The Local Playground

This morning I took the youngest two kids and our dog, Pandora, to the local playground. It has been under construction for a while now, and is pretty much finished. At least it is finished enough that we can go play on it. I figured I would post some pics of our time there.

Two kids that love the swings:
(Notice the landscapers in the back finishing the decorative walls!)

Pandora had a good time too:


The slide was a big hit as well:

I even had a little science lesson:

A Sigh of Relief

My food processor works. Hooray!

Living in a Gated Community

Yes, it is true- we live in a Gated Community. And all of the snobbery and exclusiveness that goes with it? Well, we don't have any of that. See, our gated community is inside our house. Baby gates are a wonderful invention, keeping kids safe from things like open stairs, hot stoves, and Mom's books. We have several gates in our house and rely on them to help keep our little G safe.

When we first moved into this house, we were excited by the prospect of having a Great Room with the whole family in it. We placed a gate between this large room and the hallway that leads to the stairs, delineating this area as G-friendly. We put cabinet latches on all of the kitchen cabinets, an oven lock, knob guards, and heat shield on our stove, and a child-proof handle on our pantry door, all in the effort to make the Great Room as family-friendly as possible. G had his own ideas, though.

First he started by climbing the stools to the island and getting on there. So the stools moved into the front room. Then he started climbing the chairs around the table and getting up on the table. Any time we caught him up there he got busted for 'table dancing'. And then he figured out how to move chairs around the kitchen in order to climb onto the counters. I lost a very nice bowl during one of his escapades, another time he climbed into a sink full of dirty dishes and soapy water in order to have a bath (fully clothed, of course), and yet another time he emptied the fruit bowl of all it's contents, taking bites out of things as he went.

A few days ago I was working on dinner and had my food processor out. G came over to get involved in the action and pulled the base of the processor off the counter before I could stop him. That thing is HEAVY, and could do some serious damage if it fell on someone. Luckily, it hit the floor and tipped onto his leg, leaving a bruise but nothing worse. The stem of the food processor, however, broke upon hitting the tile and I have yet to get brave enough to test it and find out if it will still work.

Following this calamity, I ordered a new baby gate for the Great Room, one that will effectively cut it in half and keep G out of the kitchen entirely. He is not pleased to lose half of his play area, but it is just too dangerous to have him in the kitchen. I have to admit it is wonderful to open the dishwasher and not have him come running immediately to get into the knives or jump on the door or slam it shut when I turn my back to put a dish away. It's kind of nice to have the sacred kitchen space back.

I don't think I will be in a hurry to let him back into the kitchen any time soon.

Is this abuse? You decide.

I have seen stories in the news where parents have locked their kids in closets, cages, basements, you name it. And it is always child abuse according to the courts. But when your child asks to be locked up? And then looks like this-
Is it a crime? I don't think so.

All Hail... Hail?

This past week Albuquerque held their annual Balloon Fiesta, which is the largest of its kind in the United States, and the most photographed festival in the world. Last weekend we were planning on attending at least one of the events, but bad weather rained out most of the weekend. Over the course of the week we saw loads of balloons all over the city, including some of the unusual shapes like a mug of root beer, a can of Pepsi, a dancing bumblebee, and a ladybug perched on a flower. We also had a few up-close-and-personal sightings, like several landings nearby and also a landing at O's school. One morning I had my camera with me and this was what we saw drifting over E's school:
As we got closer to the weekend, we were all becoming increasingly excited about going to the festival. The excitement was dampened somewhat on Friday when they had a balloon crash and the copilot was killed and the pilot left in critical condition. Despite that, we decided to get up at 5:30am on Saturday and make the trip to Balloon Fiesta Park to watch the mass ascension. After sitting in traffic for a good 30 minutes, we learned that the launch was cancelled due to wind, so we headed back home with the idea of returning in the evening to watch the balloon glow. Mother Nature had other plans.

The meeting of the outer edge of Hurricane Norbert and a Pacific cold front directly over New Mexico resulted in tumultuous weather on Saturday. Winds and downpours and lightning and thunder whipped the area all afternoon, punctuated by an intense hail storm that sounded like, well, like an intense hail storm. The pellets of hail were anywhere from a quarter to half an inch in diameter, and pounded our neighborhood for a minute or two. The remaining hail on the ground looked oh-so-briefly like snow.



Needless to say, Saturday evening's festivities were cancelled, as well as Sunday morning's Farewell Ascension. So our first Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque was a bust, with us not attending a single event. Hopefully next year Mother Nature will cut us some slack.

Although, the hail was pretty freakin' awesome.

Weather Change

Over the weekend, we got our first cold front. Lower temperatures, rain, and wind came to the area and gave us a taste of Fall in ABQ. It also brought the cancellation of quite a bit of the Balloon Fiesta, much to our dismay. The kids and I did get up early on Saturday and hike into the mesas behind our housing development to watch the mass ascension. There were hundreds upon hundreds of hot air balloons taking to the sky in waves, but with the wind currents being what they were, the balloons did not drift our way. There were, however, nine balloons being launched about a half mile from our house, so we had a close view of their inflation and ascension. Then they drifted about our neighborhood for an hour or so before landing in various spots.

Sadly, I do not have pictures to share because my camera had a dead battery. O did get some good shots with his camera, though, so I will see if he wants to upload them later on today. We plan on going to some of the festivities this coming weekend, and right now the weather looks like it will cooperate with us!

Me vs. ABQ

Every day I have started a new post, but every day I have deleted it after just a few lines. Seems that of all of us in the Eriksen clan, I am having the most trouble adjusting to our new life. It's been rather difficult to adjust to leaving my friends and the familiar parts of my life in Whittier. Although I love my new house and feel comfortable in it, I still feel awkward anywhere else. G has become the worst child to take in public, bar none, which means I spend my time housebound or in public and feeling miserable because he screams at the top of his lungs when things don't go his way. Which often happens. :) Add in all the extra time I am spending in the car dropping off and picking up kids, and my quality of life has taken a bit of a nosedive.

So in this epic battle of me vs. ABQ, I am not coming out the winner. Yet. I will though, since I am way too stubborn to accept anything less than victory!

In other news, tomorrow marks the first day of the Balloon Fiesta. I am looking forward to seeing hundreds of hot air balloons gracing the very big, very beautiful sky.