monterey bay aquarium 11/2010

 this place was fascinating. can't wait to go again!

well, this just blew my socks off!

I do my best to encourage the socks off of the local youth pastors, but this time, a friend of mine out-did me by about a million times!

homemade toys:: disneyland pt. 2

last time we went to disneyland, jane was inspired to create some toy-rides for her hello kitty toys. and ever since we got back from our 2nd trip to disneyland, she has been making more and more rides for the kitties to enjoy. she made a pretty elaborate buzz light year bllaster ride that I wished that I had taken a picture of. it had a blacklight, toy story figures, and all kind of cool features. she also made a toy story mania ride out of legos that had targets for the kitties to shoot at and carts for the kitties to ride through the ride on. it was very similar to the actual ride.

the other day jane said, "what should we make next?" I said, "well, what rides did you really like?" she said, "I liked the swing ride. why don't we make a swing ride?!" that took a lot of thought. deanna suggested that I go take a long shower to figure that out. I do some of my best thinking in the shower. the warm water must warm up my brain. she was right. at the end of my shower I knew how I was going to make it. I made a quick trip to homme depot. I used a lazy susan that we had in our pantry, a dowel for hanging up clothes, some string, some industrial velcro, a bucket-lid, and some clips for hanging mini-blinds as seats. and it works! of all of the toys I have made for jane, I think this is the one I'm most proud of.

being a dad is fun.

-rob

disneyland part 3

this year, jane has REALLY been into toy story 3; and it didn't take us long to decide that our next vacation would have a toy story-focus down at disneyland!

its halloween-time over at disneyland- and kids can come dressed in a costume. on certain days, disneyland closes early to allow for a special halloween party with unique music, decorations, character-meet and greets, trick-or-treating, and a special halloween parade and fireworks show. we were elated when my friend chris surprised us with tickets for this exclusive party! jane got to see her first fireworks show- and she loved it. and she got to dress up in her jessie costume and take pictures with some of her favorite toy story characters:

keeping with our toy-story theme, we also played several rounds of buzz light year's blasters

and we even tracked down buzz and got a photo with him.

we also discovered an awesome new ride: toy story mania! it was broken for most of the time that we were there, and the line was super-long, but we did get to ride it twice. it was worth the wait.

probably the most special toy story moment that we had was during the toy story parade. my friend chris knows jessie and told her that her biggest fan was in the crowd. she made an extra-special effort to wave to jane and blow her a kiss. then she sprayed us with water.

we had lots of other non-toy-story highlights too.

jane discovered the swing ride at california adventure:

after-swings from rob walter on Vimeo.

we also got to see disney's new water and light show, world of color.

jane was in tears when it was over. I thought she was scared- she was sad to see it end.

 

we had such a fun time as a family. I am constantly surprised at jane's great attitude, patience and ability to adapt to new situations. as usual, we got to take lots of pictures, we got to ride lots of rides, and got to meet some of our favorite characters. here are some more photos and videos of our time together. like I often say, being a dad is fun.

tigger from rob walter on Vimeo.

jane's point of view

awhile ago, deanna was getting ready for her day and jane was looking for something to do- so deanna gave jane our camera, taught her how to take pictures and let her take pictures around our condo. jane put on her safari outfit and considered it an adventure. the pictures turned out to be very interesting! here are just a few of the MANY pictures that jane took:

pictures of jane reading

for some reason, it just makes me happy to see my daughter reading a book. maybe because it reminds deanna and I of ourselves when we were her age; maybe its because we know that when her eyes are on a book that she is engaging her mind, her creativity and her imagination all at once. here are just a few of the many photos that we have of jane reading books:

here are some as a baby girl:

and here are some from more recent days:

we've also got lots of video of jane reading books, but my favorite of all time is when jane either read or quoted a funny little book about thomas the train called "stop train stop."we've also got lots of video of jane reading books, but my favorite of all time is when jane either read or quoted a funny little book about thomas the train called "stop train stop."
stop train stop! from rob walter on Vimeo.

homemade toys:: schoolhouse

now that jane is a schoolgirl, she is very interested in her little dolls going to school. so we made a little schoolhouse playset!

the floor is a piece of foam-core that you can get from an art store, with some wood-grain contact paper on top. the walls are also foam-core, with some digital cuts and pastes that I pullled off the web. i used a few photoshop tricks to put the images on the walls seamlessly, and I created the images in publisher. I just printed them out and glued them to the foam-core. all of the accessories are bits and pieces that jane already had. in this scene, the students are playing a get-to-know-you-game with their teacher.

I had lots of fun dreaming this up and making it- and when jane saw it, she flipped. now I'm thinking up other kids of rooms that I could make!

being a dad is fun.
-rob