Snow Day

It's a snow day here, and Roo is off of school enjoying a lazy day at home. His friend in Connecticut is also home from school because of the snow, so what better activity than a Skype playdate! Both fans of Star Wars, they had fun catching up on a bonanza of all things Star Wars from Santa.

Ice skating

The outside is white here, calling us to the ice for a little winter fun. For Roo's second time on skates (the first being when he was 2 1/2 at the Minneapolis Depot rink) he did well, making progress in just 1 hour of skating.

I on the other hand think I may be suffering from a concussion due to my head slamming into the ice on one unfortunate attempt to stray from the side board. Thank you to the two kind young men, whoever you are, for helping me off the ice and retrieving my glasses. Next time I'm wearing a helmet!

MIM

Ryan and I enjoyed a visit to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Yes, Roo was with us but I'm hesitant to include him in the "enjoyed" category since this was his position for most of the exhibits featuring sound through the headsets:

Of course we sought out the section on Japan,

and Tajikistan for Uncle Brant,

and I took a photo of the bagpipes for Aunt Bonnie.

Roo was more engaged once we made our way to the experiment lab,

but to be truthful, there was little he hadn't seen or played before. While I thought the focus was heavy on the indigenous, and the hip hop and country sections were pathetically small, all in all, it's a lovely museum for adults and children old enough to have an interest in musical history. While Roo likes moving and grooving and sings often, including his own compositions, watching an African tribal dance to the sounds of the djembe do not yet hold his attentions.

AZ Museum of Natural History

The day after the big game, we met up with the friends from school Roo was hoping to spot at the game. Our chosen venue, The Arizona Museum of Natural History. The boys were elated to see one another as us parents spent our time chatting and following them through the many exhibits and back again once, twice or more. Captivated less by the dinosaur bones, it was the real old fashioned jail and the mining cave that monopolized their attentions. We did sit for the movie and learned of a very interesting hypothesis formulated by paleontologist Jack Horner. His findings have led him to conclude that the feared T-Rex was likely NOT a predator as previously suspected. More likely, he was a scavenger, not killing, but scaring predators away from their kill with his odoriferous, ugly, loud self. The T-Rex had small front arms that were probably useless, especially if he fell to the ground chasing prey. This observation and his leg bone ratios (femur & tibia) suggests he was a walker, not a runner. Apparently it's a tough sell since society along with the scientific community is leery to picture the T-Rex as anything but a tyrant. Maybe years from now when our grandchildren are reading this post (I keep a printed copy of everything instead of a journal or scrap book) they'll say, "how silly, people thought the T-Rex was a predator".

College Football Game

[Written by Ryan] During our vacation in Arizona, Roo and I went to the Insight Bowl at Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. The Insight Bowl featured the Iowa Hawkeyes against the University of Missouri Tigers (aka Mizzou). I have to confess I had never heard of the term “Mizzou”, but based upon the number of Mizzou fans staying at our hotel I was quickly educated. Given my natural leaning towards supporting a fellow Big Ten team, we felt as though we were behind enemy lines - - even having the opportunity to see from a distance the Tiger pep rally in a roped off section of the hotel parking lot, complete with a speech by the Missouri governor. There were no Hawks fans to be found. While at the hotel, Roo would whisper that he was a Hawks fan for this game, but we kept it our little secret.

This was Roo’s first football game; Darla and I spent several days before the game answering many, many questions about all things football. I’m afraid this game may have skewed his perspectives of what a typical college football game entails. Before the start of the game, three people parachuted into the stadium out of the dark sky and fireworks lit up the sky. For a 6 year-old, he was relatively engaged in following the game, particularly given the view from our cheap seats, which were about 5 rows from the top of the upper deck. A friend from Roo’s school was also at the game, and Roo was frustrated that he could not find him in the crowd of ~53,000 people.

The game started at 8PM so we headed back to the hotel at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Roo fell asleep in the car and I listened to the game on the radio. A turnover late in the game brought the Hawks a victory, which we enjoyed as our little secret.

Cowboy Up!

While the northeast is being hit with a blizzard, we're still comfortably holed up in (former) cowboy country. I couldn't resist including some classic American tunes, for which you'll have to double click on the photo to read.

(Johnny Cash for those unfamiliar with the tragic ballad about young Bill)

Christmas

Last night after a delay at our connecting airport, we arrived in warm Phoenix Arizona. In our quest for a steakhouse, Roo became car sick, vomiting without warning, and thus unpresentable for any restaurant. At our hotel, Ryan brought out to the car a white hotel robe for Roo to cover his dirtied clothes. We made fun out of it, commenting how much he looked like a Jedi in the robe. Needless we had Christmas dinner in our room and watched Tim Allen in Santa Claus 2, only to succumb to sleep before the end. Did he ever find a Mrs. Claus? We'll never know.

Well, here we are, at a lovely resort. It is bound to be a good holiday, as long as we keep the driving to a minimum!



May your day be merry and bright! Happy Christmas Day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Arizona