Home Opener 2011

BALLPARK BOUND: Today's the day we've been waiting for since, oh, OCTOBER. It's back to Safeco Field to watch the Seattle Mariners play. This year will be different, of course. This is the first time in Mariners history that Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus won't be behind the microphone on opening day. We attended his memorial in December. Today will be our first time back since then. He'll certainly be at the top of everyone's mind. Today when she was getting dressed, Annabelle strapped her white shoes on and said to herself, "In honor of Dave Niehaus." :)No doubt there will be thousands of white shoes at the ballpark tonight, as Niehaus had a thing for them, and fans have been asked to wear them tonight in his memory. There will be some special festivities before opening pitch, including a performance by Macklemore of his tribute to Dave. ROCK 'N' READ: This afternoon it was so sunny out, I thought I'd mow the top of our lot. While I did that, the kids sat out in the sun and read for about a half hour. Annabelle started and finished an entire chapter book (Geronimo Stilton's "The Temple of the Ruby Fire") this afternoon. BY THE BOOK: Our kinda sorta math this morning involved CJ and Annabelle learning a bit about how to keep score in a baseball book. First things first, I drew a graph for them explaining how each player on the field has a position number (pitcher = 1, catcher = 2, etc. up through right fielder = 9). Then I let them each pick out a team name and 9 position players' names. We filled out the lineups and then I gave them scenarios and they had to fill in their books, recording balls, strikes, put outs, errors and such. They were doing pretty well until I threw a 6-4-3 double play at them. ;) I'm thinking if they know more about how the game is played and scored, they might be more interested in watching it. I also told them it's fun to keep score because if you do it long enough and well enough, you can seem to be a bit of a psychic, because you will often be able to predict what will happen based on your past observations and statistics.

In Bloom

FINALLY: We got some sun today. Not ALL day mind you. Not even most of the day. But for about 2 hours this afternoon, we did get some sun. And so, we went for (gasp!) a run/ride. Remember that? I barely do. It feels like it's been forever since Christian and I trudged alongside CJ and Bee on their bikes.

As an aside, Kirby may have met her future husband at the park next to Lawton Elementary today. We met a young male Havanese (Manny) and his owner. He was very cute - longer, whiter hair than Kirby. We may have the two get together in the future. We'll see. ...

IN REVIEW: Man oh man did we enjoy the Moisture Festival last night. From the first act, Rob Lok, who was dancing, jumping rope and more while wearing 6-foot high stilts, to the final curtain it was wildly entertaining. We saw Dr. Guy Lafitte, who is described as an entertainer, gambler, teller of tales, living historian, magician and bartender. He was an interesting fusion of all of the above. Wearing a tutu most of the time, Frank Oliver did impressive and hysterical unicycle ballet. At the end of his act he climbed aboard a 6-plus foot unicycle and played the national anthem on electric guitar, a la Jimi Hendrix. Crazy good! Annabelle, especially, enjoyed aerialist Helena Reynolds. I wouldn't be surprised if Bee asks to attend one of Seattle's 'circus arts' schools soon. John Carney was absolutely HYSTERICAL. He performed in the character of Mr. Mysto, and while comedy was a big part of his act, he was a damn fine magician, too. At one point he "channeled" Van Gogh, and the ghost of Van Gogh drew a self portrait with a floating pen. Mysto then signed and gave the portrait to Annabelle (we were sitting in the front row). The kids were so thrilled to have that as a souvenir. Nate Cooper's act was entirely on roller skates. He had his character (a flirtatious, clumsy, temperamental drunk) was very well developed. The crowd loved him. Sunga Rose played ukulele and sang some delightful songs from the 1920s and '30s, including the The Cod Fish Ball, which was an audience singalong. The house band,Doc Sprinsock and the SANCApators, was wonderful. The only performer that had us going, "Um, hmm?" was a man who bills himself as human jazz.

SYNAPSES AND SUCH: Our reading and science for the day came courtesy of a book called "You've Got Nerve." Apparently it's part of a series - "The Gross and Goofy Body." The layout and graphics are great. It packed a lot of info in its nearly 50 pages, and the kids were engaged for its duration. I had previewed it and since I knew it started out, with the words "A grapefruit," I had a couple of grapefruit ready for the kids to balance on noggins and mull over the fact that their brains are about the size of a large grapefruit.

We stopped several times throughout the book for sidebars to discuss what we'd read. For instance, when we read bout the pons, we learned that its job is sorting through messages entering the brain and filtering out unpleasant ones. Like, think about how your socks feel on your feet right now. OK, fine. But be glad that although you could feel that all the time, if your pons is working properly, you don't have to deal with thinking about them all the time. I told the kids, "Imagine if you were constantly thinking. 'Socks, socks! I'm wearing socks! They're cotton socks. Cozy. Socks. Love my socks!' " If that were the case, your brain wouldn't be able to think about important stuff, like that bus coming your way, etc. They thought that was hysterical.

PRETZEL & PC: I just had to take a picture of Annabelle at the computer this a.m. It was like she was doing yoga while computing.

