Summer School The girls have two days of summer school left before summer officially starts. They can't wait to finish, so they can play with their neighborhood friends who are out of school. Allison is thoroughly enjoying her new summer classmates and watching the first years make their way around the classroom. She's done a LOT of pin-poking, tracing. And, she claims to be reading to her teachers. Katherine is learning about the first grade workplan, which is what the teachers use to hold students accountable for their weeks' work. Katherine told me that she finished her first week workplan last Wednesday. She started a new one yesterday. Her one complaint has to do with length of recess, which is apparently shorter than that of the preschoolers. Otherwise, she loves having her own desk where she works, eats. Once she heard about the desk, Allison was very bummed to be still in the Mezzo building, asking me "When can I go to the Main Building??" Recent Activities The girls and I brainstormed a list of goals for our summer (seriously!).  One of our goals is to get in shape for our Yosemite trip. To that end, we biked 11 miles roundtrip from Redmond Town Center to the Red Hood Brewery. Allison rode the trailer bike behind Steve. I cruised behind Katherine, who was on her bike. The first half of the trip was hard mentally for Katherine - but once she saw the brewery she perked up. The back half was much easier. For one thing, we had a great lunch (no beer). And, just as importantly, Katherine was able to count down the mile markers on the Burke Gilman Trail. Now we know that RTC is at mile ~0.5 and that the brewery is at mile 5.5. What else? The girls are working on "exercising their bodies" which includes swimming classes and gymnastics. Katherine was thrilled a couple weeks ago to officially do a cartwheel in gymnastics class. This means that she's earned 5 stars in level 1 gymnastics. Once she demonstrates a kickover (hang from a bar, kick legs over and end up leaning forward on the bar), she qualifies for level 2. I have to say that it's been a long hard road with gymnastics. She started level 1 last summer, and we just managed to stick to it this past year. I gave her the choice of quitting gymnastics or moving up a level once she finishes level 1. Katherine has decided to stick with it - which means more gymnastics fun next year! We have other activities lined up for post-July 4th. They've just started thinking about what they want to do for Derby Days this July. Derby Days claims to host the largest kids parade in the US, where the kids dress up themselves and their bikes and go a whopping 0.3 miles thru Redmond. After discussing this with their next door friends, they're thinking of a soccer theme. I expect that this will change quite a bit over the next week before we rush to decorate our bikes. As well, the kids are chomping to go back on the 545 Express to visit Seattle, and they want to go to the Reptile Zoo to see the 2-headed turtle. It's going to be a very interesting summer. It's Finally Out We're all relieved that Katherine has FINALLY lost her third tooth - lower left of center. This tooth was literally ready to come out for several weeks. Steve kept offering to pull it. Katherine kept pushing it with her tongue. Finally, after chewing some steak at a BBQ next door, Katherine shrieked, "My tooth came out!!" Discussions got tricky after that. Katherine is pretty sure that her parents are Santa. And, she's pretty sure the same is true of the tooth fairy - although I would say that she's hopeful that we're not. To that end, she wrote a very neat note and put it under her pillow: "Dear Tooth Fairy, Please can you Not take My tooth. But you can take my Note." We left the tooth plus $2 and took the note. :) Fur-mination At a friend's recommendation I took Bisco to Petsmart to get Fur-minated. This sounds like a very nasty procedure. But, it's just specially formulated shampoo (hmmm) and 30 minutes of brushing with a special tool. Voila! He looks great.  By Steve Bush at 10:26:57 PM |  |

Our Fairies The girls went to Talia's birthday party yesterday and had their faces painted. They were sooo excited about the process and the end result.         By Steve Bush at 2:26:30 PM |  |

