Saturday, October 29, 2011

Mister Bones

"Mr. Bones" is a plastic skeleton my mom gave the girls a long time ago. We like to dance with him, dress him up and put him in weird poses. His arms often fall off.

For the past month I've been thinking about using Mr. Bones in a porch display for Halloween. This morning I woke up designing it so I surrendered and just built the damn thing. I used an Arduino to control LEDs for the eyes and heart. The biggest challenge was designing code to generate independent waveforms in a single loop (for the geeks out there, I ended up doing it by populating two lookup tables and the main loop just steps through them in parallel). I assembled the soundtrack from free sound effects found on the web and edited them together in Garage Band; it will play on an iPod with speakers.

This is the first time I've built an "animatronic" Halloween display. I think they're just going to have to get better every year, now. Next year's will include motion.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Charlotte's Alternate Name

Charlotte often parades around the house wiggling her butt and singing either "Oh yeah, shake your butt" or "Shake your booty". This morning she was singing "Shake your booty" as she was brushing her teeth and I told her we should have named her Booty instead of Charlotte.

"Booty Methot," I said.

"No," she replied, "Booty Rose Methot!"

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Fall Camping

Way back when we camped at Wells Point State Park with the Burtnetts (our backyard neighbors) they told us they had a cabin reserved for October 22nd at Pawtuckaway State Park in New Hampshire. We put it on our calendar and went on with life. Last week Carol and I debated whether we still wanted to go because we've been away a lot of weekends lately. But then we reminded ourselves, "Hey, it's the Burtnetts! We always have a great time with them." So on Saturday off we went to New Hampshire.

We didn't leave town until mid-afternoon because Audrey had figure skating class until noon. Pawtuckaway is only about an hour away and we arrived at about 3:00. It's quite a large campground but most of it was closed for the season. There are only 5 cabins and they are off by themselves. The regular campsites that were open were in a different part of the park so overall the park felt very deserted and quiet. The foliage was gorgeous.

We hung out for a bit and Audrey and I went for a little bike ride. The we all decided to go for a walk to the beach and some of the small islands near it. On the way to the beach we played a game catching falling leaves before they hit the ground. Then we arrived at the playground and everyone played on swings and the seesaw and the slides and the climbing wall. Near the beach there was a bridge to a cool little island. The kids used logs as balance beams. The older kids were doing it on a log that stuck out into the lake. Audrey really wanted to do it, too, but it was only about 55 degrees out and walking back to the van in wet clothes would not have been fun. I "persuaded" her not to try it. The younger kids built gnome homes. It was a spectacularly beautiful spot out on a peninsula in the lake with gorgeous fall colors along the shore.

Then it was back to traverse the beach and visit another peninsula and cross another bridge to an island that was equally cool. We scoped out some great campsites to try to reserve for summer.

Sunset was approaching so we headed back to the cabin and started a fire and cooked hot dogs for dinner. The teenage girls built a very cool gnome home in the trees near the cabin. We played many rounds of "guess the animal". Then we roasted marshmallows for s'mores. By then it was getting late and the kids headed to bed. Scott and I sat by the fire for a while and were visited by a raccoon who was not shy.

The temperature got down into the high 30s overnight. We had plenty of clothes and blankets with us so we all managed to stay warm. Except for Carol. But Carol wears a sweatshirt when it is 80 degrees.

In the morning it was chilly but not too bad. We all had a little breakfast and then Carol and Audrey went off for a long bike ride exploring the rest of the campground. We had a little firewood left so we started a fire. I thought the three pieces of wood we had would only last 20 minutes but we managed to milk the fire for more than an hour. Audrey spent a fair bit of time "fire fishing", as she called it: holding a stick in the fire to light the end, putting it out in the ashes, repeating.

In late morning we decided to go for a hike in another part of the park before heading home. We packed up and left the campground. We had to drive about 10 miles out of and around the park to a different entrance. Once back in the park the road turned to dirt and an adventure! Carol was nervous, but it wasn't really that bad. It was maybe a mile to the trailhead.

The hike we had chosen was to a boulder field - a collection of large glacial erratics among rolling hills. The boulders were impressive! The largest ones were probably 30-40' tall. The kids had a blast clambering among them, through caves and passages and onto ledges. Have I mentioned that the fall colors were gorgeous?

