Spiffy

DIRTY DOGS: Things have kind of gone to hell around the campus since we've been in heavy construction mode the last couple of weeks. The house was trashed the fish tank was green (and not with envy) and Kirby was a straggly mess. It had to end. And so much of today was spent in hardcore cleaning mode.

Thankfully, the fish are now swimming in clean water, Kirby is clean and the house is less disasterous.

KEEPIN' THE BEAT: While Musikgarten classes are on summer break, today we managed to keep to a Friday morning music schedule. I had the kids get out their bags and choose their favorite folder from the past year's curriculum. I asked them to create a scene with their cutout animals on it. CJ chose the meadow; Annabelle chose the woodlands. Then I asked them to compose a song to describe the scene they'd created. I was happy when neither of them hesitated a bit. I had them do it acapella first (like the CJ version below), and then they each did it with glockenspiel accompaniment.



After the songwriting and performing, I had Annabelle assemble a drum kit (made mostly out of Mariners Moose meal tubs collected at Safeco Field), and the kids took turns either being the drummer or the conductor.

I wanted them to drum along with a song they knew intimately, so (of course) I chose the Super Mario game theme. We found several awesome versions online, including one with a flute playing beat boxer, an 11-string bass player, a great piano version, and a great one with an entire symphony orchestra.

RARE: We have a beautiful glass vase on the counter. Empty. Almost all the time. It sits there. Mocking me. Meanwhile, there are flowers blooming all over around us. Today I decided we'd put something in it. Annabelle helped me gather some greens and a few blooms.

NOT A NUMBER: I thought it time for some tooning today. We turned to old friend Bruce Blitz for some guidance and inspiration. Today, he coached the kids through the process of turning a boring ol' Number 6 into an overly confident diver headed for shark infested waters. CJ's is on top, Bee's on bottom.

Holy Cow!

MOUSY MORNING: For whatever reason, at 7:30 this morning, Annabelle was determined to play Mousetrap. It's a board game with about 200 pieces that you have to assemble to build this rickety, not-well-working mousetrap.

Annabelle was struggling with setting it up, so I suggested CJ help her out. He sauntered over to the table and said, "Now let's see what we have here..." It was nice to see him take charge and solve problems. :)

MAGNOLIA MORNING: While Annabelle was in ballet, CJ and I headed for "hilltop playpark" (Ella Bailey Park) to take Kirby for a walk. We were going to be gone all afternoon at a Mariners matinee, so I wanted the Kirbster to work off some energy. While the dog and I did laps, CJ explored the play equipment. At one point I looked over and he was walking the spinning donut feature like a circus pro. (It's not as easy as you might think.)

Right before it was time to leave, he started to scale a half-rainbow shaped climber. He was fine with the vertical steps, but when it started going lateral at about 6 feet off the ground, CJ went into white knuckle mode. "I'm scared! I'm scared!" he told me, expecting a rescue. Instead, I told him that he could totally do it if we made a mid-air Twister-type game out of it.

He finally agreed, and I gave him, right hand here, left foot here, right foot here-type commands and he knocked it out in about 10 seconds. Then he felt silly for having been afraid of it.

It was funny - a toddler of about 18 months was watching the whole drama unfold and after CJ successfully completed his climb and was back down on the groud, safe, the wee one toddled over and said, in agreement, "Gary! Gary!!!"

After ballet, Annabelle got to spend about 20 minutes in the park playing dolls with her ballet boy friend. He was disappointed when we had to leave, but we had a bus to catch - to the Mariners' game.

ANOTHER ONE RIDES THE BUS: We caught the bus at 11:41 a.m. at the crest of Magnolia. I was really surprised to find it packed - we got the last 3 seats, in the very back of the bus. There were a half dozen other game goers on board, but the rest of the passengers were just headed downtown midday for one reason or the other.

The kids were as excited about the bus ride as they were the game. ;) I had them help me count out our exact change this morning for fares ($2 for me and .75 for CeeJ. Bee was free.) Ironically, for whatever reason, when we got on, as I was dropping our 12 quarters in the slot, the driver waved me off - told me not to pay. I really didn't get that. ...

During our ride to Safco, Annabelle happily chatted up the heavily tattooed and toothless woman next to us in the backseat. :) The bus ride took about 20 minutes longer than scheduled due to gawdawful traffic (something that became a recurring theme of the day, unfortunately).

