International Flair

STORY STARTERS: Our day started off with a creative writing exercise. The kids each used the story starter machine on Scholastic's Web site to generate a topic. Annabelle was charged with writing a ghost story about a squishy donut who lived next door to her(!). CJ had to write about a pink wizard who traveled the world.

Bee whipped hers out quickly, and I loved her illustration, complete with a screaming donut (look in the lower left corner of the picture above).

CJ took more time as he pained over spelling the words correctly, but he wasn't painstakingly slow to the degree he has been in the past, so that's an improvement. And his handwriting was really good!

PENNY PINCHERS: We turned to ScienceBob for some inspiration this morning. There, I found a chemistry experiment using pennies.

Our instructions told us to gather five dirty pennies and give them a 10-second bath in 1/4 cup of vinegar with 1 teaspoon of salt mixed in. The acid in the vinegar was supposed to react with the salt to remove the copper oxide on the pennies, which is what makes them dull.

Sure enough, when we pulled our pennies out and rinsed them with clean water, they were shiny like new!

Next, we were to take some more dirty pennies, put them in the bath but not rinse them with clean water afterward. We let them air dry and over the course of an hour, they turned greenish-blue, as a result of the chemical malachite forming on them. Pretty cool!
INTERNATIONAL FLAIR: Around the noon hour we struck out for the International District, east of the stadiums. We had a special guest along - CeeJ and Bee's bro Kennedy.

According to the Chinatown International District Web site, Seattle's International District is "the only neighborhood in America where Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Vietnamese and Southeast Asians live and work together, side-by-side." At the west entrance of the neighborhood (South King Street at Fifth Avenue South), there is a large pai-lau or traditional Chinese gate. Just a block or so away from the gate is one of the kids' favorite stores, Pink Gorilla (formerly Pink Godzilla). They have all sorts of Nintendo games and toys there that you just don't see elsewhere.

Our next stop was Gossip - a trendy little restaurant where Kennedy ordered a mango bubble tea (with tapioca, of course). From there, we walked to Hing Hay Park, at the intersection of Maynard Ave & King St. According to the city's Web site, the park is the "heart of the district that serves as the center for cultural events, musical performances, community meetings, and entertainment programs. During regular days, it is a gathering place for families, chess players and morning Tai-Chi."

Today, none of that was going on. It was just us and a couple of homeless people, who were taking shelter in the park's grand pavilion. The structure, shipped from Taiwan, is a memorial that honors local Chinese-American veterans killed in World War II.

The photo here is of Bee enjoying a mango bubble tea in Hing Hay Park, holding her new pink Yoshi from Pink Gorilla. It was a good day to be Bee.

Now that I think about it, I suspect that almost every day is a good day to be Bee. :)