Moving On... It's been a busy June. We finally moved to our new abode, which involved moving vans, storage runs and such. Thankfully, we're all set. We just need to sell our previous house, and we're good to go.  We're still putting things away a little at a time. Allison is excited to go to kindergarten at her new school next year. We went to the New Family event yesterday. Allison and Katherine promptly headed for the playgrounds. We peeled them off for a trip to the classrooms, the snack table and for a presentation in the auditorium. Allison was surprisingly quiet with the kindergarten teachers, saying a brief hello. She finally opened up when a teacher asked if she liked to read Magic Tree House. Allison promptly answered that Yes! she loves the series, and even has the first half of books at home!  These days her book selection is more varied. She's migrated to Katherine's old collection of Rainbow Magic Fairy books. And, Katherine has moved on to the Bailey School House kids, occasionally still reading through her A-Z Mystery Series. Thankfully, we get the library summer reading list later this week. And, the girls are excited to sign up for the library reading program, which awards a new laptop to the Grand Prize Winner. Making Money Katherine loves trips to Office Depot. I'm not sure I understand the appeal. But, she loves to stand in the writing utensil aisle, count her allowance money and see what she can purchase. I've told the kids they can earn extra money if they help around the house. So, both kids mopped and dried the laundry room floor and vacuumed their rooms and got an extra dollar. Allison also mopped the downstairs bath and vacuumed the entire downstairs...very fastidious and careful in the process. Allison told me the other day, "Mom - thank you for buying this new house. I will help you clean it since you can't do it by yourself." Gotta love that!   By Steve Bush at 5:08:14 PM |  |

Our Spring Break We tagged along with Steve down to Palo Alto on his recruiting trip, turning a one day commitment into a family vacation. Our goal for this vacation was to visit places we hadn't been before (or the kids didn't remember visiting): 1) Day 1: Drive from Palo Alto to Monterey Bay Aquarium in Bay Area traffic. We have tons of amazing pictures of the fish, and the kids took pledges to eat one less burger a week to save the world. Whew!  You may/not remember the blue shell, where we took a picture of the girls when they were 4 and 1. This picture turned out just as interesting. :) 2) Day 2: Stay in Palo Alto. The kids were SO excited to visit the pool, which was frigid. So, you can see pictures of them wrapped up in towels basking in the sun. If nothing else, we got lots of vitamin D - and less swimming than expected during the trip.  Dad made good on his promise to jump in but quickly jumped back out due to the cold water. 3) Day 3: Go to Exploratorium, San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf, then the Disney Family Museum in the Presidio. We met KJ at this very new museum which we ended up exploring more fully on our last day. Without kids, we could have easily spent 2-3 hours reading the exhibits, but with the kids it was a much shorter trip. Allison enjoyed watching the old Disney cartoons. 4) Day 4: Go to San Jose and the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. Wow! The outdoors were amazing. Allison and I played almost a full game of Senet, before Steve and Katherine pulled us away for an In-and-Out Burger run. The inside was fascinating. Again, it was a speedy trip thru the exhibits as Allison's main preoccupation was....mummies. There are four mummies, and she looked at all of them. We also walked thru the mockup of an Egyptian tomb. We later hung out with an old friend and his family while Steve recruited at Stanford. The kids loved running around the Palo Alto park and playing with their buddies. 5) Day 5: Check out, go to San Franciso for some last sight seeing which included the museum, Embarcadero and Coit Tower. House Stuff Our home is finally (well...within a couple hours) of being on the market. Funny enough, to me and Steve, this means having a sign in front of our house. To Katherine, this means having a home on the Windemere or Redfin web site. The last couple of months, she and Steve have been surfing the Windemere web site for homes. Ironically, all the things that she thinks are cool are the things on my "do not buy" list, including hot tubs, pools, elevators... Allison is aware but less focused on the home selling/buying process thankfully. Her only concern is making sure she gets a decent room in the new house!  For the time being, Bisco has been relocated to his new condo in the garage, e.g. a roomy wire crate with a nice pad. He goes in during the day when we're cleaning or when we might have realtors/prospective buyers visiting. Then, he comes out at dinner time to hang out and socialize during family time and the evening. He's also getting brushed with his new furminator brush, which seems to be cutting down on shedding significantly.     By Steve Bush at 12:21:03 PM |  |

