More catching up

Here are the videos from Tingley Beach...right before and right after Chuckolate jumped in. The girls were having a lot of fun feeding the ducks, and Sophia came pretty close to the edge once herself.

This picture of Sophia was from a video that was taken right before we heard the splashing and turned around to see a kid in the lake. See previous blogs if you haven't read the full story.

We also went to Explora, Albuquerque's Children's Science Museum, in March and I didn't get around to blogging that trip. So here is a little glimpse of our day. We all had fun with the numerous exhibits. Sophia was a builder and made houses out of tubes and airplanes out of paper and sticks. Tessa was a mover and moved. Quickly. Around the entire museum. I remember last summer when we went there and she stayed in the stroller almost the entire time, except when we were in the little kids' room. Well, she has more hair now but is also so much faster!

Bio Park

No, we didn't go back again. Not yet. I'm just finally getting around to adding the photos and videos from earlier this month. These first few are from the Japanese Garden in the Botanical Garden at the Bio Park. Oh, and yes my girls decided to be princesses for the day, in case you were wondering about the hats. I had absolutely nothing to do with it.

These next few are from the Children's Garden. We always take plenty of pictures there because it is so much fun. This time I took a couple videos inside the giant pumpkin because the photos never turn out well from there.

This last video is from the aquarium. While we were walking through we heard an announcement that they were about to feed the fish so we headed to that area, to find it already packed! After awhile we were able to get a view, but I had to add music to the video because it was still very noisy and I thought the music would be a little better than random children screaming and adults chattering.

Little Paris Cutie

Yesterday, after a wonderful playdate with two new friends, Sophia stayed in her room for awhile playing dress-up. She came downstairs after a short while, wearing this hat, and we had the following conversation.

Sophia: I'm a little Paris cutie.

Mommy: Excuse me?

Sophia: A little Paris cutie! See my hat with the two strings? That means I'm a little Paris cutie.

Mommy: Oh yes. You are a little Paris cutie. The cutest one I ever saw.

Sophia: And I came from Paris, France. You did too. We used to live there and we really want to go back someday because we miss it. We love Paris, France.

Mommy: Yes, I miss it too. I do love Paris, France.

Sophia (in a whisper): I've really never been there. I'm just pretending.

Mommy (also in a whisper): I've never been there either. I'm pretending, too.

Sophia: And do you know why we love Paris, France?

Mommy: Why?

Sophia: Cinnamon rolls!

Mommy (in utter puzzlement and complete awe): ???

Sophia: Because they're yummy and we want to see the Eiffel Tower.

Mommy: Of course.

A Visit to Tingley Beach: Superhero Daddy

Well, beach is a relative word. There are several lakes there and we went to feed the ducks and watch people sail their remote control boats. I probably have a cute video of the girls feeding the ducks, but our trip was cut short by a visit from Superhero Daddy. I will try to post videos later but I still need to figure out what new program I need to watch and edit my videos at real speed.

Back to the story-
We had stopped at a picnic bench to watch the ducks and have a snack. There were some boys playing nearby and we looked back and one of them was in the lake. I asked Chuck if the boy looked OK because the water is not for swimming, it was definitely too cold to swim, and he looked like he was flailing a little. We watched for a little bit as his brother stood by the side, then turned and ran (to get a parent I presume).

Chuck emptied his pockets at that point and walked to the edge of the lake to ask the boy if he needed help. His face was still out of the water but he wasn't answering. He was obviously trying to swim and even tried to touch bottom a few times. Either it was a little too deep or just too slippery for his toes to get enough grip to push his face high enough. Then his face dunked under the water and Chuck jumped in to get him. The boy (probably about 6 or 7 years old) was exhausted already and whispered, "thank you." The concrete slope of the side of the lake was very slippery and I wondered how to help Chuck get the kid out but he managed to push the boy up out of the lake and climbed out after him.

They walked halfway around the lake and were met by the boy's concerned father. Chuck came back to the girls and I, who had packed up our stuff, and we headed for the car. It was about that point that I realized I had the video camera but never thought to use it while Chuck was saving this kid's life! I took a video of him wringing his clothes out so he could get into the car to go home. Hardly the same effect, though. I guess I was too busy being concerned but I wish I had thought to catch it on film. Luckily, I had an extra sweatshirt (mine, so it was a bit snug on him) and a picnic blanket in the car so Chuck could wear something on the ride home.

Then the father came over to get Chuck's name and telephone number and to thank him again, because he had realized that Chuck had saved his son's life. We are very proud of Superhero Daddy and Sophia spent the ride home drawing him pictures on her little notebook. She drew one of him jumping in the lake with the boy, looking sad, in the water. One of him with a Superman type cape, apparently flying to the rescue, and one of her and him giving each other an "air hug" because Superhero Daddy was too wet to really hug. Finally, there is one of the two of them and Tessa, with pretty flowers all around them, after Daddy had gotten dried off and was clean again. (I don't think I need to describe the conditions of the water...a bunch of ducks live there, enough said, right?)

Clowns and computers

Not exactly related issues, but I'm sticking them together regardless. The computer part is that my computer is causing blogger-related issues, so there may be a bit of time without blogs. To explain, my computer is slow...too slow to properly view the videos I take, which makes it really hard to edit them or make a photo out of them. And I am slow...too slow to understand what programs I need to update and how to do that. Also, now my computer tells my I don't have enough space to upload one more video! I have been working to move my videos to another drive and they are all there now, but still it tells me no more space! Thus, I cannot post my latest trip to the botanical garden with all the fun videos/pictures...someday.

Both my husband and my brother claim that neither issue to too difficult to fix, but however adept I am at blogging and creating masterpiece invitations, I somewhat lack in the "computer fixing" department.

To lighten this bleak and boring post, I am including a few fun photos of Sophia the Ballerina Clown. Yesterday was Silly Clown Day at her school and while looking for suitable clown attire, she discovered my ancient recital costumes and was certain that a Ballerina Clown was WAY more her style. I even gave her some makeup, to which my husband responded, "We have clown make-up?" The answer...no, it is normal make-up, applied in a clown-like manner. (Duh.)