BOXING DAY: I do believe I've mentioned on these pages that Annabelle loves cardboard boxes. Big, small and everything in between, she loves making things out of them. Today, CJ got in on the act. While it wasn't his idea, he willingly donned the helmet Bee made him. :) I think my favorite part is the scribbled out smile in the nose area, when Annabelle struck upon the idea of using the box flaps to extend the helmet to his chest. I love her explanatory sign, too. :)

CJ saw the practical nature of the robo helmet, saying, "I'm wearing this box just in care there are any injuries coming up."

Smart boy. ;)

GENTLE REMINDER: Please vote for "Sesame Peeps" in the Seattle Times contest, once every 24 hours for the next week-ish. There's a link right here on this page - look for the Peeps pic to the right!

Eggstra, Eggstra!

EGGSCELLENT: Imagine our surprise when we walked into the kids' Shoreline school to find people making pysanka in the lobby. Annabelle immediately wanted in on the action. Meanwhile CJ immediately wanted in on some popcorn. ;) For those new to pysanka it's a Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated using a wax-resist method. Wikipedia notes, "The word pysanka refers specifically to an egg decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs, and is not a generic term for any egg decorated using wax resist."

So, it seems, Annabelle's egg isn't truly pysanka. But I digress. ... To do it the "right" (traditional) way, it's a super long, involved process likely spread out over days. Annabelle had about six minutes to do her egg. First, she had to warm up some wax in a tiny bowl on the top side of her stylus (or a kystka) and then draw on the egg. Then she dipped it in turquoise, drew on the egg some more, and then dipped in pink (of course).

In the photo at the top of the page, we haven't even taken the wax off the eggs yet. Maybe we'll melt it off tomorrow. ...Years ago, I wrote a story about pysanka for The Columbian. It mostly centered on an art teacher in East Portland who taught the art to her kids. My oh my were Mary's eggs amazing! VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN: We logged into the Seattle Times' Web site to see if voting in the Peeps contest had started yet or not. I was surprised to find out that not every entry can be voted on. The Times' staff narrowed the field. There were nearly 500 entries in all. That was whittled to 43 adults and 31 kids. Fortunately, "Sesame Peeps" made the cut! Annabelle submitted it, because she did the vast majority of the work. (CJ was more moral support and he kneaded some fondant.) Annabelle would LOVE it if you'd vote for her in the Peeple's Choice contest. You can (and should, har har) vote once a day from now to April 13. Unfortunately, in order to vote, you'll have to register with their Web site. But that only takes a few seconds, and you only have to do it once. (I do believe you'll have to wait for an email confirmation after you register, click on it's link and then you are free to vote.) To view and vote for Annabelle, go HERE.

OVERHEARD: CeeJ and Bee were working on a cooperative game together this afternoon - "Kirby's Epic Yarn." However, at times it became every man for him- or herself. At one point I heard CJ bark, "Did you even THINK about saving me, Annabelle?!?" In more pleasant times, I heard Annabelle say, "This is fun!" At that, CJ asked, "Do you think it's more fun than Rick Astley?" Gotta watch that CJ. He can be a trickster.

SCREENING: The rock unit continues in the Shoreline class. Today, the kids used screens to sift and sort rocks of various sizes. That was fun. BRING YOUR UMBRELLA: Tonight we're going to the "Moisture Festival" at Hale's Palladium. I'd provide a link to the event Web site, but when I visited it last night, it set off so many malware/Trojan/virus alerts with my anti-virus software, that I'm not going to do that to you. Instead, I'll just share this description of it from their Blogspot page, which didn't set off my alarms.

Comedy/Varietè is an intriguing assortment of entertainment. It is highly skilled performance mixed with many bizarre talents, often humorous, with no limit to the imagination. Presented as a variety show, each act or artist performs his or her routine within a 3-15 minute time slot while being accompanied by a live show band. Aerialists, jugglers, comedians, dancers, rope acts, bubble acts, clowns, acrobats, can can girls, strong women, strong men, tap dancers, drill teams, musical numbers, the weird and the wonderful- all keeping the tradition of Comedy/Varietè/Vaudeville alive. Since 2004, Moisture Festival has presented this exhilarating form of theater to celebrate Spring.

Sesame Peeps

PÈEPS DE RÉSISTANCE: Early this a.m. the kids assembled the Peeps pieces into the finished product. We had the cereal boxes CJ and Annabelle painted as buildings, the Sesame Peeps made yesterday, the sign Annabelle Photoshopped, and some Contact paper as a base/street. We wanted to shoot it this a.m. when the light would be streaming in our big east-facing windows. Our first batch of photos wasn't acceptable. Bert and Ernie just weren't "popping." (BTW, I was really impressed with how discerning Annabelle and CJ's eyes were regarding good and bad photos.) We shot and re-shot and re-shot. Annabelle wasn't happy that Bert and Ernie's hair wasns't showing up. We needed lights in the building. I do believe it was the FOURTH photo shoot when we decided to open use flashlights to light the apartment building so that you could make out Ernie and Bert. Annabelle was a trouper - balancing on a rickety stool on one foot, holding her arms at a crazy, unnatural angle just to get a good shot. That's my girl! ;) Ultimately, Annabelle picked the photo to use, and touched it up in Photoshop, using primarily the clone stamp, magnetic lasso, shadow/highlight, and blur tools. We got done with the shooting and 'shopping about 10:15 - well ahead of the noon deadline to enter it into the Seattle Times' Peeps contest, right?? ... But before you could make a submission, you had to register for their site. And wait to get a confirmation email back, and then login to the site and then submit. Well, we registered, submitted Annabelle's email address, and waited. And waited. And waited. It was only about 10 minutes, but it seemed like forever with the clock ticking away. Finally, we got it and uploaded the picture. Phew.

