Lately, the kids have been victims of an addiction.  I’m not talking about their usual addictions to chocolate, pizza or macaroni and cheese.  No, this addiction is of the Lego kind.  The boys just love taking out the bricks and minifigs and coming up with some creations.  Then, they will either give their creations elaborate stories…. or just smash them.

Of course, mix in a couple of their other obsessions, like Harry Potter, Winnie the Pooh, or Toy Story and the kids take their Lego addiction to a whole new level.  For example, here is Buzz Lightyear riding his "flying car" (which he apparently made partially out of Winnie the Pooh’s canoe):

Also for your consideration, a re-enactment of a lost scene of Harry Potter where Harry fights Voldemort while riding on the blades of a helicopter:

I hear test audiences experienced extreme nausea from all of the spinning around.

Finally, here is the flying car of the future, today!  Complete with built-in landing pad.

There are still some bugs to work out.  Like how to actually drive the car when the landing pad doesn’t retract.  Those can be worked on in a future version of the flying car of the future.

Tomorrow, I’ll go over my recently acquired Lego addiction of the computer game kind!

Do your kids enjoy playing with Legos or other building toys?

Soon after The Hub network premiered here, NHL discovered Family Game Night.  This game show showed two families competing for cash and other prizes by playing modified versions of classic games such as Scrabble, Connect Four, Yatzee and Sorry.  NHL quickly grew to love the show and insisted that we record each and every new episode.  He would excitedly root for a favorite team and developed favorite games.

Meanwhile, NHL loved playing games on the Wii including one of the Family Game Night series that we had purchased.  He really loved the idea of taking a board game and playing it in video game format.

Combine the two and you get Family Game Night 4: The Game Show.

There are two modes to this game.  The first is a one or two player version of the Family Game Night TV game show complete with announcer Todd Newton assisted by Mr. Potato Head.  In this version, players compete in versions of the Family Game Night TV show’s mini-games.  Winning players get Monopoly cash cards.  At the end of the game, you see just how much those cards were worth.  The player with the most Monopoly cash wins.

In the other mode, players can play the individual mini-games either against another player or against the computer.  There are also slightly altered versions of the games.  For example, Sorry Sliders becomes Sumo Sliders.  Instead of merely sliding your Sorry sliders shuffleboard style and worrying about other sliders, you also need to worry about some big (aka Sumo) non-player sliders that are already on the board.  Just to keep things interesting, you can win trophies for completing various activities (like getting 4 in a row in Connect 4 Basketball in only 4 shots).

Though they were a bit much for JSL (age 4), NHL (age and I loved playing both the game show and individual games.  This is definitely a game that we will be playing over and over again.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Family Game Night for the Wii from EA Play.  No other compensation was given and no review expected.  The opinions stated above are my own.

Saturday mornings are usually lazy affairs.  Last Saturday, though, was different.  We needed to get up and moving quickly.  Why?  We had a concert to go to: The Laurie Berkner Band’s Animal Party at Proctors Theatre.

We got there early, picked up our tickets and, before taking our seats, got each of the boys a souvenir.

That’s a shaky egg – a small wooden egg that makes noise when you shake it like a maracca.

As we took our seats, I marveled at how close we were to the stage.

We also marveled at what a great looking venue Proctors is.  We really should go to more shows there!

NHL, being a drum player, liked the drum set on the stage.

JSL, meanwhile was prepared for one of the later songs with his monkey.

Before long, out came Bob (who plays the drums), Suzie (keyboard), Adam (bass guitar), and, of course, Laurie.  The boys went crazy as she sang song after song.  Meanwhile, I alternated between taking a ton of photos, taking videos, and rocking out with my kids.

Here are some selected photos from the concert.

Remember JSL’s monkey from before?  Well, at one point, he had to put it on his head.  After all, Laurie had a pig on her head…

In addition to having a pig on her head, her toolbox was invaded by a mouse intent on building a home for itself.

For fans of Jack’s Big Music Show, where her band is often featured, Laurie broke out into a medley of songs.

Finally, what concert would be complete without a groupie crashing the stage.  Of course, Laurie Berkner groupies are a bit shorter than some other band’s have.

