More Science World

Michael in the wind column.

Melissa is going to be so jealous... I keep taking her brother and sister to Science World while she's in Maine, and this time I printed off some of the photos and Cheryl will send them to Melissa in the post. Cheryl says Melissa's homesick, but they're due to fly back next month, so I'm sure the folks in Maine will have plenty to keep her occupied until then -- there are, after all, five of them!

Michael was feeling brave and climbed into the wind machine. The air was swirling all around him and enveloping him like a cloud - he loved it!

There was some infighting today by the train - even though it was under repair and it had derailed! - but it probably had something to do with the fact that both Michael and Maddy have their own train set, so they're both used to being the engineer! Hope these kids aren't getting spoiled... Say, ever tried buying Thomas the Tank Engine gear? It's expensive! Of course, isn't that what everyone says - how much cheaper it was for your own generation to be a kid, blah blah blah... well, it's true!

in the giant tree

Michael and Maddy in the treehouse. As you can see, it's a massive tree that was carved out. That's one thing I always wanted when I was a kid - a treehouse. We had one briefly when we were living on 16th Ave in Aldergrove on five acres, but it was more like a platform and my brothers pretty much hogged it. Also, by then we were teenagers and the platform couldn't hold all of us.

This tree, however, is super sturdy and has its own built-in stairs! More photos here.

Bumped into some friends of mine, people I used to work with three companies ago, long before any of us had children in our lives. It's funny because the last time I bumped into them I had Melissa and Michael, they had Simon and Jasna was pregnant with their second boy, Benjamin. We were all at Maplewood Farm in North Vancouver, and they were on their way home and we were on their way in. I think we only managed to grab 5 minutes of conversation, and this time Zoran was trying to make sure they wouldn't get a parking ticket and Michael and Maddy were racing each other up the ramp in the opposite direction, so we didn't even get 20 seconds of conversation. We always have this idea that we'll all take the kids out together and catch up on things, but realistically, if the kids are with us we will never finish a complete sentence without someone needing attention.