Short & Sweet

I LOVE LUCY: This morning CJ asked Christian if there were any cousins (related to humans and Lucy) who came before Lucy. Christian told him yes.

Then Annabelle asked how Lucy got her name. Christian hopped online to get an answer. According to Wikipedia

They learned that Lucy was named after the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," which Donald Johanson and his party played over and over on a tape deck the night of Nov. 24, 1974, when she was discovered in Ethiopia.

That led, of course, to Christian finding the song on YouTube and playing it for the kids. The photo above is Annabelle tripping to the cool animation of "Lucy" from "St. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band."

SUGAR RUSH: Today's post is going to be brief. VERY brief. I have been working on sugar related items since six-thirtyish this morning. It's nine-ish now, and I've got another hour or two of stuff I gotta get down tonight.

The kids have helped some - mostly by licking beaters. ;) Annabelle does love to help with the fondant and has been there for every step of the way.

BLANK STARE: Big news at MPA - the new math books arrived yesterday! As I posted a couple of weeks ago, after researching what's out there, I opted to order Singapore Mathematics. Our order contained a textbook, an educator's guide and two workbooks. (I got the entry to second grade level for both of the kids).

I made a big deal about the great new books that will make math so easy. The kids were actually excited to dive into them. :)

For our initial foray, we reviewed counting by hundreds, tens and ones, and the kids completed four pages worth of several exercises.

When he got to the third page, I heard CJ sigh and complain, "Filling these in is wasting my time when I could be doing math. ...

Poor Mr. Literal. He thought "fill in the blanks" mean that he had to color in all the circles!!!

We had a good laugh about that. :)

ALLEY ANTICS: This afternoon, Christian was out working in the alley so the kids took the opportunity to go outside in the alley and play around for awhile. At one point they were riding scooters across a sheet of plastic, pretending it was a patch of ice. Quite the daredevils.

They also did some tomato plant pinching. Gramma R gave us the hot tip that our tomatoes might ripen if we get rid of some leaves and yellow blossoms. Makes sense - then the plant will direct more energy toward our green tomatoes!

Brains and Stuff

ALARM CODE: When you have CJ in the house, "rest" assured, you willl never need an alarm clock. For instance, a few minutes before 6 this morning, CJ was peppering me with questions about the 30 lives code for "Contra" for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, circa 1987 (16 years before his birth).

I didn't even need to crack an eyelid to mutter "upupdowndownleftrightleftrightBAselectstart," saying it rapid fire-the realtime speed you need to enter the code in order for it to work. (I know such things because Rick and Ken played "Contra" a LOT when they were CJ's age.) He asked why the sequel "Super C" code for extra lives (Right, Left, Down, Up, A, B, then Start) only netted players 10 lives.

I told him some things we'll just never have answers for.

KITCHEN SESSION: Today is CJ & Bee's biggest bro Rick's bday (a quarter century - yikes!) He's not having his party (with his friends) until Saturday, so we didn't start his baked birthday goods until today.

He and a friend decided to have a '90s themed party. So Annabelle and I have been Photoshopping Rick and his friend's face into a bunch of 1990s movie photos. For instance, here's Rick in "Armageddon" (taking the place of Bruce Willis). For the cake, I decided to go with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme. Turtles were a HUGE deal in our household for a large part of the '90s, when Rick and Ken were growing up. (In fact, I'm sure I made more than a couple of Ninja Turtle cakes back in the '90s, but nothing like what we've got planned for 2010.)

Since Ninja Turtles looooove pizza, before we even get started on the cake, I decided we needed some little "pizzas" to go around it.


So, we made some circle cookies and topped them with fondant marbled in multi cheese colored fondant (with a little tomato sauce colored fondant thrown in for good measure). While CJ loves a good cheese pizza, most people like some other toppings, so the kids and I made a few dozen olive slices. I showed the kids how to pinch off a little black fondant, roll it into a tiny ball and then press it flat and poke a hole in the middle. I was impressed with how well they followed directions and executed those steps - it's hard to work that small.

They also helped make anchovies (which Turtles love) and pepperoni. They were very disciplined pastry chefs, not eating a single cookie. PENCIL, PAPER: The kids actually did a fair amount of school-y work today. They worked on another installment of their Halloween books they're writing. I'm so impressed with their creativity and storytelling!

They also completed their homework for the Highline (Seatac) science class with no trouble.

