Bonk Hard Chill

Bonk Hard Chill was Steve's first adventure race with college friends: Jason, Joffroi, and Jason's bro-in-law, Alex.  What is that, you ask?  Their website says it is "7-13 hours of continuous mountain biking, paddling, running, and trekking in Lake of the Ozarks."  

We all packed up the kids (6 under the age of 5) and rented a house near Tan-tar-a Resort.  

girl slumber party!

You have to carry a list of required items and there are gear checks on the course.  You also have to take enough food and water for the entire race and all your bike and paddle gear as well.

While the guys were racing, we took the kids to Timber Falls indoor water park.  It was the girls' first time at a water park.  Hannah loved it.  Olive warmed up to it.  After watching Hannah go down the BIG tube slide (first with me then by herself several times), Olive decided she wanted to do it.  I kept asking, "Are you sure?" but she kept saying yes.  So we get to the top and we sit down on the raft....and she starts screaming.  Of course.

(photo credit: Tan-tar-a Resort)

From Steve:  The race started with a decision left to each team to carry the canoes over a 130' hill 1000 meters or paddle the long way around.  We carried!  Joffroi and I were in a boat - it brought back lots of MR340 memories and stories.  We had a blast for this first event, which lasted about 2 hours.

After running past some cool sites at Ha Ha Tonka, we made it to the transition zone where we were allowed a food drop bag and we received our main list of checkpoints.  We had to plot them on our topo map and quickly decide on a route to find them.  Each checkpoint has a marker flag and a coded hole punch to mark your team passport.  This trekking portion really separates the field.  The best teams keep moving, don't get lost and plot a great route to find all the points.  We were one of only 5 teams to get all the checkpoints and we never got lost - but we need to be much faster to compete for the overall win!

Hilltop!  The points all have clues to help you find them along with coordinates.  Joffroi didn't know until the day before the race that we weren't just running trails... most trekking from point to point looked like this - through the woods.

How many more points to find?

After a ~30mi bike leg and a "bonus" map with a few more checkpoints we made it!  We found out we won our division (4 person male) and we were 5th overall!  We beat some very experienced teams.  Here's a race report from Alpine Shop - who are nationally ranked!

Egg Carton Masks

So over breakfast, I had an idea to make masks (or glasses or goggles or whatever you want to call them) out of an egg carton.  It was fast, easy, and didn't require a lot of supplies.  Just the way I like it.

Science Night at the Library

We went to Oak Park Library to check out Science Night put on by Tikitum Lab.  It was the first time I'd ever heard of the place.  The girls were so enthralled with the science experiments, that we will definitely be visiting the lab in the future.  

Gymboree

We checked out Gymboree's free trial class to see if we wanted to sign up for a class this winter.  The girls had a blast, even though I think Hannah is really a little old for it.  Ultimately, I think the classes are too expensive (especially paying for 2 kids) and we decided against it.  There are lots of other indoor play places available for a few dollars and we can do crafts at home.  But our trip was not wasted.  Hannah liked it so much we decided to have her birthday party at Gymboree.

Hannah's last adventure at Gymboree was back in 2010.

At the Park

Doo-Dads

We met my teacher friends and their kids at the Doo-dads concert Friday night.  We had 8 kids ages 2-5 and they all loved it.  It was awesome!  The kids had a blast dancing and chasing each other around.  And did I mention, there were BUBBLES?

Olive was very enamored with Ollie

Hannah doing some ponytail shaking while dancing with Emmett

Hannah's Book

This is actually her second book.  Her first was done with stamps.

This book tells the emotional story of Aunt Marissa coming for a visit...

playing, and then sadly leaving. :(  Although we all seem to have smiles on our faces at the end, so maybe it wasn't as sad as Hannah let on.

Someone might be a little obsessed with her aunt.

CANstruction

Our local food pantry, Harvesters, does a yearly competition where businesses build structures out of cans.  Then when the competition is over, all the cans are donated to Harvesters to feed those in need.  The designs are on display at the mall for about a month.

We got inspired to make our own CANstruction at home!  Can you tell what we made?  (ha- unintentionally pun)

Did you guess?  It was a giraffe, rainbow, and castle.  Constructing with cans was free, fun, and (bonus!) I had an organized pantry when we were all done.

Monkey Bizness

Hannah's dream came true.  We went to Monkey Bizness inside Great Mall of the Great Plains in Olathe.  She calls it BIG Monkey Bizness, since we've been to Little Monkey Bizness several times.  It was similar to all of the other indoor playplaces that we have visited.  I was afraid Olive wouldn't be able to climb on things, but she was fine.  She could do everything except the giant inflatable slides. 

Funny story: during our visit a boy befriended Hannah and called her his "girlfriend with the long hair."  Olive was not happy to share her sister.  She growled at him and then tried to choke him with one hand.  Who knew I would have to give time-outs for attempted homicide?  That was not in any of the parenting books I read.  The boy is not in any pictures due to our on-going legal battle.  Just kidding.

In happier times.  She looks so sweet...

I let Hannah play in the toddler area because we were the only ones in the room for awhile.  The girls built this elaborate trail with pillows.

Science Night

Hannah hasn't had a playdate with her buddy Ollie in awhile, so she was super excited to meet him for dinner at Chick-Fil-A and then play at Science Night.  She was also super excited to touch a tarantula and talked about it all day.  I thought she would chicken out when she saw it.  Nope.  She even inspired Ollie to hold it, too!  Olive wanted no part of the spider.  She liked the bunny best.

Olive petting a mouse and Penny in the background.

Look closely....

I love these two together.

What a great night!  Hannah and Olive had so much fun with Ollie and Penny....although I think Olive might have overwhelmed Penny a little.  I got lots of hugs and hellos from my old students and parents. I miss being at such a great school!

A look back at Science Nights of Yore:  2010, 2011, 2012, 2013