Melting Crayons for a Project

November 30,2008
Ever wondered what to do with the broken pieces of crayon? Kai and I did a little project where we broke the crayons into smaller pieces and placed it in a muffin pan.

At about 250 degrees, we watched the crayons melt and mixed it with a toothpick to get rid of any air bubbles.

Then we popped the muffin crayons out and TA-DAH! Kai now had a bigger crayon to color with!

Kai catches a bug! Very strange indeed!

I couldn't help but take a picture of this... Kai's little work of art. It would be hard to kill a bug as cute as this if running around in sneakers.


Kai tests his new swim vest with Gramma at the Lakeridge Athletic Club.

Gramma and Kai read a book together.

Kai Fall Watercolor Art

Kai's little body flies over a bush! SKUUT accident.

November 16, 2008
Kai tried to keep up with his 7-year old neighbor Anthony, having watched his speed demon stunts.

So he would follow Anthony down one steep driveway and up another...and back and forth...until Kai decided to take his Skuut down an even steeper driveway.

Well, you can guess what happened- he lost control of his cycle, hit the cement edge and his little body flew over a bush before landing on his back. Greg chased after him.

As for me, I just sat there on the curb a little stunned by all this and must have been laughing at the same time (mom was on the phone at the time and thought that I was being a bad mom for laughing and not running to his side- but Greg beat me there!).

Surprisingly, Kai did not cry. Anthony thought it was a "cool" stunt and Kai ran over to brag to me, "MOMMY! Did you see that? I CRAAAASHED!", with a big grin. Thank goodness he wore his helmet.

Later that evening, Greg had to repair the Skuut. Kai wore the bike out the steering, nuts and bolts had to be tightened and the back wheel glued.

That night Kai slept very well- or was it because of a concussion?

No broken bones (Video on Skuut cycle)

Kai hangs out at the beach with a blonde chick!

Kai's cruising around at Pinole Shores attracted a blondie/ kitesurfer. haha. Really a friend of Greg's called Lori. As for me- don't ask me why I was working at the clinic this fine Saturday morning. Egads!

Ostritches Can't Fly but Turkeys Do! Believe It or Not!

Ok Mom,
Here is proof between the 2 birds- and no the turkeys were not wearing costumes. They really do fly!

Ostritch Farm in Curacao (Carribean)


Turkeys (30?) were peeking in on us in our backyard. So Kai and I crept up on them and they took flight! What a treat for New Years Day! Actually the treat was when our next door neighbor called us over for homemade Louisiana Gumbo of King Crab legs and shrimp. Yummy! Woowee!
And then when we looked out the dining room window- Kai was just about to leap off a 4-foot retaining wall and I was banging on the window to stop him. Of course, he was trying to keep up with his 8-year old buddy Anthony.

Veteran's Day- and why am I working then?

It appears I forgot today was Veteran's Day and yes, as strange as it seems- I am a Navy Vet. Over 15 years ago I was actually inducted into this VFW with another girlfriend/Navy Vet in Midlothian, Illinois. We attended a couple meetings and then dropped out. It was apparant the old war vets liked to talk about things that happened 30 years ago in the military and then quicly closed the agenda so they could start their drink social!
(Kai hammers a nail into our garage floor.)
So having said all that, I forgot about Veteran's Day until I saw 2 American flags on our property. I was a bit surprised and felt as if I was being stalked- that is until my neighbors across the street called laughing on the phone (the hubby was in the Air Force) to not only offer us Warrior tickets (basketball) but to tell me they had planted those flags.

And this afternoon, Lukas spent some time in daycare with Kai at the healthclub while Ute Mommy logged in a few hours to help me with the physical therapy business. After work, we all had dinner at my house and I could not resist but have Kai give Lukas an early Xmas present- Dr. Seuss's Horton elephant with storybook, because Lukas would always snuggle with Kai's elephant when he came over.
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Look at just happy they are with the same stuffed animal!
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PS- We had dinner with Germans (and on Veteran's Day)! Amazing how that's a turn in world history- I bet Adolf Hitler is flipping in his grave! There's irony right there!

Kai's Enrolled in a montessori after giving babysitter a black eye!

To make a long story short, Kai and Lukas were fighting over a sippy cup in daycare at my work. Lukas let go of the sippy cup and Kai's hand swung back hitting the daycare sitter, a 19-year old, in the eye. Unfortunately this resulted in her getting a black eye. (Not to mention, that this girl was out of luck as she also got peed on in the face when she tried to help Lukas in the bathroom).
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Soon enough, a letter from management arrived in my mailbox about their concerns of this incident and that Kai had been having increased outbreaks of anger. I feared it would come to this, as I was spending more time at work treating patients and Kai had to spend more time in a childcare facility with no educational structure. He was likely bored there. Therefore, with some research- I found a Montessori in Orinda to take him 3 mornings a week- which also cost us a pretty penny. I hoped Kai could tolerate the hours at the work childcare for another year, as it was all part of my rental costs of my physical therapy practice there- but I also knew that it was time to get this curious kid into a learning environment, as it appears every time Gramma comes to visit- Kai's knowledge and communication increases significantly.
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So today was Kai's first session at the Montessori- Greg drops him off on the way to work, and I pick him up during my lunch break. There was some crying at first- but he lasted the morning.

