3in1 Tree House

I scored this Duplo playset thing for Ern, for free, and set it up one day before he got home from school for the big reveal. He was excited.

Little adventurers aged 3 and up discover countless ways to have fun while exploring the LEGO® DUPLO® 3in1 Tree House (10933) toy. This set is packed with features to discover and rebuilds in 3 different ways for truly creative building.

Play-based learning grows imaginations
First kids build the ultimate adventure play area with 3 levels, a super-long slide and a wobbly bridge to cross. If rain clouds gather, the model reconfigures as a cozy treehouse. The third model consists of 2 tree houses, each with a slide, and a garden where kids help collect the fruit and haul it up to the tree house using the cute pulley.

Toddlers learn through play
This set comes with a diverse range of toy characters including a grandma figure, 4 kids, a bird, cat and a squirrel, so parents can play together with their toddler and teach them about social skills and group play. With a range of creative accessories, little builders explore self-expression as they invent limitless, imaginative stories.

• Fun tree house toy for little learners – Toddlers aged 3+ explore the treetops, develop self-expression and hone their motor skills with the LEGO® DUPLO® 3in1 Tree House (10993)
• Diverse range of characters – Figures include a grandma, 4 kids and 3 animals, plus lots of accessories for teaching self-expression, group-play skills and social role play
• Countless play possibilities – Preschoolers and parents build and rebuild to enjoy 3 different scenes: a 3-story treetop play area with a slide, a cozy tree house and a pretty garden scene
• Packed with accessories – The tree house comes with toy picnic elements, an umbrella, skateboard and helmet, plus a toy wheelbarrow and pumpkin for toddlers to play out fun gardening stories
• Gift for kids who love imagination play – This educational toy makes a creative first LEGO® set or special occasion gift idea for preschoolers aged 3 and up
• Room to play – With the main model measuring over 16.5 in. (43 cm) high, 21 in. (54 cm) wide and 8.5 in. (22 cm) deep, the 3-story tree house toy has lots of space for little fingers to explore
• Digital instructions for creative building – The LEGO® Builder app features a digital version of the building instructions included with this set
• Learning through play – All LEGO® DUPLO® educational toys are expertly designed to engage preschoolers and help develop their social, motor and creative skills
• Quality assured – LEGO® DUPLO® toy playsets satisfy rigorous industry quality standards to ensure they are easy for little fingers to pick up, place and pull apart: it’s been that way since 1969
• A safe experience – LEGO® DUPLO® bricks and pieces are dropped, heated, crushed, twisted and analyzed to make sure they fulfill demanding child safety standards

It makes sense that the Dad of the Century would knock it out the park with the Toy of the Year.

Luckily when I get tired of the bitter pinecone beers these people drink I can reach for an imported from Louisiana, delicious Purple Haze from Abita Brewing.

Ernie's First Cruisey Christmas

I mentioned in an earlier cruise post how much attention the cruise staff paid to Ernie. Sometimes it was nice and made him smile, other times it was annoying and distracted him from his mission. But as the days went by and we gained more familiarity with certain crew members they started opening up more and revealing bits of their personal lives. They would tell us their own children's ages and one even mentioned that that day was their kid's birthday. We realized many of the worker ladies were mothers who probably don't see their children for months at a time. Especially now that today was Christmas I suddenly felt a lot more empathy for them and tolerated them wanting to occasionally give Ernie's chubby little cheeks a pinch.

These spinner toy things are quite the hit with the big man.

It was difficult to navigate the SS Ernie Wern through the main lobby of the ship today because there were so many families getting their photos taken everywhere.

We had an unlimited drinks package so I took it upon myself to try every drink available.

Today's excursion was to Sir Bani Yas island. I was interested because I'd read about the island being some royal retreat. We found it to be pretty lame though unfortunately. It felt like a cruise company's idea of a safari.

Big Ern did have some fun. This was a very rare instance that he rode in a vehicle without being strapped into a car seat. He's a big fan of wind in his face/hair  so he was loving that part as well as we started to pick up a little speed on our cruise arranged tour.

Many of the trees and plants had their own little sprinkler life support system and made me feel like this wasn't really the nature preserve we'd been led to believe and that none of this was supposed to be here.

One person in our group was caught by surprise by the lameness and kept asking why the animals were behind fences and that it was ruining her pictures.

We managed to get Christmas Day reservations at a restaurant on board the Dawn at a Brazilian steakhouse. It wasn't bad. They did the thing where they force feed you from giant meat hunks on a sword until you burst and die. There was an incident where I gave Ernie a mushroom and he chewed on it with his molarless gums forever but never made any progress. We had to pull it back out of his mouth with much difficulty.

Eating slices of roasted pineapple was a highlight of the meal.

Ernesto's First Haircut

Big Ern was born with a nice head of hair and it's been fun watching it grow into the unruly mess that it is today. All messy things must come to an end, sadly, and we decided to get it cut so that he would be comfortable at daycare.

We took Ernie the Long Haired Wernie to Sharkey's Cuts For Kids in Bellevue Square Mall for the big event. I was a bit nervous for him and hoped that he wouldn't be too scared of this foreign process. Sharkey's was a pro at this though and had all kinds of fun stuff to distract the big man. They had a little tv running cartoons at each station and the seat itself was a police car. I was a little bit jealous.

He was amused by his cape thing and chewed it a lot.

"Who the hell are you?"

He was a very brave big boy and I was very proud of him. He has a very calm and happy personality which I am very thankful for.

We had given the stylist some instructions but she didn't speak English incredibly well and she pretty much ignored them and did whatever she wanted. I thought it would be cool for him to have a little mullet and she chopped that hair off immediately. Whatever. Ernie is not the only chill dude in attendance.

We told them it was Ern's first cut so they gave him the grand treatment. They took before and after photos, they gave us a certificate, and they saved a little lock of his hair. It was nice and it's nice to know that we can now clone our best baby if we ever were to wish.

We visited Woodinville institution Molbak's Garden and Home. They had a ton of Christmas ornaments and plants for sale in a fun environment. They even had carolers singing and were giving out generous samples of Danish Kringle.

I had somehow never heard of Kris Kringle's dessert namesake.

Back at the fort I celebrated Ern's glow up with a My Stars Shine Darkly from Portland's Breakside Brewery. It's an imperial stout aged in bourbon and maple syrup barrels.