Winding Down

TAKE HOME TIME: Next week will be Annabelle's last art class in Shoreline. Given that, the art teacher was having the kids take home all of their to-date projects.

That meant Annabelle had a box of six clay projects. I took some crappy photos of them. Below you'll see a turquoise dragon, a red triceratops and a green corythosaurus.

And here we have a bear paw print with handle, a devil, a Beyblade battle arena and a Minecraft dude.

REMARKABLE: This morning, while driving to Shoreline, I put a CD in the stereo and the kids read along to "Harriet Tubman: A Picture Book" by David A. Adler. (And can I just stop a moment here to say  that any biographical book for children by Adler is worth checking out?)

Source: National Portrait Gallery, photo by  H. Seymour Squyer, 1848 - 18 Dec 1905

The book followed Harriet from birth through her childhood, her nearly life-ending injury at the hands of a slave owner, her first marriage, her flight to freedom, her work as a leader of the Underground Railroad, her second marriage and later, her establishment of a home for African Americans in need.

We weren't halfway through it when I heard CJ marvel, from the backseat, "She was a GREAT woman."

After the book was finished, CJ noted how next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the year Tubman died. Last night we were talking about how our house was built in 1908. I pointed out ot the kids that when our home was built, Tubman was still alive. How about that?

MORE TITLES: Over the past couple of days the kids also read a couple of Seuss books that were new to them (Gerald McBoing Boing and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back), as well as a couple of Knuffle Bunny books (the first and third in the series), by Mo Willems. The Knuffle Bunny books are cute - I'd think they'd be a real big hit with toddlers and preschoolers.

Speaking of books, the kids registered online for the Seattle Public Libraries Summer Reading Program. If they read 10 books this summer (not a very lofty goal, eh?), they get a prize. Today they updated their books read list. They're more than halfway to goal already, and they just started a couple of days ago. We're going to have to add some long novels to their list for good measure!

LAST LEGOS: This afternoon marked the last building LEGO class of the trimester. CJ had just started a pretty big build last week - a car wash. So, knowing today was his last chance, I stayed in class and helped him power through the kit.

We didn't get every single piece in, but I'd say we got 90 percent of it done. He was pretty happy about that.

Meanwhile, Annabelle worked on a "free build." She make "like a robot," she tells me.

ANNOYING AD: Don't know about your neck of the woods, but we've seen this billboard ad a couple of places around Seattle. And I can't stand it!!!

Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Letsmove.gov and that program's mission, but this ad ... aaargh.

First of all, I dont' like its message that you need to or should lie to your kids to somehow 'trick' them into eating healthy food. (CJ and Annabelle both took major exception to this element of the billboard, BTW.)

Second, suggesting that watermelon is astronaut food is about the dumbest thing ever. Anyone who knows anything about spaceflight provisions knows that their food is made as lightweight and condensed as possible, in order to save space and fuel. Pound for pound, a watermelon would be about THE least efficient type of food to take to space.