The Burtnetts needed to head home and we wanted to continue on the loop trail around the pond so we said our goodbyes. Along the trail we found even more boulders and cliffs and very cool cave that was about 30' long and ended up near the trail again. It was fairly dark going through it - the girls were very brave and very proud when they emerged. When we came to a road I was disoriented but Carol was sure which way to go. That's the opposite of our usual state but a nice change of pace. Sure enough, a few minutes along the road in Carol's direction and we were back at Ruby. A little more than an hour later we were home.

We really had a fantastic time. We've decided to make it an annual trip. In fact, we might try to recruit other neighborhood families and reserve all five cabins next year.

Charlotte is Reading!

At the end of my last post I mentioned that Charlotte has begun to read. That really deserves a special post all its own!

The other night night before bed Charlotte read us a poem called "Apples" from her Kindergarten Poem Journal. Audrey was a great helper and teacher. Click on the photo to go to the video. Somehow a third of the way through the video and audio get out of sync but you still get the idea.

Charlotte obviously received a good grounding in letter sounds in her Pre-K class last year. We've also worked on them at home, and I think Charlotte has learned a lot from watching Audrey.

I've mentioned before that for me watching my kids learn to read is the highest point of parenthood so far. Reading is such a huge part of my life that I am thrilled about the universe of knowledge and adventure that awaits them in the realm of the written word.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

October Octet

The fun just keeps coming in the Methot household!

A couple of weekends ago we made our annual apple picking pilgrimage. We returned to the first farm we visited after moving here: Cider Hill Farm. They have a big variety of varieties. And they also have delicious apple cider donuts. It's really easy to spend a fortune on apples that never get used, so this year we went with a plan: pick eight apples for a pie and 6 apples for eating. Worked great. The pie Carol made with the Jonagolds was really, really good. She also made some fantastic apple sauce out of some old apples she found in the refrigerator.

The girls have been excited for Halloween since Labor Day, I think. Audrey saw a new princess outfit at the Disney Store that she really wanted as her costume, but with all the accessories she wanted it would cost more than $75. Our idea of a Halloween costume cost is more like $12. I'm not sure how it happened but eventually she settled on being a devil. She already had red pants, a red shirt can be used as normal clothes, and the horns and pitchfork were cheap. Win. Charlotte chose to be a vampire with a simple dress.

Just this week we completed the conversion of our home heating and hot water from oil to natural gas. Now that the situation in Libya is resolved oil prices might start to fall, but at the beginning of summer we were looking at almost $4000 to heat our house and water for the next year. That made it easy to pull the trigger on the conversion. We still have to have the oil tank removed and then the project will be complete. I'm looking forward to at least 1/3 lower energy bills. Natural gas prices have been falling steeply.

We've recently acquired several books of kids' science experiments. A couple evenings a week now the girls ask for a project and we pick one from the books to do. Recently we put a candle in a glass, then put vinegar and baking soda in a taller glass. We poured the invisible heavier-than-air CO2 from the vinegar/baking soda reaction into the first one and put out the candle without blowing on it.

Audrey has been wanting to take figure skating for quite a while. Last year she was taking ballet but she decided not to continue that this year, so we signed her up for skating. She was sooo excited for it to start. The first scheduled week was cancelled due to the ice not being ready. We didn't find out until we arrived at the rink and Audrey was very disappointed. But yesterday it started and she had a blast. What a different vibe from the youth hockey program "learn to skate" series she took two years ago! Almost all girls and much more peaceful without the sounds of pucks and people hitting the boards. It's a 20-week class. I'm excited to watch Audrey become a real skater.

Charlotte is taking gymnastics at the Y and a cooking class in an after-school program. She loves them both.

I don't have a photo of it, but Charlotte is also learning to read! I think she got a good grounding in letter sounds in pre-K last year so she's really taking off in Kindergarten. Carol and I are amazed. And Audrey has shown to be a patient and wonderful teacher to her little sister. At first she was a little jealous because Charlotte was getting attention for reading, but we made an effort to praise Audrey more for her chapter book reading and her unprompted reading and she quickly came around.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Santa's Village

Back in June while Audrey was at Circus Camp the rest of us went to Santa's Village, an amusement park in northern New Hampshire scaled for little kids. Charlotte had such a great time that Audrey really wanted to go. We had planned to return in the late summer or fall. Last weekend we had a real bout of Indian Summer - 87 degrees in Boston and 79 degrees forecast at Santa's Village - so we seized the opportunity.

