Tuesday, December 13, 2011

15 Minutes Later

We bought Tess a dog bed for her birthday to accompany the new dog which is, ostensibly, hers.

That present was opened less than an hour ago. 15 minutes later, Tess said that she would like a new dog bed for Christmas.

I'm wondering if they sell a kevlar model. Elvish chain would be even better.

Update 4 hours later: I think the upgrade will have to be crafted from dwarven plate mail. I'm confident this dog could tear through the elvish chain mail in under a day.

(Note to Phil: The astute viewer may note the presence of a very fine red oak bunk bed in the background...)



Sunday, December 11, 2011

December Miscellany

The year is ticking to a close. Here's a last round of photos before Christmas to close things up. Click on the photo below for the slideshow.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Micah's Christmas Gift

Some of you may secretly consider Micah's lego obsession to be a bit low-brow. Fortunately, the helpful folks at Amazon have a solution...



(Update, apparently there's more)

DISCLAIMER: Please note my humor before you think about ordering. Micah's actual tastes run more to spaceships than modernist architecture.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Saturday, November 19, 2011

P&P Night

Some of us like watching Pride & Prejudice more than others...


Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Quote of the Day

"Dad, I need mom to 'contact the tooth fairie' [airquotes helpfully supplied by the speaker] because I lost 2 teeth last week and she keeps forgetting to come."

--MMF

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Chocolate Covered Bacon

We have just returned from the reddest, "red state" extravaganza that I have ever participated in. It made a NASCAR race look like a wine and cheese party hosted by the poetry club.

The Delaware Punkin Chunk (world championship) was pure epic awesomeness.

Truly, no other country (no sensible one, anyway) would devote such time, energy and engineering to throwing a pumpkin. No one else would tackle the hard problem of spending 25 years breeding a hardier pumpkin to survive the stress of being launched into the air by trebuchets, onagers, centripitals and air cannons. (solution: use white pumpkins and feed them lime).

I now assure you that I have seen pumpkins thrown over 4000 feet. I can say this with confidence since the helpful folks from the Guinness book of world records were on hand to verify the distance with differential GPS and laser range finders.

The guys from Mythbusters were also there but we didn't see them much to the disappointment of my kids.

Words fail me so I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Click on the photo below (I've also thrown in a few Halloween shots at the end).

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Last Germany Bits

I finally fixed my camera last week (go gently with me, I ordered the parts ages ago). The photo below is a link to a few remaining Germany photos that were taken after our computer was shipped out.

Happy Birthday Maddie

Last week, we once again failed in keeping our children from growing up as Maddie celebrated yet another birthday.

She picked her own birthday meal. Scrambled egg burritos, black beans, chips and salsa, cake and ice cream.

My cool friend Steph helped Piper and Tess bake an awesome cake to celebrate. I discovered that when folks who are OCD enough to rack up graduate degrees in optical sciences channel their energies into baking, wonderful things can happen. The results are here.

Tess warned Maddie that her cake would be made of exotic meat. Maddie was not too pleased about the prospect but was happy with the result.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

We're Back

For those of you who are still tuned in.

2 days ago, we re-entered the 21st century when our internet was installed. Total time without internet: 7 weeks. 0 casualties and 0 injuries though I have some twitches that might be symptomatic of PTSD. Too soon to tell.

The good news is that we now have FIOS. My initial reaction is that I can't go back to DSL. Ever. I'm now ruined for lesser forms of high speed access.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Micah Anderson Apiwat.

Below is a teaser from the 5fordhams archives. The truly embarrassing photos remain safely under lock and key until we need them to embarrass you at your Senate confirmation hearings.



Sunday, July 10, 2011

Vacation Quotes of the Day

FIRST PRIZE

"I don't like it when Micah calls me a chicken! It makes me think that I'm stupd and dirty and that I lay eggs and that I'm not a mammal."

--Cousin Thomas. Age 7

RUNNER UP

"I know what happened to my swimsuit. Racoon's took it."

--Maddie Merrick, Age 8 (who has apparently learned the meaning of the word "hypothesis" but not the word "plausible")

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Super Calloused Fragile Mystic

Stolen from my friend Bob...

1. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, "I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger."

2. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says, "Dam!"

3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

4. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, "I've lost my electron." The other says, "Are you sure?" The first replies "Yes, I'm positive."

5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why?", they asked, as they moved off. "Because," he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

7. A woman delivers a set of identical twins and decides to give them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain ; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

8. A group of friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" the friars to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that only Hugh can prevent florist friars.

9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and, with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him (Oh, dude, this is so bad, it's good ...) a super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

10. And finally, there was the person who sent ten different puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Quote of the Day

"Let me concentrate while I slather this awesome goodness onto my bread."

--Spoken by Tess as she applied normally prohibited Jiff Peanut butter to her sandwich.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Re-entry progress

1. I have work (mostly)
2. We have 1 car (mostly)
3. We have cell phones (actually an unopened box that purports to contain phones)
4. We have power (totally)

Still to come. Painters, flooring guy, internet and another car. I think we'll just keep spending the money until it runs out. That will make the kids' college planning that much easier.

IR Photos



Friday, June 3, 2011

QOTD

"Mom, I have a slight problem. All of my clean shirts keep disappearing and winding up crumpled on the floor."

-MM

Hmmmm. I suspect laundry fairies. It's the only plausible explanation.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Last Ever Germany Photos

Frau Ford and the Fordlets leave in 3 days so my desire to blog is limited. I'm making an exception to post the last round of medium format film that came back from the developer today.

Some of these look good. Some don't. Unfortunately, I'm hampered in my ability to edit them on the hotel laptop since the display is too poor to tell the difference. I'll try to clean them up in a week or two when I can get onto a better computer.

