Friday

STORYTELLER: We spent the morning on the books the kids are working on writing and illustrating. CJ completed his storyboard for his book, planning the words and picture on each page. As a result of his doing so, we were able to generate a hunting and gathering list of supplies he needed, such as modeling clay for his dog, a box for his museum building, fake grass, some background materials and so on.

He chose the colors for his dog, and sculpted a prototype of its face. He also had to disassemble the dinosaur and paint the bones white.

Annabelle also worked on her storyboard. ALL ABOARD: It wasn't yellow, and it didn't head to school, but the kids did get to ride a bus today.Yesterday when we went to the Microsoft testing, the kids and I drove down and picked up Christian, who left his car behind at work. So this morning he took a different car to work, and the kids and I caught a bus to Sodo (south of downtown) to pick up the extra car down there. As we boarded, I paid the fare and the kids slid into a seat - a 3-wide bench seat right behind the driver. I soon sat down to join them and immediately saw a wheelchair decal next to where Annabelle was sitting. I said, "Look, these seats are for disabled people. The next time the bus stops we need to move." At that, a woman on the bank of 3 seats (also marked for disabled riders) across from us said, "Very observant. That's nice. No one ever pays attention to that." And so we moved. And then one stop later a young couple got on and sat where we had been. The woman across from them pointed out they were in seats reserved for disabled riders and I heard the guy say, "We'll be getting off soon." I guess his idea of soon was Magnolia to downtown. ...

ACCORDING TO CJ: This morning CJ said, "I feel like I'm at Nonnie and Bops." I asked him why and he said ,"Because it smells like Nonnie and Bops." I had to tie that to the fact that I'd made them pancakes for breakfast today, for the first time in weeks/months. :) And even earlier this a.m. CJ pointed out to me, "I got the laptop set up by myself. Without your help. Kind of impressive for a 7-year-old, isn't it?"

Can You Dig It?

DEM BONES: Before 8 a.m., we were brainstorming book ideas. Why? Because we've got our minds on the PBS Kids' writing contest, and its deadline is way too close. (We should have started brainstorming weeks ago).

To get inspired, we went to the contest Web site and looked at some pointers and past entries. After that, I asked the kids if they had any ideas. CJ was on FIRE! Seriously, he had so many story ideas, and was able to flesh them out really well. However, as I pointed out to him, the real challenge was going to be being able to 'deliver' the art to go along with the ideas. Since CJ doesn't like to draw a whole lot at this point, I suggested that he needs to think about what he can deliver (via drawing, painting, sculpting, painting, photography, and so on). At that, he honed in on one of his ideas - a story about a dog who loves bones and who happens to find his way into the new dinosaur exhibit at the museum. Chaos ensues. :) We talked about how CJ could illustrate this. We decided that sculpture and photos were his best bet and we had to find a 3-D dinosaur skeleton, stat! Off to Top 10 Toys we went. We found two options there - one was dino bones encased in a block of something like terracotta.

The kids had all sorts of fun chipping and scraping and sawing and brushing the material away from the bones. They were surprised at what slow, tedious work it was and kept urging me to do it for them. I asked them if they thought archaeologists and geologists called their mommies out to the dig sites to do the work for them. They thought not, and soldiered on.Truth be told, CJ did much of the heavy lifting on this project. His sticktoitiveness was impressive. He chipped and chipped away until he'd unearthed the whole skeleton.

Fearing the buried skeleton wasn't going to be big enough (and I don't think it is) we also found a second option at the toy store - a 3D puzzle.

We started the puzzle - popping out its pieces - this afternoon.

Tonight, Christian and the kids assembled the dino.

PUT TO THE TEST: Late this afternoon we headed over to Redmond, home of Microsoft. A couple of weeks ago I signed Annabelle and CJ up as candidates for game testing, and last week Annabelle got a call for a "Playtest" for kids age 4 to 6. We were asked to bring photo ID and "a few books that your child is used to reading and not used to reading."

I signed (without really reading) stuff about privacy and not disclosing stuff, so I won't say much, other than I'm not sure we were much help to Microsoft today if they're developing software about emerging readers. (For instance, per instruction we brought along one of Annabelle's favorite books - The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten," about the food chain, and it included terms like "phytoplankton.")

It's funny, going in Annabelle was just sure she was going to get to play the latest, greatest XBox games. Instead, it was us on the couch with a book - just like us at home, but in Redmond, under tight security. ;) Overall, it was a very positive experience, and I'd recommend it to others. Plus, we got great parting gifts for our time, and we saw some of The Coolest Artwork ever in the Microsoft lobby. It was three glass bead curtains that, from a distance, made out the unmistakable images of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. I want to make some. ;)

MEDIA BLITZ: Today, Annabelle was interviewed via phone by a Seattle Times reporter regarding the Sesame Peeps project. I could only hear one side of the conversation, but from what I could hear, it sounded like she handled it really well. We'll know how Sesame Peeps made out come April 24.

