Today is Reid’s 8th birthday, and in celebration, here is a little post from the past!

In celebrating Reid’s fourth orbit of the sun, I have had the chance to review some old video from his younger days. There are lots of wonderful moments, but this one was short and sweet. I like to think of it as a daring collaboration between Reid and myself. Here it is. We call it, “Baby stored in airplane luggage compartment.”

Reid’s inventiveness keeps rolling, and rolling. Wood blocks are but one of the domains in which he is always creating. Another is his comics, which have truly taken off. More on that (and the adventures of Bob and Bob) soon! In the meantime, here is a stuffie airplane.

You’ll notice that is has forward facing but angled windows, large wings, tail fins, jets, a nose cone, guns, and propulsion at the rear. It also holds a great number of stuffed animals in the fuselage.

In a stuffie ship like this there are many crew working the deck. The pilots are on the top deck, and the captain is inside, behind the window. The captain is Penzi, of course.

The pilots.

The whole ship from a distance. Note the bowsprit. Also note the two life boats. They were used once when I was on board and some locals had to be pulled from the sea. It was a dangerous operation, but the rescue went like clockwork.

Apparently there is quite a captains quarters in there too!

I love this construction! It is a candy factory with a set of conveyor belts that take the candy to different stations. There are some quality inspectors, but most of it is automated. There are stations that add color or change the shadow of the candy as you can see if you look close!

Reid is on a roll with his wood block and stuffed animal creations. They are different each time and wonderfully creative. This is two views of the stuffie fortress and or police station. 
Here he is showing the location of the food stores for the animals. 

The larger animals in the back are horses, each with its own pen and food trough. The ones in the front are people and each have a wall mounted gun to operate. Note the hall ways. 

Here is another wonderful example of Reid’s daily creativity. He has build a stage for stuffed animal performances behind which is a set of stuffed animals who run the rigging and the lights for the stage. On the other side of the stage is the orchestra, which is composed of many separate stuffed animals playing instruments from a piano to a base to a drum set. Elsa doggie is playing an organ. 

This Penzi is playing the drums.

And here is Charlie as he takes the stage. Note the trap door for surprise appearances and disappearances! 

I offered the boys a cash prize if they dug up an old and unused clothes drying rack in the back yard. I expected it would take a few days, but no, with the help of the Heibeler kids, Lucas and Marcus, it was finished in an afternoon. Next work project: wedding the garden! 

Here is something from the archives. Hijo means son in Spanish. 
Hijo A: Look, I found a wishing rock!

Hijo B: A wishing rock, what’s a wishing rock?

Hijo A: It’s a rock you can make a wish on.

Hijo B: Yeah, but it doesn’t work.

Hijo A: I hope it works.