Bisco is our 2 year old golden retriever.

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 |  |

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 |  |

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 |  |

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 |  |