Target Practice and Range Safety

Taking aim at the dinosaurs

With Valentine's Day looming, I remembered that last year Viv bought me a pair of Nerf dart guns.  Yes, you read correctly.  To explain, when we go grocery shopping at Target, Viv and Ellie usually do the shopping and Harper and I typically roam the store going on "missions" for household items around the store.  For several months, I had been drooling over the kickass Nerf guns in the toy section.  I would say they are one of the few toys that kids have today that are cooler than what we had growing up (I think most toys today are cheaply made, crap).  I'd joked that we needed to get a pair so that we could have dart fights after the girls go to bed.  For Valentine's Day, Viv delivered, and these things rock.

A sniper and her spotter

Spotter's turn

The girls were intrigued by the Nerf guns, but at first, I was hesitant to let them play with them.  Yes, as kids, we played with toy pistols, etc., but today everyone has become hyper-sensitive to this sort of thing.  I can see valid points on both sides of this issue, but, in the end, we decided to do some target practice with the kids' plastic dinosaurs.  I also used the opportunity to teach the kids that you always keep your rifle pointed downrange (I'm guessing that's good advice).  Harper then proceeded to walk right through Ellie's line of fire while she was taking aim.  While I was trying to explain to Ellie how to aim, she squeezed off her first shot and nailed her Diplodocus.  Harper had a few unsuccessful attempts, but was thrilled nevertheless.  Then, we put them away for the adults.

New York Last May

Several months ago (read: almost a year) we headed out to the East Coast to visit the Girls' Nana and Poppy in NY. As always, we spent part of our trip in Manhattan, but we also visited my in-laws' place in CT, and,
as I mentioned at the time on Facebook, two of New York City's other boroughs.  Eugene and Meredith bought a home in Connecticut right around the time of our last visit, but they hadn't quite closed on the place at that time.  They'd been remodeling and decorating ever since and had been keeping us apprised of their progress.  It was great to get a chance to see their great decorating sense in person.  The place looks great.  To celebrate our visit, they threw us a little barbecue with some excellent ribs, family, and great friends as well.

Our visits to the other boroughs of New York took us to the Bronx to visit the famous Bronx Zoo and Brooklyn to visit their childrens' museum.

We opted to leave the strollers at home in an effort to keep our packing fairly light.  The girls were real troopers.  They walked a lot and really enjoyed riding the subway.  When waiting for trains to arrive, they like to watch for them rumbling down the tracks as they emerge from the tunnel.  Eventually, when they got tired, we put them up on our shoulders, which is arguably an easier way to carry a child than just in your arms.

As always, we headed to Korea town for some delicious eats, but we also sought out a ramen restaurant the was so yummy and famous that it had become a must-visit destination for Japanese tourists visiting the city.  The ramen did not disappoint.  Viv and I headed out one evening and splurged on a night on the town.  While Nana and Poppy watched the girls, we dined on seafood at the world-renowned Le Bernardin restaurant and then saw Billy Elliot on Broadway.  

We finished off the trip with the aforementioned barbecue out in Connecticut, and altogether we had a great time.
 

Happy Korean New Year!

Korean New Year was yesterday, February 3rd (according to wikipedia).  Here are the girls in their traditional Korean hanboks bowing to their elders and wishing them a happy new year.  To all my elders, I say, "새해 복 많이 받으세요"  For you non-Koreans, that's saehae bok manhi badeuseyo (look it up).