GAME TIME: We finally got to the stadium and found Christian (who had come straight from work). Our first stop was the playpark in centerfield, but we were to our seats by the top of the first.

We were very fortunate. Our seats were directly under the letter "C" in the Safeco Field sign in left centerfield, so we were shaded from the sun.

Even though it wasn't sweltering today, having the sun beating down on you for THIRTEEN friggin' innings can be a bit much. King Felix (Hernandez) was pitching and he wasn't at his sharpest in the early going but by midgame he was groovin' it, and he finished strong, only to have the bullpen (I'm talking to YOU Sean White) blow it.

And then there's the matter of the Ms' bats, or lack thereof. Clutch hitting wasn't in their vocab today, not even for Ichiro.
Of course, you can't go to the ballpark without partaking of some ballpark food. Today, since it was hot, the kids both had Dippin' Dots ice cream pellets ... And Annabelle (EXTREME CLOSEUP!) enjoyed a refreshing drink. :)
CJ and Annabelle got to be big screen stars for a fleeting moment late in the game when Captain Plastic came to our section and collected items for recycling. They were pretty happy about meeting an eco-superhero.

It was fun seeing the Cubs play in person. Since they're National League, it's about a once a decade occurrence that they're in Seattle to play the Ms. Cubs fans were out in droves. It was damn near a 60-40 split in the stadium of Ms and Cubs fans. That confused the kids a bit, when the crowd would roar when a Mariner got out or one of the Cubs got a hit. I found myself 'hearing' Harry Caray in my head calling the game - especially at the end. ("Cubs win! Cubs win!")
While the game was great (except for that whole losing part), the trip home was a friggin' nightmare. Because it went extra innings, the game was over right at 5, so in addition to the ridiculous rush hour traffic on a normal day, you had 30,000 or so extra people downtown and there were accidents and road construction everywhere. Oh, and there was some huge protest (maybe immigration reform, again) downtown, too. It was the perfect storm for gridlock.

MEANWHILE, AT QWEST FIELD: Walking into the game today, I glanced over at neighboring Qwest Field, home to the Seahawks and the Sounders, and saw two people up on the roof, painting/waterproofing it. Talk about a big job! Can you spot the workers?

Zoo Review

STOP AND SMELL THE ROSES: Today we had a date with the animals.

More specifically, we were heading for Woodland Park Zoo. We haven't been in months and the kids have been intrigued by meerkat mugs on billboards all over town announcing a new exhibit. When the kids' #1 yoga friend suggested meeting at the zoo today, it was a big "Yes!" from all of us.

Today I decided to forgo the official zoo parking lot, its $5 charge and its maddening pay stations (s-o s-l-o-w) and park on a residential street hopefully nearby. Good call! We parked 1.25 blocks away from the main zoo entrance - for free!

We beat our fellow zoo goers there. I was going to just have we three sit on a bench and wait for them, but because we parked and walked in the lot, I noticed (for the first time) off to the right a rose garden. And right now it's in full bloom. Score!

We wandered through the garden, appreciating a rainbow of roses. There were also some statuesque topiary specimens. Eventually, we made our way to the main gate to wait for our friends. Bee and CeeJ were baboon jockeys during part of our wait.

Just inside the gate, a showy peacock was strutting its stuff. CJ was especially enthralled by it and I think the peacock liked him, too. It seemed to follow CJ around for a bit. CJ did a spot-on peacock call.

Soon after, we found the flamingo exhibit. There, a sign there reminded us that flamingos get their color from the brine shrimp they eat. It made me wonder about the diet the flamingos at the Woodland Park Zoo are getting, because while the flamingos' feet and knees were bright pink, their feathers had a definite orange tinge to them. Hmm. ...

We saw just this side of a bazillion different birds today. In more than one instance, their heads looked too small for their heavily plumed body.

CJ said this bird looked like it didn't have a head at all, and I think I know what he means. The bird didn't appear to have a neck and the crown of its head/the curve of its skull wasn't visible at all - it just faded away into this wild wispy mohawk of sorts.

Today the kids rode the historic old carousel that operates at the zoo during summertime.

According to the National Carousel Association, the merry-go-round was built in 1918. It has 28 jumping horses (ones that go up and down), 20 standing horses (stationary steeds) and a couple of chariots (those things you sit on if horseback isn't your style). Apparently the carousel spent its first 57 years in Ohio. Then it spent 20 years in Santa Clara, CA, before being mothballed in Seattle for several years. It was introduced to the zoo in 2006.

