kids

You Get What You Get And You Don’t Get Upset

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When the girls were in nursery school in New York, they learned all sorts of things, as you’d expect. But a few stuck with me because they were catchy little rhymes meant to help them remember. One of those has stayed with me all these years, and I still use it as a reference today:

You get what you get and you don’t get upset.

The teachers would say it when the kids were picking teams, or snacks, or whatever else was being handed out. Naturally, some kids would get upset if they didn’t get exactly what they wanted. The rhyme was a simple way to set expectations and keep things fair.

I love it because it’s so blunt, so true, and surprisingly useful. These days I use it now and again at work. People often want to do things that simply aren’t possible, and they’re not thrilled with the alternatives. That’s when I’ll joke that I learned long ago from my kids’ nursery teachers: you get what you get and you don’t get upset.

It always makes me laugh. Not everyone finds it as amusing as I do, but it’s one of those little truths of life that’s hard to argue with.

W Sisters and The Minecraft Experience

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Over the term break before school started, I did a bunch of day trips with the girls. One they were especially excited about was the Minecraft Experience.

They both play Minecraft on their iPads, and one even shares a realm with the other so they can build together. Most of what they do is in creative mode, so this experience was right up their alley. I was curious too. I’ve played Minecraft, but not often. The motion and movement on screen usually gives me a headache, the same way first-person shooters like Halo used to. That’s a whole other story for another time.

The Experience itself is near Canada Water on the Jubilee line. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be pretty cool. You’re given these glowing orbs (Bluetooth or NFC, I assume) and as a group you complete tasks to save your village. The first couple of rooms ease you into how the mechanics work. From there, you move through different spaces where the walls and floors themselves are interactive, with lots of projectors, sensors, and some interactive tables thrown in. You use the orb to trigger actions, and it changes colours as you go. The whole thing felt very Minecraft in style.

The girls loved it. It lasted about an hour, which felt a little short given the price, but the experience itself was worth it. The only disappointment was the merchandise shop at the end. Everything was overpriced and nothing really stood out as worth buying. We skipped it and went on to do some shopping, grab lunch, and make a day of it.

Overall, it was a fun trip, something different, and it definitely delivered the Minecraft vibe the girls had hoped for.

Power Up

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My kind of museum. The Science Museum in London has a Power Up exchibit it’s all about the history of video games. They had most video game consoles and computers from the last several decades. The girls and I played Mario, Sonic and other classics to VR games.

I of course had to try the 16 player original Halo setup they had and get schooled by kids not born when the game came out. Well not really but it was super cool to try and play. I had flashbacks of playing at friends houses! You know who you are who snipped me so often!

My Experience With Our School Acceptable Usage Policy For Parents

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One of our daughters is moving up into a new school. As part of this transition there is a lot of paperwork to fill out. I could rant that in 2021 why is there 25 pages or more of physical papers i need to fill out instead of some online form. I could however this post isn’t about that. Within that paperwork is a document that I need to sign called the “Acceptable Usage Policy for Parents”. It relates to technology and social media.

In theory i like the idea of the document. It outlines what us as parents should be doing and not doing related to our kids, other kids and the internet. The document is written for people of all levels of technical experience. That is why when i read the section that starts with “I understand that whilst home networks are much less secure than school ones…” i could not stop laughing. I thought it was very cute they thought their network was more secure than most people’s houses. For one thing with so many people and devices coming and going from their network i doubt that statement is true for most people. It is laughable in relation to my home network.

I am not even a network security expert. I know most of my non-tech friends think I am however I am no where even close. The last time i logged onto a firewall that wasn’t my own must have been 2006. Still yeah sorry school that I won’t say its name, no you are not more secure than home networks. I wouldn’t even think of joining your network without a VPN.

Thanks for turning a morning of filling out boring forms into an entertaining blog post though!

Note the photo is unrelated to this post. I needed something “techie” as the default photo for this. I took the photo of my iBook circa 1999 a week or so ago when i powered it up to check it still works. It does.

I wouldn’t

Lego Godzilla

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I am pleased to report my girls continue to love playing with lego. That is the good news. The bad news is they leave it all over the house. Part of our kitchen floor is dedicated for creations. Shelf’s in their room are filled with projects.