Mid Week

EARLY TO RISE: CJ has always been an early bird, but the past few days he's been an Even Earlier Bird. He was rarin' to go at 5:10 or so. Since it's hard to keep a good man down, we let him get up, of course. He hit his book "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules" right off the bat. He pointed out proudly that he was "into the hundreds" of pages in it. That might be a first for him. PERFECT DAY: Today was about the best school day a kid can have. CJ and Annabelle partook of the monthly pizza party before class, had some playground time, played in mud, sand and silt in science class and had popcorn afterward. What's not to like? TAKE NOTE: This afternoon I watched Annabelle and CJ writing notes back and forth. I finally wandered over to take a look at what it was all about. It's genesis was a debate we were having in the car about the name of a cartoon. Annabelle was saying something about "Tak and the Power of Choo Choo," and I told her I thought it was "Ju Ju." This went in circles. SO when we got home, she made a chart, and had us fill in our vote. She changed to Ju Ju, but CJ stuck with Choo Choo. As a result he was awarded an F+ grade by her (not sure what the plus was for). She elaborated, drawing a small globe with a speech bubble saying, "F+ CJ!" The next rubs it in, saying "Guess who's right? The gals." CJ finally struck back, writing, "No they aren't." "Oh yea, here's proof," Annabelle countered, pointing back to the voting that started it all. CJ insisted, "I am right!" Globe Bee took exception to that, writing, "Don't make me punch North America!" "But that would be punching yourself," CJ astutely pointed out. Globe Bee responded, "That would hurt. Ow. I'm sorry." And at the bottom of the page she wrote: "Earthy has left chat." For some reason that just cracked me up - the two of them passing a note replicating an online chat. It's a different world we live in! A ROLL OF THE DICE: After dinner, Annabelle asked if we could play Super Mario Yahtzee. "Sure!" I said, groaning on the inside. I hate Yahtzee. Always have, even as a kid. I don't really like games where luck is so much more important than skill. But it's not all about me - it's for the children! ;) And so, we played. It was good for their math skills and, of course, CJ won, because he always seems to win board games, even when he's totally not paying attention and doesn't really care. Good for him. :) THE POLLS ARE CLOSED: Voting in the Seattle Times' Peeps contest ended at noon today. About a week ago we'd learned the "Sesame Peeps" entry Annabelle submitted made the semifinals, and by 7 p.m. today, after the votes had been counted, Annabelle received an email letting her know that "Sesame Peeps" is a finalist and to watch the April 24 issue of the Seattle Times to see who the winner$ are. Fingers crossed until then!

The Big 3-0

image credit: NASA
HISTORIC DAY: We celebrated an anniversary of distinction today. April 12 marks the 30th anniversary of the first launch of NASA's Space Transportation System (STS)- more commonly known as the space shuttle. On April 12, 1981, commander John Young and pilot Robert Crippen roared into space on the first ever shuttle mission (a small crew considering the shuttle can hold up to seven crew members). Interestingly, April 12 also marks the day cosmonaut Yuri Garagin ushered in the era of human space flight when he became the first person to orbit the Earth. We turned NASA TV on at 9 a.m. and watched retrospective videos about the space shuttle program, including footage of the first launch, STS-1. While we were eagerly awaiting a 10 a.m. announcement about where three retired shuttles would go (The Museum of Flight in Seattle was a contender), CJ and Annabelle worked a super neat-o space shuttle puzzle we scored months ago at Goodwill. It's a challenging puzzle - in fact it's three separate puzzles - with funny shaped pieces. Bee and CeeJ got a bit frustrated at times. And a couple of times they didn't exactly see eye-to-eye about where pieces belonged.

But in the end, they got the shuttle puzzle together.Part of the NASA anniversary/retired shuttle awarding ceremony included a great video, "The Space Shuttle," narrated by William "Captain Kirk" Shatner. (You can see the podcast of it here.)

And in the end, Seattle was NOT awarded a retired shuttle (sniffle, sniffle). Supposedly we're getting a pretty decent consolation prize, though. Once the kids had the puzzle done, they played with it for awhile. It comes with some free 'floating' astronauts. I overheard CJ's astronaut advising one of Annabelle's astronauts, "Say you're an evil astronaut and you don't want the Hubble (telescope) to see you. You need to have a plan before Hubble snaps a snapshot of you." Sage advice, starman.

OTHER STUFF: The kids did some music homework this morning - more listening to German music, plunking out a couple of tunes on their glockenspeils, some math work, and then music class. We also went to yoga, and hit a park in the Rainier Valley for about 20 minutes.

And this afternoon, we also took some time out to make some sugar cookie dough for the day's space shuttle related art project. After music class, we made some marshmallow fondant and covered the cookies with it. Tonight, after dinner, we had a shuttle decorating session. I started off trying to be kind of authentic looking ... And soon Christian got in on the act. The kids took all sorts of artistic license, which is great. One of Annabelle's looks like it was hit by a chocolate comet. CJ fell in love with the gold flecked gel. This is the U.S.S. Splorg. ... Because I'm bitter about the shuttle program's demise, I made a protest shuttle. Christian quickly countered it with something more patriotic. We ended up with quite an assortment.

For dessert, the kids each ate a shuttle. The Star Spangled Space Shuttle didn't last long. It flew into CJ's mouth about 6 minutes after Christian finished frosting it. Annabelle ate her shuttle with artwork she said was inspired by an elephant. Interesting.

