I have been playing with AI to generate books with my kids for a long time, but now I can generate short animations based on the books. I know it is silly but it is kind of fun.
Science Saturday: Crunchlab’s Creative Kits
My kids found Crunchlabs on youtube and then nextflix, and my son really wanted to get a hack pack subscription for Christmas, which made my daughter really want to try their creative kits, so we got those as well.
We have now received and worked through the first two creative kits, and Sasha was able to do them entirely by herself!
Crunchlabs Creative Kits
The creative kits are simpler and a bit more like art projects vs engineering and robotics. They still do teach how to build and follow complex instructions to complete the project. Overall these are closer to many of the kiwi kits we have done in the past, but they have such good instructions and videos that Sasha was able to do these kits without needing a bunch of help from me.
Treehouse Kit
Our first kid was the Treehouse kit. Oddly enough they made a mistake and sent me 2 creative kits not one creative kit and a hack kit (they fixed this and we got our hack kit). So we had two treehouse kits, but Theo was pretty excited to do the kit as well. They both worked on theirs together and helped each other name their squirrels and design slightly different houses.
Ice Cream Stand
This was the the Ice Cream stand. We didn’t get two of these as they fixed the mistake, so we played a board game that was a bit to old for Sasha, while she built her creative kit. Other than helping after one piece was put on backwards she built the entire kit herself. She really enjoyed it and was engaged in the process and she likes it even better than the treehouse. She has been taking ice cream orders around the house ever since. She even got the treehouse back out and played with the treehouse and the ice cream shop and the little animal characters together.
Verdict
The creative kit is a hit and probably works well for kids 4-7. After that they might be leveled up to the next one.
The list of pro’s and cons is similar to the hack pack.
Pros
- This is one of the highest quality toy build kits I have had
- This has great videos, tutorials, and support
- The programming and hacking was very cool and fun
- The kids have enjoyed playing with this a good deal and are excited for the next kit
Cons
- kind of expensive
- not sure of long term re-play, but so far so good
Referral Code
Since we like these I am happy to share my referral code if you sign up we get some free credits.
Science Saturday: Crunchlab’s Turret
My kids found Crunchlabs on youtube and then nextflix, and my son really wanted to get a hack pack subscription for Christmas, so we did.
The first hack pack delivery was the IR Turret and it was a hit!
Crunchlabs Turret
So the kit first kit came and it was this IR Turret that shoots Nerf like arrows (Although I am sure crunchlabs is not allowed anywhere near the name nerf). It said it would take around an hour to make if you were new to building robots. We built it over 2 sessions that added up to about an hour (The kids got distracted and it was good to take a break). Our youngest at 6 was still able to help with some of the build, our oldest at 8 was able to do many of the steps.
A few days after we built it and fired many rockets, Theo wanted to “hack it” so we then went online and followed the video instructions. It was easy to get the software setup and start sending custom code to the turret, we started with the prebuilt stuff and within 30 minutes we were modifying the code ourselves with new customizations. Theo already wants to try to get some new sensors and possibly more motors.
Pros
- This is one of the highest quality toy build kits I have had
- This has great videos, tutorials, support
- The programming and hacking was very cool and fun
- The kids have enjoyed playing with this a good deal and are excited for the next kit
- They offer 3d printable versions of the pieces and the kids are interested in learning about 3d printing
- Dad had always been interested in Arduino’s and now he has written code for one
Cons
- one of our motors started to have issues a few hours after use, a few days later it totally broke we had to order a replacement for the up / down motor
- expensive
- Kids keep leaving it on the floor and I trip over it
Summary
This was a hit and we are looking forward to the next one.
Theo’s Mom Attack
Theo Showing Off His IR Turret
Happy New Year 2026
We’ve been grateful for these good ole’ elementary school days with Theo (8) and Sasha (6) as we attempt to navigate the turbulent waves of our times. The kids have become tree skiers, snorkelers, and white water rafters! We celebrated my mom’s 70th birthday with a slightly-delayed Galapagos escapade, and despite the more-intense-than-predicted logistics (which were predicted to be intense), the kids proved to be adventurers. The highlight was snorkeling with sea lions in Punta Pitt.
This year we said goodbye to Great Grandma at 99. She leaves a legacy of love, warm hugs, watching her 9 great-grandkids swim in her pool, and always pulling up an extra seat to her table.
Wishing you love and peace in 2026.
See more pictures from our 2025 adventures here.
Vote Yes on LL and MM in Colorado this November
Theo published his first Op-Ed in the Westword today. He’s a 3rd grader in DPS and a supporter of universal school meals based on his first-hand student experience.
He drafted the op-ed in response to a recent article on the two state-wide ballot measures voters will decide on this election cycle to fund the universal school meals statewide.
The op-ed is especially timely given the recent delivery of election Blue Books to households across the Denver metro area.
Theo argues for the importance of school meals and the passage of these measures based on his experience as a DPS student and the evidence supporting universal school meal programs.
See the full article over at the Westword.
Science Saturdays: Crystal Tree
I didn’t have high expectations for this kit but was surprised at how much interest the kids had. They set it up quickly and checked in on it for 2 days before smashing it and throwing it out.
I think that because the crystals started forming very quickly and grew larger than expected the kids were pretty impressed. Obviously, this is just a quick one off but it was fun to check in on it through out the day.
