Thursday, February 14, 2008

New Adventures

Today we met up with some new friends at Imagination Nation. It was wonderful. Five moms, 7 boys, and lots of room to explore and play. We've never had an all boy play date before. It was fun to see them all play together, separate, form groups, change groups, and come together again. As if that weren't enough, we all got ice cream at the end.

After that we went over to the Manross Library for their Superhero Academy. Ethan had a blast there at the program, and Ryan had fun playing with the younger kids. There were lots of wonderful home school moms, so we got time to be with adults. I wonder if this program will push our spy games over in favor of superhero ones. I doubt it, but I do think there might be a super-spy in our future.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Spy Tracks

We had scheduled things for today, but decided to have a rain day instead. Ethan and Ryan wanted to earn some money by shoveling sleet this morning, so we let Ethan do the front walk and Ryan do the back steps. Ethan did a great job. Ryan did an interesting one. I'm not sure that he was ever actually on the back steps except to use them as an entrance and egress, but I know he was all over the rest of the yard.


I discovered today that post-it notes are also integral to being a spy. I came into the kitchen this morning to find a trail of post-its across the floor. When I asked why they were there, I was told they were "spy tracks". Apparently spies leave post-it tracks when footprints are unavailable. Luckily Ryan left actual footprints in the yard as they are self-cleaning unlike post-its.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

It's all about the gadgets

Ethan and Ryan have decided that being spies is the coolest adventure in the world. Ryan has a spy for longer than Ethan. He has a real spy id card that he got in the mail from a mysterious place called Spy Headquarters. It has his name, spy number (12345), and picture. Ethan really wants one to come in the mail for him. I told him that I thought one would come one day soon.

Being a spy involves having a briefcase, a magnifying glass, a fake mustache, and a pen and paper. It has optional componants like fingerprint ink and fingerprint dust. In Ryan's case it involves following people if they are "auspicious" (acting suspiciously) and making booby traps to catch bad guy spies who sneak into his room. For Ethan it involves many calls in code on a cell phone and writing secret notes that change in meaning depending on who is reading them. They both use clever disguises which they assemble from the dress-up box. Today a very short repair guy walked through the house assuring me that his bright blue hard hard and purple shawl proved that he was "nothing to be concerned about." In fact, he was just "checking on things to make sure nothing was, um, broken."

They've been tracking where the grown-ups go by using the magnifying glass to find footprints on the floors, and today they guessed who drank the water by comparing fingerprints they lifted off a glass with the ones everyone put on a piece of paper. I have no idea what's in store for tomorrow, but I do know that even though Ryan really really wants an Aston-Martin with a revolving license plate and a steel bar that comes out of the center of the each tire to knock other spy cars off the road buying one is not on tomorrow's agenda.