Frederick Makes Himself Breakfast

As usual Frederick was the first one up this morning. Since it has been raining off and on since yesterday afternoon, it was dark and cold and neither Simon nor I was keen to get out of bed to keep an eye on Frederick as has he larked about the house. As I slipped in and out of consciousness I gave Simon shoves, clearing indicating that he ought to get up and see what Frederick was up to. After about 10 such shoves Simon mumbled, "What are you afraid he'll do?" We then heard a series or horrific coughs and gags; my first thought was that Frederick was violently vomiting all over the living room furniture. Simon trotted down and then I heard, "Oh, Christ!", which didn't ease my fears much. So I went down and found Frederick sitting calmly at the dining room table, looking a bit sheepish, Simon dashing about opening every window in the house and turning on every ceiling fan, and thick, black-gray smoke that stank of burnt tar and diesel billowing out of the kitchen. The problem, Simon then discovered, was this: someone (I will mention no names) had attempted to make himself a bit of toast this morning but, instead of using real bread, had chosen to use a piece of PLASTIC bread. And this is what that looks like:
You hear that kids do these sorts of things, but it doesn't seem real until you have kids that actually do these sorts of things. The toaster now sitting outside waiting to be taken to the trash.
SO Frederick and I went to Target (his favorite store) and picked out a bright, shiny new one. This is the fifth toaster Simon and I have had to buy since setting up house together. It's getting boring. (Don't even get me STARTED about our router problems...)
While at Target Frederick picked out a few new dinosaurs for himself. When we got home (well after noon), Thomas was sitting at the table eating his breakfast and, after noticing (with his eagle eyes) the new dinosaurs said, "So he breaks our toaster and then gets a present?" Simon retorted, "Oh, you've broken plenty of things in your time." Thomas, still doing a slow burn, said, "Name one thing." Simon couldn't come up with anything then and still can't. Thomas really was such a good boy--perhaps that's why he seethes with rage and resentment. He's a walking smoking volcano.

Sunday in the park (and it isn't For Mar!)

A few weeks ago Simon insisted that we spend EVERY SUNDAY together AS A FAMILY going some place and doing some thing. All three of us objected as energetically as we could (I claimed I would rather clean the house than spend 5 hours in the car with those three) but he would not budge. We were packed off to For Mar (as documented earlier) and, aside from Frederick getting heat-sick, we had a great time. Last Sunday we went to Lansing Zoo (and no doors fell on Frederick) and it was another success. This weekend, Thomas and Frederick were actually looking forward to going somewhere. We were toying with the idea of going to the local Petroglyphs State Park, but we haven't been there yet and since it was only about 40 degrees F and looked like it could rain/sleet, we decided to put off that adventure until the weather got better. So we headed to Five Finger Park (or whatever it is called). Simon, as usual, packed for a 5 day journey with two giant bowls of popcorn, two grocery bags of fruit, several thermoses of waters and juices, and two bags of baked potato chips. Most of the food was gone before I had gotten on the freeway, and I hadn't eaten any! (Nor had the kids, it must be said.) When we got to the park, Simon had more plans: a long walk in the woods. But Frederick insisted on a walk skirting the woods that went along the lake and ended at the the climbing frames and swings. Frederick leads the way:
Thomas happy and laughing?!? Impossible.

Frederick is almost always happy--a sunny little so-and-so.

Sunday at the park, continued...

Thomas does not like to have his photo taken (I wonder where he gets that from?) but I managed to catch him smiling despite himself.
Frederick making a scrunchy face. He is just starting to get his summer freckles on his nose.

I like this photo--it's "arty."

A Day in Downtown Detroit

Last Saturday Simon and I dared downtown Detroit. We have heard that it's the worst ghetto in the U.S. and we have heard that it's a treasure trove of art and culture. Turns out, it's both. Here is one famous art deco building, the Guardian, built in 1928. That's Simon outside, waiting for me to take a picture and cross the road. The photo doesn't do it justice as it is 36 stories tall and gets sillier and fancier the higher up you look. Turns out I really do need one of those fancy-pants (a mere $2400) tilt lenses I have been reading about...
Here is the inside of the building, which seems to contain various banking offices and a strange souvenier shop that had MANY varieties of the "I Heart Detroit" sort of t-shirt. We didn't buy any.

