2015-06-30: Nerf Ping Pong

Nigel has gotten out the Nerf Ping Pong game recently, and he and Dad have enjoyed several games of this. One of the foam balls included with the set has held up well, and the other is at least playable, but the paddles work well with other small balls Dad has been able to dig up, including an actual ping pong ball. They have gotten in a few rallies, though Nigel tends either to hit the ball quite hard or to miss it entirely, making returns by Dad tricky. Fun times, though, and it is neat to see Nigel's skills improving.

Seeing the box for this game reminded Dad of a childhood experience of his. When growing up, Grandpa got this set for the two of them to play with, but Dad got quite frustrated with the difficulty of scoring points against Grandpa (who was and is a pretty good player), and/or the lack of mercy shown him. Finally, in a fit of frustration, Dad got a marker and rewrote the recommended ages for the game, changing them from "7 to Adult" to "8 - 10". (This seems to imply Dad was eight years old at the time, as he remembers adding a couple of years on to give himself some extra time to play, not wanting to be denied access to the game upon having a single birthday. -Ed.) He later recanted, and changed the recommended ages back to their original value with a ballpoint pen.

2015-06-06 Cap'n Crunch Gift Card Math

A question arose this morning while Nigel was looking at the back of a box of Cap'n Crunch: Which is more in total, 1,000 $50 gift cards or 500 $20 gift cards. Some discussion produced a specific answer for each, though it would also have been a good opportunity to discuss estimation techniques (e.g. multiplying a smaller number by another smaller number will never be larger than multiplying a larger number by another larger number).

2015: Best of State for Nigel's Preschool Teacher

Nigel's preschool teacher, Ms. Shanny (Shantel Pilcher), received the Best of State award for Early Childhood Educator this year. Dancing Moose's school administrator won for Best Administrator last year (2014 - Jennifer Duffield) and in 2011 (Joyce Sibbett), and the school won Best Private Preschool in 2010. Mom and Dad's instincts in evaluating schools seem to have been good indicators, or at least shared by the committee choosing these awards.