School's Out! School's out for now...the girls have a week and a half before step-up summer school. Katherine gets to go to two weeks of summer school to prepare for first grade. Allison wants to go to regular pre-school summer school, so she won't be left out. :) I've downloaded some of my favorite pictures the last couple weekends. We took the girls to Tiger Mountain last Sunday. We made it exactly .91 mile up the main trail and ~700 ft in elevation gain. Basically, Allison (more so than Katherine) ran out of steam. We took this picture to remember where we stopped. The next time we hike, we'll go further. Both girls ended the school year on a wonderful note. Allison brought home her pillowcase project, which she sewed herself. If you look closely, you can see where she started and stopped each time she sewed. Katherine brought home her kindergarten book of stories and pictures - and an art project book. Thankfully we can say that the girls loved their teachers and their classrooms. Katherine told me a few days ago that she's really going to miss her teachers. Even though she can always visit Mezzo building and say hi to Mezzo C teachers, she won't be in the classroom anymore. I think once she finds out more about the Main Building, for instance she can visit the library in her free time and check out books anytime, she'll be more excited about moving up. The girls also went with me to Sees Chocolate to pick out treats for their teachers along with book gift cards...very exciting and tasty trip. One funny story last week: the girls were "discussing" in the car whose turn it was to sing a song about peace. Steve said, "Do you think it's appropriate to fight about a song that's about peace?" No answer. Then, I asked, "what do you think peace is?" Katherine answered verbally. Allison struck this lotus pose in her car seat and said, "this is peace." I took a picture of her demonstrating this at home in her favorite blue outfit.         By Steve Bush at 9:47:01 AM |  |

3 Days and Counting! This morning we went to a Thank You breakfast in Katherine's classroom. She served us a little breakfast and rolled out her number roll on the sidewalk in front of Mezzo C. The number roll is a very big deal for these kindergartners. My interpretation is that it represents closure on kindergarten and readiness for first grade. For those who haven't seen it, the roll is 50 strips of paper taped together rolled around a piece of TP cardboard. One each paper they write 50 numbers, starting at 1 and ending at 1000 finally. They put little polished rocks on the rolled out pieces of paper when they are done to measure it.We also toured her class garden which is brimming over with herbs. Katherine loves to pick little pieces of herbs, put them in her folder and bring them home. She was very proud to have contributed tarragon, oregano and the pepperment to the garden a couple weeks ago. Allison last night said something very interesting as we were reading a Fancy Nancy book. She said, "I wish I could jump in the book." When I asked why, she said, "Because I want to see what it's like." I wonder where this came from! Katherine is officially entering the bad Knock Knock joke stage. Newest one courtesy of a kindergarten friend, "Knock knock. Who's there? Pencil. Pants will fall down without a belt." And then gales of laughter... Both girls have started their 100 book boards. And, they're even negotiating privileges for when they finish their boards. Katherine doesn't really need the book board per se, but I think she doesn't want to feel left out. Allison started her board a couple weeks ago and is on book 20-something. She is reading the Diego books now...with snappy titles like "Linda the Llama" and also Biscuit books too "Biscuit goes to the Dog Show." She's come quite a way with her reading in the last couple months. It'll be interesting to see where she ends up at the end of the summer. Katherine is a bit peeved that Allison reads "short" books, while her books take longer to read (either silently to herself or out loud to an adult).  By Steve Bush at 2:14:19 PM |  |

Summer is Finally Here The girls are enjoying all the activities of summer - sprinklers, bike rides, parks. Since the weather has been very warm the last couple weeks, we've been on the go pretty much non-stop.   Unfortunately, Steve's grandfather passed away last Sunday. Steve went down to LA the preceding day to be with his family. The girls, while they missed their dad, managed to keep themselves busy over Memorial Day. They biked with a couple little friends, ran in the sprinkler, gardened, went out for a Girl's Dinner Out, etc. They went back to school on Tuesday--fired up for their All School Dance, and I went to work yawning. :) We did more of the same this weekend. Allison went for her first 7+ mile bike ride, on her 16" bike with training wheels! I was so proud of our kids (and our friends' kids) who pushed their bikes up hills, rode through trails on a very sunny Saturday bike ride. The girls also ran next door to play with their friends and hang out before our potluck dinner. Only 8 more days til the end of school. By Steve Bush at 11:26:29 PM |  |

