The Big Wish

Bruin had his birthday party a couple of weeks ago. All of his friends came over, we had a Gravedigger monster truck piniata, a big bouncy thing, pizza and cake.
Everything seemed to be a normal 3 year old party, but there was just something about the look in Bruin's eyes when we told him to make a wish and then blow out his candles.
He used to be such a nice, chocolate loving boy. But after that wish, things have begun to change. We think that we have put enough evidence together to conclude that Bruin wished to become a...

A SUPER HERO!!

He has the cool, yet eccentric costumes.

The super cool set of wheels, capable of rapid response and a smooth get away.
The goofy, often clumsy, yet forever loyal sidekick.
Side -Note:
Bruin has started to become protective of Logan. If Logan tries to walk into the road Bruin will say, "No Logan, look for cars!" If Logan continues to go into the road, Bruin will start pulling on Logan's shirt to stop him, and if he still won't stop, Bruin will tackle Logan and push him back onto the drive way.

An affinity for martial arts, weapons and fighting. He's generally obsessed with trying to "get the bad guys."
Like all super heroes, he has his evil arch nemesis who is always trying to destroy the cities he has set up for the "Little People", tear apart rail lines, steal cars, trucks and cause general mayhem. We call him the Red-Eyed Destructor! (Yes he does look a lot like his loyal sidekick, but that is mere coincidence.)

And of course, there's the girls.Bruin has lots of girl friends.
We should call him L. L. Cool B. = Ladies Love Cool Bruin.

And if you are still not convinced, just check out this recent sighting of him coming out of the closet with his costume on.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-733282711866852822

Now if I could get what I wished for on my 25th Birthday last Saturday...

Sliding down the Volcano

The first day of 2007 turned out to be a wonderful day. Warm, and sunny so we decided to put on our snowsuits and go play in the snow.
It is a pretty amazing thing to go from T-shirt weather at a hundred feet over sealevel to the snowline of a 10,991 ft volcano as an afternoon drive. Bruin has a much clearer picture of what we mean when we tell him that the Volcano is white because there is snow on it.
We pulled up to Etna Sud, the lodge on the southside of the mountain. You can see the single chairlift. They had a better one, but it got wiped out by a lava flow in 2002.
We parked along the rode in typical Italian fashion, and threw the boys into the snow.
They quickly figured out how to slide down on their bellies.
So we climbed up on the lip of a crater and started butt-sliding down into the center.

Bruin had more fun sliding like Superman, but I found that going on my back headfirst prevented snow from filling my shirt and pants.
Logan had fun sliding down with us too, but I think Kathy was so worried about his safety everytime that she forgot to take any pictures. If it's nice again this weekend we'll go back up. We'll have to get some pictures of the ultra-posh Italians too. They are rediculous, like the ski-lodge people from a 70s Bond movie combined with a Hip-Hop music video. Plus, Kathy can show off her super snow scaling abilities. The Italians have no idea how to walk up snow, and tend to line up and follow the same trail. It quickly becomes ice, and they start falling all over each other. Kathy walked right around the whole line, and when they saw her, some looked up, forgot what they were doing and fell down.
Oh, and if anyone sees a sled that I could use to drag the boys back up the hill on we could really use one. They have little sleds here, but what we really need is a tobagan type, probably an inflatable one. That way it will be cheap to ship and bounce easily off the lava rocks.

A Christmas Tale

After the screaming with Mr. Ho Ho HoWhen all of the stockings were hung neat in a rowThe children lay sleeping in their beds
While dreams of sugarplums danced in their heads
Down below, the tree stood with presents stacked tall
They created a fortress like a giant brick wall
The kids clambered down and stood in awe
Where did they come from, they hem and haw
How would they ever make their way through?
Then they blasted a hole, and they tore and they chew
When at last all were open and strewn about
The boys were tired and all tuckered outThe fight was finished and now time for fun

Until Mommy made them stop and talk to everyone.Hi Grandma, Hi Grandpa, Hi Uncles and Aunts
Thanks for the presents, the toys, the shoes and snow pants
We miss you all, and wish we were at your homes
Instead of posting pictures and cheesy poems

Here are links to three nearly identical, yet subtly different videos of Bruin and Logan playing with their new "construction equipment." The last one is the smallest if you have a slow connection speed. You can either click on the titles below or copy and paste the links. Either way you'll get to the same three movies.

Tractor Video 1
Tractor Video 2
Tractor Video 3

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5875937867769983636&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1864337451593212202&hl=en
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1997565980968608434&hl=en


Merry Christmas to all, and to all Good Night!

Basic Training

Kathy went to training for her Daycare Thursday night, so it was just me and the boys. We made a fort out of the dining room table. Then we cut out cardboard guns.
They both caught on very quick to run around and point the guns and yell "Bang, Bang." Boys must come pre-programmed that way. We would hide in the fort and then run out attacking the house, or the stairs or the bathroom and then run back.
Poor Logan was so excited that he kept forgetting to duck when running into the fort. He kept bashing his forehead. We should probably get him a helmet.

There were really only two rules that I had to enforce:
DO NOT SHOOT OTHER PEOPLE!
DO NOT EAT YOUR GUN!

Wait 'til they see the foam swords we got them for Christmas. We got 4 of them, so that mommy can play too. We'll see how well she does fighting off three boys. I'm pretty sure boys vs. girls comes pre-wired too.

Gift or Treat!

We let Bruin wear his Halloween outfit (that reminds me, I need to post those pics) the other day.
He says, "I have an idea, let's do trick or treating for Christmas. Yeah, that's a good idea. We should do that."