Little Green Super Beetle

Our family teen car is starting to act it's age. A 21-year-old Dodge Shadow with a sagging headliner is hardly inspiring so we have little motivation to invest money to keep it running. Skyler decided the perfect teen car would be a vintage Volkswagon Beetle. I figured why not—every budding gear head needs some experience with air-cooled VWs. [Who's the budding gear head here: Todd or Skyler?]

So, with a little tax return money, the search was on. We traveled far and wide to find reasonably priced Bug that wasn't a total basket case or rust bucket. I'm sure I enjoyed the hunt much more than Skyler. In the end we found this 1971 Super Beetle less than a mile from home (thanks to the miracle of craigslist.org). It even came decked out with Hawaiian-style seat covers, a rack, and a set of snow tires on rims.

Yes, it's got a few more bumps and bruises than I hoped for—but it is a teen car (as Skyler keeps reminding me). Yes, we're already buying a few parts to get it up to par. The local VW mechanic; however, pronounced our little bug as 'sound'. We've got a great VW repair manual to help us "keep it alive". We all enjoyed watching the old Disney movie "The Love Bug" last weekend. Consider us inspired—if not a little crazy.

King Arthur’s Quest

What an adventure! Isaac and Ashton had parts in the local production of King Arthur’s Quest this week. These are some of the photos taken by Skyler of the Saturday evening show.

Ashton haunting King Arthur as the ghost of Uther Pendragon.

Our local arts commission brings in a two-person team from the Missoula Children’s Theater. Auditions are on Monday after school. Rehearsals start Tuesday and the week ends Saturday with two performances.

Ashton was selected to play the ghost of Uther Pendragon (King Arthur’s father) — one of the main parts that included some speaking lines and lots of screaming to go along with his haunting. He practiced from 4:00-8:30 every day.

Ashton performing his ghostly antics on stage.

It was a lot of fun to see Ashton running, jumping, and haunting the stage. We’ve long suspected that “drama” is Ashton's calling in life — this just proves our point. I think he really enjoyed the production and is looking forward to other opportunities to try acting.

Isaac was part of the “mini” cast. These younger actors came on stage when the giant and the dragon appeared to help these villains look larger than life. It's a cute concept. Isaac's one line was “Yes!”.

Sir Isaac as the mini Yellow (scared) Knight.

Sir Isaac bandaging the Dragon’s sore tooth.

Green Eggs and Ham

Dr. Seuss and I share a birthday. What better way to start off a great day than a hearty breakfast of Green Eggs and Ham (Sam I am)? Yep, that's spinach in the eggs for some natural food coloring. Ricki and I were the only ones who enjoyed the eggs, I think. Skyler took the photo.