We took a math vacation today. :)

BRAIN DRAIN: This evening, we were watching "Becoming Human," a NOVA episode about evolution on PBS. CJ was rapt, and after a couple of minutes of trying to wrap his head around it he said, "First came the chimp then ... "

Christian stopped him there and told him that chimp-human relation isn't linear - it's a branch on the family tree, so to speak. We learned about the "fluorescence of species," all subtly different from each other (all biped, big snouts, chimp sized brains). We learned about the "suite of adaptations" that lasted millions of years and that .

At one point, the program showed real brain specimens from chimps and humans. Not long thereafter, it dawned on CJ that if someone's brain is on a plate in a lab, it means that someone is dead. "I am not going to donate my brain to science," he declared, a little teary eyed. And he implored Christian not to donate his brain, either.

So we had an organ donation conversation and talked about how it's not compulsory - it's something people decided individually. That seemed to settle CJ down a little. In fact, in a few minutes he came around and even mustered some excitement in saying, "I want a chimp brain and a Lucy brain, but I do not want someone in my family's brain."

When I told them we have a Jell-o mold to make our own jiggly brain (thanks Holly!), the kids got very excited.

Science, North and South

CHANGING COLOR: Breaking news to report from the MPA campus. Six months since we planted the seeds, we finally have our FIRST non-green tomato.

I'm not going to go so far as to call it full on pick me! red yet, but we're just thrilled it's changed color at all. Every other tomato we have (probably a dozen) is still more watermelon rind colored. And we continue to get new blossoms on the vine. (Hey, maybe we'll have red and green tomatoes for Christmas!)

We're looking forward to harvesting the lone glory. You can be sure there will be a short ceremony and photos. Stay tuned.

SCIENCE, SEATAC STYLE: By 9:15 this a.m. we were on the road to Burien/Seatac for our weekly science class in the Highline School District.

I was afraid that we'd have to drop this class because we are now officially enrolled as Shoreline students. A couple of days ago I sent an email to the Highline director to let her know, but she encouraged us to continue to attend as guests. Nice. :)

On the half hour drive down there, we did math on a Magnadoodle. I'd write a problem, one of the kids would solve it, and the other kid would check their math. It was a good use of our time. We were a couple of minutes early, so we read a book we got at HEE yesterday, "Bats at the Library." (Author Brian Lies' Web site has some wonderful ideas for additional activities to go with the book.)

Before we entered the building, I reviewed (mostly for CJ's ears) just how important it was to a) listen and b)follow every single step - with a sense of urgency, so as not to fall behind and miss the directions for the next step. It seemed to help. CJ wasn't the first to hop up and go retrieve or return supplies when the time came, but he did do everything pretty much when asked, as asked. Yay for CJ.

Today's lesson was about buoyancy. The kids got to experiment with various objects (blocks, balls, clips, chalk) and see. That kept them busy for a good 40 minutes. The last 20 minutes of class the kids read a story about a trip to a recycling plant. (Their homework this week is answering questions about the story.)
The Highline science teacher has such a pleasant style. She's conversational, a story teller, and sprinkles in life gems along the way. For instance, when talking about sinking or floating, she told the kids how important it is to learn how to swim. And when talking about recycling, urging kids to shop at Value Village and garage sales for toys and clothing. Good stuff!

NEXT STOP, NORTH: After a stop at Costco for supplies and lunch, we hopped on I-5 and made our way through Seattle to Shoreline for science class number 2.

We were a few minutes early, so we hit the library again and the kids found some books to keep them busy. We went into the room a couple of minutes early to introduce ourselves. The (very organized) teacher already had notebooks made up for the kids. There will be weekly homework/experiments, which is welcome.

Today, the instructor started class by using some woodworking tools/implements (a saw, a planer, some sandpaper), creating sawdust and shavings. The kids would be using both in the lab work today.

They moved from desk tables to lab tables. There, they experimented with sawdust and shavings in water, They saw that it all floated initially, until they started getting waterlogged. The small particles sank first.

The next phase of the experiment was looking at a cube of particle board and then making particle board out of sawdust and a paste made from corn starch. As soon as I saw/heard that I thought (but didn't say), "Hoo boy, Mr. Tactile is not going to like this. ..."