It's a beautiful old carousel in amazing condition. While watching and waiting for the kids, I noticed a plaque on the ride gave props to Boeing for their $upport.

From wooden horses it was off to see the much ballyhooed meerkats. They were the zoo's rock stars today. Dozens of people were crowded around the windows leading to their display.

They were busy busy busy critters, digging and scratching and pacing and running. They would also approach the glass and paw at onlookers.

Odd little animals, those meerkats (Suricata suricatta). Watching them, I was trying to figure out what animal they were related to. Native to Botswana and South Africa, they definitely weren't 'cat' like at all in their appearance or mannerisms. Tonight I learned "meerkat" is Dutch for "lake cat," but the suricata is not in the cat family. Rather, it turns out they're in the mongoose family.

Tonight I discovered the zoo has posted a "Do the Meerkute" video to YouTube. I'm going to have to show the kids tomorrow ... (I swear it sounds like Caspar Babypants singing it. Hmm ...)

Somehow we've missed the komodo dragons our last couple of trips to the zoo. CJ was determined to see them today and that we did. Watching two lumber around their enclosure, I couldn't help but think of news reports I've heard in the past couple of years with komodo dragons attacking and killing people. (In fact, Animal Planet calls them 'Nature's Perfect Predator' because of the deadly bacteria they have in their mouths.)I think the tapir gets the award for oddest animal we gawked at today. It has a bulbous shaped body, a funny schnoz, a weird little lopped off looking tail ... and what's with that black and white body paint? All four species of tapir are endangered, btw. And in case you were wondering, according to Wikipedia, the tapiers' closest relatives are the other odd-toed ungulates, including horses and rhinoceroses.

The African exhibit was beautiful today. The animals were mingling in the sunshine and appeared to be enjoying the rolling, grassy expanse that is, ultimately, their prison. ... Hmm. Have to think about that.
After several months of dreary weather, I think the hippos might have found today's 77 degrees downright sweltering. All of them were in the drink this afternoon.
The lions were impressive, as always.
After more than three hours of walking and wandering and pondering, the kids were ready to call it a day.

BACK TO THE GRIND: After the zoo, I returned to my pre-zoo chores, including more painting in the master bedroom. At one point Annabelle called up, "I left a note for you on the stairs." I was expecting her to be asking for chocolate milk (a common occurrence in these parts).

But she surprised me. :)

Up and at 'Em

MORNING MATH: We do and talk about math every day. What we don't do every day is put-pen-to-paper math. And now that I think about it, we didn't technically do that today, either. But we did do pen to glass math, which is close, right?

Since I had some painting to do upstairs, I grabbed the window markers and told the kids we'd be doing math up there this morning. C-mind-is-a-steel-trap-J asked suspiciously, "Are you going to make us do big numbers?"

His question reminded me that last time we did window math, I had them (for the first time), add numbers in the tens and hundreds. I told CJ that we would indeed be using 'big numbers' but that it was no big deal, because as long as he knew how to add combinations of numbers 0-9, he could add any numbers together, no matter how 'big.' To demonstrate, I wrote a couple of 7-digit numbers down and explained that it was really just like doing 7 small math problems. Together, we added the columns - the ones, tens, hundreds, thousands and so on. The kids saw that it definitely was a snap - even the "carrying" part, which just meant they had one extra number to add, no big deal.

After about 20 minutes of math, we moved on to some spelling. For fun, I thought I'd let the kids give each other words. That mostly worked. ...

After that it was back downstairs and I suggested they check out "The Price is Right." We haven't watched that show in a couple of months, and I think it's a pretty decent way to practice some math and money skills.

EWWW GROSS: From a Facebook post, I saw that BrainPOP's featured movie of the day was about, well, hmm, how to put this nicely - nasal mucus? (They titled their video "Boogers," which, of course, the kids found hysterical which, of course, was BrainPOP's intention.)

And so, the MPA student body learned what happens when slimy mucus dries in the nose and how specialized hairs in nasal passages move the, um, boogers, to the front and back of your nose. The video also explained why picking one's nose is a bad idea. Important stuff. :)

YOGA PLUS: This morning I got an email from a mother of a yoga friend saying they needed help. Help killing off an ice cream cake, that is. Selflessly, CJ and Annabelle were up to the task. :) After they polished off the cake, they had time before yoga to play a board game called Round Up. What a great game. Instead of competing against one another, the kids take turns working toward a common goal -getting four horses safely back to their stable.

