Monthly Archives: January 2014
Ben playing ukulele
I was posting pictures of Sam’s party last night and heard the sound of Ben playing ukulele with his Daddy. I quickly spun around and filmed it. He has a nasty cold and is wiping his nose constantly, but is making happy music. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Sam’s 9th Birthday
Dave looks like the intense coach on the sidelines, but he’s having to deal with myriad issues at work and managed to sneak out to be there for Sam despite it all. THANK YOU, Dave.
Ref Nate!
Blowing out the candles and singing! Look at that cake!
Ben and his buddy Eli played soccer the whole time. They are loving the cupcakes!
Well, it was a great time but completely nuts! Our volunteer ref and friend, Nate (5th grade) actually taped up a dark shirt with masking tape to look like a referee. That is my hiking whistle he’s using. Love the mustache! Nice touch. He really worked hard out there. Lots of tough calls, and you would not believe all the yelling and screaming on both teams – very vigorously-expressed opinions! I tried to do a “last shall be first and the first shall be last” approach to picking teams so those who usually aren’t first got picked first. That worked with ok with my pre-defined NFL draft pick roster, until about double the number of kids showed up! Word apparently got out that I’d invited the whole school. Maybe next time I will – and get several more coaches and refs! 🙂 All said they had a great time. To wind it all down, I tied an old beat-up base drum around my waist with a bike tire inner tube and one of the other moms beat on it as we marched down the field. It was very funny! Alma has some rhythm! Sam said it was probably the best birthday yet. That is what REALLY matters at the end of the day. The birthday boy felt celebrated by his friends and had fun with them. THANK YOU to Brie for being photojournalist. She snapped 94 shots before her poor hands froze off. And thank you to Vicki for the pom poms for the cheerleaders (the girls), and to all the guys and gals for coming out to play! That was a ton of fun!
Trail time!
Sam watching a 3D printer make Lego gears! I did not believe these existed – this is the first time I have seen one! I am mentoring in Robotics club on Wednesdays now as Sam wanted to join, and they needed a volunteer. So I am trying to learn, but mostly I help with fetching, pulling parts apart, and trying to impart a bit of systematic thinking (the scientific process) as the children experiment, observe and record (at least, that is what we hope they do!). Mostly I encourage and support, and try to understand gears. I am hopeless in that area.
I decided to take a jog on a new trail today, called the Whiskey 40 I think, and along the way spotted this nice girl. I love cows! Don’t you WANT one?
A ride on Sugar, a Tennessee Walker, was a wonderful way to break up the day. It was sunny and nearly 50 today – totally balmy, like summer. Cool, crisp air that feels warm on you when you stand in the sun. Makes you spellbound in January.
Ben started indoor soccer today. He is so thrilled. They both love their sports so much that they make SURE we are always on time for practice and games. A good quality. Ben has a cold, and had already played football for about 90 minutes, but he gave his all to practice.
After playing at Wilkes for nearly two hours (it was sunny out!), then indoor soccer, we were starving when we headed to get Sam, who had gone to a neighbor’s house for a couple hours. On our way home (Sam on bike, me in car behind with flashers on after repairing a bike chain that had come off) we were trying to reach Dave…”Honey? Are you bringing home Taco Bell? Please? We are so hungry. Please feed us. Please? When are you getting home?” Pooooor Dave. Seriously. Little did I know that he was being hammered with calls from work, too. I started getting them at home. “Hello? Is Mr. Krug available?” I said “No, I’m looking for him, too. I think he’s in his phone.” HUH? I should just recognize when I am really NOT RIGHT in the head and SHUT UP! Or at least not answer the fone. Phone. I was BONKING.
So tonight I apologized to Dave for being a really lame wife. I was supposed to get his car in for repair today, which was a little unrealistic as you can’t just drop a car off at an auto repair place and get it all done in one day. Not when it is a bearing, an axle, sticky windows, tail light, shocks, etc. A lot to check on. But I did at least go by a new place, talk to a guy, arrange a repair date, and tentatively plan to get a tail light fixed tonight before soccer. That was a fine plan, except that it was sunny out and I didn’t leave the playground in time to get that tail light fixed. It’s like in Hawaii when the surf is up. If the sun is out in January, all bets are off on Mrs. Krug sticking to a plan. Well, I could have, but I thought soccer started at 4:15. Turns out it was 4:30 so I really COULD have after all. Darn. I am just not tracking on some details because I’m processing a lot of other things that probably don’t need bandwidth, but they are consuming it anyway. This weekend’s lineup is basketball game tomorrow for Sam, Sunday church, then hoops for Ben, then Burns Night, and Monday is a big flag football game for Sam’s birthday. It will all be very fun, and everyone is excited, and I hope that Dave stays well and that the boys get over their colds soon, and that I can get a handle on my schedule! Ooops…better reschedule German club from Monday or I will be double booked!
Grammie and Grandpa’s visit to the homestead
Sam got the axe!
Ben doing some splitting. He is getting quite reliable, really. I had four kids out there splitting all at one time. Talk about high-intensity supervision. I was really bonking after that. Each had their own chopping block lined up along the driveway behind Ben. I had the great privilege of helping a neighbor girl chop her first piece of wood by herself.
Sam is annoyed that I have laid claim to this Ames axe. It is a good one. Thank you for the present, Doug! (This was a Christmas present – can you picture it arriving via mail?)