Unfortunately, I was right. He wanted nothing to do with mixing that by hand, but not doing it was not an option. He eventually made some lame attempts at it, but was begging to wash his hands about 8 seconds into it. Bummer. I made him stick it out for awhile, but he didn't really complete the assignment. Not the best way to start in that class, I'd say. :/

And while CJ wasn't a complete space case, he wasn't as "on" as he was this a.m. when it came to following directions. Part of that could be the new surroundings - the class is twice as big and moved about twice as fast. (The teacher did tell me that she had to cover two units in one week this week, so the pace was probably a bit faster than usual.) All this said, it was a really neat class, and once CJ and Annabelle get down with the routine there (they've missed the first 3 or 4 units or so), I think they'll be fine.

At the end of class the kids recorded words they'd learned today in a "word bank" in their notebooks, which I thought was a great idea. Overall, I was super impressed with the class content and the extraordinarily organized instructor.

SUGAR PARADE: On our way back from Shoreline we stopped at an amazing little store called Home Cake Decorating Supply. It's a small shop, packed floor to ceiling with everything cake-y you can imagine. The aisles are so narrow, it's one way traffic only, and the place is maze like. I warned the kids before we went in what it was going to be like and how they were going to have to be.

When we got home this afternoon we undertook a big kitchen project - getting started on Rick's 25th birthday cake and cookies. I had the kids help measure ingredients and mix things up. Tomorrow it's going to be a whole lot of fondant. Things are gonna get messy!

Tiresome Tuesday

MORNING MUSINGS: The day started off pleasantly enough. Before he'd even gotten out of bed, CJ told me that when he's a man, he'll eat Goldfish (crackers). "I'll have some, and I'll save half the bag for my kids. But I won't let them eat too much, because I don't want them to get too full."

I told him I thought that was a good plan. :)

BACKGROUND MUSIC: Since Musikgarten was this afternoon, we had to make sure the kids had all their homework done. They each had to draw a picture representing the British story of Dick Whittington. They had that done in short order.

Next, they had to play "Mouse, Mousey" on their glocks. No trouble there.

Then it was time to do some transcribing. They were to get the notecard folder in their music bag, find their white notecards in that notecard book, and copy those notecards onto the pink pages in their spiral bound workbook.

Annabelle managed to follow those steps. CJ, well I might as well have asked him to circumnavigate the globe. He found his bag, but he couldn't find his folder, couldn't find the cards, couldn't find the pink sheets in the spiral notebook, and it was the kind of couldn't where he alternates between doing absolutely nothing and looking in truly, truly ridiculous places. It alternates between being painful and infuriating to watch. And once he did have his act semi together (which took a long, long time), he totally butchered the transcribing (which is something he's done lots of before with no trouble).

I told CJ that I think part of his problem is that he's really not listening to verbal cues/instructions the way he needs to be, so he gets caught off guard, he gets frazzled, he falls behind, and he doesn't have the directions he needs to get himself back on track because he wasn't listening. Instead, he just gets more and more confused, further behind, and annoys people who are waiting for him to get on the same page.

So after the note transcribing debacle, I told him were were going to play a game. I was going to give him a simple series of directions and he would do them - whatever they were - in the order they were given. And so I said things like, "Go pick up green blanket, put it on your bed, then come stand next to me and turn around three times." Or, "Go into the kitchen, get a cup, get a drink of water. Bring your sister a drink of water, and then go sit on the couch." Or, "Get a bowl, put three toys in the bowl and set the bowl on the TV tray."

It sounds so simple, doesn't it? That's because it is. However, it's only simple if a) you are listening when the directions are given and b) you retain those directions in your brain (instead of, say, going back to thinking about some video game soundtrack).

When we were doing the directions drill, CJ was nearly perfect, which proves to me (and to him, which is important) that he CAN do it. What we really need to work on is for him to stay engaged with the other people in his proximity, especially when it's a situation where they're likely going to be asking you to do something (like in a class).

Obviously, for some people the whole 'do as I say' comes pretty naturally. In this instance, CJ is not some people. So we'll keep working on this.

NORTHERN EXPOSURE: About 10:30 we had to make a run to Shoreline/the Home Education Exchange (HEE).

Ever since we enrolled in HEE, I have been struggling to get their online database system to work for me. Or for me to work with it. Or to get anything to work, period. Most urgently, I wanted to try to get the kids signed up for a workshop up there. However, I was having no luck, and, unfortunately, since we're late to the game (school year), most of the classes that I wanted/would work for us were perilously near capacity.