What are we up to these days? Simply, we've finished the kindergarten application process for Allison, and we've been clearing out our house of clutter and such. Old school papers, books, bank statements have been recycled or shredded. We've dragged things out of the garage to go to the dump (sadly not usable anymore), and donated numerous car loads of "stuff" to Goodwill. Many boxes of books have gone to Half Priced Books, so they can be re-read by anyone interested in Plato, Galileo, or say even Dante. (Confidently I can say that we have no intention of re-reading the Inferno or the Manifesto...) The girls are reading up a storm. As part of the cleaning and purging process, I finally found a box of my old childhood books. They include wonderful stories like Flat Stanley, Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Rats of NIMH...Katherine pulled out Mary Poppins from the stack of books. She read it cover to cover in two days and then went to the library to check-out Mary Poppins Comes Back. Allison has now claimed the Mary Poppins book by putting her bookmark in it and has started the first several chapters. We went to Game Night for lower elementary kids last night at school. We took Allison along, telling her that she had to play by the rules. Allison listened carefully to the rules and loved the experiece of playing new games like Castle Keep, Feed the Fish and Rattlesnake. Katherine did too, although Operation Shrek was a big hit. :)     By Steve Bush at 3:27:13 PM |  |

Jack and Annie Allison loves her Magic Tree House books. She is now the proud owner of four hard-bound books, specifically the later Merlin Mission editions. She knocks the hard-bound cover and says, "These can't get hurt." Today Allison acquired the Sea Serpent adventure. She read aloud several chapters this morning, while I attempted a crossword puzzle (half-listening to her). So, before bedtime, she and I sat down to really read the book--which uses surprisingly complex words and is fairly suspenseful for a children's book. For instance, when Jack and Annie met the "Spider Queen," Allison just stopped and pushed the book to me. She sidled away from the book, covered her eyes and listened as her heroes escaped from the queen's cave. Several chapters later, Katherine crept in. Ostensibly reading her Rainbow Magic Fairy books in the other room, she had been listening to our reading. Allison and I then alternated pages and chapters until we finished the adventure. At several points, the suspense grew, and we just had to laugh. For instance, Jack says to the Sea Serpent, "Don't come any closer. I have the sword." Next sentence intones, "The sea serpent moved closer." Or, after Jack sees the Spider Queen with eight red beady eyes and eight hairy legs which is as big as him, Jack says, "Whatever you do, Annie, don't look up!" Annie then looks up and screams, "AHHHH." Needless to say, Allison and I are a little hoarse. I think we must have read for over an hour. :)  We might also convert Katherine to Magic Tree House from Rainbow Fairies. She has managed to collect all but one of the Special Edition books; Allison has the one book that she doesn't own. Katherine says she likes the Special Editions because they are really three books in one. She is also reading her Encyclopedia Brown books and A to Z Mysteries. Tired...Cold The kids really needed some exercise today, and Allison in particular. Due to rain on Friday, her classroom had indoor recess, and she's been a bit antsy all weekend. Early this afternoon, while it was sunny, Allison looked out hopefully and asked if she could go outside. She then enlisted Katherine to roller-skate and us to accompany them around the neighborhood. Katherine can really skate. She zipped around the neighborhood with no issues. Rollerskating with Allison is a bit more exciting. She did the wild arm wave thing and landed on her bottom several times. She also tried to accelerate going downhill, while Katherine was perfectly happy to just roll down the hills. Allison is a bit hampered by her clamp on rollerskates, unlike Katherine who has full-on leather skates with nice brakes. However, Allison is at least a couple shoe sizes too small for real rollerskates. After rollerskating, we then biked to a coffee shop several miles away for kids hot cocoa. The weather turned colder and more windy. Five minutes into the ride home, Allison simply stopped. She sadly said, "Tired....Cold" With a bit of encouragement, she stood up and started pedaling again.   By Steve Bush at 10:07:48 PM |  |