I found a couple pictures from Allison's birthday circle at school - again video is available for on-demand viewing at home. The rest of the pictures appear to be elsewhere (fingers crossed!) As always, last weekend was a flurry of activity. The kids spent one morning playing with their next door neighbor. We took them to the nearby park to play and eat sandwiches, when the ice cream truck showed up! This was a first for Katherine and Allison, so we indulged a bit. The kids had their rocket ship and bubble gum popsicles and listened to the ice cream music. (This was perhaps the first time I had ever heard the theme to "Love Story" played by an ice cream truck. Same for Jingle Bells.) The kids scooted on Razors, and then we handed the kids over to Grandma and Grandpa Bush for a playdate with them and their cousins. They had a great time - and Steve and I headed out to watch Star Trek. (We loved the movie.) On Sunday we made the rounds at Trilogy. We biked over to the Bushes, had a snack, then to my mom's for yet another snack. Fed and happy, we headed home on our bikes. The ride home involves a nice little hill (maybe 5-6% grade?) that goes from my mom's house to the Clubhouse. Katherine was very focused. We talked about reaching the US Flag at the top of the hill without stopping. Katherine slowly pedaled up the hill in her easiest gear and finally made it. She was even fine after she accidentally brushed a pole and fell over near the Clubhouse. Katherine is making a lot of progress these days with her biking. Another source of excitement and investment continues to be our goldfish tank. Most recently, Steve and I came very close to dumping our algae eater into Puget Sound. Somehow in the process of cleaning the tank, the eater evaded Steve and his net. He got pumped thru the siphon into a huge can that we used to capture the dirty water. We carried the can to our driveway and slowly began to pour the water towards the road. Thankfully, we found the very freaked out fish just in the nick of time. He's now hiding in our tank. Our tank also experienced some sort of wierd bloom, which resulted in one of the goldfish sort of swimming on its side. We flushed it and prompted replaced it with a small goldfish from Petco for .... $0.13. To prevent future algae growth and such, we also bought a larger filter and a variety of other implements/conditioners to keep the tank healthy....$100+. Total cost of goldfish ownership continues to climb... We did have some unfortunate news yesterday - Greatgrandpa Vasvary is in the hospital and not doing very well. We talked about it with the kids, who remember him from our last visit to SoCal. We're holding good thoughts for him and the family. Time has flown this year. I can't believe there are only three more weeks of school.         By Steve Bush at 11:09:37 PM |  |