We headed to the office to ask the office manager for some help. Boy, was that the right move. She got me into the scheduling interface in no time flat. I told her what I really wanted was to sign both kids up for a science class, but there was only one opening. She volunteered to go find the teacher and see if we could bump it up a spot to accommodate them. I said that would be great, and that we'd go kill some time in the library while she did that.

The kids enjoyed exploring the place, and especially dug the sailboat reading space (pictured atop today's entry). There's no budget for a librarian, so it's an on your honor system. You check out a book by by taking it and check it in by returning it. I wonder how many books they lose each year. ...

I found a favorite book of CJ's on the shelf - "Arnie the Doughnut." It's by Laurie Keller, one of the kids' favorite authors (she also wrote "The Scrambled States of America" and "Open Wide, Tooth School Inside").

CJ sat in the boat and read it until the office manager came and gave me the good news that the science teacher said OK, so CJ & Annabelle will now have science in Seatac Wednesday a.m., and science in Shoreline Wednesday p.m. Hell-ooo I-5!

MATH MELTDOWN: This afternoon I had the kids each do a double digit subtraction worksheet (like 58-39 type stuff). CJ got 18 out of 20 wrong. THREE times (no, not the same 18 wrong each time). He got it wrong at home. He got it wrong during his do-over on the way to yoga and he got it wrong on the way home from yoga. I do believe that's a trifecta.

What was interesting, is he kept getting it wrong in new and different ways. It was so perplexing, and frustrating.

I sure can't wait for tomorrow. It almost has to be better for CJ. ...

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR: We needed a little levity, so we stopped by the newly redone Jefferson Park on our way to yoga. It was a beautiful October afternoon.

INTERGALACTIC SHOWDOWN: Following dinner tonight the kids and Christian had a protracted play session, which was good. CJ, especially, needed some capital F fun.

The three made aliens out of some "Bonz" we have. CJ's was Smeller. "He tries to get things dirty," he explained.

Annabelle made Ostrich Woman. "She helps makes stuff clean with the emperor. She's like the princess," says Bee.

Christian's alien was "The Galactic Overlord with soap and water cannons on my head."
Now that's some good, clean fun!

HEAVY ROTATION: The CD "This is Fun!" has been spinning in our CD player since Saturday morning, when Christian took the kids to see Caspar Babypants at the Fifth Avenue Top Pot Doughnuts (talk about the best of both worlds). This is the second time the kids have seen "Caspar" - who is actually Seattleite Chris Ballew, of Presidents of the United States of America fame.

The concert was about a hour long, and the place was packed, Christian reports. The kids loved the music as much as their chocolate doughnut bars.

This evening we watched the video for one of the tracks on the new CD, "Googly Eyes." The kids loved the relatively low tech animation. It prompted CJ to say he wants to be a video editor.

Fun on the Farms

FIRST FARM: Today was a very busy day at MPA. We had not one, not two, but three field trips.

Late this morning, Christian had an appointment to connect with a friend for lunch. I thought that would be an opportunity for us to explore some uncharted territory, so I searched the Internet for nearby parks. The kids and I dropped Christian off at his rendezvous spot and headed for Bellevue's wonderful Kelsey Creek Farm Park.

Just a few blocks from the hustle and bustle of "new" Bellevue, this gem is 150-acres of forest, meadows and wetlands providing a glimpse of the city's rural past. The grounds are gorgeous and well tended. The farm has two historic barns sitting atop a hill with pretty valley views on each side. Farm animals are out to pasture or in the barnyard 365 days a year.
We saw a lot of livestock at Kelsey Creek: chickens (including pretty little bantams), geese, goats, hogs and horses. It was a great place for learning, because there were many signs/stations dotting fences all over the property, where a question relating to farm life would be posed, and the answer could be revealed by flipping a flap up.

This popular place receives over 250,000 visits each year. There is no admission charge, but donations are gladly accepted.

Built in 1888, the historic Fraser Cabin sits on the hilltop, adjacent to the park's dairy barns. We didn't get to see the inside, but on the outside it really looked like it was assembled just like Lincoln Logs, with huge timbers notched and stacked. There were gorgeous plantings around the farmyard, including a thick stand of sunflowers, which the bees loved. We enjoyed watching them collect pollen.

There was a small playground on the grounds, but it was mostly for the toddler set. I told the kids that during my research I'd noticed one other park in close proximity and asked them if they wanted to check it out. Their answer was "Of course!" of course!

