Hard Hats Not Required - Now With Ham!

My mom had a neat idea while we were at their house yesterday.

Her mini marshmallows were just a little stale, and she had appropriated some of Poppie's toothpicks from a project he'd done with a Youth Lay Speaking retreat. We modified the project to suit our group.

Our assignment: Build things out of marshmallows and toothpicks.

This was one of the days where the candid pix delighted me even more than the posed ones. But here's a little of both:

Tobi-wan laying on the floor next to his self-made Tobi-Robot:

And Buzz wanting in on the floor-laying-photo-shoot. Would you like a little ham with your tower?

Mom and I took up the challenge to see how tall a tower we could make.

Here's mom after adding the final spike to hers. Where do those kids get their hamminess from?

The marshmallows made it tough to build very high before things got wobbly. Originally we were trying to beat Poppie's claim that the youth could only build about 1' tall ... as we worked, Poppie came through and mentioned more and more ridiculous rules they'd used that we hadn't. Like only using your 'other' hand (left if you're right handed) ... and working in teams ... and only having 15 minutes.

I was glad we hadn't started with all those rules, I would've quit before I started. Using both hands, not having to coordinate a team, and having as much time as we liked, Mom and I were both able to make structures around a foot and a half.

And then we piled her structure on my structure.

Look, it's as tall as my extended fingertips!

Yes, Yes, I know I look like a dork in that picture. Apparently hamminess does not skip a generation. Why am I doing that next to the tower? Because I'm mimicking this picture from my past!!

This is Randy-the-neighborhood-kid and I with our very tall block tower when we were 4. Nice outfit I'm wearing, eh? It was purple plaid.

Okay, really, ours wasn't that tall, I'm squinched down and it's on the table. Here's me leaning to get out of the picture before the tower tips over. I'm not pregnant, and not fat. Well, not that fat. I'm leaning. Leeeeaaaaning.

But really, the combined tower held up pretty well, even when iliacat carried it around the house, balanced on one hand. Can you spot the ham in this picture?

Or the ham in this picture?

Does it look like Buzz is building in the background of that last one? Look closer. He's just eating the building materials.

When we were all done, the marshmallows were divided up amongst cups of cocoa. A good time was had by all!

Thanks Mom!!!