Monday, March 30, 2015

Mammoth 2015

This year's trip to Mammoth included Axel's school friend Jaya - which made it way more fun!


Axel has started to learn tricks such as slalom and "going in the trees"


We ran into Wooly on the mountain - he gave out lots of hugs




goofy selfies by the Mammoth statue




Picking up Luna for the ride home was a little crowded, so she found a spot helping Karsten drive



Pinata Smashing

Ready . . . 


 Set . . .



Go!!







 and the goody-filled glory of the aftermath:


Pinata Making

Axel asked for a pinata for his birthday.  I said no problem you got it.  Axel clarified: "I want my OWN pinata for my birthday, where no one else gets to hit it".  I said, no way, you gotta share.  After several weeks of debate/tearful discussion on the matter, we came to a solution.  Our party would have a very small guest list, and every kid would gets their own homemade pinata to smash up. Pinatas are actually pretty easy and cheap to make, here are the steps:

Use balloons to create the main body shape, 
and then wrap with strips of wet newspaper with a paper mache technique:



Each of the layers dries completely before adding another.  I limited it to only three layers since I have horrible childhood memories of "the unbreakable homemade pinata", where we literally once had to use a saw to cut it open, NOT the best party activity for five year olds. . . 


legs can be added with any crafty material available, in this case toilet paper rolls



Once everything dries give it a quick layer of primer


My absolute favorite part was stuffing them with candy - We had WAY too much of course! :)


By this point Axel became interested in the process and he actually helped decorate


Axel and Peyton decided we should create four little one-eyed aliens:


The Final Result!!





Clock is ...

FIRST TIME WATCH USER:



Mommy, Clock is six...five...seven.  Yep, six fifty seven.

Mommy, Clock is seven...zero...two.  Right, seven oh two.  NO! It's not "oh", it's ZERO, the number, not the letter.
Yeah but we usually say "oh" when we tell time.  NO MOMMY!!!  Hmm, yes you're right, nevermind, seven zero two.

Mommy, Clock is seven... zero... five

repeat. repeat. repeat.



Leprechaun Trap

Leprechaun follows the rainbow to the money, falls inside the hole, bounces over to the X spot, is just about to open the treasure chest when we throw the bucket on top of his head.  Bam! He is caught!