Click here for slideshow.

Words fail so I'll end our adventure here. Thank you for virtually joining this wonderful part of our lives here in Deutschland..

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Sigh

Darn you RSA. Could you not have waited until after I moved back to the US to compromise my data?

Monday, May 23, 2011

Last European Photos

I'm home--taking a break from packing--to post the last photos of our last European fling. Packers come tomorrow. Movers on Wednesday. Wish us luck.

Click on the boat for photos.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Home from the Wars

We are home from our final European fling.

Post to follow when my luggage (& camera) returns.

All is well, however. The movers come in 3 days so we're a little preoccupied with that. It's amazing how much detritus accumulates in a 1000 sqft apartment.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

More Photos

I'm posting photos of the past several weekend trips; Dresden, Garmish & Austria.

There will be no photos of Berlin. As it turns out, Berlin is quite an ugly city that is unworthy of your attention.

Click here to view.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Quote of the Day

Overheard from the next room:

Tess: "Micah, we're going to have a little talk and this talk might involve pain..."

... should I be worried?

Monday, April 25, 2011

For the Grandparents.

Hmmmm. (Stolen from a comic that I read...)



We just returned from a long-weekend in East Germany. I'll try to post pictures after the throbbing and cramps in my right (accellerator/brake-pedal) leg diminish.


Saturday, April 16, 2011

QOTD

Turning your back on a 6-year-old with a roll of scotch tape in his hand is nearly as stupid as fighting a land war in Asia in wintertime.

-Me

Friday, April 15, 2011

Jenga

The creators of the game Jenga say that it is suitable for children ages 6 and up.

They are wrong.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Orange

Back when we were first beginning our ninja phase, we enrolled the kids in a local German Karate club. It seemed a good fit since karate is similar to ninjitsu once you omit the caltrops, poison and throwing stars. The senior partners here at 5fordhams happily approved those curriculum modifications.

Last weekend, Tess finally took the test for her orange belt. Photo-documentary of this event is sparse since she threatened to eviscerate me with her ninjitsu if she saw me take any pictures.

I did but fortunately she didn't. This was a happy occurence since she's now an orange belt and could probably disable me with her left thumb.

Possibly those skills will be useful when I let her start dating (in 15 years).

Click the photo below.

Quote of the Day

Me: "Tess, are these clean clothes yours?"

T: "No. I don't wear shirts with trucks on them."

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Pardon this post, I'm off my meds tonight...

Maddie is reading aloud to me tonight before bed. I want to have fun with the experience but I'm too disturbed that Robin Hood is such a socialist. Seriously. Am I doing damage to my daughter's long term development by letting her read this?

I miss the talking animals and gingerbread houses. Those I could get into.

New digression:

The word of the day at 5fordhams LLC is Camazotz. Please don't be alarmed. This is one of the small side effects that occurs when nerdy parents raise nerdy children. Other side effects include itching, runny noses and unexplainable desires to sleep on mattresses under the stairs.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Conversation of the Day

Me: "Micah, do you have homework tonight?"

Micah: "Yes."

Me: "When is it due?"

Micah: "Thursday."

Me: "In 3 days?"

Micah: "No, Thursday last week."

...Fortunately, I hear that state schools are much cheaper than Harvard.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Oh Happy Day

Tess was quite excited to go to school today. She stayed up late last night (by herself) making a batch of sugar cookies rolled in salt vice sugar. She fed her creations to the family at breakfast. They were outrageously bad.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Who owns the Fish

After 30 minutes on my bed with a pencil & paper, Tess has decided (correctly) that the German owns the fish.

She's pretty excited. I shall try not to let it go to her head.

This is from a pretty famous logic problem in case you don't get the reference.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

More Museums

We've spent a wonderful few months of staying close to home, largely because of waning trust in our new van.

Assured by the mechanics that the van is running fine (although the maintenance required light continues to turn on for inexplicable reasons whenever it is reset), we trekked to Karlsruhe yesterday.

We wandered around the palace grounds and took the kids to the media museum. Fortunately, the media museum is *much* cooler than it sounds.

Click on the picture for the slideshow...


Quote of the Day

"Nowhere in the 10 commandments does it say not to hit your little brother."

-Maddie Merrick

Friday, March 4, 2011

Fasching

The kids' school celebrated Fasching yesterday which meant that everybody got to dress up. Here they are before school:

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Quote of the Day

Daddy... Did you know that everybody has germs. I have less because I'm littler. You have alot.

-Micah Anderson
Age 6

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Out with the Old, In with the New

My woodshop adventures continue.

Many years ago, Piper had a welder make a great bed for us out of 2 wrought iron gates. Sadly, our house at Cliveden estates wouldn't allow that bed up the stairs so we sold it.

So we slept on a mattress on the floor for longer than I like to admit before picking up a second hand bed from friends. The old bed was a rickety marvel. I am amazed that it survived (sort of) 3 years of the kids jumping on it.

Last November, I received spousal dispensation to build a new one. It moved in today. I'm pretty sure that it's built to last. German Ash is not a frail wood.

Pictures are here.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

I thought it was just me...

London & Stuff

Posting has been light since Christmas though we've been quite busy.

Last weekend, we returned from a trip to England to see family and visit London. It was quite a merry adventure that ended when we returned to a malfunctioning car in Frankfurt. We limped home in a rental and drove back yesterday to pick up our van. We'll be having our mechanic look at it down here so I suspect our driving will be limited for a few days.

Spring travel plans are indeterminate. I have a 5-day home leave to use before our return to the US in June. We hope to use that somewhere here in Europe (Piper votes for someplace warm).

Click here for photos of England. I'll try to caption them soon.