Just Toolin’ Around

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In the last 10 days, the family had two very different automotive experiences.

The first was at Greenfield Village, where we rode in a Model T:

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It was very interesting hearing the driver describe some of the differences in Model T’s as the design evolved over the years (ours was a late model version, so we were no longer sitting on the fuel tank!).

Then yesterday, the family drove out to Michigan International Speedway for a birthday present the girls gave me – getting to drive a Ferrari 458 Italia, courtesy of the fantastic Extreme Experience:

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As the instructors explained, this was a completely unmodified Ferrari – no governors, and no dual controls for the instructor who rode along with me.  I was completely in control of the vehicle, and I could drive as fast as the road – and my nerves – would allow.

Driving a quarter million dollar supercar for the first time was definitely a little intimidating.

The girls all got pit passes, and they got a great view of me as I did my two passes on the straightaway (the video here is of my second pass):

Let’s just say that the end of summer went by fast!

Happy Mother’s Day (Part 3 of 3)

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To further brighten CJ’s day, Lucy decided to construct a “roving” puzzle for her this morning, very much in the same vein as the one we did for Lucy on her birthday earlier this year, and the one we did for Katherine several years ago. 

Lucy was merciful and only included two trips up and down the stairs, leaving a chain of clues all over the house.  Many of the clues had a very poetic quality to them, but my favorite was this one:

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“I am CLUE #7’s GUARDIAN WARRIOR!  You must beat me in ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS to get CLUE #7!  P.S. I can only play ROCK.  =)   Turn this card if won  =)”

The selected guardian was none other than Bunny!

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Which explains why she could only play rock.  CJ narrowly won.  When she did, she turned over the card to find this:

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“Bravo, adventurer.  You may take Clue #7 and be on your way.  I hope you find your card, and HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!”

That thing

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Remember
that 1 thing we did
23 years ago
on the 4th day
of the 5th month
in the 6th year of the 1990s?

That thing that involved
napping until 7pm
finally eating dinner at 8pm
and realizing everything we hadn’t yet packed for the honeymoon at 9pm?

Where 10 members of a bridal party conspired to start something beautiful?

wedding-party

 

Funnies from Lucy–now with extra sharpness!

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Ok – who gave Lucy access to the whetstone?!  Her wit got a whole lot sharper over the last year.

(Lucy & CJ were playing with LEGOs)
Lucy Character 1: We have to take emergency measures!
Lucy Character 2: Wait – how do you measure an emergency?

(Lucy was cutting up carrots a little loudly)
Mark: You don’t have to be all “Hulk cut!” with them.
Lucy: (Sullenly).  Ok.  I’ll cancel the costume.

(Lucy was drinking orange juice; the container read “Calcium & Vitamin D”)
Lucy: I didn’t know our O.J. had calculus in it.
CJ: (with a little laugh) nice one.
Lucy: Though I’m sad it doesn’t have plus.
CJ: Haha!

Lucy: I brew potion.  (trying to pronounce “Ibuprofen”)

Mark: You can’t just read random numbers and turn them into the current time.
Lucy: Well then we gonna (sic) make some changes to the natural laws of physics.

Mark (walking into the room): IT IS I – YOUR ANCESTOR
Lucy: I farted in approval of your arrival.
Mark: …

All the double-digits

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It’s official – everyone in the Gilbert household has officially crossed over into double-digits.  With Lucy turning 10, we needed to do something ultra-geeky to celebrate.  The “geekness” came in two major pieces this year, the first being the cake:

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How many of these do you recognize?  Clockwise from the top:

  • The Golden Snitch from Harry Potter
  • A Poké Ball from Pokémon
  • The logo for DanTDM, a YouTuber that Lucy likes to watch
  • A shield from C. S. Lewis’ “Narnia“
  • A block of grass from Minecraft
  • The name of the camp featured in the Percy Jackson universe (a book series by Rick Riordan)
  • The TARDIS from Doctor Who
  • Morningleaf from Jennifer Lynn Alvarez’s “The Guardian Herd“
  • A rose from the anime series “RWBY“
  • The One Ring from J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings“

CJ pieced these together from Lucy’s favorite fandoms, and submitted it to the bakery as a single image to the bakery, which they printed onto rice paper.  The baker, though, decided to add a couple of flourishes in icing – the symbol for the Deathly Hallows at the very top, and the trident at the very bottom, coinciding with Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, respectively.  We have an awesome baker.

The second piece of geekness came in the form of an RWBY-themed “roving” puzzle, where we left clues around the house for Lucy to follow.  This was reminiscent of a mystery we set up for Katherine years ago (“Katherine and the Mystery of the Pet-Napped Pillow” https://markofquality.wordpress.com/2011/01/12/katherine-and-the-mystery-of-the-pet-napped-pillow/).

We left Lucy the first clue on the dinner table:

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We borrowed her RWBY “chibi” figures to help out (Ruby Rose is pictured here), and along the way, Lucy got several new ones to add to her collection:

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And there was much geeky-rejoicing.

Spinning Art

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A few weeks ago, Lucy saw an ad for the Kiwi Co “Tinker Crate” – a science and technology project in a box.  We signed her up, and put the first one together earlier today – a spin art machine.

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The project comes unassembled, and actually uses the box it arrived in.

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The project explores the effects of centrifugal force – i.e., what happens when you drop paint onto a spinning canvas?  Lucy explains and demonstrates:

Her first spinning-piece:

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