Allison is now Four! We woke up on Saturday to Allison rushing into our room, "Get up. It's my birthday today!" We celebrated with an inflatable party with other small friends, then dinner at Grandma Chang's house. Allison's most prized gift was something Katherine never had...a Trek 6-speed Trailer Bike. We bought this several weeks ago at Gregg's in Bellevue. Allison *just barely* reaches the pedals, to which we added 3 inch blocks. This means that Steve does the vast majority of work, as Allison spins the pedals around and provides commentary to the rest of us. (The trailer bike is attached to Steve's old Trek Allez road bike.)  Our preference was to buy the Burley Trailer Bike, since this is supposed to have a more stable riding experience (less torque due to attachment mechanism).  But, even with the blocks, Allison had at least another 2 inches to go before she could reach the pedals. For our first ride, we went through Redmond Ridge and to Grandma Chang's house in Trilogy. Round trip was close to 10 miles. I rode with Katherine. Steve rode / towed Allison on the Trailer bike. She loved the experience. Even with the wind and cold, she held on and had a great time. As a matter of fact, she turned around almost entirely to talk to Katherine and me. At this point, I yelled to her, "Allison, face forward and look in front of you." She yelled back, "All I see is Daddy's bottom!" We almost all fell off our bikes. What's very exciting for us is that we can now ride together as a family. Steve and I can ride at a very slow but reasonable pace (e.g. with our regular bike shoes and pedals). Katherine can haul on her 20" 6-speed bike - averaging 10 mph today going to QFC with Dad. She can even go up steep hills in gear 1. The kids debate which gear they should be in, which is pretty funny to listen to, "Katherine, I'm on 3!!" And, everyone has a great time. Allison also received a Razor scooter from the Bushes. She practiced all weekend. I found her dragging her scooter up the next door neighbor's driveway (steep incline of course), and then scooting down as fast as she could. She's quite the daredevil. We also celebrated her birthday at school with the Montessori birthday circle. This was probably the highlight of the year for her. According to her teacher, she asked at every circle that day, "Is this my birthday circle?" Well, Steve, Patty and I finally showed up at 2:10 to find everyone seated nicely at circle waiting for us. Allison ran and turned off the light. Then she took the globe, stood by the month of May near the candle and walked around the sun four times. She handed out goodie bags and was thrilled that Katherine could participate as well. Other developmental milestones: - Allison is making progress with her reading. She can sound out simple phonetic words, and she recognizes simple sight words. We've started the 100 book reading board for her, just as we did for Katherine this year. When I asked Katherine if she wanted to participate, she told me, "I'm good. No thanks." - Katherine has really expanded her horizons at school the last couple months. She weaved her own purse, learned to jump rope and went on simple hikes around the neighborhood with her class. She brought home the core of a tree branch that she had drilled a hole in (and strung onto a necklace.)  She told me all about sitting down to get more force on the hand drill and using a vice to hold the branch. Most importantly, she's established herself socially and seems much more relaxed at school and home - which is great! Allison learned an interesting lesson in consumerism last week at the Eton School Book Fair. Every year the school puts on a book fair, which raises funds for the library. Well, I told the kids they could bring a little bit of $ to school (just $6 a piece) from their allowance and savings to spend after school. We talked about the rules: - don't bring the $ to the fair during the day when the class visits the fair. - wait for mom to arrive at 3PM, so we can decide what to buy. - no returns, no exchanges! (school rules) Well, Katherine listened. She knew exactly what she wanted and waited until I got to school. Allison confessed, "I didn't listen to the rules. I bought two books with my 6 dollars." Well, first I was pretty surprised that she could actually afford two books. Then, I was even more surprised when she told me that she bought a book that she already had! Anyway, she told me, "next year, I'll listen to the rules." She got so excited and caught up in the excitement, and learned a valuable lesson - wait and plan before spending money! Both girls are turning into Lego fiends. Steve went shopping and got Allison a City Coast Guard boat, life guard station kit,etc.  Katherine went heads down and put everything together without much help. Allison required more guidance, which was to be expected. Now both girls have Lego boats that they take into bath. Our master bath has turned into a lifeguard station - Legos everywhere! By Steve Bush at 10:24:39 PM |  |

Suzuki Concert Allison was very excited to perform in her first concert - "up like a rocket" and the "A String Concerto." She was on the cusp of playing Twinkle (on the E string), but had some difficulty sustaining a tricky rhythm (actually two rhythms of five). Needless to say, it was exciting to go on stage, perform and bow. Steve taped the concert on the G10, so we have a movie of the performance. Grandma Chang tailored the skirt, and we bought the little black shoes yesterday just for the performance. Hopefully, seeing other kids play will motivate Allison a bit -- and she'll get to wear her little concert outfit again.       By Steve Bush at 10:34:59 PM |  |

