him and not ruin his vocal cords, especially on tour, must have a great teacher.

I've attached some photos of LP here, one of them is so you can see how many people were actually there. General Admission was packed- we estimate about 8000 or so were down there. I don't know what I did wrong, but we no longer have the two videos we took. Grrrr..... it really is my fault for not properly uploading the data to my computer. You live, you learn.

Foo Fightin'

Ahhhh.... the Foos. I love the Foo Fighters. I love Dave Grohl. I love music with lots and lots of guitars. My life suddenly changed the minute Nirvana (Dave again!) entered the music scene and grunge became the new big thing. (Remember wearing leggings, combat boots and flannel shirts? OK, don't admit it and I won't either). Smells Like Teen Spirit changed music and pop culture for Generation X forever. OK, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, but damn that music (and what it spawned today) is still great.

The Foos rocked. The opening number (Let it Die, a current fave of mine) was awesome- we have a video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO5PPXiaFk4 Monkeywrench and Everlong were other great numbers, closer to the end. And many other great songs in between- they would play one after the other without even stopping. One song would end and seamlessly meld into the next. Awesome.

Part of me realized how old I've gotten though. When we left, we saw the tour buses, etc and there was NOBODY there hanging out, waiting for a close up glimpse of Dave and crew. What?? The old me (Betty, for those of you who remember) would have pulled the car to the side, parked and hung out, waiting. But the me now realized it was close to midnight on a school night and a friend was kindly watching our kids for free at home- he had to work the next day too and didn't get the Foos to boot! So home we went.

Ship Ahoy!

We spent the weekend making the boys' bed into a ship. We got two beds at Ikea (Kura) and converted them into L-shaped bunk beds. The bed is made so that (when it's single) it can be a low, four-poster bed with a ladder for climbing and playing.

When the child is older, you can "flip" it and it's a (somewhat) high bed with play space underneath. Jay has had this bed for a little over two years and we bought Nils the same kind. We (Michael!) then did a lot of sawing, connecting and reinforcing to make the beds overlap each other.

On Friday we went to the hardware store and got a ton of stuff- ropes, nuts, bolts, and big, colorful plates to make the ship. The idea was simple: the ship and waves would be for playing but also protect Jay from falling out of bed. We've also ordered a play telescope to attach and have our eyes on a ship-shaped steering wheel.

I've spent half an hour trying to properly format this entry. Sometimes Blogger is so frustrating. I just want the photos to line up and the text to be justified!