A pen for your thoughts...

 

 

I am suffering from "can't think of anything to write aboutitis", so I thought I would pass along a link my husband posted on his facebook page.  As some of you may know, BIC just released a new product - a pen 'designed' for women.  Here is their product description:

 

 

"BIC Cristal For Her has an elegant design - just for Her! It features a thin barrel designed to fit a women's hand. It has a diamond engraved barrel for an elegant and unique feminine style."

 

I first heard about it on NPR of all places, and I thought it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard of.  I wanted to have a face-to-face talk with the product development team that thought this one up.  But then I thought about it... pastel-colored shavers, scented shaving cream that is way more expensive than men's shaving cream, well... just about every personal grooming product imaginable - there is a 'his' and 'hers' version.  And 'hers' is almost always more expensive. 

 

For the record, the older members in our family use Tresseme shampoo (and I use conditioner) and the younger members use Johnson&Johnson baby shampoo.  We all use the same body wash, Dial, in a fresh spring scent.  I use my husband's shaving cream - but alas, my shaver's handle is, well... pink.  (It fits the contours of my hand, right?)  But I'll be honest with you - his shavers work better because there's 1-2-3-4!!! blades!  Jordan uses that disgusting line of "Axe" body stink (introduced elsewhere.. )

 

 

Marketers have already designed pink tool boxes complete with pink-handled tools for women, aprons for men (must feature a bbq motif), and who can forget - Joey's 'man bag'.

 

 

 

But writing instruments?  Well.... would I sound like I total hypocrite if I complained that Dean's choice in pens and mechanical pencils are not my favorite?  They are absolutely huge!  He uses those big barrel types - and *yes* they actually are uncomfortable to write with.  But the average-sized pen does just fine, thankyouverymuch.

 

Here is what I prefer, even though I know you don't care in the least:

 

pencil: Ticonderoga pencils.  Perfect softness of the lead, and it erases beautifully.  They are off-limits to everybody else in the family.  MINE!

 

red pen: Pilot, fine point.  I use this pen for writing on any bills or bank statements.

 

blue pen: BIC crystal.  Not the most reliable pen in the world, but I always loved rolling it back and forth between my fingers, feeling the hard edges of the hexagonal shape - it helped me think.

 

 

So now that I have wasted about four precious minutes of your day blabbing about nothing (sorry), I'm about to waste even more of your time. 

 

You MUST go to the Amazon link for these new feminine BIC pens, click on the customer 'reviews' and read through several of them.  They are absolutely hysterical....

 

(the eyeliner one is my personal favorite..)

 



Field Trip: Jasmine Moran Children's Museum

In looking back through our summer pictures yesterday, I realized I totally spaced posting about this place - whoops!  While we were in Oklahoma in late July, Dean's mom suggested that we visit this museum during our stay.  So, we're off to the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum in Seminole, OK - just under an hour southeast of OKC...

As with any Children's Museum, there are a billion jillion things to do there.  There were three indoor areas that were (sort of) themed, and then an outside area that featured a train ride, pirate ship, mini village with streets, gardens and a maze.  Indoor room #1 was the 'unthemed' room.  It featured a cockpit to sit in, an old car, model planes, a dinosaur dig, fish tanks and a blurb about water pollution.  See?  Hard to classify...

And that's it for that room.. it wasn't exactly a hit with the kids.

 

Next we went outside because our train ride time had come...

 

 

It's hovering at around 100F right now...

We had the entire train to ourselves.  So Jordan and Rylan elected to sit right behind the engine.

I've never noticed how they have the exact same squinty-face...

The little boys loved the ship - but it was so hot they didn't feel like playing for long...

Here is the maze.  I, of course, forgot to get a picture of the actual maze.  There was an observation deck in the middle of it so that you could look out over it.

We are heading back inside.  We passed through the village to get back to the museum.  I wish there were little cars for the kids to drive along the streets - now that would be cool!

 

Next we were in room #3, because you travel through it to get to the train (it is in that large yellow building in the picture).  There was no way we could pass through it again (after getting to the train in the first place) without climbing this:

 

And then they played in this:

Which, of course, I took incredibly lousy pictures of... It is a waterway that kids can float rubber duckies down.  They can control the flow and so forth, and also winch up buckets of water.

