Capitol Idea

IN OLY: We spent the better part of our daylight hours in or going to and fro Olympia, our state capitol.

The car time gave the kids a chance to do a lot of reading. They mostly studied up on Pokemon, read several "Time Magazine for Kids" issues and Annabelle's working on a book by Jane Goodall. They also spent some time using the PictoChat feature on their Nindento DSs (DeSes?) to communicate back and forth. Much more fun than just talking to the person sitting next to you in the car, right? ;)

In Olympia, I got to put some elements of the kids' recent geography and math lessons to the test. I had them help me with navigation and directions, and they did really well. I would also quiz them about things like, 'If we're on 14th Ave. and need to get to 22nd, how many blocks do we have to go?" It's so easy to work math problems in to everyday living.

We met a friend in Oly, and got to know our way around the capital and adjacent Lacey lots better. This was as close as we got to the capital today, though - pretty Heritage Park on the north side of it.

By visiting a state of Washington Web site when we got home, we learned that Heritage Park of Heritage Park was part of the vision of architects Walter Wilder and Harry White, who designed the state capitol. Their 1911 master plan for the Capitol Campus called for a park physically and visually connecting the capitol buildings and grounds with the city of Olympia, Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. However, it wasn't until 1986 that planning for the park took place, and funding didn't get underway until 1991. Based on what we saw today, they're still working on the grounds.

CLUBBIN' IT: Imagine CJ & Annabelle's happy surprise this afternoon when a couple of packages showed up on the porch addressed to them.

The puffy Manila envelopes had a return address of a PO Box on it and no names or otherwise distinguishing marks. Oh, the intrigue!

They tore into them and found inside a bunch of Mariners' Kids Club swag! They each received a backpack, a hat, a t-shirt, a lanyard, a coupon book (with some significant Safeco Field savings), a baseball themed novella and more. Sweet! This is the first year I've signed them up for the Kids Club and what a deal it has proven to be (especially since I got it for around half off through a special one day only deal)!

THANK YOU: CJ got busy on some post-birthday present thank you notes this afternoon. I asked him to hand craft them featuring some shift JIS art, since he's such a fan of that avenue of expression. He came up with this face:

(｡◕‿◕｡)

That was the easy part for him. Then he let the whole folding paper, cutting paper, gluing paper process get the best of him for a bit, before rallying and figuring it out. His written sentiments on the cards were short but heartfelt. Tomorrow, I'll have him get the notes in envelopes and into a mailbox.