It's the Economy... Katherine is an amazingly observant child. A couple days ago, she had been playing "Katherine's Sweet Shop" in the playroom. This involved providing one of several handwritten and typed menus to guests, serving them food, billing them and providing change from her plastic cash register. She even had donned an apron, with notepad and pen to take orders in her apron pocket. After both Steve and I had "breakfast," Katherine announced a few times that "Katherine's sweet shop is open...." No one came. Then, we heard massive activity, followed by a glum silence. Katherine had taken down her handwritten sign to the playroom. She replaced it with another stating, "Katherine's Sweet Shop - Closed - for Lease" and "If you want your last meal, you should come today." Apparently, not only did she not have a line of customers out the door, but she also looked in the cash register and had only $1 left.  She said that she had seen the "Closed For Lease" sign in many empty storefronts here and in Boston. The sign has been taken down, as Katherine has decided to re-open and try her business again. One of our New Years traditions is to crack open a bottle of Martinellis, sit in front of a fire and discuss what we're grateful for. As always, its an interesting discussion. Perhaps the most fitting for 2009 was Allison's comment: "I'm glad Dad didn't get laid off."  That said, she followed it with, "If Dad did get laid off, then he'd spend more time with his kids." (Admittedly, we've tried to explain that lots of people lost jobs and $ thru investments this year. But, seriously, where does this stuff come from?!) Boston I'll have to go thru and find pictures to post. But, here's a quick rundown of highlights from the trip: Lots of ice cream - Toscaninis and Rancs Dim sum Legal Seafood State Street House & Museum (Tea from Boston Tea Party!) Children's Museum   By Steve Bush at 12:09:58 AM |  |

More Sweet Shop... Katherine and Allison swapped gifts with their grandparents last night and with Patty today. They were overjoyed with their gifts, with some interesting outcomes: - Allison received three sets of Benderoos from her grandparents (long story brought about by infomercials on Nick). She gave one set to Katherine.  - Katherine promised to buy Allison a new stroller at Build-a-Bear using part of her gift card. Apparently, Allison's stroller was slightly damaged in a recent playdate. - They both received Playdoh sets, an ice cream maker and burger maker, from Patty. Both kids pretended to be staffing Katherine's Sweet Shop, making pretend food.         By Steve Bush at 9:56:18 PM |  |

Bookworms Allison walked into the house yesterday with her nose stuck in a book. She was just thrilled beyond belief that her librarian at school let her check out a Magic Tree House book. From 4:00 to 4:40, she sat in the family room and read aloud from the book. She 'shined' the book and held it up for us for see pictures. She then carefully put a tissue in the book to bookmark her spot and closed it to read later. Tonight we took the kids to Borders. We told them that they could pick one chapter book a piece to take to Boston. Allison picked a hard-bound Magic Tree House book. Katherine picked a Rainbow Magic Fairy book and read the book cover to cover before bed. Allison read the first chapter aloud of her book - so proud to read a big girl book all by herself just like Katherine. The Body Shop The girls went with Patty yesterday after school to pick up a couple Body Butters at the Body Shop. With cold weather and dry house, shea butter seemed like a good solution to dry skin. The kids must have really enjoyed their visit. After bath last night, Katherine lined up their "product" and asked us to shop at her store. She gave us the salesperson spiel, asked if wanted to try the mosturizer, and gave us fake money to buy it. She assigned prices to her product and rang up the sale using her play cash register. Katherine's imagination is boundless. Spelling Test Allison recently figured out that she can give Katherine her spelling test. Simply, it involves reading five sentences clearly and slowly. So when she sees us whip out the yellow handout with spelling sentences, Allison rushes in and asks to help. She rolls around Katherine's bed while reading sentences. It's fun to watch.     By Steve Bush at 8:16:17 PM |  |