Theo’s review: “not a scam at all!” You will have to trust me that is high praise.
Harvest Season
We all love harvest season.
Peaches Everywhere
A lovely peach season
Peach Ice Cream
The kids help make peach ice cream
https://photos.app.goo.gl/53YhZ4MX1DgbD7Mi8
Peach Caprese Salad
Erin Makes the peach version of our favorite summer salad
Apples Everywhere
A lovely apple harvest
Fun Apple Dishes
We make normal stuff, but also start to get weird as we need to use up so many apples.
- German Chicken with Apples in mustard sauce
- Home Made Apple Sauce
- Apple Crisp
- Shepherd’s Pie with beef, spicy peppers, and apples.
Spaghetti Squash
We have two plants making a bunch of spaghetti squash this year.
Our favorite dish is spaghetti squash burrito bowls… basically make taco filling and put it in a spaghetti squash and bake it.
Peaches, Gardening, and Japanese beetles
I was recently asked how I get such nice peaches and for tips on winterizing / care… I kind of laughed as I don’t really do anything in particular. I thought my response was kind of humorous so, here it is for others to enjoy, and I guess perhaps it might help someone out there.
Denver Peach Tree Care
I have crazy gardens both year round hydro-ponic and seasonal outdoors. I have what seems to be a very productive garden, but I treat all of it more as an art than a science. Too many of my hobbies end up very science, numbers, and on computer screens. So when I got into gardening, I basically made a rule of no book learning, just experimentation. So any advice I give needs that caveat, it might not be the best way to do it, but it works for me.
- winterizing, um… I don’t do anything… I do put fruit spikes into the soil near the tree twice a year and one of those is in the winter.
- You might get some tiny fruit in the first year, but if you pick them all off the tree will put more energy into making roots and you will do even better in the future.
- peach care… I dug a big hole and put 3-year-old trees in the ground. I have a watering system that waters a bit daily
- I prune the tree more on bonsai aesthetics vs any advice about being good for fruit
- I do prune any branches that look too thin to support fruit
- I occasionally thin the fruit, but I mostly leave that up to the squirrels
I distract the Japanese beetles by letting them eat all my roses, and some of my apples… So they really don’t have any time left to eat peaches. The squirrels sadly prefer peaches over apples, which is why I have two peach trees and one apple tree. When we have a boom havest I pull about 500 peaches and apples… Squirrels extract about a 20-30% tax on fruit…. Probably higher for the strawberries, which they seem to go nuts over, and I thought squirrels like nuts.
Occasionally I spray with a mint based organic bug spray, but I am not convinced it does anything, but it does smell nice which is a plus.
Anyways, happy to share anything that might help, but my urban farming philosophy can mostly be summarized as plants really want to grow, put them in the grown and give them water and sun.
Science Saturday: Windmill Generator
I like to do various semi-education activities with my kids, most often on Saturdays. We call these Science Saturdays activities. I am going to post about some of the successful activities and the less-than-great semi-educational activities. Recently, we made a windmill generator that powers a light bulb.
Given how much the kids liked the Green Science: Eco Lightbulb I thought this might also be a hit… but it was not.
Kid Approved? No
So what went wrong why wasn’t this as fun…
- The light even with a crazy amount of wind isn’t bright
- There isn’t really wind indoors and for lights they turn off all the lights in a room to play with something.
- It barely will glow if you blow on it
- Outside we have to get up really high above our fences to get enough wind to turn the windmill
- It keeps blowing the bottle over and falling at about the same amount of wind that will turn the windmill
Basically, building it was fine but they couldn’t find a way to play with it to drive the light in a way that would stay fun. So they lost interest quickly and now we have a plastic windmill piece of trash to throw out at some point when I give up on it.
Happy New Year 2025!
You’ll have to forgive the tardiness of our New Year’s greetings. I found it impossible to reflect on 2024 in the midst of holiday preparations – including my new responsibilities as a kindergarten room parent – *while also* preparing the so-far-for-me-inevitable summer camp calendar spreadsheet. A good friend of mine recently reflected that these hectic elementary years may in fact be “the good old days,” and I’m doing my best to savor every “hug attack.”
For my 40th we took a two-week family vacation to Italy — my first return trip since I studied there 20 years ago. We rowed gondolas in Venice, hiked the Sentiero Azzurro Trail from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza in Cinque Terre, roamed my old hilly stomping grounds in Perugia between incredible meals, and saw the Colloseum, Forum, and Vatican in Rome. Sasha (5) most enjoyed the gelato, Theo (7) loved playing in the ocean with our friends’ dog, and both remember feeding the stray cats. In filling out his summer reading acrostic, Theo used the first M of summer for “Missed a train,” but I insisted he use the second M for “Made a train” – since we technically did both. In an effort to put off bedtime, Sasha will sometimes pack a small rolling suitcase for her babies, gather them into her arms and run around with her bag and babies talking hurriedly into her toy phone about how she is going to miss her flight (or train), “oh no, oh no,” – no idea where she got that.
Dan and I continue to manage to squeeze in some work, and work travel, between ski weekends, relishing contact naps with our new nephew, school plays, fencing tournaments, and family visits — including some to visit my 98-year old grandma in OKC.
Wishing you and yours a happy, safe and healthy 2025.
See more pictures from our 2024 adventures here.
Adventures of the Miller Mayers 