After that we went into room #2, which was by far the best area of fun in the place.  There were about ten little themed sections for kids to explore: weights and measures, art studio, grocery store, mechanic's garage, schoolroom, bubble room, mirror room, fire station, television studio, Lego racetrack, doctor's office and a couple more that I can't remember...

The kids were immediately drawn to the grocery store...

Jordan checked out Rylan's purchases

Then Rylan had a go.  This little girl had a nice array of food items.  The juice bottles are filled with tissue paper, as are the bags of chips.  I think it would be pretty fun to set up a pretend store at home.   Rylan methodically scanned every single item - but then just gave it back to the customer instead of bagging it herself.  Lazy...

Owen went shopping, too.  He first filled up this basket, and then I wrangled a grocery cart for him - which he then proceeded to fill up with every last apple, orange and banana.  He pretty much cleared out the entire produce section.  He got in line in the checkout and Rylan admonished him for having such a big family to feed.  And then she pretended to scan every. last. item. one. by. one.  The line grew long and kids grew huffy...

And then Owen spotted this...

At this point Rylan came over and started bossing Owen about which jobs he would do and what she would do.  Needless to say, Owen didn't like that.  Aaaaand there you go.  As is typical, our family announces its presence wherever we go...

And then Rylan gravitated to the school room... (as in I forcibly removed her from the garage)

Unfortunately there were no other little kids to boss around in here, so she quickly grew bored with it.  We turned around and found Dean and the boys in the bubble room...

Then Owen and I went over to a free-standing display case that housed a mechanical marble track.  I neglected to take a picture of it, but it was along these lines...

 

 

Owen stood there and studied it for a full twenty minutes.  He was absolutely fascinated!  When I could finally tear him away, we wandered into the mirror room...

 

Owen said, "Look at all the Owens!"



 

 

We had a great time, and the air-conditioning was awesome.  By the end of the afternoon though, Owen was running off in one direction, and Colin in another, so it was time to go.  It took three adults to get four children to the car.  We will definitely visit again the next time we are in OKC!

 

Secondly, IF you were paying close attention, you will notice that Owen's and Colin's outfits changed halfway through the day.  We spent a short while in room #2 before we took a break and left the museum to go to Braum's for lunch, during which both Owen and Colin took a chocolate milkshake bath - hence the outfit change...  caught you not paying attention, didn't I??

The last days of summer...

Many of you know that I am no fan of hot (and especially humid) weather, so summertime is not my favorite season.  BUT.  The Outdoor Hour Challenge Grid pictured above does happen to list the things that I DO like about summer.  The kids and I are slowly working off our challenges as we "enjoy" (?) the last few days of summer this week - which are supposed to be in the 90's.  all.  week.  uugh.

You can download your own grid (free!) over on the Handbook of Nature site.  Also, Barbara is revamping the Outdoor Challenges for the coming year - with a reworking of the original 10 challenges.  All you have to do is subscribe to her site for a monthly newsletter (free!) and weekly blog posts that will outline the monthly theme (topical, not seasonal) and the coming week's challenge.  You do need to purchase a copy of Anna Botsford Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study , and it would be helpful to purchase a copy (ebook, purchased from the Handbook of Nature site) of the first ten challenges - which is on sale for $6.95 through 8/31/12!

It has been a pretty decent summer, in retrospect...

We built a compost bin

 

 

 

We finished the sandbox (post to come)

 

 

 

Lots of swimming...

 

 

Had a princess party at the park...

 

 

Survived a week of girl scout summer camp

 

 

Colored, painted and cut...

 

 

Suffered three weeks of smoke and ash from the High Park fire...

 

 

Celebrated Father's Day

 

 

Survived boy scout summer camp in Wyoming

 

 

 

Celebrated the Summer Solstice

 

 

Survived a heat wave...

 

 

 

Planted a garden...

 

 

Played in the river...

 

 

Watched Rylan march in the 4th of July parade..

 

 

Enjoyed several picnics in the park..

 

 

 

Five weeks of swimming lessons...

 

 

A trip to Oklahoma...

 

 

 

Celebrated our 7th anniversary...

 

 

 

A visit to the county fair..

 

 

A trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens...

 

 

Celebrated my 41st birthday...

 

 

Played in the sandbox...

 

 

Went berry picking...

 

 

Got a little boy onto a bike for the first time..

 

 

 

 

Yep!  Pretty good...