Easter Spring break was very exciting for the kids--5 to 6 playdates and one day home with Dad. They went on two Easter egg hunts at friends' houses and played with their cousins at Aunt Pat's house. Our tradition has also been to give the kids a few spring/summer outfits and a toy each. This year we bought ginormous stuffed animals at BabyStyle. Katherine's animal is a lamb - no surprise - and Allison got a big giant purple hippo. They spent at least a couple hours afterwards dragging these huge stuffed animals around the house. Other major events: The girls dyed eggs with Dad. Katherine can really skate now. She and Allison have been practising by pushing their strollers around the driveway. Now, Katherine can get around, no stroller or handholding. I came home the other day to find that Katherine and Patty had been rollerskating in the garage, because it's like a roller-rink. We acquired a THIRD fish today. This algae eater has a tremendous opportunity and job ahead of itself. We did clean the tank with a siphon-type device a couple nights ago, but the tank is proving to be a challenge to keep clean. We've already removed the dead plants and replaced them with plastic plants. And, Steve replaced the filter with another quieter model. I have a feeling we're not done yet. Katherine's two front teeth are getting loose. The tooth fairy is going to be busy this spring and summer!     By Steve Bush at 10:04:51 PM |  |

Second Tooth Gone! We got home tonight from a late work day and dinner. Patty informed us right away that the Tooth Fairy needed to visit. Katherine's second lower middle tooth has been very wobbly for the last month or so. After bath, Katherine pushed the tooth back and forth with her tongue, and Patty pulled it right out! Steve and I decided that the second tooth going rate is $2 (as opposed to the $5 first tooth rate). Katherine is on a tear to accumulate money. Yesterday she asked hopefully if she could earn extra money by helping with laundry. I informed her that laundry is part of base chores, but that I would talk to Dad about extra work around the house. We're still brainstorming...I'm not sure what she's saving her money for, but she sure seems motivated! Allison Stories Being around Allison is always very interesting. On Monday, coming home from her violin lesson, we stopped by Chevron to fill the hybrid with gas. As we pulled away from the station, Allison asked, "Where does the gas go?" Unfortunately, I didn't have a very good answer right away, but it was thought provoking. She essentially was wondering why we keep filling the car with gas. Earlier this week I walked by the fish tank and noticed a new addition. Allison had assumedly found some old goldfish stickers in her arts and crafts area. She picked the gold colored stickers and put them directly on the fish tank. Katherine walked by later and immediately started to peel them off.  :) By Steve Bush at 9:06:57 PM |  |

Our new family members As many folks know, we have a very affectionate, but high maintenance dog - who I've nicknamed the "million dollar dog." He's pretty much allergic to the Pacific Northwest. The kids are well aware that we're not planning to get another dog after Bisco. They know that our next family pet will be fish. Today, we got the fish. And, we still have the dog. How did this happen? I attended a thank you luncheon for fundraising volunteers at school. These luncheons are always very nice - and several classrooms get to stop by and put on a performance. Katherine was super excited to perform a percussive piece with her classroom. It was the cutest performance I've seen in a very long time. As one of their special touches, the school staff served goldfish in water goblets for us to take home. Voila! We now have two goldfish nicknamed "Goldy" and "Heart" - which respectively belong to Allison and Katherine. We have a hurking 10 gallon aquarium in our living room. The fish are swimming peacefully around. Katherine now has two pages of facts that she's written on a clipboard about goldfish. I'll have to transcribe it someday; it's a hoot. Fingers crossed for goldfish longevity! Reading snake for Allison   Allison has been waiting a long time for the Reading Snake. It's essentially a picture of a snake that kids color in, as they make their way through introductory reading books. Allison has been asking her teachers (I think) to start the snake....and she finally got to start today with Max books! She's also been reading up a storm at home with the Bob books. She's very persistent, sounding out words she doesn't know...page after page after page. She had set the goal that she would finish the second box of Bob books, which she did, before going back to the first box (which she felt was too easy). The challenge will be getting repetition and practice of ALL the books not just the harder books.     By Steve Bush at 11:45:10 PM |  |