THE BACKSTORY: I wanted the kids to get some writing in today, but was drawing a blank about a story starter. DUH. I finally realized that they should write a story about the Sesame Peeps. CJ wrote: Cookie Peep is waiting for cookies to be delivered. Bert is talking to someone. Big Peep is starting to walk to his nest. The Peep is crossing the road to his castle. Oscar the Peep is saying "scram!" to everyone. Ernie is playing in his room. Annabelle wrote: Once upon a time ... Cookie was standing by the door, waiting for something to do. "Hey," said the Peep. "Why don't we play musical stairs!" So they did. "Hey," said Oscar the Peep. "I can't play." "Why," they all said. "Because I don't like coming out of my trash can," said Oscar the Peep. So they played catch.

BANDITS AND ANIMALS: For their Musikgarten homework, the kids had to make illustrations of something they remembered from the "Musicians of Bremen" story they were read during last week's class.

I apologize that the photo is so bad of CJ's work, as its story was interesting. His illustration recalled the point in the story where a bad guy was waiting outside for his friend who was in a house robbing the place. CJ's Bad Guy Outside thought bubble was a picture of the bandit inside coming out = 2 years? In other words, the guy outside was growing impatient. :) Annabelle's picture incorporated the animals in the story - the rooster, the cat, the donkey and the dog. And her picture smelled good 'cause she used her Mr. Sketch markers. :)During the parent participation part of today's class, teacher Nancy conducted an ambitious 4-part orchestra (parents on recorders, kids on glocks and other chime-y percussion) playing a song about a cuckoo clock. It was ridiculously complicated and amazingly impressive when we got it after about 2 minutes. :)

WE ARE THE FREAKIES: Recently I moved my Precious Freakies Magnets from the Up Up High side of the fridge to the eye level of the stove. This did not go unnoticed by CeeJ and Bee. CJ, especially, has been interested in them, as he is interested in ANYTHING that is a Complete Collection.

Today CJ wanted to know all about the Freakies. The best way to do that was to hop on YouTube. After watching the advertisement, I had the kids try to name each of the Freakies. They need to watch the commercial few more times.

We the Peeple

POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME: The bulk of our day was spent toiling in the sugar arts. Yes, we did some math. And Annabelle had ballet. And we checked on our seedlings. But mostly, we melted, smooshed, shaped, colored and sculpted sugar, as today was the day set aside for a Peeps art project. A couple of weeks ago, Annabelle settled on the idea of doing a Sesame Peeps themed scene. We've been collecting different colored Peeps in our shopping travels recently and first thing this a.m. we made a list of the colors of fondant we needed to make, as fondant was going to be our modeling 'clay' on the project. We had to make red, blue, green, orange, gray, black, brown and yellow. The red and blue above is part of Ernie's shirt.

CJ's hands got a workout mixing colors. It was good for him. In addition to the Peeps, the CJ Sesame Street set had to be constructed, too. It took several hours, but it wasn't hard work and it's coming together quite nicely. It should be finished early in the a.m. tomorrow.

BACK IN THE USSR: The Russian space program figured largely into our day. Case in point: first thing this a.m. I had an email from NASA letting me know the April 19 launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour has been pushed back to April 29 at the earliest. That's a HUGE bummer for Rick and Ken, who had/have flights, etc. booked for the original date. Sigh. I kind of saw this coming. I saw a post by a NASA launch pad engineer/technician on Facebook last week and he said everything was on target for the April 19 launch, but that NASA just had to get things squared away schedule wise with the Russians regarding a mission of theirs to the ISS. As soon as I saw that I pointed it out to Christian and said, "I think this is trouble." Why? Well, because the U.S. is no longer the leader in a lot of things, and one of those things is a space program.

We only have two shuttle flights left and after that, we're just along for the ride to get back to the ISS. Our astronauts will just be buying seats on Russian flights. It makes me a little crazy. So sure 'nough, today word comes that the Russians aren't going to change their schedule to accommodate the Endeavour's launch date. Disappointing, but I don't blame them. The times, they are a changing. And speaking of the Russians and their burgeoning space program, this afternoon, we watched Expedition 27, with crew members Russian Flight Engineer Andrey Borisenko, NASA Flight Engineer Ron Garan, and Soyuz Commander Alexander Samokutyaev lift off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan in a Soyuz rocket. (You can watch it too HERE.) The Soyuz, dubbed "Gagarin," launched one week shy of the 50th anniversary of the launch of Yuri Gagarin from the very same launch pad on April 12, 1961, to become the first human to fly in space.