Adios August

MORNING POUR: Just in case there was any doubt summer is winding down, today dawned with pouring rain. I remember reading a forecast a couple of days ago that Tuesday was supposed to mean up to an inch of rain for parts of Western Washington. Forecasters got it right this time.

I sure hope this weather doesn't doom our tomatoes. We planted the seeds in late March, I believe, and had to wait until AUGUST for a few little tomatoes to appear on the plants. They're still very small, and now the days are getting much shorter and the rains are here. Sigh.

'SHOPPING: Last night walking out of Safeco Field, CJ and I were talking about the Photoshopping he'd experimented with on Monday. We came up with the idea of mixing/merging Princess Peach of Mario fame with Ichiro of Mariners fame.

This morning, we combed the Internet in search of images that work. We settled on one each of Peach and Ichiro (Peachiro?), and then we 'Shopped and swapped heads on them.The kids got to use Photoshop's magic lasso, move tool, free transform, clone stamp, paintbrush, color sampler and Annabelle even helped on a swap color function (we turned a mushroom from red to pink). They got to see the concept of layers in action, and learned that control-alt-z (going backward a step) can be a lifesaver. CJ had the good idea of using the color sample tool to capture Ichiro's skin tone and use it to color over Princess Peach's upper arms. It was a good catch on his part. I hadn't even noticed her skintone there, it was such a small detail.
Between finding the perfect photos to manipulate and then making our modifications, we spent a full hour-plus Photoshopping. (Part of the lesson was that while swapping heads alone would have been funny, adding little touches like the bat, ball and mushroom make a big difference.)

Overall, I would say it was an hour very well spent. It's great for the kids to learn some graphic design chops, and it's not something they'd get in a standard kindergarten or first grade classroom.

It's moments like these that make me feel good about our approach to education.

WADDLE THIS WAY: This morning the kids connected with their friend Pingazane in San Diego via Club Penguin.

The three are getting better at keeping track of one another and finding additional ways to interact via the platform. And even though it's a virtual playdate, it's interesting how many of the same real world rules apply. For instance, from time to time CJ would start to wander off in Penguinland, doing his own thing (a not uncommon predilection for him). When he did so, I would gently remind him that for this half hour, it wasn't just about what he wanted to do, he was supposed to be interacting with Annabelle and Pingazane, and that when you're playing with friends, it could be considered rude to wander off or withdraw and just do your own thing.

AFTERNOON DELIGHT: We finally went to yoga today after a 4 week layoff I think. There was a substitute for teacher Nicole. CJ said the sub was "different, but that's OK."

Rather than drive all the way from Columbia City back home to Magnolia and turn around and head to Sodo for our evening's festivities, we decided to hang down south. Where better to hang than Full Tilt, and old school arcade and ice cream parlor!

Before we left home for yoga, I had CJ round up all the quarters he could find (and highly motivated as he was, that was a lot). There were enough quarters to keep the kids busy from 4:45 to 6:15 - a full hour and a half of arcade and ice cream bliss. (Did I mention they serve beer, too?) The kids had a great time. Annabelle fancies herself a pinball wizard and CJ had the high score on 2 or 3 games in the shop by the time we left (I think they reset the high scores daily).

From there, it was back to "the Safe" ...

DOUBLE HEADER: Normally we wouldn't go to a baseball game two nights in a row, but special circumstances prompted an exception. We'd bought tickets to Monday night's game months ago, when we thought a Ms v. Angels matchup in late August might mean something (as in have an effect on post season play). Boy were we wrong. ...

Then a few weeks ago, we scored Starbucks coupons for free tickets, and the last day to use those was today, August 31. So back at Safeco we go!

Honestly, Monday night's game left such a bad taste in our mouths, it was probably good to get back on the horse (so to speak) and cleanse the palate (so to speak).

Monday night's seats were only 6 rows up from the field, along the third base line. Tuesday night, we were more like 300 rows up from the field, over right field. In fact, the kids asked if we could sit at the very tip top of the field and so we did. We basically had the whole section to ourselves, which was nice, cause the kids could get up and stretch their legs, spazz out, you name it.

Happily, the Mariners managed to win tonight (despite their continued HORRIBLE INEXCUSEABLE AWFUL base running and lack of clutch hitting for most of the game).