Catching Up Yes. I haven't updated the blog in months. :) So, let me try and catchup. Both girls are working hard at school these days. Katherine asked me a couple weeks ago to help her with math. So...we've been practicing lots and lots of problems, rote memorization (ex. 7+8, 9+6), dynamic addition and interesting word problems. Katherine's been plugging away at dynamic addition almost every night, diligently carrying the one. The kids love the word problems. Several of our sample word problems are as follows: Paupau plants two tomato plants in the beginning of the summer. In June, they produce 8 and 5 tomatoes. In July, because of slugs, her production is down to 3 and 5 tomatoes. Then Allison brings over beer from our house to reduce the slug population. In August, the plants produce 9 and 8 tomatoes. How many did she get by the end of the summer? Katherine's classroom goes to the Space Needle for a class trip. There are 20 children. The elevator can take only 5 at a time. How many trips does the elevator need to make? Mom and Dad are walking thru the Costa Rica rainforest. We look up and see 5 monkeys. Each monkey has eaten 2 bananas. How many peels should we see on the ground? Allison is bringing home amazing preschool works. This one caught my attention: "thE LIYIN FISH has SPICKS that can make you sick and make you diy Love ALLISON"  Transcribed it says, "The lion fish has spikes that can make you sick and make you die. Love Allison" Her classroom is studying the ocean and different type of fish, hence the study of lion fish. Katherine and I both looked at the drawn picture, read Allison's description and had to smile. :)  Both girls are reading up a storm. They recently finished a Geronimo Stilton book about cheese pyramids and moved on to Rainbow Fairy Magic books. Katherine can mow through one in about 20 minutes (they're pretty fast). Allison read a few chapters aloud last night; she's a bit slower, but still able to make her way through the book well. Katherine's Sweet Shop Since Katherine was home today with a low grade fever, we had some time to chat about what she wanted to do when she grows up. This is her description of what she wants to do: Katherine wants to run "Katherine's Sweet Shop" She envisions Allison working part-time at her store. Since Allison has said she'd like to be a dentist, Katherine said that Allison can work full-time as a dentist above the sweet shop. Those kids who get cavities from the sweets can go to Allison to have their cavities filled. Both Katherine and Allison would live in a condo above the sweet shop, right next to the dentist office. The sweet shop would serve donuts for $1 a piece. And, it would serve healthy burgers, unlike Wendys. Mom would get a discount on candy.  Katherine has also used Word to create a menu for her sweet shop and drawn many pictures of her shop. As part of our visit to Boston, I told her we should visit Rosies, so she can see a successful bakery. I'm blown away by how intently she's been thinking about this.   By Steve Bush at 10:51:56 PM |  |

I live in a big house. This the first yellow sentence that Katherine has been practicing for homework this week. Per teacher instructions, we've been practicing my speaking and Katherine's writing of half a dozen simple sentences. Goal is for Katherine to learn the usage of specific words (in, your, etc.) and to learn to spell common words correctly. Tonight's discussion went like this: CC: OK, Katherine, pencil down. Listen. First sentence is "I live in a big house." Katherine: Mom, the teacher says it with more expression. CC: Fine. I live IN a Big house! Allison (walking by): I Live IN A BIG HOUSE! Katherine slams door shut and writes sentence. Katherine is really digging her homework packet activities. Part of this has to do with her new big, white desk which is fully outfitted with teacher-suggested materials. She must have spent 30 minutes on Saturday just staring at her desk, re-aligning her pencil cups and arranging other items. Allison's desk arrives this weekend. We've cleared out a space in her room for the same exact desk, with almost the same exact materials. Allison is also practicing her math facts. She threw dice tonight, jumped up and down and then would exclaim the answer. She also tried to spell out the sentences - but needed a bit more help as expected. Next packet has to do with Historical Halloween. We're going to have a lot of fun doing research and finding just the right person for Katherine to represent at school for Halloween. By Steve Bush at 11:01:38 PM |  |

