The Zereps

Arthur and I picked up a used, non-working “PowerWheels Lil’ Quad” from a thrift store a few weeks ago. Arthur fell in love with it as soon as he saw it, even though it didn’t work.  Not being one to let an opportunity to fix up an electric power toy pass by, I bought it (for $10) and took it home.  Arthur is really into ‘Bob the Builder’ right now and there’s an ATV on BtB that’s called ‘Scrambler‘, so naturally he gave his ATV the same name. Arthur thought it was cool just to have another ride-on toy, but I set to work figuring out how I could get the electric motor working again so he could drive it around. I stumbled upon a site called www.modifiedpowerwheels.com that has a ton of good information about modding PowerWheels.

To get Scrambler working again, I had to redo some of the wiring (which was in pretty bad shape) and install a new 12V sealed lead-acid battery. The steering on it was pretty wonky too, so I used a piece of 1mm steel (which was a light-fixture mount in a previous life) to reinforce the steering column and tighten it up significantly. Here are some pictures of our project; we had lots of fun getting it working again.

Yum

Here’s what our counter looks like. That is just the harvest from the past 3 days. Needless to say with 30 tomato plants in the garden this year, we’re having a hard time keeping up with them. Looks like its time to take up canning.

Delicioso!

Long time, no post… But to make up for it here are a bunch of pictures of Alice’s First Birthday party. Enjoy!

Time sure has flown since last month! Here’s a quick summary of events:

Two days after Alice was born, and I was still at the “Baby Castle” (that’s what Arthur calls the hospital) my parents arrived from California for a 2 week visit. They ran errands, cleaned the house, and various other domestic activities so that I could recover and take care of Alice. They also entertained Arthur, no small fete, let me tell you!

Eric returned to work the Wednesday after Alice arrived, seeing as it was a new job, and new jobs are quite hard to come by lately. So far he’s enjoying the work and the people, not to mention the shorter commute!

After a two week visit the grandparents had to return home. We really appreciated their help, though! During the week that followed we got a little settled into our new routine of Eric working, and me keeping Arthur out of trouble and feeding Alice.

At the end of our settling week, Eric’s mom came out for a visit to play with Arthur and see new little Alice. Eric will post some pictures of the fun stuff they did during that time. I won’t since I stayed at home, being as I am so tired all the time and Alice is still so little.

And that brings us up to the present! Those weeks were also peppered with doctor’s visits, short trips out, and the stomach flu. Let me tell you……the stomach flu (read “the works”) is so. not. fun. one week after giving birth, having major abdominal surgery, and nursing a newborn. Thankfully Alice did not get sick. Every one else did. Anyhoo…..

And here are a few pictures of Alice around a month old!