Depending on the day the floor of the living room has half built and played with lego creations. With that obstinate course I have to navigate. Ultimately i end up stepping on lego now and again and in some instances break things that were created

It dawned on me the other day after stepping on something that in the narrative of this lego (and my kids) I am Godzilla come to rampage seemingly indiscriminately and then move on. I am ok with that.

W Sisters Shorts and Out at The Pub

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Before issolation stopped it some of the dad’s and I from A’s class have been meeting up every few weeks. We hang out and have a few drinks a a local pub. We switch off between different local places to meet up at. It has been nice to socialize with some local people outside of work. We have been making some level of effort since the school year began.

The other night I was getting ready to go out to a meetup. Ussually we meet at around 7:30 or 8PM. So I leave right around bedtime for the girls. I said goodbye to M and the girls. M was getting them ready for bed. The girls kept enquiring where I was going. They wanted to know if i was going to eat dinner? I pointed out they just saw me eat so no. Finally i said I was going to Pub XYZ nearby. A responded “Aww, I love that place”. she was dissapoonted. I had to explain to her that it was only dad’s going out and no kids. She was still not pleased. I will remember this responce the next time i try to go there and she automatically says she doesnt like it, even though she does.

W Sisters Meet Harry Potter

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There are some things that I knew I would do with my kids even before I had kids. Star Wars was a huge success with them. I was suprised that i was able to watch it with them when we did. They liked it so much that last weekend they just asked to watch Return of The Jedi.

Doctor Who they took to a bit less. They were a bit scared to the point the walked out on the first episode with the 13th Doctor. They still get their Doctor Who fix via action figures and other memorabilia we have in the house.

M and I have both tried to read the Lion the Witch & The Wardrobe to them. The girls have not been into it. I also tried to read the Hobbit. It was over a year ago so i likely should try again. When I did try they were not into it.

I have avoided watching the Harry Potter movies with the girls. I wanted to rad the books with them first. Around when the isolation started M began reading the Big Friendly Giant to the girls. It inspired me to go out and order Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. When we moved to England I forgot that i left a box of books and games at my sisters house. In that cache of stuff was my Harry Potter books. I have all of them in hard cover. Since I didn’t have those I settled for a paperback version.

M finished the BFG last night. As I was wrapping up work tonight the girls asked if I could start Harry Potter with them. I of course agreed. I read them the first chapter tonight. They had lots of questions. I had to try very hard not to answer. I did not want to ruin anything for them.

Going to bed T took the book with her so she could read ahead! So many parenting dreams coming true!!!

W Sisters & Swim Class

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London Aquatics Center Pool

This term we sign the girls up for swim class. This was something we wanted to do for a while. They haven’t had proper swim lessons since camp in the summer of 2018. After doing some research M settled on a place. She settled on the London Aquatic Center. It is pretty spectacular that if the girls are going to have swim they have it at a pool that happens to be a former Olympic arena. It was physically further than multiple options for us. Yet without a car it was one of the most convinient to make regularly.

That means when it’s my week to take the girls swim I get to hang out in what was once the Olympic swimming stadium in London. The picture above says it all. If you want to inspire someone to swim somewhere this is the place. Full disclosure the girls are in training pool as 180° around from where I took this picture. Either way pretty impressive to come here as a regular thing. The girls think so also. After their sessions they like to sit on the ledge and have a snack and watch swimmers. Every so often it is very crowded with a tournament. It is pretty cool.

The W Sisters And The Story of The Coaster Hostages

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There has been a constant hostage situation unfolding in our house since we moved in. It has involving one or more of our bar coasters. The girls would steal them and hoard them. Then one would get free or be found. Only for us to have another go missing. I am not really sure where they would go all the time. We had limited evidence to conflict any single child. We know they would take them, and then they would turn up. Problem was all of them would never turn up at the same time.

About a week or so ago i thought like they were all finally turning up and then one would be missing. Today I was cleaning out under the couch and found one. When putting them all together I realised that we finally had the complete aet.

The band was finally back together. Just in time. We have house guests coming next week. I think I need to put police protection on these to make sure they stay together for the next week.