Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts

Saturday, October 27, 2012

This Elevator Is Making Me Dizzy - OR - Adventures in Hotel Travel

This is it.  This is the day. 

This is the day of the WARRIOR DASH!!!!  Let us rejoice and be glad it's finally here.  Let us also keep our thoughts from the idea of what lies ahead and remember that we signed up for this so we will do it, gosh darnit.  Because our stomachs have recently been filled with banana, bagel, and coffee, and the butterflies that take flight when we think about the Dash don't exactly sit well with all that food.

But hey, it was a continental breakfast....I had to take advantage of it!  Even if that did mean eating more sub-par food than I actually wanted to.  It's one of my weaknesses.  I have a soft spot for a good continental breakfast, and by "a good continental breakfast" I really mean, "any continental breakfast."

Is it the packaged muffins?  Maybe it's the 2 types of cereal they offer - bran flakes or corn flakes - that have probably been in those containers with the plastic scoops for at least a week.  Or maybe it's the packets of hot cocoa.  I love hot cocoa.  And coffee that tastes like it was brewed in a gas station.  I love that stuff.  (Really...ask my friends.  I really love gas station coffee.)

And how could I pass up the opportunity to sit awkwardly with other hotel guests while we all watch ZzzzzNN - I mean CNN - against our inclination?  I suggested changing to the Disney Channel, but no one jumped on that idea, which is strange since half the people eating looked to be under the age of twelve.  I couldn't have been the only person there wishing we could catch a rerun of Wizards of Waverly Place.  But, unfortunately, the little soccer team either didn't hear me, or they just didn't care, and shortly after making my suggestion my mom and I went back upstairs. 

My mom is here!  Did I tell you that??

She felt sad for me that I had to come on this trip on my own (my co-warrior, Lara, got sick, and I do hope she is feeling better!), so my mama decided pretty last minute to come with me.  It's been a long time since I've had hours of one-on-one time with my mom, and it was pretty great!  The drive up definitely passed more quickly than if I had been on my own, and it was really great to have someone to laugh with.

Which is a good thing.  Because from the warning from the clerk about the bed ("Now, you do realize there is just one bed, right?") which was the first clue that the "queen size" bed was not actually a queen, to the crazy blinking wrench on the thermostat ("Mom, I think that means the AC can't turn off!!"), to watching a fully grown woman walk around the hotel in boxers and a t-shirt ("Isn't it strange how in a hotel people do all the things they would NEVER do at home?  Like walk around a public place in their underwear?"), to the conversation with one of the soccer moms in the elevator ("Yeah, our girls are headed to a costumed soccer tournament.  They're the Zombie Grass-Fairies."), there's been no lack of laughable things. 

Side note:  I want to be on that soccer team.  They sound extremely cool.

And here's to hoping that I can laugh my way through the WARRIOR DASH!!!!  Because now, just thinking about it, those butterflies are taking flight again.  So Mom and I are going to hit the town for a bit, do some sight-seeing.  (It shouldn't take too long here...my view from the hotel window is the back of the hotel's facade.  And the freeway.  And some weeds next to the freeway.)  I promise I'll blog about the Dash.  If nothing else, you'll get to hear an awkward story of the day I decided to be a warrior.

Till then, think good thoughts and send some prayers up for me.  They will be most appreciated.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Introducing...

Mortimer Mouse!!

Now mice are nervous creatures as a rule, but Mortimer - poor Mortimer! - he made the rest seem relaxed.
The latest love of my life, this little guy is completely occupying my mind.  I'm working on meeting his friend, Miss Suzie Sparrow, but she seems to be a little less anxious to be known.  They have, however, already completed a fun little adventure - which may find its way to the blog at some point.

I just love this little guy :)

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Double-Decker Sledding Re-discovered

I was going through my pictures on facebook and rediscovered this absolutely, hilariously AMAZING video.  This is what happens when a bunch of kids (read: 2 high schoolers and 3 "adults") from Southern California wind up in the snow.  Amazing-ness happens.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=1876116660266&set=t.661655290&type=1

Click the link.  I dare you to.  I promise it's worth it.

Oh!  And all video credit goes to Austin Harris :)

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Breaking the Rules

I like to push boundaries and bend rules.  Not completely...Just enough to tell myself that regardless of the situation I still have some semblance of control.  Yes.  I am one of "those people."  I enjoy being just a little contrary.  And sometimes I go against the grain - just a little - simply to add excitement to life. 

Usually, however, when I work with kids I tend to stay within the guidelines.  Not everything in the field of Child Development has stood the test of time.  There is a lot of "pop psychology" that briefly finds its way into the field, only to be forgotten a few years after the thousands of books get published.  I figure that if I combine the theories of Piaget, Vygostky, Bronfenbrenner, and other big shot Child Developmentalists I figure I'm pretty good.  And ultimately, I feel that if I go into a house with a dedication to love (the child and their family) I am going to do some good.

A few weeks ago I decided to break the rules a bit.  In school I was taught to pretty much keep food out of the equation when working with kids.  Never use food as a reward.  Food is for eating and keeping the body healthy - not playing with.  If you absolutely must use food with kids, make sure it's healthy food, to teach good habits.

Right.

I made Christmas graham cracker trains with a few kids.  And how do you make a graham cracker train without frosting and candy?  Just call me the Rule-Breaker. 

Officially these are the areas we worked on while making the Christmas graham cracker trains:
     - Fine Motor Skills
     - Hand/Eye Coordination
     - Problem Solving
     - Abstract Reasoning
     - Spatial Relations
     - Expressive Language Skills
     - Receptive Language Skills
     - Number Sense
     - Self-Control (let's be honest here: I was incredibly impressed that the 2-year-olds were able to do this and only eat the candies they were given permission to eat)

A lot of great areas of work.  But really, the main reason I did this activity was because it was Christmas time. 





 And it was just fun.