Sweet Deals

FRIDAY FREEBIE: One of the most important things on our To Do list today was swinging by Starbucks at 3 p.m. to take advantage of their "We-Love-You, Seattle" promotion. Each Friday for a few weeks, Starbucks stores are giving Seattle dwellers coupons for free fun around town. Today it was free youth passes to the Seattle Aquarium, which is great, because that place is not cheap to visit. Next Friday it's free Mariners tickets. You KNOW we'll be all over that!

BACK TO EARTH: This morning we spent some more time studying for the kids' science final next week. They each had a "word bank" with about three dozen words in it and we talked about the definitions for each word. They got off to a bit of a shaky start (especially CeeJ), but rallied toward the end. When we went through it a second time in the afternoon, they did much better.

Here, they contemplate the definition of basalt ...GET ON BOARD: Midday, the kids and I boarded a bus a half a block from home. We had to ride to Sodo to pick up a car we'd left there yesterday, when we met Christian at his work and all rode to Microsoft together. The kids like riding the bus, no doubt due to its novelty to them.On our way back, we could tell that tourist season is in fully swing here in Seattle. The double decker tour buses are out and about ... and the cruise ships are in port. Look at how this one dwarfs the semi-famous Edgewater (The Beatles stayed there looooooong ago).GEMS: All day long, I find little art projects of Annabelle's strewn about the house. Things like this black balloon turned into an angst ridden character ... SPECIAL DELIVERY: Today CJ was THRILLED to find the parts he and Christian ordered to try to rebuild/fix a couple of old Sega Game Gears. CJ wanted to start soldiering right away. I told him it would have to wait until his dad was home. It will be really interesting to see if they're able to resurrect the old units!
SWEET EXPERIMENT: Not sure how we got on the topic, but a couple of days ago Annabelle and I got to talking about making a S'mores cookie. Yesterday we (impulse) bought a tube of that horrid sugar cookie dough in the refrigerator case at the grocery store and today we tried to transform it into something tasty. Of course, every experiment needs a good plan. Annabelle drew ours up. ...Then it was time to spring into action. CJ was in charge of slicing the sugary log up.The kids put chocolate chips, marshmallow bits and graham cracker crumbs in the middle and we put another slice of cookie on top. During the cooking process, things got a little messy.
But the kids didn't mind that they weren't too aesthetically pleasing. I didn't think they were very tasty, either, but CJ and Annabelle managed to choke one or two down.

TOMORROW, TOMORROW: It's a bit like Christmas for CJ tomorrow. It's the first annual Seattle Retro Gaming Exposition. Supposedly EVERY single game ever made for the Nintendo Entertainment System will be on site in the free play zone. There will be vendors with all sorts of oddities we need and who knows what else. Doors open at 9 a.m., you know we'll be there!

'Round Redmond

ISLAND TIME: We started our day with some math at the kitchen island. It occurs to me that Annabelle would get done a WHOLE lot faster if every story problem didn't turn into an art project. ;)

CRAMMIN': Today we began studying for the kids' science final next week. I think it's the first time we've ever crammed for a test! Our studies consist of reviewing all the lesson notes from the soil unit and reading over their in class experiments and homework. It's a lot of ground to cover (get it? get it?!).

TEST PILOT: This morning I reminded CJ today's the day he gets to be a Playtester at Microsoft in Redmond (about a half hour east of Seattle). His response: "When I get to Microsoft, I'll tell them I'm not a center keyboarder."

Huh what?

He explained that meant that he doesn't like to use the letter keys on a keyboard as the movement keys when playing a computer game. Oh, OK. ... He must have picked that term up while watching a YouTube video.

Christian went in with CJ today, and they signed a confidentiality agreement, so I can't disclose details, but let's just say that CJ got a WORKOUT mentally and physically. He tested several games and offered lots of feedback. My favorite story is when he was asked for suggested improvements on one game, he requested a health meter for the game's hero. The test proctor acknowledged that and asked if CJ thought there should be one. I think CJ's answer was a definite yes, because he said that without a health meter "clearly this game is for toddlers." I'm told the proctor busted out laughing at that.

When he emerged from the testing - over two hours later - CJ was smiling broadly. "I got paid!" he announced, holding a $20 Amazon gift card. This makes CJ, who knows his way around eBay and Amazon, a Very Happy Boy. :)PARK PATROL: While the guys were embedded under the Microsoft Cone of Secrecy, Annabelle and I struck out to explore some points beyond the campus. Our first stop was a park just across the street from the northeast corner of campus - Cascade View Neighborhood Park. Annabelle enjoyed exploring it - though she was a little nonplussed with how slow the slides were.After about 40 minutes there, we headed a little further eastward and a bit south to Idylwood Beach Park on the shore of Lake Sammamish. The 18-acre park has a (carry in) boat launch, a swimming area, some trails, a nice playground and great barbecue spots, including a big shelter with a great roof line.We checked out the docks, were some ducks practically begged Annabelle for food. The park had a cool percussion instrument feature, complete with "sheet" music.
RISING SUN: A Facebook friend today pointed me in the direction of the Japanese Space Agency's Web site. I'm ashamed to admit that until today, I hadn't thought about the Japanese having a space program. :0

Right now, Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa is preparing for his mission on board a Russian spacecraft to be launched at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Republic of Kazakhstan on June 8. The vessel's three-man crew will include NASA astronaut Michael Fossum and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov. Furukawa will be on the space station for five and a half months - wow!