Well, I am massively behind on our blogging for various reasons. That said, I'll start with the most recent activities and work backwards: School FINALLY Started The kids finally started school last week, Katherine on Wednesday and Allison on Thursday. They seemed to really enjoy their classrooms and teachers. Katherine has had the biggest adjustment, but she loves having her own desk, her own snack (not school-provided) and a workplan that she works on everyday. She told us today that she sings something before lunch...at which point she started reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Allison was sure to mention that she sings something too. :)  They both have wonderful teachers, so we're looking forward to positive years! Allison on Two Wheels We probably should have worked on this over the summer, but there didn't seem to be a big rush. Well, we dragged the old 12" Trek steel bike out of the garage today and popped Allison on it without training wheels. I did this once or twice this summer, and she seemed to enjoy having me run up and down the street with her. She and Katherine also "practiced" riding on the front lawn last month. That mostly involved shrieking and falling and laughing. Today I popped Allison on her bike, pushed her and she TOOK OFF. She rode down the street at least 20 yards and then promptly braked and fell over. So, we practiced stopping the bike another few times and she got the hang of braking, keeping both hands on the handlebars and straddling the bike. By the end of the week, I expect she'll be proficient. I told Steve tonight. It was almost like Allison just said, "I can do it." And, then she did.  This was very different than our experience with Katherine, who was ~4.5 years old when she went to two wheels. I guess this goes to show how different two siblings can be! Encyclopedia Brown One of my favorite books ever (besides Rats of NIMH) is Encyclopedia Brown. I loved how you can read one chapter, ponder it, and then inevitably flip to the back of the book to read how he solved the mystery. Well, I've been trying to find books that Katherine would enjoy reading, aside from fairy books. I bought two books for her - Encyclopedia Brown (original) and The Case of the Absent Auther (A-Z mysteries). Katherine read both this summer. She first read the Case of the Absent Author. This took her perhaps a couple hours after bedtime. She kept asking me to come in to answer questions like, "What's kidnapping?" So, then I decided to try Encyclopedia Brown - because the chapters are self-contained. Nevertheless, Katherine started reading and couldn't stop. She told Steve, "I want to keep reading, but I'm kind of scared." Steve then explained the concept of suspense. I'm not sure what types of books she'll end up reading, but she does seem to have a penchant for mysteries like me and Steve.  I've promised Katherine that when she gets older she can read the books that I've kept since my childhood (Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew and a bunch of great classics). They're just sitting on our bookshelf...waiting for the kids to read them. Allison likes to think that she reads the Fairy books, like Katherine. But, Cam Jansen and Henry and Mudge are more her speed. :) Sometimes at bedtime, we'll rotate reading various chapters in Cam Jansen. This drives Katherine crazy. She says things like, "Allison is SO SLOW." Then I remind her that she used to read that slow and that Allison is still young. That just motivates Allison to finish her chapter. Don't Stop Believing I definitely need to spend some time on this, but here are the quick highlights from our Yosemite Trip which was AMAZING. 1) Our kids are now huge Journey fans...yes they like big hair band music! Our Backroads guides took them to pizza dinner, while we had an adult dinner. And we came back to Journey fans. They love "Don't Stop Believing" and can sing many of the words. They laugh hysterically at other Journey songs. They also have started listening to John Denver - the total antithesis. Favorites on Steve's iPhone - Thank God I'm a Country Boy and Take Me Home. 2) Katherine and Allison hung in there on the family hikes and rides. For Katherine, her big accomplishment was overcoming initial tears (at being left behind by the other riders except for me...) and then chugging uphill over 2 miles. It was about 4-5% grade on a rocky fireroad- pretty respectable! For Allison, she was definltely bringing up the rear, but she did a 4+ mile hike that involved lots of hills w/out any complaints. 3) Both kids went rock climbing, fully harnessed up Puppydome! While Steve and I climbed Lambert Dome, the kids were down below being helped up a fairly big rock by a rock climbing instructor and a Backroads guide. As Allison described it, they wore "sticky shoes, helmets and used a rope and harness" to get up different faces of the rock. Very cool. 4) Overall, we loved learning about Yosemite and it's history. The kids talk a lot about Galen Clark (Bing him if you don't know who he is). We also spent a few days in Fish Camp around the big Sequoias. 5) We were blown away by the Backroads guides, who focused on flexibility and enabling each family to have the type of experience they wanted. 6) Last, but not least, we spent another 4.5 days in Bay Area running around, seeing the sights, family and old friends. Notably we manage to squeek into the King Tut exhibit at the deYoung museum. Allison is now a devotee of King Tut, his sarcophogus, mummies and Ancient Egypt. She told us, "I want to see Egypt before I die" (Where did THIS come from??) And, she recently insisted on buying a book about mummies at a book fair. Yow. Other very cool things in SF: going through the Science Museum in Golden Gate park, watching the kids with the street entertainers in Fisherman's Wharf (they were amazed by the jugglers, the impersonators, etc), learning about 7 gill sharks at the Aquarium on the Bay, and many more things. Now that the kids are older, we can really enjoy travelling with them and going to cool places. We've already got a short list of future Backroads trips and ideas for other amazing destinations. Winthrop In early August, we headed east to Winthrop to stay at the Sun Mountain Lodge for an extended weekend. The girls loved the experience for many reasons. One major highlight was staying in their own room - which was connected to our room. They also loved riding and swimming along with the paddleboats on Lake Peterson and then hitting the lodge pools in the late afternoon. We went with a few other families, which made the trip more special. One of the benefits of a water-focused weekend was the opportunity for the kids to keep practicing their swimming. We also did this during our Bay Area trip, where we swam daily at the Tenaya Lodge. Both girls practiced swimming with big arms and big kicks. Funny enough, Katherine has finally gotten into gear with swimming. After years of swim lessons where she didn't want to get her face wet, she can now plow through the water. Allison just can't keep up with her shorter legs and arms. Katherine is now enrolled in Level 3 swimming at the gym, while Allison is still in Level 2. By Steve Bush at 10:35:05 PM |  |