LOL: At one point today, CJ paused from playing Super Mario Galaxy when I handed him a cookie dough batter to clean up. "I'm a gaming geek and sugar freak," he declared with a smile.

Some Sun

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES: This morning, our 'brand new' (bought at a resale store for $16) XBox started acting up. I don't really blame the machine, however. It only started happening after the kids inserted a used game disk they bought into the machine. Turns out the disk had something like a taco salad on the bottom, and it munged the Xbox's optical reader all up. Thankfully, Christian has no fear when it comes to ripping computer-y things open, so he disassembled the XBox. While the box was open, we took the opportunity to show the kids its innards and point out major components. Interesting stuff - and I think it's great for the kids to know it's not just some magic box they plug in and play. It works because of all these tiny parts inside, carefully assembled. The good news is, after Christian cleaned it out and it's back to working just fine. Hooray! In sorta related news, last Friday afternoon we received a call from the Microsoft Playtest Group. They were looking for kids 4-6 to be game testers, and Annabelle fits the bill. (A couple weeks previously, I'd sent in forms offering up CJ's and Annabelle's services after happening upon their Web site.) So this Thursday afternoon we'll be heading to the Microsoft campus in Redmond to test drive some software. Should be interesting. ...

BLOWING STUFF UP: We conducted a short, simple science experiment today, torn from the pages of "Explosive Reactions," a Scholastic book. It involved white vinegar, baking soda, and a Ziploc bag. Simple. I had CJ and Annabelle read through all of the steps before we attempted any of them. That way, they were prepped when it came time to mix the 'explosive' ingredients. CJ's job was to drop the tablespoon of baking soda encased in a toilet paper pouch into the baggie. Annabelle had the slightly more dicey job of sealing the Ziploc and then getting away before the 'explosive' reaction took place. As she was sealing it, she was also screaming, "Get away! Get away!" certain that CJ was in imminent danger. Fortunately, no lives or limbs were lost. Also unfortunately, the 'explosion' was a little bit underwhelming. Really, the book overhyped the expected effect. That's stupid, because then instead of being wowed, the kids are like, "Meh."

D.E.A.R.: Just this weekend, Christian and I were talking about how we want to make sure we build time into each day for the kids to read. I told him that when Rick and Ken were in elementary school, I remembered a program called "Drop Everything and Read." It was exactly what it sounds like; At some appointed time every day, kids would stop what they were doing and read anything of their choosing.

I told Christian I wanted to replicate that. And even though I didn't tell the kids that, apparently they got the signal, for at one point today, for about a 20 minute stretch, they both wound up on the couch reading just for the fun/enrichment of it. And now that I think about it, we have probably been doing D.E.A.R. forever, but just not formally.

CALLED UP: Today was the last day of winter session of ballet classes. That means we got to sit in on the class and watch.

Before class this afternoon, the teacher told Christian and me that she wanted to talk to us after class. I told Christian, "OMG, I feel like we've just been called to the principal's office!" :0

We nervously (kidding) sat through class and afterward the ballet teacher spent some time explaining to us and one other parent that there is a 5-deep waitlist for the class that Annabelle is in, and in order to give some of those kids a chance, she was thinking about moving up two of the kids in Bee's group, one being Annabelle.

The teacher explained it would mean a little bit bigger commitment time and $ wise, and that Annabelle would have to commit to being in a recital come June. She also said that she thought Annabelle would benefit from being "challenged a bit more" by the older students. At that, we turned to Annabelle and asked her what she thought.

Her response: "Huh what?"

For, you see, while we were talking (no doubt in her ears sounding like the adults in Peanuts cartoons - wah wah wah wah wah), she had become engrossed in a book about artificial intelligence. I couldn't help but laugh. I mean seriously, that is exactly why she should move up to the next class.

Here are some pix from today's session. ...

DOWN TO THE SOUND: It just so happened that low tide today was about an hour after the ballet class' conclusion. That being the case, we decided to head down to the Sound and do a bit of exploring.

We went back to the spot the kids and I visited when we all had the flu a couple of weeks ago. What a difference a few days make!

As we approached the beach, the first thing Christian and I spotted was a huge ol' computer monitor perched on some driftwood. "WTH?" we thought. Why would someone dispose of that there? Just a couple of seconds later we both struck upon the idea that it had to be for a photo shoot. It was just too 'placed,' and too much trouble. And then just a couple seconds beyond that, we saw a photographer with his camera set up on a portable dolly.And when we headed west along the shoreline, I couldn't believe my eyes about 50 yards into our trek. There was an ENORMOUS landslide blocking the beach. HUNDREDS of cubic yards of debris had broken away from about a 150-foot sheer cliff and tumbled down onto the beach.All of the rocks and tree debris behind the kids wasn't there just a couple of weeks ago. So what was a pretty casual stroll along the beach has turned into a clambering/crawling hike. OH AND: If you haven't yet today, please vote for "Sesame Peeps." Just click on the link to the right of the daily blog entry. HUGE prizes and prestige are at stake. ;)