Don't Forget Your Panda Slippers

We like the movie, Labyrinth.  There is one scene where the main character ends up in a junk yard and goes into a room like her own room at home.  A junk lady comes in and starts bringing her all these "important" things like toys and dolls and her teddy bear.  All these things start sticking to her back as if she is slowly turning into a junk lady, too.  She escapes by remembering what really is important- her baby brother. 
One of the things the junk lady brings to her is her panda slippers.  "Here's your panda slippers.  You know how much you like your panda slippers."
One day, Lucky got up from a nap and wanted a bunch of blankets around him (as many as he could see).  He wanted more and more put on him... and his teddy bear.  It was so funny.  I brought him out to show Jeremy and started quoting the junk lady (after I made him stay there so I could run and get the camera, of course). 

Now every time he's wrapped up in a bunch of blankets with his teddy bear I say things like, "Don't forget your panda slippers," in the junk lady's voice.
By the way, I think he has seven blankets in these pictures.  Seven... and his teddy bear.

KAT'S ME-oouch

Nichole:

♫ "When the moon hits your eye

Like a big pizza pie,

your kids will be orphans

(if you are a widow or widower)." ♪

Old Rock Day 2016

January 7 is Old Rock Day.  Creativity wins again.  Jr. Jr. said that Angry Birds: Star Wars has old rocks in it.  You know?  "A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..."  Old rocks.  So of course I let him play.  Later he watched The Croods.  Also old rocks.  Cavemen.
He said the marshmallows in his chocolate looked like old rocks.
Jr. Jr. and Lucky also rocked on a rocking chair this evening.  This is one the kids have been rocking on for years.  Old rock.

Another Mystery is History

January 6 is Sherlock Holmes' Birthday.  To celebrate, we solved a 7 or 8 year old mystery.
Nichole was missing a book and she remembers being on the couch while reading it.  Our couch eats things.  So Jeremy checked back and inside the couch as much as he could (and found some things), but if you really want to find things, you have to use Mommy's small hands.  So I started looking... or feeling.  I pulled out crayons, pens, and pencils.  I pulled out numerous balloons (obviously).  I pulled out a toy ring, a snap bracelet, a plastic plug for some toy, a bow tie, a calculator, and some other things I can't remember.  At one point Jeremy told me, "Kristin, stop looking."  He had in his hand Nichole's book which was over on a table near the computer.
However, he did not stop me before I pulled out of the couch a My Friends Tigger and Pooh toy figurine of Tigger.  We lost that toy years ago- 7 or 8 years ago, before we moved to where we are now.  We looked everywhere for that toy, even in the couch.  I guess I just didn't go that deep when I looked before. 

We found it funny that on Sherlock Holmes' Birthday, we found something we'd been missing for years, something that happened to go along with a set of toys including "Super Sleuths" from My Friends Tigger and Pooh.

National Bird Day 2016

It's hard to celebrate when you're sick.  I've had a cold for a few days and it's been off and on awful.
For Christmas, I got some birding gear.  I got binoculars and a "Birds of Utah" Field Guide.

Since January 5 is National Bird Day, we planned in advance to go out birdwatching that day to try out my new gear.  I really wanted to go.  Jeremy really wanted to go.  But I've been feeling awful and the last few days have been so cold.  But we really wanted to go.  And we really hoped we could go.
Today, January 5, I woke up not feeling as awful as when I woke up yesterday.  It was not as cold as yesterday, either.  In fact it was warm enough that snow and ice were melting all over the place.
Jeremy made me a walking stick out of PVC to help me since I haven't been doing so much walking the last few days.  On the top of the walking stick we put a PVC camera mount that my brother, Paco, made to put the camcorder on so we could get a steadier shot when it was zoomed in.  

And we used it.  Yes, we did.  We zoomed in and got pictures of this:

Great Horned Owl

Highlight of National Bird Day, I'll tell you.  We did not expect to see an owl while we were out, but we did.  We also saw some robins, some northern flickers, a lot of seagulls, and some smaller birds we still need to identify (maybe some chickadees, goldfinches, etc.)... and a lot of airplanes which Lucky pointed out every single time.

I also was feeling pretty good while we were out.  I mentioned to Jeremy that yesterday I felt like I had a bad cold but today I felt like I had a regular cold.  Then Lucky needed me to hold him for a while, which was great, until I started feeling it.  Oh dear (we also saw a few deer).  Thankfully Jeremy carried him the rest of the way so I could walk along with my walking stick.  I think Lucky's hands were cold because he kept picking up snow on the side of the path.  That and I think the temperature dropped a bit while we were out.
Overall, the weather wasn't too bad and I was able to get around pretty well... and that great horned owl was totally worth it.
We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

P.S.  Also to celebrate, I put up a video I took a few months back of a caspian tern diving into a pond to catch a fish.  Check it out on my YouTube channel.

Science Fiction Day 2016

January 2 is Science Fiction Day.  I've been wanting to work on my balloon weaving skills so I thought this would be a good day for it.
I made a balloon dalek that Jr. Jr. could wear and chase the other kids calling out, "Exterminate!  Exterminate!"

Jeremy gave me some tips and ideas but I did all the balloon twisting myself.  It was a simple enough shape so it really was a good one for me to build by myself.  Usually Jeremy helps me when I hit tricky parts by doing the twisting on those parts, but I did it myself this time.  Yay.  My own sculpture.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Let's make 2016 a great one!