Ben is listening to “The Boss” while warming his hands. He loves Bruce. Nothing better than listening to The Boss while doing some manual labor.
Dad was busy making “pencils” for us – thank you for the supply, Dad! You really worked hard!
This was one GNARLY piece of wood! It took both of us to split it. Thank you, Dad, for being my buddy out there as I finally got my pile split!
Seattle with Grammie and Grandpa
Hi Grammie and Grandpa! What a beautiful day and so much fun visiting with you two. A week was just toooo short 🙁
The Chihuly Glass Museum was just unbelievable. Thank you, Grammie, for suggesting we go!
At the top of the Space Needle with Grammie and Grandpa!!!
Ben got a conference championship shirt for a little surprise on our way back to the ferry. He loves it!
Sam in his Seahawks jersey – a surprise we picked up for his birthday on the way back to the ferry. Doesn’t he look so handsome?! He looks so mature here, too. I was speechless when I saw this shot.
Grammie and Grandpa arrive from NJ!
Sam and Ben are very excited to see their Grammie and Grandpa! They have been looking forward to the visit and were beside themselves over dinner with excitement. We have a full weekend ahead of fun and relaxation – basketball game today for Sam, then Church, favorite baker, then hoops for Ben then Seahawks playoff game on Sunday, then Monday to Seattle for Chihully Glass, a model train village, Pike Market and Pioneer Square.
Welcome, Grammie and Grandpa! It is so fun having you here!
Emmy and I encountered a very loud and fast-moving street-sweeper which had its lights flashing. Emmy was pretty interested in it! I thought we might be in for some trouble, but knew we needed to soldier on. The operator graciously slowed down and turned off his engine as we got closer. We made it to the lesson just fine! Thanks so much for capturing the interesting stuff, Steve 🙂
Mindstorm Monday
Sam got into building a creation using Lego Mindstorms today – he began with a guy called Everstorm who seems to snore when you turn him on. A snoring robot? Really? (Wirklich? Yes, it was German Stammtisch today, too.) He really made great progress, then sweet Dave helped him build more after dinner. Dave was still in his work clothes when he dug in. Sam was darting back and forth from the build instructions fetching parts and lining them up for his dad who was using the iPad 3D modeling feature to check his assembly. They have 4 or 5 more “missions” for building then they can test the design. Pretty cool! Mom and Richard – we couldn’t do this without your hand-me-down amazing Vaio. Sam is just thrilled to have a computer with a bit bigger screen and which responds. He’s able to do his online homework and submit it, he’s tracking cubing times in Excel, and checking email. Unbelievable.
Meanwhile, I got to try out a Tennessee Walking horse today for the first time. Despite some YouTube introductions to the gaits, I remain a bit baffled. The fast walk (running walk?), the pace, the flat walk…I also got an introduction to the patterns used when riding a dressage test and how to interpret my trainer’s commands (crossing out of the circle, crossing through the circle, how to make a proper circle, all of which needs a lot of work for me). There is not a moment’s rest when riding dressage. You are thinking about your cues all the time. I am so lucky to have found a very good trainer who is intent on seeing growth with every lesson.
I’m also working on manuscripts and grants this week and volunteering in class…Here’s a picture of Sam and his Dad:
Sam and Dave working on a robot!
A day in Seattle at the Pacific Science Center
The Pacific Science Center periodically holds a Spotlight on Scientists where visiting scientists come in for 3 hour stints hosting hands-on exhibits for families to learn more about their work. It is WHY I renewed our membership today. We got to spend 2.5 hours with 5 scientists who work on vaccines, designing drugs that don’t hurt ear cell hairs, an anthropologist and a veterinarian who is now working on viruses which jump between species. It is always good to show kids that grown-ups can find work that is meaningful and which they’re passionate about, and pays for the home and food! Just takes some determination and focus to get there.
We had fun looking at other exhibits as well, and wrapped up with an IMAX documentary on the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Wow – that was impressive in the sheer effort, number of lives lost blasting tunnels and building fragile-looking bridges to span huge lengths of track. Unreal. Many of the workers were Chinese. Really makes you want to take a train trip through the Canadian Rockies to honor them.
Fish are used in the lab to look for genes that seem to be resistant to damage.
This would block the drug from damaging the ear cells (red target). The Lego bricks would keep the drug from binding to that cell, protecting it.
The fish with this pentagon-shaped “gene” retained their hairs even when exposed to the drug. So…what proteins do their genes code for? How can we learn from that?
Pulling back layers of dirt to uncover what might have been a cooking site. This turned into a longer chat than you might think – how can you tell how quickly people left?
This scientist works for a cancer research center. He is a veterinarian as well. Very nice guy. Also liked crystals and rock collections as a kid. Turns out some viruses assume a crystal shape to be able to pack into a space more efficiently. The octahedron is a preferred shape. Sam liked that. This is us invading cells with our viruses. Some cells are easier to invade than others.
Thermal imaging is fun!
Doing a slide – from basketball.
Uh oh – look where mommy turned in! A cupcake shop!!!
Beautiful day!
New Year’s Day hike
Out on a great jaunt with 5 other families – 11 kids and 11 grown-ups!
Thanks guys – that was fun!
At Treehouse Cafe afterwards. Our poor waitress – we did call ahead and let them know that 22 people were coming..