Twisted, Surreal, Hilarious

For about an hour the other night, Rachel and I were auxiliaries to Ellis's imaginative play. If the scenario were a book it would be described as a snowmobiling adventure heavily influenced by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Dinosaur Train, wackier than any peyote hallucination, and loaded with culinary and technological anachronism.

Ellis started by building his "snowmobile" by tipping over an Ikea chair and placing the Ikea stool underneath it. Several bits were held together with twisted pipe cleaners. Ellis was the builder and owner of the snowmobile, which apparently was a hybrid vehicle, given the quantity of batteries he claimed were involved and the amount of gas the thing used. Additionally, the snowmobile had a luxury cabin in the back that was basically a queen-sized area made from an old comforter on the floor. Thankfully, this was the area where Rachel and I were allowed to recline and relax while Ellis drove us through perilous locations including Indian Territory and eventually to Santa Claus Territory. (It may be telling that Ellis, in order to get us to join in his game, basically made us a bed on the floor.)

Along the way, there were myriad delays for repair as well as while we waited for a river to freeze hard enough to support the vehicle. After we ran out of packed meals, Ellis supplied most of our food by hunting with a "bone 'n arrow". When asked around noon of the third day what we would be having for dinner he replied, "We'll see what I kill." I think that night was Panther meat we enjoyed. I also know for certain that I ate a Tiger as well as a roasted loon that wasn't properly plucked. After I complained, time travel became possible and we some saber-tooth tiger and some stegosaurus.

In the end, I don't believe we ever returned home, but ended up somewhere in a house built by Ellis on the border between Indian and Santa Claus Territories.

bits of kid stuff

Not too much going on here, just chugging through the fall. The latest big excitement was that our hens have finally started laying! We found the first couple eggs on Monday and have gotten a few more since then. Thanks goodness because Ellis was just starting to give me grief about his daily chore of letting them out of their coop and giving them a scoop of feed. The prospect of collecting eggs seems to have renewed his interested. We made some eggs for supper last night, and I pointed out to him that our one fresh egg had a deeper-colored yolk than the store eggs. He promptly declared he'd be eating only fresh eggs from here on out. I just hope the chickens can keep up!

We've also stated reading the Laura Ingalls Wilder books with Ellis. They're about perfect for his comprehension level, and he really liked the first one (including the portions Trey dubbed "the boring parts"). We've just begun "Little House on the Prairie", which is a lot more exciting because it begins with their journey from Wisconsin to "Indian Territory". I'm impressed with how attentive Ellis has been. With Trey out of town at a conference this week, Ellis was forced to relay some portions of the story to him. He tried to explain how "Pa" traded horses stating that he'd acquired "a pair of black muskrats". I had to remind them that were actually "mustangs", but he did repeat word for word that they had "soft brown eyes" and "were gentle as kittens". It's really amazing too, to see him get so emotionally involved. At one point in the story, they believe their dog has drowned, and Ellis asked me to go over what had happened and why about 40 times that night. The next day, however, we found out that the dog had made it across the river and safely back to camp. The little smile on his face was so sweet as Laura had her reunion with Jack the Bulldog.

Both the boys have been doing a lot of arts and crafts this fall, though Maddox's attempts are always a bit more harrowing for me. A marker in the hand of 20-month-old is like that rifle in the first act of Chekhov play. Something is getting colored on; will it be wall, table, self, sofa? Ellis's drawings have been getting more and more complex (I will have to make use of my scanner). They usually seem to involve "bad guys" getting killed and/or imprisoned. Sigh. Last weekend he helped my test out a craft project for Sunday school. Here's a picture of him gluing beans to create Indian corn. I wanted to think of a craft that would involve all of the three sisters, but had to settle for 2. Maybe next year I can work in some pumpkin printing or something.

rockets

I'm trying to catch up with some of the pictures and stories I should have posted earlier. The explosion though, it's not because it's a frenzy of activity, it's because there are some actual explosives involved. Ellis and Trey made their foray into model rockets this summer. They began with a little starter rocket, which was a birthday present from Grandma Audrey. Ellis especially enjoyed painting it, but Trey did most of the assembly. They quickly graduated to a pair of larger rockets, courtesy of Grandma Lisé.

Here's a little sample of what it's like to attend a rocket launch with this pair (sorry for the wind noise):

We also attended the Champlain Regional Model Rocket Club's September launch. It was amazing to see some of the biggest rockets launch. For instance, we use B and C engines and some of the larger rockets there were using M engines! The event was held in the back of someone's field/ mosquito breeding research area (I got two bites in the first 30 seconds). The kids especially liked having a little back of the car picnic and getting hot cider after dark. Trey and Ellis were perhaps a little too interested in proceeding with building some of the more "custom" rockets. Ellis especially liked the saucer-shaped rockets, which are neat because they stay a bit lower and so remain more visible.