Mammoth 2010

We celebrated Daddy's birthday with a weekend trip to Mammoth Lakes, CA. It's a long drive, but Luc did well with lots of snacks and movies. He was thrilled to see snow on the ground and was even more excited when it actually snowed while we were unloading the car. He immediately changed in to his snow gear and went to play in the drifts. After throwing a few snowballs, he and David set to building a snowman. Pretty good for the first time seeing snow.

We originally planned to split our time snowboarding and playing with Luc in the snow, but Luc decided that he was interested in ski school. We took him over to Wolly's Ski School and got him outfitted with goggles, teeny little skis, and a helmet with flames. We watched for a little while, be he wanted nothing to do with us. As we headed for the lifts, he was telling the instructor, "No, let go. Let me go down by myself!" Daddy and Mommy got to ride together all day, which was a nice present for Daddy.

After the ski lesson, we took the gondola to the top of the mountain, almost the top of the Sierra (Mammoth is 11,053 ft in elevation. Mt. Whitney, about an hour drive south, is the highest peak in California at 14,449 ft.). Luc looked around, not overly impressed, and asked if he got to ride my snowboard down the mountain. Daddy rode down, the rest of us took the gondola back the way we came. Luc practiced throwing snowboard attitude on the way back to the condo.

The following day, we split up. Shanley and Mommy rode in the morning while Daddy, Luc and David went sledding. We switched up in the afternoon and Luc got to finally ride my snowboard.

Adventures in Arizona

Daddy had a conference in Arizona, so we tagged along to see Grandma and Papa in Phoenix. It rained the whole weekend, but we had fun anyway. Luc played air hockey and video games with Grandma at an indoor fun park one day and went to the Phoenix Children's Museum the next day. The Children's Museum was the best. Luc's favorite activity was the Noodle Forest (oodles of pool noodles suspended from the ceiling -- video reminiscent of the Blair Witch Project below. watch the video, then imagine being a big person in there with little people zooming in and out all around your ankles. Very disorienting as a big person.), but he also got a huge kick out of racing derby cars, making play food in the tactile cafe, and spent a lot of time in the art studio.

To watch the videos, click on the play arrow button.

Luc and Grandma at the indoor fun park.

Noodle Forest Video

Luc and Auntie Sarah

Derby race cars

Lunch at Chez Luc

The best fabric pizza ever!

Grocery Shopping (keep an eye on the checker... she is really enjoying her job)

Froggy of the Week

Luc's preschool teacher has a fun way to let each child be the center of attention for the year. The "Froggy of the Week" gets to be line leader all week long, bring something special to share every day, and gets to decorate a poster for the wall that is all about them. They get to stand up in front of the class and tell them all about themselves.

We had some basic guidelines, but turned Luc loose to answer these four questions: who is in his family; what is (are) his favorite food(s); what is his favorite book; and, what is his favorite movie. Much preparation was involved, including a trip to Target to purchase some glitter glue and stickers. Once home, Luc set to work on a pictorial representation of his bests and favorites. The foods were easy, lentils and mac and cheese (not served together!). He drew little brown dots for the lentils and used the gold glitter glue for the mac and cheese. The favorite book and movie caused some angst as he had a very hard time picking just one each. He finally settled on "Puppy Love" as his book, represented by a very nicely drawn dog, and "Charlie Brown Christmas" as his movie, represented by a big pile of silver glitter glue. A nice family portrait completed the requirements. He added stickers and more glitter glue before declaring himself satisfied.