Sunday, January 27, 2008

Trip to Borders

Papa and I didn't want to get out of bed today. So initially we didn't. The boys played "Star Wars Lego video game" and ran around crazy, as usual. Jon got Bastian some cereal and made some coffee for us, which we drank in bed.

Aleks kept trying to figure out how many studs he had and how many more he needed to unlock various characters and vehicles. This is his favorite part of the game, really. He's not really that into gameplay as much as he's into finding all the things that give you more studs. So he did that for several hours, writing down the amounts and bringing the paper to me in bed so I could tell him how much he had and how much more he needed. These are tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of studs and the numbers just confuse him. He is careful to note the placement of each comma though. He learned what a comma was today and I showed him the one tattooed on my hip.

Around 3, we crawled out of bed, took showers, bathed the kids and got everyone dressed. We ordered a pizza and Papa went to the food co-op for some groceries. After lunch, I took the boys outside to shovel the sidewalk while they climbed around the yard, played with icicles and threw snow at one another. This time, Bastian didn't run out in the street.


We stayed out about an hour, then came in and changed from snowsuits into regular coats to go to Borders. At nearly 7 at night on a Sunday, its nearly the only thing open. There's no Sunday trips to the library or the Natural History Museum for nightowls like us. Bastian went to sleep after midnight last night and Aleks had to have been up at least until 1. Plus, I stayed in bed until 3 in the afternoon.

The boys were pretty cooperative in the store. We spent a bunch of time in the children's section, looking at this awesome Star Wars pop-up book:


Then we found a bunch of Star Wars graphic novels and took them to peruse at the coffee stand where the boys shared a hot chocolate, much like the one that Flanders makes for Bart in the Simpsons movie. It was topped with whipped cream, then chocolate syrup drizzled on that, then shavings of white chocolate, then finally a small bar of chocolate was stuck on top. Bastian took one look at it and pushed away his Superfood he'd chosen. I got them a straw and they shared it. I also discovered, thanks to the graphic novels, that Bastian can say "Darth Vader."


Returning to the children's section, we looked at more books, and Bastian started gathering nearly every red and pink Valentine beanie bear he could find, later insisting that I carry them around. I eventually got them all put away and carried him crying to the front counter. He was pretty tired at this point and came along willingly, but sad. Aleks picked out a Goosebumps book to get and I bought 2 Harry and the Potters CDs, Harry and the Potters and the Power of Love and Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock!



They're listed as kids music, but we just listened to a song that included the lyrics "Cornelius Fudge is an ass." Not so bad for my kids, but maybe others would be less inclined to have their 5 year olds listen to this. The music is awesome though and the lyrics are great and I am totally geeking out right now.

5 comments:

Rachel said...

That pop-up book is fun, someone gave it to my kids for Christmas. We'll have to make a Borders run to see these other graphic novels you mention. They sound pretty terrific. And thanks for giving us the scoop on Chewbacca's untimely death and Han and Leia's children. I am absolutely fascinated to learn all this stuff and truly am excited for when my boys become interested in that stuff. For now, they're more focused on the Lego Star Wars game version (as you mentioned, with the studs, etc). They don't care all that much about the character developement and in fact want to fast forward over any of the "boring bits" when we do watch the movies, which is rarely. :) But thanks so much for taking the time to inform us of all these exciting things!

And your other blog is great--what an amazing list of things you have accomplished in one year. I like the idea to take stock of what you HAVE done, as opposed to all the things you might do in upcoming years. Both are interesting, but when you look back at all that you actually did do, it's pretty cool.

anna kiss said...

I don't know how much my kids have really absorbed of the later stories. Neither of them can read yet, but Aleks has requested lots of the DK Star Wars books at the library and that's mostly how I know about the Star Wars universe beyond the movies. It is handy for me to know some of it though because he asks all the time. Same with Harry Potter. I'm expected to know all the intricacies of the evolving relationships and story lines that happen off-camera, as it were. Very taxing.

My kids really admire the Janga/Boba Fett costumes and extensive Lego collection, by the way. Did you see my Lego tray, btw? It's my genius solution for Lego on the floor. I'm so proud of it.

Thanks for taking a look at the other blog too. I need to update it sometime! I had planned on writing up my list of things I want to do yet, but have been quite busy.

Anna said...

gosh anna, if you'd not told me about harry and the potters I'd never have known. They are seriously awesome.

anna kiss said...

I'll burn the CDs for you!

Anna said...

oooo, nice, now I can get my geek on properly.