My Beastie boys

So there is a fabulous kids' art exploratorium here in the City of Trees, called artBEAST Studio.  It's kind of like the embodiment of the Waldorf school system on steroids.  We had a fantastic morning there the other day: here be the visual proof.

Focused on the chalk.

Xander and I made a dreidel out of clay, how'd you guess it, while singing the song.

Ari beginning his masterpiece.

 This child is ridiculously neat.  I was trying to paint his palm so he could make a handprint... no way was that acceptable!

Painting the wall with a roller.  His favorite part wasn't the painting; it was the squirting with water in order to clean up!

Ari at the entrance to the courtyard.  Not pictured: a water structure full of funnels and dips (X got soaked), kitchen pots and pans hanging next to sticks in order to make music, and a long sand table that was actually filled with grain.

 Coming out of the play bedroom/shopping area.

 The hit of all the play places, by far: BEHOLD THE SPACESHIP.

Artsy shot of blast-off.

So many buttons and levers!

 Xander was incredibly focused on the play.  Ari just thought the whole thing was a riot.

 Making sure the boat is seaworthy.

 Our two captains.

 Playing a soulful tune.  (AKA exploring dissonance.)

Jonathan put on an AMAZING puppet show for our kids, but I was so involved in watching it, I forgot to take pictures!  He actually gathered an audience, and soon after he finished, this boy asked to join him in his next show.  Jonathan of course said yes, so both the other kid and Xander went behind the stage.

Oooh ooh ooh helmet!

 Xander the noble knight.

Toddler Carmen Miranda.

Behind the scenes: helping put on the eye mask.

 Now that he's properly attired he can go on stage.

 It's a whole new play once he's changed into his firefighter gear.

Waiting to surprise the boys when they came out of the stage area.

 Successful surprise!  The tickler dinosaur was ferocious.

 Xander's so funny, he takes it all so seriously.  Here he's having a heart to heart with the dragon about not sneaking up on people.

 Ari waving hi once we ascertained that the dragon was nice after all.

 Ah, the gross motor room.  Hula hoops and balance beams and yoga mats galore!

Ari so desperately wants to be just like his big brother, he tries everything that Xander does.  

 Somersault in progress!

 Somersault landing.

 Little brother somersault... except, this is far as he got.

 This table lit up so that you could layer the plastic pieces and explore the color palette.  We discovered that yellow on top of blue makes green, etc.  And after the boys moved to another part of the room, Jonathan made a rocketship. :)

Playing horsie after we got home.

Christmas Day

The last of the extended family photos....

 Natasha preparing to make Xander fly

 On their way to the ceiling!

 Ari not-so-subtly asking that Natasha make him fly, too.

 Playing chase.

 Then PRESENTS began.  Ari was so excited about his British "cah" I started cracking up.

 Xander giving David a huge hug in thanks... it's a basketball hoop!

Helping Liz unwrap her white elephant gift. 

That Starbucks gift didn't last long - it was stolen next turn!

The whole room bust up when I opened up Liz's offering... socks. :)

 Alicia dubious of the camera.

 Marissa sharing her new video game.

 David had to either laugh or cry at the way people kept taking his chosen present.

Nicole and her sparkly headband.

 Ari wanting his close-up, too.

 Playing with their new stunt cars, in the moment before the cars' wheels became fluorescent and they took off.

After dinner Ari learned a new word... "choc pie!"  If you look closely you can see that he has a fork in both hands.  The bobby pin in his hair had to be taken out and rinsed, due to a lovely coating of chocolate.

Leaving the hotel the next day.  It was a wonderful trip, and I was so glad to have seen everybody!

A glorious two hours at the park

These pictures are from Christmas Day.  In the meantime, we've been to two other Sacramento parks!  But somehow I think the kids liked this one best. :)

It was a long walk from Liz's house, and Ari made the most of it!

Very happy toddler.

Cousin Gabi helping him up.

"I made it!" says Xander.

Climbing up for the second round.

Auntie Tasha gave him a push and set him free.

This one was more complicated; Xander was terrified of the pole.  So Jonathan let him down, and Kevin caught him for the second half.  This is the moment where they both were holding him; note that his eyes are closed as he's smiling, he's in such bliss.

Phew!  Safe.

Showing the boys the art of jumping.

Xander's perfect 10.0 landing.