Washing Legos Steve has many interesting ideas, but this one really took the cake. Last weekend the girls visited a few little friends and had a great time playing with their Legos. Steve was so inspired by this that he immediately went home and bought Legos...on eBay. To be clear, he bought 20 POUNDS of Legos that were delivered yesterday in an enormous box. All was well until yesterday morning when Steve said, climbing into his car before work, "The Legos should arrive today. You just need to wash the Legos...Just go online and read about how to wash them." The key word is "Just." This pretty much consumed our evening. I ruled out two techniques that I read about on the web. One involves putting Legos in a pillow case, tying the case shut and washing them in your washing machine (fingers crossed the pillow case doesn't open and ruin your washing machine!) The second involved putting them in a dishwasher and hoping they don't melt. (Seriously!) We opted for washing them by hand. Steve dumped all 20 pounds into the girls' bathtub with dishwashing soap and swished them around in hot water. Then we rinsed them out in batches in the bathroom sinks. Then we put them in a huge plastic bin where I mopped them with dry towels to get the water off. THEN Steve dumped them on the family room carpet to dry further. As Steve noted, "the girls will remember this for the rest of their lives." I'm attaching pictures of the process. Family Visit Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jamey visited this past weekend to celebrate my mom's birthday. After they climbed Tiger Mountain with Mom (Yep), Sharon and Jamey came over to make apple pie. We then headed over to Bamboo Garden for some nice spicy Chinese food. On Sunday, Sharon and Jamey took the girls ice skating in Kirkland. The kids had a great time...and slept well Sunday night. Other Pictures Patty took the kids late last week to the Zoo during parent/teacher conferences, when they had half day school. They stayed almost the whole afternoon, visiting the entire zoo. Allison was so tired, she slept on the way home. I should also note that the girls got haircuts yesterday afternoon after school. They got "cotton candy" scent in their hair and sparkles too. Oh boy! We also took the girls to Baskin Robbins for a special treat, because both their teachers gave positive reports during parent/teacher conferences. Grandma Dottie made quilts with both girls. Katherine brought hers home. Allison decided to leave hers on her special shelf.                   By Steve Bush at 10:50:06 AM |  |

School Out We recently had mid-winter break which meant no school for an entire week! Then the following week (last Thursday), it snowed one to two inches in Redmond. Since Eton follows the Bellevue School District weather schedule, and Bellevue decided to cancel school, the girls had no school. With Patty's help, they managed to squeak out a snowman from very little snow in our yard. Rainbow Fairies Through trips to the library, Katherine has discovered the Rainbow Fairies. The premise is pretty simple. Two girls become fairies in various situations to help other fairies defeat Jack Frost's nefarious plans...or something like that. We've read three books so far. To help encourage independent reading, we'll alternate pages. Allison, of course, has decided that she can read the fairy books too. She will sit for minutes at a time, thumbing through the book muttering to herself. In the picture, Steve is reading a book from the Bushes about a boy and a dragon. Katherine was a bit apprehensive, which is why she's trying not to listen - but she really is!               By Steve Bush at 11:00:27 PM |  |

Burt's Bees Every year Steve and I play in Puzzlehunt with a team called the Killer Bees. This year we placed a respectable fourth place, with a team of core and new players. I explained to Katherine that we were very pleased to place fourth, thinking this was a good way to reinforce the whole "have fun, its not about winning" message. Here are Katherine's remarks about PuzzleHunt: "Maybe you should consider calling your team the I Want to Win Bees" "I accidentally called your team Burt's Bees...not the Killer Bees.." (to gales of laughter) "Mama, staying up all night is crazy."  (Yes, I know she's right) Katherine also proclaimed today that she had a dream come true today. She learned about the pbs.org web site, which has little games based on PBS show characters for young children. Katherine spent her 10 minutes of computer time tonight clicking around the site and playing the Clifford game. She was very focused, checking out the site by herself. Allison told us, "Katherine, it's not fair. You dont let me use the computer at all!" By Steve Bush at 11:15:42 PM |  |