We have a brand new library in Wenatchee. It's made to look like the surrounding orchards. Clean lines, lots of space, and most importantly lots of books!
The support beams are little reading benches.
Comfy couches for puzzles and reading. I have a feeling we'll be spending a lot of time down there!
Caitlin had to be at work in Seattle for a daytime class. We decided we'd give her some company on the way over and make it into a fun day trip for the kids. Woodland Park Zoo was our destination. We picked up the kids out of their beds at 6am and stuck them in their car seats (in the pajamas). They were so excited to be up before the daylight! Before we reached Caitlin's house (three minutes away) they already planned each of their birthday parties! They have been such wonderful travellers lately! It makes me so comforted that they will be great in California in two weeks. It was a beautiful drive over Snoqualmie Pass. The road was clear but the trees were full of snow from the night's light snowfall. It was gorgeous!
We flew past the non-carpooling cars which made Caitlin really happy. I "accidentally" said, "Suckers!" Immediately followed by Brooke asking why I called them "suckers" and Oliver wanting to eat a "sucker". We sent Caitlin off to work and plugged the zoo into the GPS. A few minutes away the cell phone rang and Caitlin told us we came to Seattle on the wrong day! Whoops! So, we turned around and picked her up, laughing all the way. So as we spent the morning exploring the zoo, Caitlin got to do a little mall shopping!
The kids had a pretty good time at the zoo. There were no crowds like on the weekends in the summer. It was nice to explore and see the animals without having to fight lots of strollers.
The ZooMazium is a very fun place for the kids to explore.
It even has a front door that is just the right size!
One of our favorite parts to watch was the gorillas!
The kids enjoyed seeing lots of animals and walking around the park. Our last stop was the penguins. There was a cave the kids could play in, so I let them go to check it out. All of a sudden I heard a, "ROAR!" and a terrified "AUUUUUUUGGGGHHH!" from Oliver as he ran to me as fast as he could. I have never seen such a frightened face as that! There was a motion sensor in the cave that made the "roar" happen. I still can't believe/understand why they would do that to kids. It's kind of funny now when I think of it, but I felt SO bad for him!
The kids thought it was fun to make a souvenir penny. They were pretty quickly lost in the car, hopefully found before the vacuum comes to clean up all the crumbs from the trip!
Brooke started learning Suzuki violin at the beginning of the school year. She was really excited about the box violin for the first six weeks. Then we ordered the real thing and it became "hard". She was not interested in practicing more than two minutes a day. I was about to give up on violin when something clicked! She finally is excited about it and asks me to practice. What a difference!
We play a violin game that I came up with everyday because she loves it so much!
This is how we play... There are six color coded songs that she knows drawn on index cards.
She rolls flings the large dice and plays whatever song that is connected to the color on the dice.
I hide stickers, princess pictures, or money under the cards. She is always excited to see what is hiding underneath (even though I been recycling the same "prizes" for the last few weeks)!
Our last lesson went very well. We have little goals every week. This week we will be practicing keeping our eyes on the bow as we play. She has wandering eyes and her bow can get a little off the "highway" if she doesn't concentrate. She looks pretty tired in these photos, it was 8pm and she didn't want to go to bed without practicing!
I'm so inspired by Suzuki violin instruction. It's such a positive approach to teaching music and life skills. I often think to myself, "Well, she's only four... we can let that go..." Suzuki instruction never forgets the future goals: hand position, feet position, soft bow holds, etc. This standard of excellence is not forced in a negative manner or too quickly, its taught gradually in the smallest SMALLEST!!! increments you can imagine.
In this single picture I can think of the months of practice it has taken to find this position. Her right hand has a soft grip (not easy for little ones), long 3rd and 4th fingers on the "frog" of the bow and a curved pinkie standing upright. She places the violin on her shoulder by herself, one handed. Her left hand has a straight wrist, fingers in a "finger tunnel". The violin is upright, not slouched down. Her bow is over her "highway" (the space on the violin between the bridge and the fingerboard) and in her "backyard" (the space on the bow that has been shown with red tape). On and on... I'm so proud of how far she has come!
Here is an example of one of the six songs she can play.
Sometimes life gets so busy and monotonous that I forget to take a quick picture of our everyday life.
Like two sweet kids sharing a laundry basket...
or the cuteness of two kids laughing at an iPad game...
I forget to laugh at a boy who can be so silly...
and I get tired of finding Oliver's "two things" that are so special to him right now...
This is a remember to myself to appreciate the little things in life!
Brooke loves to make things from paper. Last week it was "skis" (she cut a rectangle, poked holes and had me tie a string across), this week it's "kites". No wind needed, just a speedy run down the yard!
I have to admit, it's kind of nice we didn't get too much snow this winter...
It's really feeling like spring lately, we're not complaining!
We decided it would be great to have a break in the routine and hop on the bus with the high school cheerleaders and band for a the trip up to Omak. It was a beautiful chilly sunny day. We read Dr. Suess books, watch a cartoon on my iPad and looked for horses as we made the two hour trip north.
The girls and boys basketball teams played back-to-back games. Kent's pep band sounded great.
We took a break from the games and played at the local park. There is a lot more snow up here than in our area! We walked down to the local bakery and had a cookie before heading back to the boys basketball game. The kids had their first happy meal at McDonalds on the way home and loved the toys inside. They were happy campers all the way home. Oliver played with his new transformer toy which spins around when you squeeze it, hours of entertainment. Brooke sat on her dad's lap with the Boise headphones and listened to the Suessical soundtrack all the way home. She had random singing outbursts which made all the kids giggle. We got home at 8pm and everyone quickly went to bed. Traveling with these two has become so much easier and enjoyable! Brooke said, "Omak is SO much FUN!"
Thankfully it seems like we are getting over our colds. At least the kids seem perky, so I've made sure to include a playground trip each day this week. The kids sure love it after a few months of break from playgrounds.
"I'm gonna get you with this stick!"
On Tuesday we drove up to Chelan for our monthly group violin lesson. I should have taken a photo of the two girls practicing. They are doing so well. They work on being together as they put their violins up with one hand, move their bows together with the same rhythm and even putting their fingers down on the strings to change notes. On our way home we stopped at Walla Walla park (photo above). Even though the sun came out, it wasn't that warm!
We had to go to Costco on Wednesday, so we stopped by Lincoln Park for some exercise. It was closer to 45 degrees so it was pretty comfortable. It's a big maze of steps, "castles", secret spaces, swings and lots of exploring.
Brooke was invited by Susan to be in the all-district musical called Suessical. She is the elephant bird character. She has been reading the Dr. Suess books, listening to the music and really loving the experience of being in her first musical! She hatches out of the egg and says the last word of the whole show, "Suess!" She has really warmed up to the characters in the musical and is letting loose and dancing on stage. Kent and I are so proud of her!
January was pretty dreary around here. An inversion created a dark, high fog that loomed over our valley causing bad breathing conditions (reminds us of the summer wildfires that we had!). Finally, we had a day of sunshine and fifty degrees! Even though we all are sick with colds, we felt the need to get outside!
The dogs were excited to have some friends to play with!
Oliver enjoyed shoveling and not having to wear a coat!
He also enjoyed a little skiing!
He (intentionally) went head first down this little snowy hill we made and got snow up his shirt. Brr!
Brooke wanted me to give her a "kind of high" push on the swing!
