Spring Break

Whew! I somehow survived Spring Break 2015 with the kids. By the end of the week I wasn't sure I was going to make it though. I should have planned more activities but we had fun. It was cold and rainy for a large majority of the week so we stayed indoors for the most part. I took them shopping with me and out to eat, which they loved. Release these kids in a craft store and they can entertain themselves for hours.

If I get the camera out and say "smile" these are the faces I get. Silly kids. I wanted to take them to the movies one day and our options were Paddington (a cute bear movie) or SpongeBob Movie. I voted Paddington, they voted SpongeBob. They won. It was an excruciating hour and 45 minutes. They loved it though and that's all that counts.

The Hubby was busy all day Saturday putting new front and rear brakes on the Edge. It had been squealing when I backed it out of the garage and grinding a bit when stopping. Sure enough the pads on the back where well worn and in need of replacement.  Man, new brakes are nice! A big thanks to my awesome husband.

The 3D printer is still getting a work out. Greta asked to have a 3D printed Olaf made so Sean found the plans and set forth printing each part of Olaf. There were several parts: the body, head, nose, buttons, feet, teeth and arms. I had some modeling glue that did a fabulous job of welding the parts together. Then after a paint job we have the finished Olaf. That's pretty much my spring break in a nut shell.

The Octopus

The first 3D printed item went so smoothly that Sean decided to make something for Greta. So they went to thingiverse.com and let Greta pick something out. This website has free design files you can download for your 3D printer. She wanted an octopus so they went through several designs before finding the perfect octopus to print. Man, it was super cool watching this one print! The legs were mesmerizing. I had initially gotten video at the beginning when it was printing the legs and shared that one to facebook, but this second video of the body was almost more fascinating than the legs. Take a look:

An Indoor Weekend

We woke up to this lovely winter landscape this morning. It's around 18 degrees with some strong winds, definitely a day to stay indoors and work on projects. This week I was given an older dollhouse and, after a trip to Lowes, am ready to start the restoration. I loved my dollhouse when I was little and I hope Greta finds this one just as fun. It's blue exterior is getting a fresh coat of sage green paint to freshen it up. I'll show some before and after pictures once it's done. I'm having fun with it.

 Sean has been in the basement working on the calibration of the 3D printer. He was ready for the maiden print yesterday and found an appropriate first project. Wesley woke up to find a freshly printed Minecraft Creeper head. I put a short video at the bottom of the post. It was fascinating to watch it print the honeycomb design that made up the interior body of the cube. Very cool piece of machinery.

It's Alive!

The 3D printer is up and moving! Sean is calibrating the motors and it's still got a ways to go but it's moving. The audio on this video is pretty cute as the kids were really excited to see it move, if you can't tell.

The Newest Project

I'm thoroughly enjoying the last day of the break. It's been a relaxing two weeks. I've spent the majority of it in flannel pajama pants. There's been a lot of WiiU and board games being played. Since the family left last week there hasn't been a stitch of house cleaning done. It's been lovely. But it's back to school and work tomorrow.

I honestly haven't seen much of my husband the last two weeks even though he's been home. You see, he started a new project. Something he's been wanting to do for ages. He finally decided it's time and started ordering parts a few weeks ago. They are all spread out on one of the desks down in his basement man cave. Can you figure out what he's making?

No? Can't figure it out? Well he's making a 3D Printer. Here is a video similar to the one he's making (although it will be larger). LINK It looks pretty cool and I know he's pretty excited to start making stuff. He's been out working with aluminum on the milling machine to make the carriages. They look really nice.

It's sure coming together.  Good job Sean!