We just love how the band worked her into the show.  They showed that not only do they play great music for children, but they know how to play WITH children too.  (At the time, I wondered if I’d be able to tell the mother of the little girl about this video.  It turned out that she posted on Facebook and B got in touch with her.)

All too soon, the concert was over.  It was time to take bows and head home.

Thanks to the Laurie Berkner Band for such a magical concert!

Disclaimer: We received complementary tickets to the “Animal Party” concert thanks to The Laurie Berkner Band. The opinions expressed above, however, are my own and this post was done because we had a great time, not in return for the tickets.

Over the last two days, I’ve recounted how we saw animals and made seed packets.  I also told of our train ride to Sesame Street.  Now it was time for what was going to be arguably the kids’ favorite time of the trip: The carousel.

First, a little history.  This isn’t a new carousel.  It’s quite old.  It was first made between 1912 and 1916, but some of the horses date to the 1890′s.

The operator told us that it is given 15 minute rest times between runs to prevent breakdowns.  In fact, we were told, it’s so old that if it ever breaks down, they won’t be able to fix it!  Still, 15 minutes is an easy wait as the upside to this being an older carousel is that it goes faster than more recent ones.

During our first run, JSL and Cousin S took seats in a spinner.  NHL and Cousin B grabbed side-by-side horses.

Talk about old, this is what played the music to go along with the ride.

After this first run, we looked at a few exhibits that were on this floor.  Then, the kids enjoyed some rock candy.

I even got a nice photo of a church that is right next to the museum.  Love the architecture.

Before we knew it, our 15 minute wait was over and it was time for ride number 2.  Cousin B took a horse again.  JSL and Cousin S took side-by-side horses.  NHL decided to ride by himself on a spinner.  (This was on the other side of the carousel so I couldn’t get good photos of him from where I was supervising JSL and Cousin S.)

When the ride was over, the kids went back to their rock candy until it was time for one final ride.  This time, NHL and JSL mounted matching donkeys,  Meanwhile, Papa went on the spinner with Cousins S & B.

During the ride, I noticed the beautiful marble eyes that the animals had.

Finally, the ride was over and it was time to leave.  Mind you, this was over protests of "one more ride."  Still, it was getting late and we needed to leave.  It was a fun time and the boys are already itching to go back.

Yesterday, I began the tale of our trip to the New York State Museum.  As I ended part 1, the kids were running off to see more exhibits.

They first ran into a dinosaur.  They all marveled the dino standing in front of them.  I was barely able to get them to hold still long enough to pose for a photo.

A little further down, they loved seeing, first, a whale’s skull and then a whole whale skeleton.

Even the complete whale skeleton couldn’t measure up to the exhibit were were looking for: Sesame Street.  We wound our way through the museum, relying mostly on my fuzzy memory of where it was.  Then we spotted something that I didn’t remember:  An old A-Train car.

This car was presented in such a way as to let people walk in it and sit in its seats.  The kids were instantly in love.  They ran all around it abuzz with excitement.

As we exited the train, I spotted the familiar face of a certain large, yellow bird.  We had found the way to Sesame Street.

I’ll admit that the exhibit was smaller than I remember.  (I think I half-remembered a larger exhibit from another museum.)  Still, the kids loved seeing even the small portion of Sesame Street.  A bench was positioned so kids could watch snippets of the show on a small television.

Before long, they got restless, though, and it was back to the train car.

Our next big location to visit was the carousel.  However, the boys and I stumbled upon a hidden gem.  A collection of old fire trucks.  What kid doesn’t like fire trucks?

These were right near the second of the museum’s two 9-11 exhibits.  This one included (among other things) a heavily damaged fire truck and a girder from the Twin Towers.  I must admit that I had to touch it and bow my head a bit when I encountered the latter of the two.  Thankfully, the kids were so distracted by the fire trucks they had just seen and the promise of the carousel to come, that they didn’t seem to notice what we were walking by.

Once this was done, we headed for the elevators and went up to ride the carousel.

To be concluded tomorrow.

