Concentration

We ran the recycling up to school last Friday morning because the tireless recycling coordinator for the school is collecting over the summer.

The kids had a great time since they had the school playgrounds all to themselves. While Cameron did most of the riding, occasionally he wanted to get out and push. Katie obliges him here by serving as his passenger. I love his look of concentration as he pushes his big sister around.

Kids and the new media

I’ve heard my kids say somethings recently that point to some big shifts in how this new generation will consume and interact with media — very different from my days, when “media” pretty much meant Saturday morning cartoons anchored by Superfriends.

Thing #1: When I clicked on the trailer below, Colin yelled, “Katie, Didi: come watch the Clone Wars trailer!” I don’t think I learned the word trailer until after college (ok, ok, I was a little slow and unhip), but for the new generation, trailers are an integral part of their media consumption. (And yes, we can’t wait for this movie!)

Thing #2: In the middle of watching the trailer, Colin asked, “are they making a game to go with this?” Yup, kids expect games to go with the movies. Well, at least the game they are into now such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones and the Pixar family.

Thing #3: When Comcast’s video on demand service (channel 1) “boots”, you see a momentary text-based splash screen reading something like “Comcast Interactive Service….Please Wait.” Last time Cameron (who just turned 3, mind you) saw this screen for a split second, he said, “Oh, Kipper lives in there.”

So in his mind, his favorite shows live “in” a particular media world, and this was his way of saying, “some shows I see on the Tivo, other shows I see on Comcast, and Kipper happens to be a show I see on Comcast.”

Now he doesn’t use the words Comcast and Tivo, much less understand the concepts or companies behind them. But it’s astounding how he anchors his shows in media universes which he can identify in 1-2 seconds — without the benefit of pictures or logos. Cool. Frightening. Both!

Note: I couldn’t get WordPress to actually embed the actual YouTube video, so I had to fall back to an older trailer from Google Video. Strange copyright thing, I think.

Carpet angels

The kids do carpet angels at my grandparents’ house. And Katie lobbies to go to Canada so they can make snow angels with actual snow.

"Car Carrier"

I won’t be able to do this much longer since the kids are growing so fast. We call this the “car carrier” game since the kids were fascinated with the car transport trucks they saw carrying new cars around.

Is it just me, or are you seeing fewer of those on the road these days with the oil crisis of 2008 force the automakers to go on diets? (At least the ones with bloated product lines.)

Children’s Fairyland in Oakland

We took the kids to the unfortunately Fairyland Park in Oakland over the 4th of July holiday. It’s a funky park showcasing classic fairy tales. 

This may be the last year we can bring all the kids, as Colin is already on the border of “too cool” for the park. But they all had a good time this year, and it was a beautiful day in Oakland. The photo album is here on Smugmug.

  

A new (to us) bike!

Johanna kindly gifted her old bike to Katye, and I’m not sure she could have been more pleased. She declared, “I’m going to ride it everywhere” and has been asking nonstop when we can get a helmet so she can ride it on the streets. 

Even Cameron was admiring the bike today. On the way out today, he saw the bike in the garage and declared, “Katye’s bike is very beautiful.”

A big thank you to Johanna and family for their generosity. 

The Race

Our church sponsored a 4-week day camp for 100 first- through seventh-grade kids. The camp is staffed by kids from junior high to college, and given the natural exuberance of the campers, it’s no small miracle that it doesn’t turn into Lord of the Flies at the church.

Campers have the opportunity to earn points by showing up, memorizing Bible verses, and cleaning up diligently. Colin racked up a slew of points this year, earning him the right to bring home one of their bigger projects — a wearable cardboard race car with pie tin wheels. Cameron seemed especially enamored with the pie tin wheels, as he exclaimed “look at the pie wheels! Colin’s car has pie wheels!” all the way home.

Good job, Colin! Daddy is very proud that you did so well at Day Camp.

Boba Fett

While waiting his turn for a haircut, Cameron amused himself by taking the Boba Fett helmet on and off, first himself then on any willing victim he could find.

Haircuts at Salon MK

Our friend Michelle gives professional-quality haircuts in the comfort of her own home. She even has an old barber’s chair she got off eBay. (Some stylist was retiring and selling their old stuff.)

Colin took full advantage. Fortunately, he’s stopped sobbing with every haircut. And even more fortunately, Cameron never started.

Thanks for the haircuts, Michelle! Altogether, I think she did five haircuts that morning. See more of them on Smugmug. Whew!

Bay Area Discovery Museum

We trekked up to Sausalito with the Kees to visit the Bay Area Discovery Museum. It was a bit gray and windy — but not enough to dampen the kids’ day.

See all the pics at Smugmug, but here are a few of my favorites.