Our Bold Adventure Continues

This is a painful time at our house: our kids THINK they know how to tell jokes. Tonight, Jon got them going with an old standby, and then, well, you judge: Dad: Why was six afraid of seven? kids: I dunno Dad: Because seven eight nine! M: Why was 10 afraid of two? Mom: why? M: Because of six and seven. Mom: That doesn't make sense. M: Yes it does, and it's funny. Like this one: why did eight nine ten? Mom: why? M: Because of three. Mom: Sweetie, the reason dad's joke is funny is because of eating, like the number seven actually ate... M: Why did the napkin cross the road and jump over the fence? Mom: why? M: to get to the other side. And it went on like this for at least ten minutes.

So what do you do when your daughter tells you she wants to be an exploding volcano for Halloween? First you give her some time to change her mind. When she doesn't, you get creative. First, I made a newsprint pattern and then tried it on the kid, cutting and adjusting as necessary. (She's being scary in the photo, like a volcano.) Then I cut out a huge piece of brown fleece. It's worth noting here that I don't sew. I cut, I glue, and I make liberal use of that fusing material that allows you to iron fabric together. Then I made shiny lava floes. Then I made a crown of flames. When she put it on she looked a lot like the Pope -- pointy red hat and all. She loved it, so I loved it. I don't know that she looked like a volcano, but I also don't know how else I could have done this without resorting to paper mache. I made the space between her arm holes too wide, so the fabric bunched in front. She didn't notice, and I wasn't about to try to fix it. I kept t...

I went to hear Ira Glass speak last weekend. Do you listen to This American Life ? You may, because it’s an insanely popular show. Every week it’s NPR’s most popular podcast download by a longshot. If Ira comes to your town, you should go hear him too -- it's a 90-minute NPR love-fest hosted by a funny guy with a keen eye on America and an unparalleled talent for putting together a compelling story. What more could you want? He opened his talk in the dark. Unexpected and funny right off the bat. Who sits in a dark theater and listens to someone talk? It’s radio, he said, you can’t see people. Voices become more powerful and expressive when you’re not caught up in the way someone looks. Radio allows people to listen to those whom they might not otherwise pay attention to – as an example, he cited some high school girl gang members with colored hair, baggy clothes, and black lipstick whose stories he once told on the air. His point made, the stage lights came up. Ira Glass is of cour...

We've been out of Brooklyn for more than four years now. That's the way I think of it. How long has it been since we left New York? Not how long has Boulder, or Minneapolis, been our home. We closed on this house almost exactly two years ago exactly. And so, I'm a bit introspective. In the circles of introspection I realized that my life in New York is completely inseparable from my pre-kids life. We moved when the girls were 9 months old. At the time they felt SO old to us. They weren't newborns. We'd survived the hardest part. Now, when I see a nine-month kid they look so tiny. So there were 13 years without kids in New York, and then a measly less-than-a-year with infants? My NYC memories are full of the things I did before kids, luxurious things like yoga classes, and harder things like working until 9:00 many nights. I never had to jostle for a spot in a preschool, I didn't have to learn which sidewalks were okay for trikes and which were too crowded. I jus...

It's hot in the Big Horn Basin. And the sun is relentless. There is no shade. These conditions are, in large part, what makes this a good place to find fossils. They’re also why Dr. Scott Wing wears huge wrap-around sunglasses fit for someone leaving cataract surgery. One summer a few years ago, a couple of his post-doc students secretly decorated them with crazy glue and gold glitter. This might be a you-have-to-see-it-thing to understand, but they’re pretty sweet sunglasses. Scott Wing is a paleobotanist. He goes to Wyoming every summer to crack rocks and look for evidence of past plant life. He's spent 37 summers doing this, and says he'll stop only when he can't do it anymore. Dr. Wing isn't just a paleontologist, he's a rock star. Literally. Not only is he a premium scientist for the Smithsonian who has contributed greatly to the study of paleontological flora, he's a talented communicator. He has a gift for explaining the complex in accessible terms. H...

The Big Horn Basin lies in north central Wyoming, a northwest to southeast oval tipping its hat into southern Montana. It’s a moonscape. Funky-looking, desolate, stunning. Hot and dry in summer, bitter in winter. It’s isolated and easy to get lost in. It is distinctive enough to be readily visible on satellite images from space. The badlands of the Big Horn Basin. Some geologists write it Bighorn Basin, but our client prefers the three-word version, so that's how I write it. A few towns ring its circumference. You've probably heard of Cody, Wyoming, a tourist magnet just an hour from Yellowstone. It's the Basin's biggest town with 9,000 souls. The populations of other towns around its perimeter hover between hundreds and low thousands. Not much goes on in the heart of the Big Horn Basin, at least not now. But at different times in the earth’s history this area was immersed in tropical flora, an inland sea, and a lush forest. The earth is approximately 4.6 bi...

No matter how well you plan, it's not possible to get five people into a car at the appointed time on departure day. The speed with which a minivan with a roof carrier can go up a mountain pass and the speed with which it can go down the other side average about 50 m.p.h. O on day 2, after doing some kind of coloring project in her seat: Does anyone have a stapler? A roof box can open while going around a corner down a hill, spilling much of its contents, if you have not properly closed it. Colorado is a big state. There are a lot of hot springs in Colorado. There are also a lot of mountains. Funnydad could spend all day wandering in sand dunes. Dude likes moonscapes. O on day 3, frustrated, Does anyone have a stapler NOW? Four-year olds are not terrified by 32-foot ladders and small tunnels on cliff dwellings. They are, however, worried that the man with the hat [park ranger] will talk too long. The most exciting thing about breakfast at the hotel for the girls and funnydad (!) wa...