Saturday, October 26, 2013
Basketball
Bubbles and a Kitty Cat
The weather has been perfect here, so the kids and I hung out in the backyard the other day. While we were outside, our neighbors cat came and joined us. She's the friendliest cat I've ever met. She's great with the kids; if I were to get a cat, I would want one just like her - except short-haired. Matthew was playing the bubbles, and the cat found that so interesting. She would try and get the bubbles, which Matthew thought was hilarious. Later, Matthew threw the bubble lid - because he throws everything he can - and the cat went to investigate. Matthew thought that was fun, so he threw it again and said, "Go get it." I just shook my head ... Matthew trying to play fetch with the kitty cat.
Weekend at Jacob's
Last weekend, we got to visit Jacob and Serene and check out their new house. It's a really nice house, and Serene has done a great job decorating. Maybe someday my house will look as cute. We arrived Friday night, and just hung out and chatted. Jacob and Serene had found out a few days before the gender of their baby, and they surprised us with a pink cake to reveal that they are having a girl. On Saturday, we ate breakfast at Pufferbelly's, a cute breakfast restaurant at the train station in Grand Junction.
Afterwards, we went up the mountains to take some cute fall photos. Unfortunately, Mark wasn't aware we were going anywhere afterwards, and I didn't realize how far it was. Consequently, we were extremely low on gas. To make matters worse, there was no reception, so we couldn't call Jacob in the lead car to tell him to stop. As we drive farther and farther up the mountain, Mark starts getting worried. We tried pulling over, but Jacob didn't notice. Then we tried driving with our emergency blinkers on, but still no dice. Finally, we sped up right behind him and honked to get his attention. Jacob was thinking there would be gas in a small town just below our destination, but there wasn't. Someone in town directed us about 10 miles toward another town that did have a gas station. It was a bit of a detour, but we filled up the car and everything worked out.
Serene had intended for us to take pictures at an old ski resort with all the fall colors. But when we got up there, we realized we were too high and the leaves had all fallen. We went down a bit and found an abandoned Kiwanis campground to take pictures at. Afterwards, we went back to Jacob's and watched the Ohio State football game. Then, for the evening, we went to a pumpkin patch place with a corn maze, petting zoo, slide, etc. It was fun, but we went a bit late in the day and Matthew hadn't really taken a nap that day, so he was pretty cranky the whole time. The nice part was that once we got back to Jacob's, Matthew and Ayden went down for the night. We had some nice adult time. Per Pingel tradition, we played the train game and watched the new Star Trek movie. It was a great weekend. I love living within driving distance of family.
Afterwards, we went up the mountains to take some cute fall photos. Unfortunately, Mark wasn't aware we were going anywhere afterwards, and I didn't realize how far it was. Consequently, we were extremely low on gas. To make matters worse, there was no reception, so we couldn't call Jacob in the lead car to tell him to stop. As we drive farther and farther up the mountain, Mark starts getting worried. We tried pulling over, but Jacob didn't notice. Then we tried driving with our emergency blinkers on, but still no dice. Finally, we sped up right behind him and honked to get his attention. Jacob was thinking there would be gas in a small town just below our destination, but there wasn't. Someone in town directed us about 10 miles toward another town that did have a gas station. It was a bit of a detour, but we filled up the car and everything worked out.
Serene had intended for us to take pictures at an old ski resort with all the fall colors. But when we got up there, we realized we were too high and the leaves had all fallen. We went down a bit and found an abandoned Kiwanis campground to take pictures at. Afterwards, we went back to Jacob's and watched the Ohio State football game. Then, for the evening, we went to a pumpkin patch place with a corn maze, petting zoo, slide, etc. It was fun, but we went a bit late in the day and Matthew hadn't really taken a nap that day, so he was pretty cranky the whole time. The nice part was that once we got back to Jacob's, Matthew and Ayden went down for the night. We had some nice adult time. Per Pingel tradition, we played the train game and watched the new Star Trek movie. It was a great weekend. I love living within driving distance of family.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Arches National Park
Last week, we went to visit my brother Jacob in Colorado with my brothers Aaron and Benjamin. We decided to visit Arches National Park on our way down. We got off much later than we were planning. Consequently, on Friday we only had time for one small hike. We visited Double Arch, which is the arch shown in the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It was only a quarter mile walk to the base of the arch, and then there was plenty of places to climb the slick rock. I hadn't been to Arches since I was a kid, so it was fun to go back. Because we didn't have much time on Friday, we decided to return on Sunday on our way back home. We did the Park Avenue hike - actually, I fed the baby and then met everyone at the end of the hike. I had a nice conversation with an international couple - he was from Hungary and she was from Malaysia. Benjamin got to practice his Malay and they took a group photo for us. I love meeting people from all over at the National Parks. Our last hike was the Delicate Arch viewpoint. I would have loved to hike to Delicate Arch, but practically speaking, it would have been a terrible idea with the three kids. We did the viewpoint hike, which was nice, though the kids were all very tired. Of course, Matthew fell at the very end and scratched up his face. All in all, it is a gorgeous park. Sometime, I'll go back and hike Delicate Arch again, and maybe even go for a bike ride in the Moab area.
Melissa and Hannah
The Old WPA poster of Double Arch
Double Arch
Melissa and Hannah
Benjamin
Benjamin and Jess
Mark and I
View from the Arch
Benjamin and Jess
Matthew and Ayden
Ayden and Aaron
Ayden and I
Mark and Matthew
Melissa, Aaron and Ayden
Delicate Arch
Benjamin, Jess and Hannah
Matthew and Ayden
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Matthewisms
I've been meaning to write this for a few months now, but I want to record some of the cute things Matthew has done.
