Every Rose Has Its Thorn

SECONDHAND SCORE: This morning the kids test drove one of their Christmas presents - one of several Magic School Bus computer games that Christian scored at Value Village. They were all brand-new-in-plastic-covered boxes and he got them for only $3 apiece - an AMAZING find. This morning's adventure was exploring "The Age of the Dinosaurs." It's a damn fine game/adventure.

The dinosaurs depicted are diverse (not just your standard T-Rex Brontosaurus stuff) and the questions the kids have to answer along the way are challenging (for instance, knowing which semi-obscure dinosaurs ate what). At one point, Annabelle came running out of the bedroom and exclaimed, "Did you know in the Jurassic period there were pineapples?"

Meanwhile, CJ is still on his future paleontologist kick. I wonder how many kids go through that. I know my sister (hi Renee!) and I certainly did.

OUT AND ABOUT: We were able to sneak a run in this morning between squalls. There was a window from 11 to noon and so we headed to the "purple play park" (Lawton Elementary, where the uprights for the playground equipment are purple).

While we were there, CJ and Annabelle thought it would be a good time to practice "skits" they can submit to "America's Funniest Videos." So they staged various run-ins and soft-ish spills. One (pictured below) involved CJ crashing (albeit rather slowly) into Christian's back while hanging onto a zipline-type of thingee. I managed to capture the moment before the collision on my crappy cell phone camera. ...

STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES: This afternoon was all about the Rose Bowl. This year it was the Oregon Ducks v. the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Christian has family ties to Oregon football. His sister Jessica graduated from UO and Christian's uncle Rich Brooks coached the UO football team for years (heck, the UO football field is even named after the dude). So Christian was rooting for the Ducks and encouraging CJ & Annabelle to do likewise.

On the other hand, as a lifelong diehard UW Huskies fan, the Ducks are the Arch Enemy to me. That said, all four of my kids were born in Oregon and I know how to rally 'round a theme, and would rather see a Pac 10 team win the Rose Bowl, so we bedecked the house in Ducks stuff.

CeeJ and Bee helped get the table ready, transforming a Seahawks game board into a Rose Bowl decoration. We washed up little rubber duckies, Bee blew up yellow and green balloons. We found the quackers, yellow pom poms (that actually said Huskies on their handles!) and found Annabelle's stuffed rose decoration.

I whipped up scrumptious Bloody Mary Flank Steak (2 die 4), beer batter bread, and made some fantastic stuffed peppers.

The dinner was awesome. The game - notsomuch if you're a Ducks fan.