Exclusive! The Photos that Man versus Food Didn't Want You to See!

Yay, Niagara Falls!

It's like a nice walking path with an excellent park on one side of it and an amazing series of waterfalls on the other side. What could be better?

Our only annoyance was that Man v. Food happened to be filming an episode just as we were there, and they kept doing every single thing that we were doing (sightseeing, ticket buying, Maid of the Mist, etc.) at the exact same time that we were doing it. At first, obviously, I was SUPER excited to see the Man v. Food guy--we had cable for a few months last year, and I loved that show, in which the Man v. Food guy goes somewhere cool, sightsees, and then eats a lot of food--and there they were, filming right where we were, and so I was all, "Matt! Take a picture!"

Here's Matt's picture:

In the back you can see the Man versus Food guy checking his mark, and then there's the camera guy and the sound guy, and in the front are these two people who just stand there and act mean to tourists. Just after Matt took that photo, that woman on the left actually walked over to him and told him that he had to stop taking pictures immediately.

Now, Matt's a nice guy, so he was nice and conciliatory, but his stance was the same as my stance would have been if it had been me with the camera getting all redneck up on her instead of being all California cool: it's unfortunate, for her, that she doesn't want us to take photos, because she has no power to stop us. We're American taxpayers in a state park. As Americans, we're according certain freedoms, and pinnacle among these freedoms is the right to take amateur photographs of celebrities. And not even celebrities enjoying Niagara Falls on their downtime with their families, because I wouldn't photograph that, but celebrities actually on the clock being celebrities. Filming not on a closed set, or even inside a barracade, or even near a sign that says "Quiet" or "No photographs," but right smack in the middle of the walking path at Niagara, making use of, if I'm not mistaken, uncredited appearances by the dozens and dozens of random tourists walking by. I think I was one of those tourists, and you didn't hear me being all, "You can't take photos of me," even though I not only don't make a living by having my photo taken, but I don't even like it, because I'm a good sport. You want me to stop taking photos somewhere that I have a legal right to be and a legal right to photograph at, and there's no "No Photography" signs around, and it's Niagara Falls, for Pete's sake, and I paid TEN DOLLARS to be there? Then you have to look like you could arrest me or at least beat me up, and even then I'll throw a big redneck fit and make a huge scene.

In other words--you want me to stop taking pictures? Make me.

Mind you, I wasn't even that interested in taking photographs of the Man v. Food guy--we were at Niagara Falls, you know?--but after that I did make a point of taking (or pretending to take, because it wasn't worth blowing through my CF card) tons of photos every time we were around them, and since we basically did everything together, I basically took photos of the Man v. Food guy for half the day--I might as well be his mom, or maybe I should make him a crazy-fan scrapbook. Mr. Man v. Food guy basically ignored all the tourists that his camerapeople were getting lots of free shots of, which is fine by me because I'm down with keeping your mind on your job, but lots of unhappy tourists were complaining and saying sad things about how the Man v. Food people had been mean to them, so I considered myself doing it for the people.

Everyone needs a hobby.

Otherwise, we had an excellent time, with lots of staring at the falling water--

--and a VERY exciting trip on the Maid of the Mist:

Even the Man v. Food people came with us (and took up a quarter of the boat, and rebuffed excited tourists. I always thought Man v. Food looked really fun, but according to the way these people acted, it is a J.O.B. like anything else--were they missing children's soccer games? Being forced to face their waterfall phobias? Who knows, but they were grumpy):

The Maid of the Mist has an observation deck that is very high and offers grand vistas:

And the chance to get up very, VERY close to the base of waterfalls?

Very, VERY exciting:

Even for the adults, it turns out:

I was, of course, planning to wrap my fancy camera up nice and tight at the last possible minute, but as soon as we so much as turn the corner to the Horseshoe Falls--

--the camera is all, "Is that a hint of moisture that I sense in the air? ABORT! ABORT!"

And it crapped out for the rest of the day and refused to behave until Matt gave in later that day and took it to an actual camera shop. Mind you, all the clerk guy did was futz with it like we'd been doing, and that camera shop didn't even sell Canons so what more could he know than us, but at least it gave my little Rebel the feeling that we cared, and so it recovered.

And that's why instead of hundreds of glorious photoscapes from the observation deck later, instead I have grainy video from my trusty and sturdy ipod!

I know, you're welcome.

Our Priceline hotel in Buffalo ruled pretty well, as well (which is great since we're getting screwed at this Fairfield Inn outside of Albany), with one of our top ten hotel swimming pools EVER:

Seriously, check out that vista!

You bet it was a top-ten day.

Six Dinosaurs and Two Police Officers

Normally I wouldn't even begin a child's birthday shirt until the night before her birthday, but since we're leaving on our road trip tomorrow, during which our baby will celebrate her birthday on the beach, I think this counts, and thus I crafted yesterday while the daddy took the girlies to the public pool.

