Fast and Furious

Yes, the boys are 8 and that means....

Pinewood Derby!

First a little pre-race discussion to decide whose car looks the fastest.

They both chose pretty standard shapes but very different color schemes. Cole went with an America flag theme and Grant wanted gold, lightning, and flames.

After what seemed like hours to a bunch of 8-year-olds it was time to race. Grant won this heat easily.

Cole took first in this one.

In fact, both boys won three of their four races. In their only head-to-head match-up the boys took second and third behind the overall fastest car of the day, a silver wedge by their friend Aaron.

The final results mirrored that race, Cole took second and Grant took third overall.

Lego My iPod

Grant is very interested in the latest gadgets. He's got a knack for building his own devices.

He built his own computer out of an old keyboard and a flat panel Lego display.

He built his own iPod and listens to his favorite music on it. He tells me his favorite is a song called "Bustin' Burgers". He claims he wrote the song himself. I believe him.

He built his own cell phone. We get great reception in the house but it's a little hard to hear when he's outside.

And he built his own iPad. Here he said he's playing "The Cookie Game". Sounds delicious.

Drill Baby Drill!

The boys went in for their dental checkups this week and it turns out we haven't been flossing them enough.

Or at all.

(Not even once.)

Anyway, Cole had a few little cavities between his molars. Today we went back for the fillings.

He's looking cool in the sunglasses.

This is Dr. Church. A great dentist, all around good guy, and he and his wife Karen are two of our favorite people. You may remember him from such classic posts as Clean Teeth vs Agency.

Time for the gas. Cole insisted throughout that he never felt funny or tingly or even sleepy. I had most of those feelings and they wouldn't even let me take a turn with the mask.

Then the shots began. Cole hasn't always been the best at sitting still for shots. However, today he never even twitched. One thing I learned is that the slower the dentist is while giving the shot, the less painful it tends to be. I always thought they just took so long so they could make an unpleasant experience even worse. Maybe they actually have our best interests at heart. In any case, Dr. Church does, and I'm not just saying that because I'm going in for my cleaning and checkup next week.

Even during the drilling, Cole never showed any signs of discomfort or tension or even that he cared about someone putting a power tool and several other items into his mouth.

And when it was all said and done, he got to choose two prizes from the prize box because he got two cavities filled. Win-Win!

I asked him if he had fun and he gave a rather enthusiastic, "Yes!" Good thing, because we have to go back in a few days to fill the cavity on the other side of his mouth.

And we promise that we'll floss every day from now on. Or at least until we get lazy in a few days and forget until a few days before his next cleaning. Then we'll sheepishly admit that we may have skipped a few days here and there and promise to try harder. At least, that's how I've always done it. Which reminds me, time to floss!

A Very Crumb Cruncher Christmas

Bryn was delighted with her princess kitchen. The boys have played with this more than I would have thought.

She also quickly took advantage of her new princess dress up box. Fortunately, the boys have left this one alone.

Grant got exactly what he asked Santa for: Walkie-Talkies!

Cole was visibly pleased with his Harry Potter Lego set.

And a little yuletide swordplay just made the day perfect.

The Right Stuff

Since NASA has decommissioned the space shuttles, we thought that they might be looking for replacement crews.

Crew Member: Bryn
Age: 2 years 11 months
Specialties: giggles, princess wrangling, soft and slightly damp kisses
Award: Miss Congeniality

Crew Member: Grant
Age: 5 years 7 months
Specialties: counting (up and down), launch control
Award: Highest Counting (900+)

Crew Member: Cole
Age: 5 years 7 months
Specialties: rocket retrieval, launch preparation
Award: Fastest Retrieval

Now a few pictures of our crew under launch day conditions:

Prepping rockets for launch.

Keeping everyone's spirits up.

We have liftoff!

Scanning the range for signs of re-entry.

The retrieval team in action.

The cheer squad in action.

We wish you a fond farewell as we blast off into the sunset.

Crew wardrobe provided by oakiwear brand outdoor clothing.

The Building of Fort Cruncher

I'm just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

It's obviously not finished yet. This is going to be a work in progress for a while to come but I wanted to get these out there for those who have asked about it.

The Mechanized Managerie

The following is an accurate transcript of Grant describing the robots he made with Legos. I don't know where he came up with the names but he was pretty consistent about them over the course of several days.

This is Antatockta. He's very good at flying but he's the most good at being tall. He's the most good at remembering. He's the most good at two things, the others are only good at one thing. He's very good at fighting.

This is Flyacogger. He's the most good at flying.

This is Sollacleaner. It's the most good at cleaning. This one is the mama because the window only reaches to Antatockta's neck.

This is Sollacogger. It's good at changing into other things, like other robots. But it just can't change into this one (Flyacogger) because it doesn't have enough blue.

This is Windowbetter. It's the most good at making windows.

This is Steadycogger. The baby is the most good at standing.

These robots all live in Idaho.