You Okay?
For a while, Matthew would ask "You Okay?" whenever you sneezed or coughed. He actually still does it somewhat. It has now extended to his injuries. If he hits his head, he says "head okay?" until you ask him "Is your head okay?" Then he decides he's fine.
Prayers
For a while, Matthew was on this kick where he wanted all his stuffed animals to say bed time prayers with him. One night, when prayers were announced, Matthew grabbed his teddy bear and said, "Teddy pray?"
"Yes, Teddy can pray."
Then Matthew sat Teddy next to the bed to pray with us.
The next night, Matthew got more ambitious. When prayers were announced, Matthew grabbed his teddy bear and said, "Teddy pray?"
"Yes, Teddy can pray."
"Giraffe, pray"
"Yes, Mr. Giraffe can pray."
"Duck pray?"
"Yes, the duck can pray."
"Dinosaur pray?"
"Yes, the dinosaur can pray."
He would line each one up next to his bed. Matthew would line each one up next to his bed for prayers. However, the thing is, Matthew actually has five stuffed animals. He also has an elephant that for some reason, was not invited to pray with us. Mark and I would joke that the elephant was a heathen.
After a while of this, one day, Matthew asked if the elephant could pray. He must have finally converted him. Then he asked if his blanket could pray. Having all his animals pray with us ends up taking a while, so the blanket was the last straw.
"No, the blanket can't pray."
Matthew was disappointed, but fine with it. The next night, Mark put Matthew to bed. The same procedure occurred, but after Matthew listed all his animals, he turned to Mark and said: "Blanket no pray."
Bye Bye
When we put Matthew to bed, we would have him say bye-bye to me or Mark. Matthew decided he enjoyed this concept of bedtime. He started expanding his bye-bye's to random objects in the room, the couch, the chair, his toys, etc. But after a while, would tell him to say good night to Mama, and he'd look straight at me, and then say goodnight to everything else, except me.
No No Baby
When I was pregnant, we would explain to Matthew that I had a baby in my tummy. Matthew seemed to grasp the concept somewhat. But then, when I had the baby, we had to explain that there wasn't a baby in my tummy anymore; we had Hannah instead. For weeks after that, he would point to my stomach and say "no no baby."
Basketball Hoops
We gave Matthew a basketball hoop when he turned one, and he became obsessed with basketball hoops. Whenever we went on walks, he would point at every basketball hoop we passed by, and exclaim, "Basketball!" He would repeat it insistently until we would say "basketball hoop."
Rock-a-bye
Matthew is really into singing right now. He really likes when I sing Rock-a-bye Baby. Sometimes, I would sing "Rock-a-bye Matthew" to him instead. Now he enjoys requesting different versions of the song. "Rock-a-bye chair" or "Rock-a-bye house." He pretty much just casts his eyes around the room to find an object for his rock-a-bye song.
You Okay?
For a while, Matthew would ask "You Okay?" whenever you sneezed or coughed. He actually still does it somewhat. It has now extended to his injuries. If he hits his head, he says "head okay?" until you ask him "Is your head okay?" Then he decides he's fine.
Prayers
For a while, Matthew was on this kick where he wanted all his stuffed animals to say bed time prayers with him. One night, when prayers were announced, Matthew grabbed his teddy bear and said, "Teddy pray?"
"Yes, Teddy can pray."
Then Matthew sat Teddy next to the bed to pray with us.
The next night, Matthew got more ambitious. When prayers were announced, Matthew grabbed his teddy bear and said, "Teddy pray?"
"Yes, Teddy can pray."
"Giraffe, pray"
"Yes, Mr. Giraffe can pray."
"Duck pray?"
"Yes, the duck can pray."
"Dinosaur pray?"
"Yes, the dinosaur can pray."
He would line each one up next to his bed. Matthew would line each one up next to his bed for prayers. However, the thing is, Matthew actually has five stuffed animals. He also has an elephant that for some reason, was not invited to pray with us. Mark and I would joke that the elephant was a heathen.
After a while of this, one day, Matthew asked if the elephant could pray. He must have finally converted him. Then he asked if his blanket could pray. Having all his animals pray with us ends up taking a while, so the blanket was the last straw.
"No, the blanket can't pray."
Matthew was disappointed, but fine with it. The next night, Mark put Matthew to bed. The same procedure occurred, but after Matthew listed all his animals, he turned to Mark and said: "Blanket no pray."
Bye Bye
When we put Matthew to bed, we would have him say bye-bye to me or Mark. Matthew decided he enjoyed this concept of bedtime. He started expanding his bye-bye's to random objects in the room, the couch, the chair, his toys, etc. But after a while, would tell him to say good night to Mama, and he'd look straight at me, and then say goodnight to everything else, except me.
No No Baby
When I was pregnant, we would explain to Matthew that I had a baby in my tummy. Matthew seemed to grasp the concept somewhat. But then, when I had the baby, we had to explain that there wasn't a baby in my tummy anymore; we had Hannah instead. For weeks after that, he would point to my stomach and say "no no baby."
Basketball Hoops
We gave Matthew a basketball hoop when he turned one, and he became obsessed with basketball hoops. Whenever we went on walks, he would point at every basketball hoop we passed by, and exclaim, "Basketball!" He would repeat it insistently until we would say "basketball hoop."
Rock-a-bye
Matthew is really into singing right now. He really likes when I sing Rock-a-bye Baby. Sometimes, I would sing "Rock-a-bye Matthew" to him instead. Now he enjoys requesting different versions of the song. "Rock-a-bye chair" or "Rock-a-bye house." He pretty much just casts his eyes around the room to find an object for his rock-a-bye song.
That silly Matthew
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