Gandpa Al turns 73 tomorrow. We celebrated a day early with steak, cake, and pinochle! I love the adoring look on Colby's face when he gazes up at his grandpa. Says a thousand words, doesn't it????
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
My Musical Family
Step aside, Von Trapp Family Singers. Introducing....The next Jackson 5...the next Partridge Family...the next Jonas Brothers... it's The Aho THREE!!!
They were rocking out like nobody's business on this snowy Saturday morning! Oh, the talent.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Doing Our Part....
..... to conserve resources. Tripling up on the shower thing saves lots of water!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Daily Mining Gazette Article
HOUGHTON - There isn't a lot of nature visible during a western Upper Peninsula winter, so the organizers of the Tree House Indoor Playspace for young children decided to bring nature to a warm spot where children can play safely.
The Tree House, which is a creation of the Keweenaw Family Resource Center based on an idea by community activist Jessica Della Valla, is under construction now in two suites in the Red Ridge Plaza on Sharon Avenue. It is expected to be open for at least a little of this year's winter.
Monica Aho, chairwoman of the playspace design team, said besides providing a safe, warm place for children to play in the winter, it's intention is to help them grow, and the idea expanded from that.
"At first, we just started with what to do to help kids developmentally," she said. It was decided by the design team to produce a space which would provide opportunities for jumping, crashing, swinging, balancing, aerobic and coordination development, Aho said."We kind of brainstormed what kinds of activities and equipment would give us that," she said. Through a process of elimination, Aho said the theme of bringing the outdoors to the indoors was chosen might help children cope with the actual weather.
"We have such long winters," she said. Aho said the membership of the design team was fluid, but at one point it included Associate Professor Rick Loduha's human factors class at the Finlandia University International School of Art & Design. All totaled, more than 50 people had input for the design of the playspace.
Included in the playspace, Aho said, is a lily pond, which is really a waterbed."That came because we wanted something kids could balance on," she said. Keeping with the lily pond theme, Aho said local artists Julie Benda and Tobias Dawson provided some color and three-dimensional creativity. Benda, who is a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point art student majoring in printmaking, created a pond design and painted a mural of frogs in a wetlands scene on the wall next to the lily pond area. Dawson is an artist and designer from Misery Bay, now living in southeast Michigan. He created a concrete frog sculpture for the playspace, which, however, is not for climbing on. Artist Christine Westrich created the Merry Go Trike, which has three seats and three sets of pedals and goes around in a circle."We wanted artists to design things to engage children as much as possible," she said.
The tree in the playspace will be constructed of foam, Aho said, and it will be hollow so children can climb inside to get to the treehouse, which will be constructed on top of a metal beam frame. There will be punching bags hanging from the frame for the children to bang on, also."These are kids that are too small for hockey," she said.
Part of the decoration for the KFRC office, which is next to the playspace, is pickets, which will be placed on a wall, and Cathy Benda, KFRC executive director, said people can by the pickets for $100 and place names of people they would like remembered on the pickets."We have 200 to sell," she said. "We've sold about a quarter of them."
Aho said although the playspace still needs work, it's expected it will be open sometime in February."There's a lot that needs to be done," she said. "It's coming along."
To get information about memberships or sponsorships for the Tree House Indoor Playspace, call the KFRC at 482-9363. To follow the progress of the construction, go online to houghtonwinterpark.blogspot.com.
Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie@ mininggazette.com
The Tree House, which is a creation of the Keweenaw Family Resource Center based on an idea by community activist Jessica Della Valla, is under construction now in two suites in the Red Ridge Plaza on Sharon Avenue. It is expected to be open for at least a little of this year's winter.
Monica Aho, chairwoman of the playspace design team, said besides providing a safe, warm place for children to play in the winter, it's intention is to help them grow, and the idea expanded from that.
"At first, we just started with what to do to help kids developmentally," she said. It was decided by the design team to produce a space which would provide opportunities for jumping, crashing, swinging, balancing, aerobic and coordination development, Aho said."We kind of brainstormed what kinds of activities and equipment would give us that," she said. Through a process of elimination, Aho said the theme of bringing the outdoors to the indoors was chosen might help children cope with the actual weather.