During the walk home from the pool Sydney, on her balance bike, was pulled over and questioned by the police.

Well, technically the police were the ones who pulled over, since Sydney was waiting on her balance bike on the path at the tree where the girls are required to wait for us when they ride ahead. Matt, who was VERY far behind on the path, although in eyesight--hence the requirement to wait at that particular tree, which is visible--saw them drive by, then drive back by, then pull over, then get out of the car and walk over to Sydney, then kneel down to speak to Sydney. Then he saw Sydney turn and point to him on the path, and then he waved. And then he got to speak to the police officers, too. Matt did not recount the conversation for me, which means that it likely did not go well, but they did all manage to come home, and CPS has not been by yet, and thank goodness it was him instead of me, because although I am quite happy to have my children watched out for when we're out in the wider community, I am vastly more indignant than my good-natured, easy-going partner if my parenting is questioned or my civil rights tampered with.

I also have gotten into the habit of idly listening to the police scanner streaming online while I putter, so I must have been out of the room at the time, because I'm sure I would have recognized my little nuclear family being speculated about on the radio...

But meanwhile, happily, busily, ignorant of the fact that were I in Arizona my child would be at that moment in danger of being deported for she does not carry ID, I was crafting a birthday masterpiece:

The stencils were made using the Dinosaur Tracks cartridge, my Cricut, and freezer paper, and painted onto a thrifted T-shirt (it came tie-dyed) with Jacquard paints. I can't WAIT to see it on my baby on the beach on her birthday!

And also? We always cooperate to the extent of our legal requirements and the best of our abilities with the authorities whenever it is requested.

A Shirred Strawberry Sundress

The finishing touch is a Band-aid across her upper lip that she insists is a "mustache."

The shirred fabric purchase was a happy mistake. 

A strawberry print, it was hanging out in the remnants bin at 75% off due to a little stain near one edge, but when I bought it I thought that it was a plain quilting cotton. The shirred ends were folded to the inside, so it wasn't until we got back home and I unwrapped the fabric that I saw that it was that same type of pre-shirred fabric that I often see and always think would make a sweet and simple sundress for my kid, but never buy because I know how to shirr fabric on my own sewing machine, only I never do, so how lucky to have a perfect length of that pre-shirred fabric in my hands at the price of only a couple of dollars and one load of wash with Oxy Clean!

One wiggly-kid measurement and one clean-finished seam later--

--that same wiggly girl was very happy, indeed:

To her dismay, I did insist that we add shoulder straps, although when I changed their name to "shoulder pretties" and got out my stash of lace bits for her to choose from, she changed her tune enough to help me sew on the finishing touches:

And then she gave it a good, thorough try-out:

If it's good enough to rollerblade in, then it's good enough for me!

Because What the Kitchen Needs is a Floor Covered in Loose Marbles

Because what else are you going to do with all those empty toilet paper tubes?

If you have children, and/or are crafty, perhaps you, too, are in the habit of collecting odd objects with no use. Toilet paper tubes, rubber bands, cereal boxes, business envelopes with those pretty security patterns on the inside--all have ample crafty uses, and yet, WOW is it easy to get quite a collection going, with no end in sight.

With plenty of modifications (of course), this week the girls and I used up my pointless collection of empty toilet paper tubes by completing this refrigerator marble run project from Family Fun. I have been doing, if I do say so myself, a GREAT job with science enrichment this summer. My failures in Spanish and geography enrichment seem lighter when I think about the tons of fun, experiential, open-ended science exploration that the girls have done in the past few weeks, not to mention all the science books, computer games, and videos that go without saying. The marble run project is a fun, experiential, open-ended exploration in physics.

And of course, it's crafty:

This includes what may be the younger child's first successful experience using the hot glue gun independently:

Success, of COURSE, is not counted as not burning oneself, because that would be nigh on impossible, but as not freaking out like a big baby and letting getting burned spoil all your fun. The child is going to be a hard-core crafter like her momma one of these days.

The Family Fun tute calls for adhesive magnet strips. I first tried to cheat by recycling refrigerator magnets--well, not *recycling* them, per se, but we can get by without them--but they weren't strong enough, so we had to take a trip to Michael's with a 50%-off coupon in hand to buy some stronger button magnets.

Happily, this project was an excuse to clean off and then wipe down the front of the refrigerator, making it look nice and clean (except for some pen scribbles and glued-on beer caps, whatever). But then we crapped it right back up with a plethora of scribbled-on toilet paper tubes, so there you go:

But does the marble run work, you ask?

Yeah, it works. But we definitely need a bigger catcher at the end of the run, because you can put a catching container at the end of the marble run all you want, but the marble is only going to land nicely inside it IF you've put the run together absolutely perfectly.

Otherwise, we're starting a brand-new marble collection somewhere under the refrigerator, apparently.

