Monthly Archives: April 2014
Testing mobile post
Out mountain biking in the rain 🙂 So peaceful!
How in the world do I hit post?
Capturing rain for a drink 🙂
Goings on – science fairs and skates
Ran into this cute character out on a hike. I couldn’t resist taking a picture of his staff which he carved himself. I think he said his name was Arch. I learned about where some Native Americans have an awesome carving studio, so have tucked that away for a summer adventure. Isn’t this the neatest?
This tower of dominoes was over 5 feet tall. We kept it up all week so Sam could build higher. Can you believe that despite a very hectic schedule all month (April has truly been nuts) I managed to slow down just enough as I raced around so as not to knock this down? This speed bump really didn’t bother me because it reminded me of Sam.
Reward for successful science fair setups! This is the sushi carnage! You would not believe how much sushi these two guys eat. I spent $73 dollars just on them. Water for me. Two mochi ice creams. Unreal!
Some mountain bike jumping with neighbor boys! I even did this one!
Down at the mine comparing rocks to see which ones seem most likely to yield something precious 🙂
Ben loves soccer, so we got him some shin guards and actual soccer shoes for his practice. That guy has a kick on him! I was zipping back and forth between the hockey rink where I was skating with Sam to the soccer field. Incredible luck – I managed to see Ben score! Such a strut afterwards!
Welcome to Minecraft dinner!
We thought it would be a rainout on Sunday, so hatched a plan to let the kids play some Minecraft and celebrate the indulgence with a dinner, using only foods found in Minecraft. The menu: roast chicken, beetroot soup, mushroom stew and cake. Day Road neighbors came bearing beetroot soup (Patricia, not surprisingly, just happened to have beets on hand!) and her lovely kale salad which is sooo delicious.
Patricia adding a little herb (fennel?) to the beetroot soup. Patricia is a wonderful friend. She is a calm and patient mom, never harried, and makes wonderful dinners for her family every night. I must learn to make a pot pie as her children adore it.
Beetroot soup! Fantastic, Patricia!
Who likes beetroot soup!
Thursday evenings
Sam looks and acts like he’s 15 every now and then. This was one of those nights. He was just so contained within himself, focused and seeking new challenges in the music. Plus, he looked pretty darn handsome in my opinion, too 🙂
And little Ben is playing the uke very well, practicing his scales and learning to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, just like Sam did. This is the ukulele given to Sam by Eddie Kamae. It is precious to us because it carries memories with its tunes.
Robotics for Rotarians
Sam was invited to a Rotary Luncheon in honor of recent grant recipients. He brought his cube-solving robot to illustrate what the funds are helping students do. He raced the robot while the remarks were being made about the grant. The Rotarians were so gracious in their warm welcome, and the pair (Sam and his robot) were show-stoppers. He enjoyed the buffet, too 🙂
Busy day – back at school we had an after-school activity, then the robot popped out afterwards and entertained the kids. Sam did more racing. The robot wins most of the time, but sometimes Sam can beat it!
JPL Engineer Paulo Younse came up to Bainbridge to speak at ALL seven of our schools! He was a huge hit. In addition to being a bright and articulate ambassador for NASA/JPL, he really connects with kids of all ages and encourages them to dream big. He makes what they’re learning in school relevant by showing them math and science are tools they’ll need to do cool things. He also advocates for being a well-rounded person, someone who is a good leader and communicator. We thoroughly enjoyed having him here. This picture is at our house – we gave him a bit of respite between events (12 in three days speaking to 3700 kids!). Sam is racing the robot and just won!
Ben and Kai showing Paulo Minecraft. Can you believe it – we’re able to show Paulo something?
This little boy had robot socks – so cute!
At the high school, driving his rover over some students! Thank you so much, Paulo! We miss you!
Roller hockey starts!
Out getting hockey gear (inline hockey) for Sam in Lynnwood (near Everett). We spent a fortune! Here’s hoping Ben likes hockey, too! This bag is pretty heavy.
Then off to check out a nearby hike. Dave has been really great about squeezing in adventures into otherwise mundane outings. This was fun.
Now Sam is at the local rink for his assessment so the league can create teams. He and I and a couple friends have been playing at least weekly over at school, so he’s had some time on his skates, but he’s still new. He’ll learn a lot, fast, I’m sure!
Waiting his turn.
Go Sam! He’s fast, but he doesn’t do much stopping or turning yet.
Those wall stops are pretty handy.
I thought this was so cute. Ben was bringing the bag around to where we were so it was closer to us. Good thinking. He’s looking in at his brother.
Too much loafing around over break
The chickens did a lot of lounging, too. We had glorious weather here, thankfully. Near 60 degrees and sunny 4 out of 5 days! You can see Merlin and Gordon actually taking a dust bath right near each other. Not only do they rarely rest–roosters are always on guard–but they rarely hang out near each other. This confirmed that Spring Break really was relaxing if two roosters would deem it safe enough to dust bathe simultaneously!
A little repair work to do! We actually meant to do lots of yard work over break, to take care of “The Abbey” (we watched Downton in about 5 nights) but more stuff ended up falling into the disrepair than repair category. Looking forward to Richard’s visit! I did fix the window, though. Not sure why it took me several broken panes of glass to realize ACE sells plexiglass…
Ben watched baby Esther for 30 min while Ingunn mowed the lawn. I found Ben very entertaining, too!
He went on and on and on in a 30-min monologue that just didn’t stop. Esther would kick her feet and wave her arms, much to Ben’s amusement.
Spring Break fun
I think this is where it got busy and I just lost the plot – didn’t grab time to share the photos because memories were racking up too quickly. This is how we spent Spring Break – really without a plan. Kids came over from all directions to shoot hoops and run around on trails with their walkie talkies. It was so great to see kids we don’t get to see enough of because they’re busy in sports during the week. I started a fire because it was grey out and I was hankering for those good fire smells. Then we got hungry and I remembered I had SPAM! So we cooked some up. The boys loved it with ketchup!
One of the boys ran home and raided the marshmallow supplies 🙂 Ben is unhappy with his marshmallow.
Ian put chocolate chips in his…hmmm!
Snoqualmie Falls
A trip out to Snoqualmie Falls with the family! We’ve been meaning to go here forever. It’s about 30 min east of Seattle. The spray was hitting us all the way up here, and there was a tremendous thundering sound. Lots of water due to a wet March. Down to the bottom right you can see a little hole where water comes out after it is done driving turbines to generate electricity.
Ben is reading to us – I loved his little finger pointing out the words.
Thanks for taking this picture, Sam!