On Saturday, with Aunt M, Uncle I, Cousin S, and Cousin B in town, we tried to figure out something fun to do with the kids.  We decided upon the New York State Museum.  Not only is it a nice, bit indoor space with some nice exhibits, but there was a craft activity for the kids to do and a carousel.  Just to sweeten the deal, all of this is free.

As we pulled up, we found a spot right near the museum.  The kids excitedly got out of the cars and headed in.  NHL pointed out one of the only skyscrapers that Albany has.  (I grew up near New York City, so I’m used to seeing a lot more skyscrapers.)  He also spotted that odd-shaped building in Albany known as "The Egg" (used for concerts and shows).

Heading in, we asked where the kids craft activity was and headed right for it.  On the way, we passed by one of the two 9-11 exhibits.

The kids weren’t too interested in these, of course, but they got very interested once we found the animal exhibits.

There were also the minerals/rocks which the kids surprisingly liked.  Mainly, I think, because of the colors and sparkliness.

Then, we got to one of their favorite sections: Kids Cove.  In this area, were many animal skins, skulls, leaves and other items for kids to examine close up.  Whereas most of the museum is hands-off, this section encouraged kids to pick up and take a closer look at the items.  (Don’t mind the jackets.  The kids were so excited by all that they saw that they didn’t want to stop to remove them yet.)

Leaving here, we located a Woolly Mammoth.  This was one of our original directions to find the craft table.

The Woolly Mammoth led us to a Native American village, complete with a house we could walk into.

And Native American wedding clothing.

Finally, we found another mammoth.  This one, however, was more skeletal than his friends.

Right by him was the craft table.  We had located our first major stop: Kid Crafts.  The kids settled in and drew, cut, and pasted shut envelopes.  Into these envelopes went some wild flower seeds.  Then, they glued the envelope shut and were done.

The person running the event was great.  She was able to recover from bad cuts and bad gluing.

After the crafts were done, I got Cousin S and JSL to pose by a nearby dinosaur fossil.

Then, off we went to see more.

Tomorrow: Trains, Fire Trucks and Sesame Street!

Yesterday, I demonstrated TheAnimatedWoman’s technique for turning lines into cute drawings.  JC even promoted my post on Google+.  That’s when inspiration struck.  (Minus the lightning bolt.)  Why not use this as a drawing lesson with NHL?

He wasn’t going to be as good at drawing on the computer, so out came a piece of paper and some crayons.  I prepped my camera.  Then, I told him to draw a wiggly line.  (As always, click to see a larger version.)

Quite wiggly.  Next came the eyes.

After this, I told him to draw arms and legs.  Go crazy with them, I said.  He was more than happy to oblige.

Now, I instructed him to have his character say something.  Can you guess what I was making for dinner?

Finally, I told him to put the black crayon away and add some colorful elements.  (At this point, I went back to making the pizza and told him to call me when he was done.)

He insisted on naming his character, but had a little trouble with the spelling of “crazy”.

And there you have it.  Mr. Crazy was born.

Oh, and, in case you are wondering, I did show JC’s website to NHL and JSL.  They especially loved the story of the Last Snowman.

I woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of a kid out of bed.  This is a usual affair.  NHL will wake up at 6am and ask if he can watch TV.  When I opened my eyes, though, I saw two kids looking at me.  JSL was out of bed also.  I approved them going to watch TV on the couch and tried to get some more sleep.

I gave up soon, though, realizing that I needed to get moving.  NHL has Hebrew school every Sunday morning at 9:30am.  This meant I needed to get the kids fed, get the kids dressed, get myself showered, get myself dressed, and get us all out of the house by 9:15am.  I decided that we would all wear matching Perry the Platypus shirts.

Dropping NHL off at Hebrew school, I found out just how many people were Phineas and Ferb fans.  As we walked up the steps, NHL in front and JSL and I behind, I heard someone singing “doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-wa”.  They had spotted NHL’s shirt and were expressing approval.  Then, as JSL and I came into view, they stopped.  Their appreciation was quite apparent.  For the record, these weren’t kids.  These were adults.  To rephrase my statement above: I found out just how many parents in our temple are Phineas and Ferb fans!

After NHL was in Hebrew school, JSL and I did some grocery shopping.  Then we picked NHL back up, stopped by the house because I had forgotten my camera (bad camera geek!), and headed to lunch.