Soil and Toil

LOTSA LETTUCE: The lettuce seeds we planted a couple weeks back have started to sprout in a big way. There must be four dozen plant starts in a not-too-big space. We're going to have to do some thinning, to be sure.

STACKED: This morning we read down the stack so we could return some books to the library. "Will's Mammoth," which was mostly lovely illustrations of ice age animals. "When Sheep Cannot Sleep" was a fun counting book turning the count-sheep-to-fall-asleep tradition on its head. "Annie Bananie" was a sweet little story about best friends being split up due to one of the moving. "Stalling" was a story about, well, stalling. It's good to get that word into their vocabulary. When CJ asked what it meant, I told him, 'That's what you guys do when I ask you to clean."

I was looking forward to reading "No Fair Science Fair," but thought its storytelling was a bit flat footed. Ironically, the point of the book is that things aren't always immediately exciting or engaging. Go figure.

SCREEN TEST: In science class today, the kids got to take the soil samples they collected yesterday and learn a bit more about them. First, they used three different sizes of screens to sift the soil. Next, they put them into vials, mixed in some water. They shook them up and then watched the various media separate.At the end of the class, the kids got the bricks they made a couple of weeks ago. They were both pretty pleased with the finished product!PUPPETMASTER: We stopped at the Dollar Tree after science class today. There, we scored a stack of brown paper lunch bags and a pack of colorful foam sheets - both great crafting supplies! We hadn't been in the door more than 30 seconds when Annabelle set about making some puppets. I lost count of how many she made this evening, but here's one sample.NOW THAT'S MORE LIKE IT! Do you remember your high school valedictorian's speech? (Or maybe you were the valedictorian - in which case, congrats.)

I remember my high school valedictorian's speech. It was HORRENDOUS. Mean, hateful and just plain awful. By my recollection, he basically talked about how everyone was stupid and what losers everyone on public assistance was. Ah yes, so charming, especially coming from an 18 year old who has NEVER lived on his own. I was sitting on the stage behind him, waiting to give my own speech. That vantage point gave me the opportunity to be able to scan the faces of my classmates and their families. It was clear many of them were mortified by his words. When he was done, some people actually booed him. He had it coming.

Today, thanks to a link on the Huffington Post, I discovered a valedictorian's speech that was 180 degrees opposite of when my class was subjected to. The graduate, Alaine Caudle of Doniphan West High School was upbeat, fun and managed to positively include all of her co-graduates (all 10 of them!) rather than alienate people. Well played!

She's kind of hard to understand her words because of the crappy recording quality, but you get the gist of it pretty quickly. (If you really want to read the words/lyrics, they're in the info paragraph about the video on YouTube.)

Tales from a Tuesday

TAPESTRY: For about three days now, Annabelle has been on an absolute tear. Fortunately, it's a good kind of tear - as long as you don't mind feathers, glitter, glue, fabric, cardboard boxes and tubes, tape, googly eyes and more covering every horizontal surface of the house.

Bee has been a crafting maniac - making all sorts of creatures and accoutrement. One of her first creations this a.m. was a blue bird of sorts. She was pretty damn disappointed that he wouldn't fly, despite his feathers and really big white wings.

I keep a huge drawer in the kitchen chock full o' crafting supplies in a spot where the kids have easy access to it. (Annabelle is a much more frequent craft drawer raider than CJ, and boy is she miffed when "her" supplies go missing. Case in point - this morning she had some harsh words for big brother Rick, who borrowed her pink duct tape and (gasp!) didn't return it yet.

CACOPHONY: The kids had some music homework to do this morning and as they dug around looking for the right rhythm cards and sheet music to copy and the right paper to copy them onto, they had soon covered the entire island with pages. "This is becoming a music mess here," CJ correctly observed.

I left the kids to do their work for a few minutes and when I returned was surprised to find Annabelle hadn't transcribed a SINGLE note yet. However, she did have a cute musical doodle scrawled across the top of her page. ...DREAM MACHINES: In recent days, the kids have both been talking about game systems/consoles they plan on designing in the future. I encourage those thoughts - why just play games when you could design them and/or the hardware they're played on.

