Adventure Update # 044: Baby It’s Cold INSIDE!

It was a LooOOoong weekend this past weekend! Broken furnace, giving away baby stuff, birthday celebrations….

Birthday Girl – Gracie Edition!

I took Friday off so Melani could take Gracie to the trampoline park with some friends for a birthday play date. Wow! Hard to believe our little girl is 11 now! From what I heard – a good time was had by all!

Gracie on Rope Ladder @ Trampoline Park

Here is one of the presents that, apparently, Melani & I gave Gracie. Melani actually sent it to “Boston Rob” (Rob Mariano) to get him to sign it and personalize it. All this was done without me knowing! I was proud of Melani for going through all this effort to make it a special gift for Gracie, AND for including a TheParenthoodAdventures.com business card with the book when she sent the request to Rob! I think we can safely assume that Rob is now a fan of the blog!

Basketball

Gracie defending Melani in the Parents vs Kids BBall game!

Poor pictures here – but it is hard to get good ones when you are sitting on the top row of the opposite side of the gym – and only have your cell phone!

Basketball is winding down for Gracie & Dominick. Dominick might have a couple more game (coach is trying to schedule some) – but Gracie’s season ended with the annual Parents vs. Kids basketball game. I had a lot of fun playing in it LAST year – so we figured it was Melani’s turn THIS year! (You can read about my experience last year here: Adventure Update: #001: That Was Goal Tending?

I was impressed with Melani’s skills! She gave Gracie a run for her money – and didn’t let her have any easy breakaways or baskets! IT was fun to watch them both out there playing. Gracie ended up having 1 basket and Melani made 2. Unfortunately the referring is a LITTLE biased – and the kids pulled off the victory again! Two years running at this point….

3D Printing!

Yes, some of you were able to guess that one of the pictures with Gracie last week had a partially assembled 3D printer on the dining room table. We were able to finish getting it together and have begun printing some simple objects. The ladybug was the very first thing we printed – since Gracie was the driving force in getting the printer!

We are still early on in this hobby – and printed out a few more things. Basically I did one of the favorite animals for each of the kids. So I did a Ladybug for Gracie, a monkey for Dominick, a bunny for Annie and a froggy for Sophie! The small frog here is the first thing we have attempted in 2 colors.

It’s a relatively inexpensive hobby that has been a lot of fun so far! We will keep you posted with regards of some of our more complex builds as we progress!

First 3D print – a ladybug for the birthday girl!

Cleaning Out!

In preparing for the new furnace last week – Melani and I figured we would FINALLY take the opportunity to clear out some baby gear…. Kinda of sad (guess we are done at 4)…. So we loaded up the minivan and I headed out to the Salvation Army.

I had unpacked most of it when a crass older lady barked at me “You can’t leave that stuff here – you’re going to have to pack it back up and take it out of here“. My jaw dropped and I was flabbergasted!

So it was emotional for us to get rid of these things that helped us raise our beautiful little children, we took the time to pack it all in the minivan and transport it here, I unpacked most of it – and THAT is how you greet me??! If looks could kill! Hardly the best choice of a representative for a great organization for which I have a lot of respect.

In her own inadequate way – I think she then tried to soften her assault and explained that it was because of liability…..

So let me see if I have this right:

I paid good money for these items (after-tax dollars I earned), and
this stuff that has, obviously, been battle tested and is ostensibly safe (all my children made it through to at least 3 years of age so far) – and
she is telling me it is NOT GOOD ENOUGH for someone who can’t afford to buy their own equipment,
so it will probably end up in the landfill
BUT YET plastic bags & plastic straws are the BIG environmental concerns of our day????

Seems to me that the plastic in all these items is a LOT more plastic than THOUSANDS & THOUSANDS of plastic bags and straws….

Furnace

So the new furnace is finally in! Yes – there were a couple of cold nights – but filling the bathtub with really hot water does help! So hopefully it can go back to just be cold OUTSIDE, rather than both outside & INSIDE!