What to do with a box of legos that…

• Started off with me as a child who soaked them in baths, played with fire, mixed them with other non-compatible toy sets, and other general toy-torturing activities;
• Used them as I got older for all sorts of imagination-inspiring activities, mostly centering around science fiction writing;
• Went to college with me and someone came out mostly unscathed;
• Survived our house burning down by being in the basement where the rubbermaid bin they were in filled with ashy chemically water but kept them from melting;
• Sat for a year out in the yard with vegetation overgrowing them, forgotten;
• Were found, soaked in bleach water, and left to dry out for another year… ?

Why – give them to Meadow of course!

Sifting through these old toys brought back some long lost memories and sensations. Some of the pieces in this box are over 30 years old. But now more pleasant than any of the memories is seeing them bring a whole new level of imaginative play to Meadow who has reached an age where she can appreciate them.

When I told them I was giving them to her, she was overjoyed.

I can only hope they’ll bring her as much inspiration and hours of adventure as they did me.

Meadow love love loves babies and states that she would like us to bring a baby brother *and* sister home. She says that she doesn’t mind if they come out at the same time.

In this pic Meadow is getting to cuddle a bit with Hazel, 1mo old daughter of Alexis and Vinny.

Any first day of kindergarten that begins with a guitar in the teacher’s hand is a good day in my book.

Also, notice Meadow has nearly perfected the wink.

At the SE AK state fair, 2011, Meadow was obsessed with the bouncy house. So much so that she eventually stopped bouncing and just went in to enjoy the ambience.

Watch her closely before the race, you can see her using her “telescope” to try and find me at the finish line.

Once I got over the shock of seeing Meadow’s angel-soft skin with a bunch of makeup on it…

I saw how much fun she was having with all her fellow ballerinas…

And how she didn’t get shy on stage…

And was instead having the time of her life.

Meadow’s been taking WeeSki lessons every Saturday for the last few weeks. She’s getting pretty comfy on the sticks, and does a pretty good job turning and stopping on her own. Here’s a pic I snapped of us on the chairlift for her first time ever:

Meadow loves her ballet class and was especially OVERJOYED to receive a surprise package in the mail the other day from none other than the Ballet Fairy. Here she is wearing the fancy outfit some secret fairy sent her:

Meadow wears this dress nearly every day. So she was overjoyed to get to wear it for Halloween. Depending on when you ask her, she’s either a fairy princess, standard princess, or Sleeping Beauty.

We put her down suit on under the dress for trick or treating in the 50mph winds and sideways rain (neither of which she seemed to notice).