I asked the kids to each write down some of their ideas about their future systems. CJ wrote, "My console will be called The Arcade Simulater. I have no doubt that a lot of games will be ported to the Arcade Simulateor. Here are three of the games that I think will be ported to the Arcade Simulateor: 1. Super Mario Bros. 2. Yie ar Kung Fu 3. Super Mario World. I will try to make the best Arcade Simulateor as best as possible! Of the grate things about the Arcade Simulateor is that it has short loading time!"

And as for Annabelle, she wrote, "My Consle by Annabelle Kisky. My consle is called: The Busy Bee for short.) Any way, TBB's first game is: "Bee," a pollen collecter. You're playing as a badly drawn bee named Honey-Gal. So ... I'll come up with more games soon."

CLASSY: The kids had Musikgarten today. They learned a promenade type dance to some Mozart music. Fancy! And at yoga they worked on handstands against the wall. Wish I'd seen that (I was out walking 'round the neighborhood).

SOIL SAMPLES: We went ahead and got the science homework done this morning, too. It involved a little math (figuring out how many ingredients they'd need to complete a soil related experiment), and then they were asked to go collect two soil samples apiece from our yard. We chose to scoop some dirt from the planters outside our front door and a big dirt pile by the alley.
FINAL FLIGHT: There's one last chance to get your Face in Space on a space shuttle http://faceinspace.nasa.gov . NASA will be accepting submissions up to the liftoff date of Atlantis (targeted for July 8). NASA also released the final tally of submissions to the Space Shuttle Program's "Face in Space" campaign for STS-134 (which is currently docked at the ISS). Earthlings (including CJ and Annabelle) submitted a total of 128,940 photos for uplink to Endeavour via the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The images will return to Earth through a data transmission, and contributors will be able to print certificates verifying their photos flew aboard Endeavour.

WEEKEND REWIND: I forgot to mention in yesterday's post that this weekend we went to watch an orchestral performance at the historic Moore Theater - the oldest remaining theater in Seattle. But this wasn't just any symphony - it was Seattle Rock Orchestra performing early Queen music. Most excellent. :)

We got there early and enjoyed checking out the architecture and memorabilia around the theater, which was constructed in 1907.

A series of vocalists performed with Seattle Rock Orchestra. They all did a yeoman's job (singing Freddie is NOT easy). Our homework earlier in the week paid off - the kids recognized most of the songs. In fact, after just two notes, CJ leaned over and excitedly whispered to me, "The March of the Black Queen!" I found a video of vocalist Tai Shain singing "March of the Black Queen" and "Lap of the Gods." Good stuff.

There were just a few other kids there for the sold-out show. Annabelle was the youngest fan, I do believe.

CALLED UP: I am happy to report that CJ has been called to take part in his first Microsoft Playtest. Based on the (many, many) screening questions I was asked on the phone, I think he might actually get to play a game. (When Annabelle was a playtester, it consisted of the two of us sitting on a couch and reading books, which was fun, but not what she was expecting!) CJ's test is on Thursday.

Walkathon

TAKE A HIKE: Upon upping this morning, we found the day to be not so awful weather-wise (despite the dire forecasts from yesterday). In fact, there was a fair expanse of blue sky over our part of Seattle. I suggested that we head to 534-acre Discovery Park and go for a decent-length hike.

I'm going to let the photos do most of the talking, but the overview is we walked about 5 miles (from the south side of the park out and around the horn, where the lighthouse is, along the north beach, and then through the historic district back to the car).
The water of Puget Sound was the smoothest we've EVER seen it today. It was like glass. I couldn't help but chuckle at this sign ...

and the well-worn path leading to the unstable bluff behind it. :)

From a distance, we could see that the lighthouse restoration project appeared to be complete. (For our past several visits, the building has been shrouded with construction equipment and materials.).

We walked, walked and walked some more. After about 2 miles we finally made it to the beach. The kids love exploring the driftwood structures there.

Annabelle found a red balloon on the beach. That made her VERY happy. :)
We crossed paths with this (very dead) crab. ... Er, why does this crab have this weird lobster-like tail? Somebody help us, please! ... Surely there's a name and/or explanation for this.

We made our way to the point where the (short, squatty) lighthouse is. CJ, clearly disappointed with its stature, said, "This isn't like the ones in cartoons." While he was right, I have to say, this lighthouse is charming in its own little way.

On our way back in the general direction of the car and away from the beach, we encountered a neat marshy area. Unfortunately, we didn't see any frogs, turtles, or beavers today. As we trudged up a steep hill CJ proclaimed, "I'm poofed!" And a few minutes later reiterated, saying, "I'm all poofed out." LOL!

I helped prod Annabelle and him along by doling out Cheez-Its four at a time.

We saw some AMAZING trees today. Someone had thoughtfully tied a rope to this one, allowing access to its 'crotch.'

We checked out some of the cool architecture in the old Fort Lawton zone. This is the gymnasium ... And adjacent to the church, we found this quiet grove.

Just before we got to the car, we spotted this black bunny, and a baby black bunny, too.