Our weekend sicko outing

Day 1.  So, like Christy said, we’ve all been sick for 5 days now.  The boys seem to be on the mend, with lingering coughs.  It’s driving me crazy as I haven’t been able to study, and there’s a lot to do at work.  I have a hike planned for the weekend which I’ll have to cancel if I don’t get better soon and It’s always a bummer to not be able to get the boys out on the weekend.  We all know  these things pass, but it’s no fun waiting for it to end.

While cooped up inside today, Ezra, Finn, and I made a dragon out of cardboard, pasta, batteries, sticks, a garbage bag, lots of toy discs, and a bunch of tape and paint.  Ezra had the idea to use batteries for the nose and eyes.  I don’t know what made him think of that.  It turned out pretty well.  They both got all quiet while painting him (I assume it’s a him) which is always a good sign that they’re into it.  We let it dry outside (this always takes a long time as the paint is usually super thick in places), and I added arms and ears/horns.   We posted a photo on FB.   Pictures with the boys usually get a few ‘likes’ from moms, which is always fun.

Ezra and I took apart one of his Rokenbok toys while Finn was napping. We were at first taking it apart because we thought it was broken, but right before disassembly we tested it one more time, with new batteries, and it worked.  Ezra was all keen on seeing the insides, so we took it apart anyway.  It was interesting–lots of gears triggered by what looked like an IR reflected path trigger, a 555 IC timer, and another chip.  It would be fun to design these.  We triggered it on and off a few times with the guts open, to watch the gears churn, and then put it back together.

Ezra spelled ‘LEGO’ on the chalkboard, which was great.  I had to really play dumb and coax him into doing it.  He gets hung up because his letters aren’t “perfect”.  They look perfect to us, of course, which is what Christy told him.

Finally, as we were getting stir crazy, we took the Metro to La Grande Orange for dinner.  On the way back a homeless looking passenger complemented Finn’s orange Crocs.  He went on to tell me his shoes busted open in the toe just that day, that it wasn’t a big deal as he gets them for $10 somewhere downtown, and that he goes through a pair every three months or so.  I thought to myself $40/year for shoes isn’t bad.  He kept talking to us as we left the train and got on the elevator, where he struck up a conversation with another passenger who was carrying golf clubs (“I used to golf when I was a kid but I wasn’t any good because I’m near-sighted”).  By then I was glad that he had moved on.