SECOND STOP: Less than a mile away from fantastic Kelsey Creek Farm was Bellevue's Willburton Park.

The city's Web site says the 105.49 acres site is the "largest upland park in the city." There are ballfields and trails aplenty, but what the kids were hot for was the playground.

Right away they spotted - and made a beeline for - a spider web structure. How fun! We'd been there for several minutes before CJ discovered the wicked awesome zipline! You know we love us some ziplines! It was about the same length as the one we love in our neighborhood (at Discovery Park), but this one is newer and, well, a bit zippier. I wish I had scream-o-vision, so you could hear Annabelle's squeal the first time she rode it. :)

OCTOBER EXTRAVAGANZA: We picked Christian up around 1 and headed north to Snohomish County and our top billed destination of the day - Swans Trail Farms. Based on their Web site it looks like most of the year they do weddings and other special gatherings there. However, this time of year, it's all about fun for the kids and fall harvest time.

Famous for being "Home of the Washington State Corn Maze," we bought a Groupon coupon for the place giving our family carte blanche to enjoy it all - the maze, two nice putt putt golf courses, a pumpkin patch, a great kids play area, the petting zoo, a hay jump, a hay maze, and on and on and on for a very good price (about $25 as I recall).

The farm encompasses 125 acres along the Snohomish River and it was a fall fantasy land. :)

We started out with the maze. We walked along the WA/OR border. There, at "Ilwaco" at the northern edge of the mouth of the Columbia River, the kids discovered a shipwreck. We continued eastward to "Idaho" and entered Washington just north of Pullman.

The map the farmhands gave us for the interior of the maze was really good - plenty of detail, and the paths inside were clearly marked. The kids took turns making decisions about which way to go in the maze.

Some of the paths (major freeways like I-5 and Highway 2) were wider than others (for instance smaller mountain passes). However, we never got stuck or dead-ended.

After the maze, we headed right to the pumpkin patch. Annabelle and CJ wasted no time in picking out pumpkins. We parked those for later payment and rushed across the farm to catch the much ballyhooed duck race. Several ducks raced down a water course (swimming frantically toward a feeding bin), and then hopped out and ran/flew back to their coop (where another feeding bin awaited, no doubt.). It was a hoot.

Afterward, we wandered over to a small building. There we found a room with a corn pit, for lack of a better term. It was a room about 12 by 12 and its floor was covered in dried corn kernels about 1.5 to 2-feet deep. The kids had a blast sinking and spinning and sitting and so on in it. Annabelle made a corn angel. CJ tried to swim in it. Next, we strolled over to the fun kids' playground. The kids rode some rubber tire horse swings. They also went down some simple but super fun culvert slides (sitting atop burlap sacks made them a pretty fun ride!).Then it was off to the hay jump - where hay bales were stacked high and the kids jumped into a pit filled with hay. And then it was off to our second petting zoo of the day. That was followed by a two-story barn turned into a great hay maze. (CJ was the one who discovered the stairs to the loft). The exit back down to the first level involved going down a slide. The kids each took several turns going down.

But wait - there's more! We had to get some golf in!

There were two nice 9-hole putt-putt courses on site. Though our house overlooks a golf course, driving range and putt putt course, ironically, our kids have VERY limited experience golfing (the last time they picked up a club was in Orlando in March). They were happy to have a chance to chase a ball around the greens today.


Their form was rough and they were several over par on each hole, but they seemed not to mind.

HUNGRY HIPPOS: By the time we got done at the last farm, it was after 3 p.m. Save a bag of Goldfish the kids shared, the kids and I had nothing to eat since breakfast. We were seriously hungry.

We decided to stop for a really late lunch/early dinner in Mukilteo at Diamond Knot Brewery's Lincoln Ave. location. It was a good choice.

Mondays is kids eat free there, and not only is the price right, it's fun food! They bring the crust, sauce and toppings of your choice to the table and the kids got to prep their own pizza to their exacting standards. I heard Bee softly mutter, "I did SUCH a good job!" as she took her first bite.

CJ was equally pleased with his product.

OTHER STUFF: I'm too tired to tell you about the four books we read today and the two DVDs the kids watched tonight (one science, the other geography).

Oh, and then there was a BrainPop lesson about ecosystems this morning, complete with post video test and other related activities.