And here we are, 3 miles to the west, at the Detroit Institute of Arts. That's Simon on the step--The Little Thinker.
The many burnt out factories and empty apartments with smashed out windows (we saw one with a filthy and torn sign with the words "Move in Today!" dangling from a bit of string from an upper floor) were an eye opener. I was a bit too overwhelmed to photograph them but intend to on future sojourns, so stay tuned.

The DIA continued...

I'm not sure what this is anymore--something Native American that is vaguely Pacific Northwest. But I like the colors, and unlike most of the photos I took in this darkened tomb, you can see the image.
Here's a cheeky African mask, artist unknown.

Simon was wowed by this, an entire motorcycle carved out of wood. But the motor didn't work so what good is that?

Here is Simon in some hall or other in the DIA. After a while, it all became one blur.

Here is the ceiling, same hall.

It's finally finished!

My Xmas present from 2008(?) is finally finished!  And what a Thing of beauty it is:

For-Mar Fauna

After our Easter festivities, we (the whole family, for once!) trotted off to For-Mar. Thomas could only be persuaded to come with the promise of wildlife to photograph. He turned out to be amazingly adept at it, as these snaps demonstrate.
Frog:

Nesting goose:
Fearsome serpent:

And wildest of all...

Thomas forces himself to partake

Once upon a time Thomas would FLY out of bed on Easter Sunday at an ungodly hour and RUN around following the clues. This year (which shall be the LAST year of Thomas egg hunts, this Easter Bunny has decreed) he had to be dragged out of bed and trudged around as if on a forced march. Still, he ate all the (Salzburg-purchased, often alchohol-tinged) chocolate...
(Oh, and midway through, we got a call from his Grandma, who asked what we were up to and I said we were doing Thomas's egg hunt. When I rang off, Thomas asked very anxiously who that was. Apparently he was terrified that it was some friend of his who would discover that he STILL searched for eggs...)

Easter, the start

Easter pictures got taken by two cameras, loaded onto two separate flash drives, uploaded onto two computers...it got complicated. So the photos in this and the next blog entry are not in the right order. It really bothers me. ANYWAY, here is Frederick, about mid-way through his Easter Egg Clue Hunt.

Here he is, at the end, finding his Big Prize in the clothes dryer.
And meanwhile, what is Thomas doing to celebrate Easter?

Don't worry, Thomas had a hunt, too--which he suffered through. I think someone has suddenly gotten a bit too old for this sort of thing...

Easter again and more...

Frederick tolerates being photographed at every turn. I love his eyelashes.

Here he is with his eggs with clues in them. He loved racing through the house, collecting the eggs, reading the clues that led him to the next clue egg.

 Clue #4 in the mailbox. (Note the start of another beautiful sunny day. But this idyllic weather would not last...)

Monday night, about 4 a.m., we were hit with one of those Spring thunder storms that you can't believe can happen until you see (and hear and feel) it for yourself. The thunder and lightening explosions hit about every 4 or 5 minutes, spaced widely just enough to let you slip back into a restful sleep so you would be scared wide awake when the next round struck. Amazingly, Frederick slept through it. The next day, the roads around campus were 6 inches under water; I am still surprised my car didn't stall. Here is the backyard, around 10 in the morning. The rain has let up, but it has not really stopped since and it is expected to continue to rain through tomorrow, too.

Simon's Easter YouTube Pick

I remember being disturbed by this as an impressionable youngster:

Thomas' Philharmonia playing Mama Mia

Someone went to all the trouble of posting a piece from Thomas' latest concert onto YouTube so we didn't have to. Although this mysterious parent obviously was interested primarily in one of the violinists, they did sweep wide to include Thomas playing the xylophone (and later bells) at various moments during the medley. I prefered their version of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony but this was the kids' favorite piece.