My first thought for lunch was Cici’s.  However, eating pizza the night before had soured me on the thought of an all-you-can-eat pizza lunch.  Instead, we went to Moe’s Southwest Grill.  There, the boys each had a Mini Masterpiece (kids cheese quesadilla).  I opted out of my usual Homewrecker (beans, seasoned rice, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, lettuce, sour cream, tofu and guacamole on a whole wheat tortilla), deciding instead to get an Art Vandalay.  This burrito has everything that the Homewrecker has except for the tofu and is $1 cheaper.

While they were making mine, they asked if I wanted grilled veggies.  That sounded good so in went grilled onions, peppers and mushrooms.  When it came time to roll it up, the guy somehow succeeded.  I have no clue how they do this.  If I were rolling that burrito, the tortilla would rip, toppings would leak out of all sides, and the burrito wouldn’t be able to be closed.  It’d be a mess.  A delicious mess, but still a mess.

This guy somehow fit all of those toppings into a rolled up tortilla that by all rights shouldn’t have been able to hold them all.  The end result was so delicious that the Art Vandalay with grilled veggies has now replaced the Homewrecker as my new favorite Moe’s burrito.

After lunch, I figured that the boys needed some time running around.  So to the park we went.  First up, was the hedge maze.  This is a favorite of the boys.  They run around hiding from each other (and from me) and having a blast.  I tried taking photos of them, but was only partially successful.  They were just too busy having a good time to wait for dad’s camera.

With the hedge maze run through (multiple times), it was time for the boys to tackle the playground.  JSL and NHL had fun on the slides, swings, and various other fun activities.

A favorite of theirs was the telephone.  There is a hollow pipe which winds under the playground to two separate locations.  Through either end, you can talk and be heard on the other side.  At first, NHL and JSL spoke to each other.  Then, as NHL lost interest and went on to other activities, JSL found himself talking to other kids.  He would chat for a short while and then shout “I’m coming over to see you!”  At this point, he’d dart as fast as his little legs could take him across the playground to say hi to his new friend.

I noticed that our time was running low, so I herded the boys to the lake.  There were ducks, fish, geese, and even remote controlled boats.

Before long, our dad and kids time was coming to an end.  We had to go get B from the train station.  Reluctantly, we left the park and went to the train station (stopping by briefly to buy an iced tea for B since she texted that she was thirsty). 

Despite my worrying that we’d get there late, we arrived with plenty of time to spare.  The boys got busy looking around in wonder at the train tracks below.  We spotted a train pull up and then pull back.  NHL worried that the train was leaving without dropping B off.  I reassured him that B’s train wouldn’t leave her behind.  Sure enough, B’s train (a different one than the one we saw earlier) pulled in a few minutes later.

We looked as people came out and suddenly I saw a familiar figure.  B was back!

(Click to enlarge and see the returning Angel.)

The boys ran up and hugged B and off we went back home.

I want to thank the folks from SheStreams for taking such good care of my wonderful wife.  You tired her out, but in a good way.  She returned with lots of new ideas and excited about her blogging future.  Best of all, from the kids’ point of view, she brought back gifts!

The day before school started, we decided to do something fun with the boys.  First, we went to CVS and then to Home Depot to look for a new doorbell.  Oh wait, that’s not fun.  That’s ok, though, because the next place was fun: Uno Chicago Grill, or, as the boys call it Pizza Uno’s.  NHL got a pepperoni pizza.  (Ah, my Kosher Boy!)  JSL got Mac and Cheese (his all time favorite food).  B and I both got the Spinoccoli pizza lunch special.  This came with unlimited soup.  We both wound up eating only soup and packing our pizza for another meal.  (Nothing like getting 2 meals for the price of one!)

After our meal, we walked around the mall for a bit and stopped by Border’s.  They’ve been going out of business for the past month or so and the selection really was bare.  We managed to find a few items, but JSL was not having a good time.  He didn’t understand why there weren’t any toys or kids’ books left.  Going Out of Business and Clearing Stock mean nothing to a four year old.

