Dang technological advantage

My mom passed down my Lego sets from when I was a kid to our boys. I didn't have many Legos as a kid, but the castle complete with knights and bowmen and horses was pretty cool. And I had one jet pack equipped astronaut.

Thus began today the epic Lego battle of 10/10/10.

Sides were chosen.  Dad was, of course, immediately deemed "the bad guy."

Noah wisely chose the technologically advanced astronaut as his avatar.

Levi began quietly assembling a multi-headed monster as his.

I took the more traditional route, a triple axe wielding warrior mounted on his valiant steed.

Who was promptly thrashed by the advanced technology of the jet pack astronaut.  The astronaut had some sort of axe deflecting apparatus constructed on his head, according to Noah, which rendered my superior battle tactics useless.

Oh, and the astronaut apparently dismembers his enemies.

At this point in the battle, Levi's multi-headed (and multi-legged) demon was seeking an opponent.

I reassembled my axe wielding hero, thinking this might be his moment for glory and renown on the battlefield.

Alas, I was not aware that (according to Levi) having seven heads endows you with superpowers, such as the ability to fly.  And to crush all your enemies.

My axe man died a second bloody death.

The astronaut was ready for battle again.  And had an additional five heads, armor, an axe, and a horse.  Obviously the talents of my villain would have to grow equally.  I constructed a triple team of a mounted axeman with two shielded archers trailing behind his horse.

I was not aware, however, that four heads on an astronaut renders him impervious to arrows, according to Noah.  Silly me.

At the end of the day, the superior technology of the astronaut allowed him to rain death and destruction on all his foes, leaving him to survey the carnage he had wrought.

 

Life lessons imparted:

• Always choose to be the good guy in battles with Dad.  That way he has to let you win.
• Bizarre technological inventions, like helmets that bounce arrows back at your enemies, always trump brute force.
• Dad is much easier to beat up when he is a Lego guy.
• Seven heads are better than one.

Sweet dreams

After jabbering, giggling, and playing rock-paper-scissors for hours after we put them in bed, this is how we found them when we headed upstairs.



Not sure where they expected us to sleep. Maybe in their bunk beds?

Dear Mr. Bakker (the senior)

Thank you so much for sending our dad this cool video...

We were inspired by the daring of this man, and hope to someday follow in his footsteps. In fact, we started practicing tonight after we watched the video. Our dad took some pictures below for you.

PS: Can that guy shoot while he is flying? Cause that would be even better!

Love,
Levi and Noah

Noah

Levi

Ella joined in too

     

Maybe couch pillows will help pad the landing

Or maybe not.  How many Gs do you think his belly is pulling in this picture???

Levi even concocted his own flying suit.

And survived.

Then Ella attempted to get fancy and do a trick off the climber. Not the best idea...

"Owwwwwwwww" she said, after landing on just one leg and crashing to the ground.

That's it for jumping off climbers for the night!

And yes, they really did ask if that guy could shoot while he was flying.  I can't imagine where they get such things from...

What engineers do...

when they are cheap engineers...

I estimate that my modification increased the fan pressure by approximately 116%. Enough pressure that I can feel the breeze through an open door at the other end of the house. Far better than just sticking an un-modified box fan in a window, which is what we used to do. Far cheaper than the $139 fan that Lowe's wanted to sell me today.

Annnnnnnd... only slightly more redneck.

So that's what a microburst is?

Yesterday we found out exactly what a microburst is... and does.  I went to lunch with my boss.  We ate lunch outside, with a few sprinkles.  By the time we drove back to the office, a few miles away, the rain was coming down in sheets.  By the time we walked from the car into the building, you couldn't see across the parking lot.

Not too long after that, Paige called me.  She hasn't seen weather like this the decade she has lived here.  Our neighborhood got absolutely hammered.  Go a mile west or east and it just looks like a typical monsoon rolled through.  But our neighborhood looks like... a microburst, I guess.

There was hail everywhere.

The wind blew our porch furniture all over the place.

More hail, piling up against the back sliding door.

Even more hail.

Our street was sidewalk to sidewalk water, with branches and ice floating down it.

Hard to see in this picture, but there are about five palo verde trees near our park completely trashed.

By the time I drove home a few hours later, the rain had stopped, but the water was still everywhere.

Our shade sails didn't survive the storm.

Or more accurately, the post that held them up didn't.

Double 4x4s, cracked right in half.

More trees cracked.

One neighborhood has his trampoline hanging from his palm tree.  Or at least I think it is his.

Another neighbor has a tree through the wall and laying on his roof.

Trees down at the community park.

This stop sign used to be regulation height.  And have street signs on top of it.  It completely disappeared until some City of Gilbert guy put it back, albeit a few feet lower.

Not even the agave survived.  This one got shredded by the hail.

Which was still piled up under the red yucca several hours after the storm.

See that second pole from the right?  It is cracked completely through at the base, and the only thing holding it up is the power lines.  That got our entire main street shut down for the night.

But hey, at least the storm produced a nice sunset.

And I think it finally broke the back of the summer weather.  It was nice and cool today, although slightly less shady in places.

"Holy cow! Holy cow!!!"

"I went poopy on the potty!!!"

So said Luke today.

New sticker on the big rig (and accidental self portrait)