Pigeonhole Principle for toddlers

The pigeonhole principle states that if you have N pigeonholes, and N+1 pigeons, at least one of the pigeonholes will have to have two pigeons in it. It's used to prove various stuff in freshman-level discrete math classes, and tends to melt many a poor freshman brain.

Here Nick demonstrates the pigeon hole principle using his train set. Professor Franco Preparata would be so proud of him.

There is only one spot left in the Tidmouth Sheds and I
have both Toby and Thomas that need to be parked! What
do I do??? (note: this is what an average CS freshman looks
like too when asked to prove something using the pigeonhole
principle)

Answer: one of the parking spots has to have two trains.
(P.S. No he didn't figure it out himself, same as most
college freshmen he went and whined to a TA for help).

Here's the video of the process as well. Math is SO FRUSTRATING!

Junior agility handlers 2016

Nick and his friend Shelby went on a playdate. At an agility field. While they shared goldfish crackers, dismantled equipment and ran around, their moms completely ignored them and played with their dogs.

Here's to future junior handlers. Expect their debut at an agility show near you sometimes in 2016!

Hmmm, they said "Table" and then "Stay". Do they think
we are dogs or something?

Music

Concerto in D minor for two vuvuzelas and a labrador. Composed and performed by Max, Nick, and Tony.

(P.S. Dear neighbors. We are sorry. Here's some earplugs.)

Beach!

The weather suddenly turned from winter to summer, plus Kostadis had a day off, so we went to the beach. Nick finds the beach very acceptable.

Contemplating the water

OMG COLD!

Running

More running

A boy and his dog

Very. Large. Sandbox.

Meanwhile, Kostadis and Tony were doing what they
do. One was surfing the web, and the other was
sniffing.

Nick and Polly play Ball

The two crazies came up with a new game: throw ball in the hammock. Notice that Tony is trying to stay faaaar away from the mayhem.

Ponds

The weather was nice so Nick, Polly and I went to the Ponds. Tony and Kostadis went to work. Tony prefers work to Ponds, since there's cookies and head scritchies at work.

I was very clever to dress Nick in a red jacket which stood out nicely against the green grass. Actually, Kostadis dressed him, and that was the only clean jacket he had, but I'll take the credit anyway.

Here are some selections, the full set of pictures is here.

Whee!

Plotting something

Ball!

First encounter with a California Poppy. There was
much spitting after this picture was taken.

Trains!

Nick's latest obsession is to line all his trains into a giant line and get it all around the track. This is one of the more successful attempts, but they all pretty much end the same way: the trains crash and there's yelling.