After the mall, we planned to go indoor miniature golfing.  NHL had gone here before with me, but JSL and B had never been.  However, there was something important to take care of first.  We high-tailed it home to put our leftovers in the fridge.  Even more important, though was potty breaks for everyone.  As NHL was going, B & I began doing the “potty dance.”  B lamented her complicated pants.  There was a tie, buttons, and a zipper.  I think a combination lock might have been in there somewhere.  Gloating, I said that I had it easy.  All I had to do was “zip, whip, and pee.”  Unfortunately, laughing hysterically does not go well with swimming back teeth.  There was a real risk of peeing my pants.  It didn’t help that NHL’s response to hearing that B couldn’t “zip, whip, and pee” was “Mommy’s broken!”

Luckily, my bladder held out and we went on to indoor mini-golf.  JSL was instantly entertained by the black light causing everything to glow. His socks, shorts, ball, fingertips and even his teeth were glowing.  The indoor course is divided into four parts.

Underwater.

Jungle.

Dinosaurs.

Outer Space.

After mini-golfing, we decided to get some ice cream.  NHL and JSL got Mint Cookie Crumble (mint ice cream with chocolate cookie crumble and fudge swirls).  B got Crumbs Along the Mohawk (graham cracker ice cream with graham cracker pieces and a caramel swirl).  I got Mud Season (coffee ice cream with brownie dough pieces and a peanut butter fudge swirl).

We all had a blast.  There’s nothing like laughter, mini-golf and ice cream to wind down summer vacation!

How did you celebrate the end of summer vacation?

The day before NHL’s birthday, we decided to spend some time with Nana, Papa, Uncle I and Cousins S & B.  First, though, we needed to return some Netflix DVDs.  So NHL and JSL walked with me to the mailbox.  Along the way, we spotted some mushrooms growing in someone’s yard. Given the boys’ recent obsession with certain little blue characters, I joked that Smurfs might be living in there.  Luckily, I didn’t see anything come out of the mushrooms as I took photos of them.

With the Netflix DVDs mailed, we piled into the car and went to meet B’s family.  We were meeting them at a local park that hosts a farmer’s market every Saturday.  The boys were a bit annoyed at having to walk through the market since the playground was so close.  Still, we made the best of it and looked at all of the interesting vendors.  Sadly, I didn’t take many photos since I was trying to keep and eye on the little ones while looking at the wares for sale.  At one stand, though, there was a sunflower for sale that a bee had landed on.  I took out my camera and showed JSL and S just how I take bee macro photos.

We returned to the cars to get a quick drink and then off we went to play.  We had taken our Aerobie Sprint Flying Ring, Z-Curve Bow, and Zing-Shot Launcher so we broke those out.  The kids loved tossing the Aerobie or shooting the bow and arrow across the grass.  (The slingshot had a few misfires so I put it away lest it frustrate the younger kids.)

Uncle I had two really good bow-and-arrow shots.  In one, he hit JSL (by accident) from about 50 feet away.   We all laughed about the good shot while JSL proclaimed that he wasn’t hurt because the arrow’s made of soft foam.  The second shot was later on and rocketed a good 150 feet.  It was quite amazing to behold.

At one point, we stopped by a veteran’s memorial in the park.  I’ve been to this park many times and, for some reason, I hadn’t visited this before.  It’s quite impressive (even if the lack of wind kept the flags from unfurling properly).

NHL used the benches at the memorial to show his love for his cousin.

Then, it was on to the park’s pond where we got to see ducks and fishes.

At some point, Uncle I took NHL away.  You see, there’s one thing NHL loves more than anything about this park: the hedge maze.  He was dying to show it to Uncle I.  After a few more minutes admiring the ducks and fish, JSL wanted to show Cousin S the maze also so I walked them over.

Once at the maze, we all went crazy running through it.  JSL even got brave enough to allow himself to be separated from me a few times.

Park play is hungry work, so we all went out to lunch.  Well, we all went to go out to dinner.  Unfortunately, B fell asleep in the car.  (He had skipped an earlier nap so we were expecting this.)  Nana and Papa took him back to their house for some much needed rest while the rest of us ate in the Cheesecake Factory.

Finally, it was time to go back to Nana and Papa’s house to play and (later on) eat dinner with more family.