It was nice to see that a cooperative game could still be exciting and suspenseful - that those things aren't exclusive to a competition. It's also nice that it's a quick game - taking only about 15 minutes to play.

ON THE WATERFRONT: Another day, another waterfront for us. Looking at a map of our yoga friend's neighborhood, I realized how close they were to Genessee Park, a place I've been wanting to check out for awhile now. We did find Genessee, but we only did a slow drive by. I could see lots of grassy expanse and a play structure, but it was a beautiful, sunny day, and the shores of Lake Washington were just a block away, so I headed the car that direction. We found ourselves at a spot where there are multiple boat launches. We could see that it was home to the Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center - and several ducks. A pair of mallards honed in on us quickly. It was clear to me these waterfowl are used to a junk food diet - that human visitors to the park routinely feed them. They were very bold in approaching us and I half think they would have gotten into our car had they been given an invitation.

Much to Mr. and Mrs. Mallards' disappointment, we had no scraps for them today.

Only after we got home did I learn we had visited Stan S. Sayres Memorial Park. The park is named after the man responsible for bringing hydroplane racing to Seattle. Sayres (1896-1956) was a championship racer himself.

The park, about a mile south of I-90 on Lake Washington, is also known as "Sayres Pits" and is the staging ground of Seattle's annual Seafair Hydroplane Races.

Hello Summer!

SOLSTICE: Yesterday upon realizing that today would be the first day of summer, Annabelle said she thought MPA needed to have a sunshine-themed craft to commemoriate the date. Specfically, she decided it should be a paper plate that is turned into a sun. So, today I went to the store and bought paper plates. She and CeeJ colored them and then cut triangles out of tissue paper to use as sun rays. Annabelle decided that she needed a blue background for her sun, and that led to clouds, a bird with a nest, and even some swirling wisps of wind.

CJ was slightly less enthusiastic about the project. ...

THE GREAT OUTDOORS: Though the day dawned gray, by 11 a.m. the sky was looking lighter. We decided we'd better go for a run while the getting was good.

I'd read online this weekend that the sockeye salmon were returning to the Hiram Chittenden Locks. You know we had to go check it out! CJ and Bee biked the 4 mile (round trip) journey, with Christian, Kirby and I were on foot, huffing and puffing along side them. The sun actually came out during our trek - hooray!

When we got down to the ship canal Christian spied some Canada geese goslings. For baby birds they were damn big!

There were lots of tourists at the Locks today. And fortunately, there were also lots of salmon in the fish ladder!

We humans weren't the only ones interested in the fish. A big blue heron was standing on the shore, scanning the water for lunch.

A sea lion was also swimming about, looking for an easy fish fix. His (or her) plans were thwarted, however, by a worker at the locks who (quite surprisingly to us and others standing around) threw a small explosive into the water. The huge BOOM that followed temporarily scared the heron and the sea lion away, but the seagulls came in droves. They seemed to know that BOOM kicks the tail of tiny fish, dozens of which could be seen floating on the surface soon afterward.

We continued westward along the sea wall and I saw another heron, this one carrying a twig, set down in a nearby tree. I spied the nest it was building and could see another heron was hanging out in the nest. Cool!GREAT LITERATURE: This afternoon the kids took it upon themselves to cozy up with some reading material on the couch. Their pick: a Nintendo publication about the history of Mario.

I know there are oh so many other things that would be more enriching and educational, but there's also value in reading for pleasure, and they were definitely enjoying the magazine, so I left them alone.

MC BEE BEE: Late this afternoon I was out on the porch, painting some trim. I heard Annabelle speaking in loud, harsh tones, but I couldn't make out her words. After about a full minute of it, I'd heard enough.

I figured CJ was on the receiving end of a rant from his sister, so I climbed down the ladder and stomped in the house, ready to give her hell.

But first, of course, I asked Annabelle what she was yelling about. She clammed up, so I asked CJ, "What was she saying to you?" He wasn't much help either. Finally Annabelle offered, "I was just rapping."

Oh. Really?

"Yeah, she was rapping," CJ vouched. "We were making up raps about Super Mario."

Oh. Of course, then I felt bad for having marched in there with my hackles up. So I apologized and slunk back to the front porch and my paint.