Kai the tool guy

Greg was given a big hunting knife by his mother when he was just 5 years old. And to carry on the tradition, we gave Kai a knife before 3 years of age! Just joking- but he was learning to use it!

Kai opens up the circular saw package, that daddy drools over.

And over this weekend, Greg was doing a massive clean-up in the garage and painted the back wall. Kai participated just as well, that is until he started to get bored and tried to paint other things!

We had completed several home improvement projects. I had upholstered the dining chairs with not just new material but also a vinyl covering. Greg hates the vinyl, but was told this was temporary,until Kai improves his eating habits. And the old paper lantern over the dining table was replaced by an artsy metal and glass light fixture we had found on sale in Orchard Hardware.

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In the kitchen, we even got rid of our 2 knife blocks and made a knife rack to fit into the drawer instead. I had also repotted the plants and removed several from the kitchen. Now we have a kitchen with way less counter clutter!

Kai is developing this strange habit of reading on the toilet. Greg and I had never done this and we don't keep magazines in the bathroom (I see this as unsanitary)- but Kai just loves looking through the Lego Album his nana had bought for him when he visited Legoland in Chicago earlier this year.

CASH 4 GOLD- AS SEEN ON TV

Having stayed up late and happened to come across Cash 4 Gold on an infomercial, I thought what the heck? Since I wasn't using the jewelry that's been sitting in my drawer for over a decade- why not sell it?

So I checked out the reviews on the internet (great resource!) and requested a mailer, which they promptly sent with envelope and tracking number. And supposedly at no cost to me, I mailed it to Florida and in less than 10 days I received a check. I got about $35 for all that stuff, really not knowing their true gold/silver value as they were gifts (some from old boyfriends ah-ha!). But hey, cash is king right?

So if you are interested in getting rid of your jewelry- this may be the way to go rather than pawn it.

My Grandparents build me an arch to knock over!

With the grandparents over, we took a little field trip to the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley. A patient was so kind as to spoil Kai with tickets to this educational museum dedicated to Ernest O Lawrence who was awarded the Physics Nobel Laureate for inventing the cyclotron, a proton accelerator in 1939 and who later built the world famous Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

Kai and Grampa peers through the human DNA strand.


Kai tries to free Willie!
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Video: Pano of UC Cal Berkeley, Lawrence Hall of Science.

It was really the dinosaur's bad breath that scared Kai and Gramma.

Experimenting with building the fastest boat.

This project took 3 people to get this assembled! And 1 person to disassemble it, can you guess who?

Video: The fallen arch!

Arleen and Kai hanging out together.

All kids have an attraction for water. In the backyard of the Hall, Kai is able to change the flow of water by removing or adding the while boards there between the rock.

Kai leaves a sign that he was here!

It's Time For Change! Even for me- it's my first to vote.

I've been a US citizen for 17 years- and believe it or not but it's my first to vote. When I was growing up, I was not exposed to politics by my family or friends and thus it certaintly was not a topic brought up at the dinner table. And like most people who tend to ignore things they feel uncomfortable with, I had not voted. So years go by---

Then having run across my goals (a list of things I want to do before I die)- voting was one of them. And since this was such an important part of history- I too wanted to participate with the thousands of others that also decided to vote- and probably for their first time. So with my hands up in the air I registered a month before the presedential elections and read up on politics- whatever I could soak up by the deadline. I started to worry when 2-weeks to the elections I had not received my voter registration information but alas got it in the mail...my official 2-page ballot!

I wanted a close on the war- so you can guess who I voted for, considering I did not approve of the war I was involved with in the Persian Gulf.

It was actually quite easy to vote. I filled in my ballot, stuffed it in the envelope, signed it and then marched a block down from our house to the poll (in a garage) and slipped it into a locked box. I received an "I voted" sticker and got a free coffee at any Starbucks just for wearing it.

Other experiences included running across so many deragotory statements, slogans, and advertisements. Here are a few I wanted to share... of course there's quite a lot on Palin...

Then there's the Richmond council and the Chevron refinery backroom incident that happened in our neighborhood.

And there's Prop 8 about prohibiting gay marriages...

And not to mention the phone calls I was getting on that one along with Prop 4 about notifying family in 48-hours about a minors attempt to abort a fetus.

And then there was more on the Richmond council (local).

Either way- it was a great experience. It's never too late to start grooming Kai for the presedentials elections in the next couple decades!!!