"We have such long winters," she said. Aho said the membership of the design team was fluid, but at one point it included Associate Professor Rick Loduha's human factors class at the Finlandia University International School of Art & Design. All totaled, more than 50 people had input for the design of the playspace.
Included in the playspace, Aho said, is a lily pond, which is really a waterbed."That came because we wanted something kids could balance on," she said. Keeping with the lily pond theme, Aho said local artists Julie Benda and Tobias Dawson provided some color and three-dimensional creativity. Benda, who is a University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point art student majoring in printmaking, created a pond design and painted a mural of frogs in a wetlands scene on the wall next to the lily pond area. Dawson is an artist and designer from Misery Bay, now living in southeast Michigan. He created a concrete frog sculpture for the playspace, which, however, is not for climbing on. Artist Christine Westrich created the Merry Go Trike, which has three seats and three sets of pedals and goes around in a circle."We wanted artists to design things to engage children as much as possible," she said.
The tree in the playspace will be constructed of foam, Aho said, and it will be hollow so children can climb inside to get to the treehouse, which will be constructed on top of a metal beam frame. There will be punching bags hanging from the frame for the children to bang on, also."These are kids that are too small for hockey," she said.
Part of the decoration for the KFRC office, which is next to the playspace, is pickets, which will be placed on a wall, and Cathy Benda, KFRC executive director, said people can by the pickets for $100 and place names of people they would like remembered on the pickets."We have 200 to sell," she said. "We've sold about a quarter of them."
Aho said although the playspace still needs work, it's expected it will be open sometime in February."There's a lot that needs to be done," she said. "It's coming along."
To get information about memberships or sponsorships for the Tree House Indoor Playspace, call the KFRC at 482-9363. To follow the progress of the construction, go online to houghtonwinterpark.blogspot.com.
Kurt Hauglie can be reached at khauglie@ mininggazette.com
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Back From Spokane
Reagan and I spent the past week in Spokane for Grandma Fran's funeral. So glad we got to go. It was a beautiful service, and I was thankful that I got to help be a part of the preparations. Grandma would've loved her funeral. I truly believe that. Got to see lots of family, a few friends - a whirlwind few days, but very much worth it! Here are some random pics from the trip....
Sunday, January 17, 2010
While I was Gone.....
..... the Ski Tigers did roam. Here's Colby, on a tiger hunt through the woods.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Ski Tigers
Quinn and Colby started their careers as "Ski Tigers" today - members of the local cross-country ski team. After less-than-desireable experiences with swimming and downhill skiing lessons, Rob and I were a tad hesitant about what to expect. Would we be yet again shelling out big bucks for untrained highschoolers (who apparently aren't fond of young children) to "coach" our boys? Thank GOODNESS we were pleasantly surprised. It was wonderful. The coaches are mature, knowledgeable and child-friendly. They taught the basics in ways that the boys thoroughly enjoyed (involving growling like Tigers, and finding stuffed animals in the woods!) We all had a great time, and are looking forward to the season! Reagan tagged along in a back-pack on my back, so it was truly a family experience.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Legos
For Christmas, Colby asked Santa for Legos. Santa wasn't so sure about Legos, because there is a baby in the house, and two boys with a track record of leaving messes wherever they go. But Colby promised, out loud, that if he got Legos for Christmas, he would keep them in his room, where baby Reagan couldn't eat them. HMMMM. Grandma and Grandpa Aho ended up getting the boys this very complicated, very cool Lego set for Christmas. It took us every day for a full week during Reagan's nap time to construct. Colby said repeatedly "I'm so excited! I'm so excited! It's sooooooo cooool!!!" It IS cool, and good fine motor practice for little boys to manipulate all those teeny tiny pieces. Unfortunately, it's so cool that they want to play with it like a typical Tonka truck, which it is not. Five minutes after the last piece was placed, I called the boys down for lunch, and heard them say "WAIT! We're not done fixing it yet!" Fixing it? We just spent a week putting it together!!!! YUP. They tried to drive it a little too "rough", and it crumbled into pieces. GRRRRRR. Guess we'll be spending the NEXT week putting it together, too. I need to explain that the fun of Legos is the building and the looking afterwards, not the driving.....
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