We left Saturday morning and took the scenic route up Route 16 through Conway and North Conway which are the epicenter of White Mountains tourist activity. Unfortunately I didn't think hard enough about the fact that plenty of other people would be heading north to enjoy the fine weather, plus the normal "leaf peepers" so we got stuck in a traffic jam in those towns for more than an hour. We still made it to Santa's Village with an hour left and we managed to snag a bunch of rides before closing. If you enter less than three hours before closing your ticket is good for another day and that was part of our plan.

We camped across the road at the Lantern Inn and Campground. It was a pleasant place and they even had s'more making as a free activity. The girls made instant friends with a family with two boys and a little girl who pulled in to the next campsite. They played "midnight tag" (at 7:00) for a long time. I laid on my back on the picnic table and tried to see some of the Draconids meteor shower. No luck. The moon was almost full and rising and there was a wispy thin cloud layer that was illuminated just enough by the moon to obscure all but the brightest stars. I didn't see a single meteor in 25 minutes of staring.

In the morning we drove a mile to the town of Jefferson for breakfast. It so happened the fire department was holding their annual fundraiser breakfast that day so we joined them in one of the town churches.

We were in line at the entrance about 20 minutes before the park opened. There was a good crowd at the park but it never got too crowded. I think the longest we waited to get on a ride was 10 minutes, if that. Both girls liked the Sleigh Skyway (a monorail), the antique cars and the twirling candy cane ride. Audrey fell in love with the reindeer roller coaster and she also went on the flying swings with Carol. Charlotte loved the racing water rafts. We all had a blast on the bumper cars.

In the afternoon we headed out to the parking lot for lunch in the van and to put on swim suits for the small water park. The girls and I played in the water for almost two hours. Charlotte went down her first little kids water slide, and Audrey went down her first "real" water slide. She was afraid of the enclosed slide but I reassured her that it was fun and eventually she gave it a try. She loved it. There is a huge bucket on top that slowly fills and then empties out and douses the center of the water park every few minutes (just like at Great Wolf Lodge). This one has a bell that gives warning and Audrey was very tuned into it because she did not want to get doused. But as we were about to dry off I invited Audrey to stand under the torrent with me and she did! She hugged my legs very tightly but was brave and of course afterward thought it was great fun.

By then it was about 2:30. I thought we might leave at 4:00 or so since we had a three hour drive home and I had to work the next day (the girls had Columbus Day off). But we were having so much fun that I let go of my schedule and we ended up closing the park down at 6:00. It was really a fantastic day.

The drive home was a breeze, perhaps due to the Monday holiday. We were home shortly after 9:00 so I wasn't even up late. We realized later in the week that we had forgotten to watch the gas gage and had arrived home on fumes. The weekend getaway gods were apparently watching over us.

We might get in one more weekend camping trip this coming weekend. We have definitely gotten good use out of our camper van ("Ruby Tuesday") this season.

Oh, and the leaves in the White Mountains were a little subdued but still gorgeous, especially the "golden hour" before sunset.

New Blog Template

I've been using the same blog template for years. When I logged in today Blogger offered me some updated templates and I figured the time had come to give them a try. Let me know if they don't display well for you, or if you have any other comments on the blog layout.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Shorts and Mittens

Today's weather is a transition from the Indian Summer we had over the weekend (87F in Boston) to normal Fall weather (50s). Audrey was determined to wear her favorite summer outfit to school:  matching lime green t-shirt and shorts from Grandma. As we were leaving for school she stepped outside to feel the temperature. She came back in and declared, "All I need is mittens!" So off we went to school with Audrey wearing a t-shirt, shorts and ladybug mittens. Unfortunately it didn't occur to me to take a photo.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Bristlebots

I get a lot of ideas from the Geekdad blog. They recently ran a mention of a project from Evil Mad Scientist Labs called Bristlebots. It's dead simple: get some pager vibrators (tiny motors with unbalanced weights on their shafts that cost about a buck each) and fasten one with a battery to a toothbrush head.

It just so happens that the girls went to the dentist yesterday and got new toothbrushes. So today I repurposed their old brushes.

If you build them, be aware that the leads on the pager vibrators are very fragile. I broke three of them. In particular they can't take any strain when you're bending the attached wired around. Isolate them from that strain with your finger grip.

Click on the image to go to the video.

Magic Milk

Last weekend Carol whipped out a cool home science project: Magic Milk. You just drip some food coloring into a plate of milk, then touch it with liquid dish soap. Supposedly Dawn brand works best, but we used what we had. In the video you'll see the girls putting the entire Q-tip head in; I think it might work better (and for multiple touches) if you just touch the milk with the soap.

Click on the image to go to the video.