Drawing Dinosaurs

As Beanpole, my favorite part of our Independence Day parade, announced this morning, "Every day is Independence Day. Happy 3rd of July!".

Today has been a napping in the hammock, biking downtown and back, painting the basement hallway (the Great Timeline commences!!!) day. The dad and the Syd left this afternoon for hours' worth of errands, leaving the Willow behind--who was distraught to discover this, once her head popped up from her book and she was informed that her father had ASKED her to come with them over an hour ago as they were leaving, but she was so busy reading that she had declined. She has no memory of this refusal, silly girl. As a former reading child myself, I've mentioned to Matt that the only way to gain a reading child's real and true attention is to put a hand on her shoulder and wait for her to look up and maintain eye contact. If she makes eye contact but her eyes keep darting back to her book, she's still not paying attention.

Will's idea for how to pass the dreadful time until the dad and the Syd came back was to decamp with a blanket and numerous supplies out to the backyard where we would--guess what?--read. Of course, there was also lots of tree climbing, running around, laying back (this is where I got my hammock nap in), and drawing:

Ammonite

Icthyosaur

Ankylosaurus and Plesiosaurus

Stegosaurus

These are all Willow's creations, by the way, with pencil on white sketch paper and pastel crayon on black sketch paper, copied from how-to-draw books and picture books and her own clever mind, of course. She did sweet talk me into producing an apatosaurus and a gallimimus with pastels on black paper, and she praised them amply to be supportive, but those illustrations aren't still around to scan, alas--it's about the process, not the product, you know.

In other news, Will is also recovering from a raging case of swimmer's ear. As her pediatrician was washing a build-up of earwax out of the affected ear, he both announced that Willow is definitely the year's record-holder so far of earwax removed, and mentioned in passing that he was surprised her hearing hadn't been affected, her ear was so clogged. As we left the doctor's office later, I commented on what he had said, and Willow replied, "Yeah, I can't hear you a lot."

Just when you think that you have a reasonably bright child on your hands, one who is smart and sensible, you turn around and discover that she's neglected to tell you that she's been half-deaf for who knows how long. Really, sometimes I wonder if there is anything inside a child's brain other than fireflies and crayons and the desire for candy.

I Spy Sydney in Progress

Here's what my work table looks like this week:

I have been planning to sew an I Spy quilt for Sydney for quite a while, and now I need to hop to it lest she outgrows it before I even begin!

Here's Our Homeschool This Week

This week-ish, we...

swam and swam and had swim class, rode pedal bikes and balance bikes and scooters, picked blueberries--

--picked blackberries, went to a carnival, learned how to slip 'n slide, hiked some nature trails and hiked downtown, scrubbed the basement steps something fierce (the giant timeline preparations are in motion!) and wrestled and raced and goofed around a lot.

did workbook pages and many puzzles, played more of that inane Dragon Tales computer game, played pick-up sticks and dice (Willow made up a dice game that is a KILLER for anybody else but her to win), used little plastic toy bugs as math manipulatives for addition, subtraction, and pattern-making, and stamped with number stamps.

read, read, READ--Willow read Abigail's Drum, several Dinosaur Cove books, a mystery that takes place at Niagara Falls, and a Boxcar Children book that I was supposed to be reading TO her but it was so dull that I kept dozing off, oops; together we read many picture books, including the beautiful Blueberries for Sal, and began Fantastic Mr. Fox. We also watched the film of Fantastic Mr. Fox, spent entire afternoons at the library more than once, and did some workbook and played some Starfall.

made more sand art--

--decorated toilet paper tubes in preparation for the Great Refrigerator Marble Run, made some collages, worked with Sharpies, tried out a very odd Hello Kitty plastic toy-making oven--

--colored in coloring books and colored plenty free-form, painted loads of watercolor paintings--

--learned from cake how to make plastic bottle votives, and made princess jewels, pirate jewels, and labels for my baby bags together using the Cricut:

practiced guitar and took guitar class, listened to plenty of CDs and vinyl record albums, and goofed around amply with the keyboard, recorder, and other miscellaneous musical instruments.

wrote workbook stuff, kept the girls' library reading program lists all up-to-date and orderly, Willow took a journaling class and made her own journal to write in, and both the girls cracked this week's secret code, also at the library.

watched a documentary on Plimoth Plantation (we leave next week!), played My First Amazing History Explorer over and over and over again on the computer, and read lots and lots and LOTS of books about Pilgrims and First Thanksgivings and the Boston Tea Party, etc.

practiced the ASL alphabet some more, again courtesy of Starfall.

made butter in a Mason jar, and also blueberry muffins and cookies--

--which tasted delicious; watched Mythbusters and Dinosaur Train and a documentary on tornadoes; gardened rather helpfully; worked several works in the official Squire Boone Caverns activity books; and took excellent, loving care of the sweet little baby tadpoles.

And that's how we homeschooled this week--whew!