Master Magi Katherine and Master Magi Tebbi? We decided to get away last weekend to Great Wolfe Lodge, a waterpark near Chehalis. The kids *loved* the waterpark. And, they loved MagicQuest - more on that later! Highlights our stay: - The Kids Cabin themed room (see bunks) - The "toddler" pool where Allison spent most of her time. It was really 4' deep, but Allison thought it was a toddler pool - The raft ride that Katherine did with Steve - Arcade with games and prizes - All the automated animals and pictures that the kids could animate with their wands MagicQuest is a game that requires you to buy a wand and pay for game time. With the wand, you can complete 10 "rune" challenges and 3 adventures. Each rune involves running up and down the staircases of the lodge, the hallways and waving wands to gather items for the rune. In all, the helpers told us that they estimate it's a 10 mile hike to finish the game. It took us about 6 hours over two days to finish the game. By the end, Katherine was the last one standing in our family. Allison had resorted to eating a bag of popcorn and handing over her wand to Steve to finish the game for her. On on first day, at the MagicQuest shop, the helper asked the kids in turn for their game names. Katherine gave her name. Allison mumbled something like "Tebbi," and that's what showed up everytime we waved our wand at the main game tree. Steve and I were impressed with the thought that went into this lodge. There were no barriers to purchasing anything - just wave the room bracelet under a scanner, and it would be added to your checkout bill. There was no reason to leave the hotel. Besides the fact that its in the middle of nowhere, the lodge has lots of amenities for kids and adults alike. Steve particularly enjoyed the margaritas in the waterpark. :) You did what? We are continually amazed at Allison. Yesterday she was standing at the front door playing with a big rock. She picked up the rock...and dropped it on her toe! The doctor today said its just a bad bruise that will linger for a couple weeks. Steve and I just shook our heads. What an Allison thing to do. On a more positive note, Allison finished her reading board. Katherine did as well, although it took 2.5 hours straight of reading to do this. For reaching 70 books on their reading boards, they each received a Hays Disney-themed suitcase. These are something else, virtually indestructible with lightup wheels. Allison just about flipped out when I handed her the princess suitcase. Katherine's eyes bugged out, and she promptly read a pile of fairy books afterwards. Our Adventures The kids and I visited the serpentarium in Monroe, home of reptiles. We saw amazing things, from snakes to turtles, alligators, lizards, etc. Katherine wasn't too excited to stand next to the cages...hence the pictures of Allison with reptiles. The girls went to their neighbor's birthday party. It was luau themed as you can see. We also went to Derby Days a few weekends ago. The girls rode in the kids parade with a bunch of other neighborhood kids. We rode in the "sports fan" section of the parade with decorated bikes.     By Steve Bush at 10:31:07 PM |  |

Happy Fourth of July I found a bunch of pictures from Allison's birthday party - from the G10. So...here they are! The weekend has been very busy so far. Sharon and Jamey arrived late Friday night, and yesterday we spent much of the day playing games, doing puzzles and resting. The kids actually took naps, because for the first time ever, we stayed up late for fireworks! Steve and the girls went to the local QFC to buy legal fireworks a few days ago with our neighbors. From smokebombs to desert roses and sparklers, the kids went oooh and ahhh. Then the big fireworks came up - nothing to rival the illegal fireworks in the neighborhood - but still impressive. Katherine has her list of favorite fireworks, which she shrieked at all night. Poor Allison made it through the sparklers and then kept trying to run in the house "I want to go INside..." Finally, even after I held her, she went off with her Aunt to safely watch them inside. From outside we could see Allison peering through the playroom window outside, where she was much happier. Today was the first day of blueberry picking at Remlinger Farms. We picked for about an hour in the blazing sun before Katherine called it quits. The rest of us straggled in. We picked and bought three flat of juicy blueberries. The girls worked on the pie - Katherine quietly with Uncle Jamey, and Allison making a bit of a ruckus with Aunt Sharon. Finally, the filling made it into the shell, with the pie now cooling for dessert. Other interesting events: - Katherine can now do Cats Cradle. She practiced and practiced with Sharon until she got it down. - Katherine then "taught" her uncle how to do it. :) - Allison went all the home from Carnation with a mini-inchworm on her leg. She refused to smoosh it - calling it "hurting Mother Nature." - Bisco got his long walk last night to Novelty Hill Road. The kids went too, with a pit stop at the choo-choo train park for some gymnastics bar work.       By Steve Bush at 3:45:48 PM |  |

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 |  |