30 August 2009

School starts this coming Tuesday. Abe's school had an open house on Friday so the kids could meet their teachers and drop off their school supplies. Abe had 3 bags full of supplies to take. Because of limited budgets, the kids bring classroom supplies, not just their own pencils and crayons. This year each student is also bringing a ream of copier paper for the school to use.

However, the expense of back-to-school supplies is dwarfed by the expense of back-to-school medicines-- albuterol inhalers for Sophie and Abe, 2 epipens each for Abe and Helen. Hopefully, they won't need the medicines at school, but better safe than sorry.

We had a quick trip to a nearby lake for our ward overnighter this weekend. We look forward to going every year. The church owns a lovely campsite with cabins to stay in and canoes to play on the lake. The activities' committee provides all the food and great activities. We just had to bring a sleeping bag and a toothbrush. Okay, and a swimsuit for playing in the lake. Sophie tied a body board to the back of a canoe and let Brandan tow her around the lake. Gibson, Abe and our friend, Jamie, are also in the canoe.

Gibson, Helen and Brandan ate lunch on a log outside the boat house.

Our friends, Jason and Chelsea, took Sophie and Abe for a ride on a taco tube pulled by their boat. Chelsea took this great photo. Riding in the tube was their favorite part of the campout.

23 August 2009

Becky asked Sophie to pick some tomatoes earlier this week. "But there are wasps!" she complained. After putting on jeans, a jacket, boots, leather gloves and sunglasses, she went to pick tomatoes. And luckily no wasps stung her on the nose.

Sophie registered for middle school on Thursday. She found out she's assigned to the green team and has the same homeroom as her best friend. She also got her locker combination and found her locker. The 6th graders each get their own locker while the 7th and 8th graders have to share. School starts in 9 days and Sophie is very excited.

On Friday we went to a luau held at the retirement home in our neighborhood (they like to call themselves "an active adult community.") They celebrated their 1st anniversary by inviting the neighborhood to a big party. We ate great food and watched some hula dancers. We especially enjoyed the fire dancer at the end of the party. Personally, we are ready to move in to the retirement home. Included in the rent are amenities like housekeeping, 24 hour dining room with a gourmet chef, fitness classes, a movie theater, a putting green. They have on-site beauty and spa services. They're just not ready for this cute crew. Here they are dressed for the party. Sophie made the flowers that she and Helen are wearing in their hair.

16 August 2009

Last summer Sophie enjoyed watching fencing during the Olympics. This week she got to try it out at a week-long fencing class at a nearby university. En Garde!

We stuck around one morning to watch the class warm up with some fancy footwork. Here is a photo of Sophie lunging. Sophie enjoyed the class very much. There were 14 kids in the class and about 1/3 of them were girls. Sophie preferred fencing with the girls because the boys swung their foils like they were playing baseball-- no finesse.

It was a 20 mile drive one way to the university where Sophie took her class, so we decided to explore the area nearby rather than drive back and forth. We never made it farther than this park which has playgrounds, gardens, trails, a bike path, natural wildlife habitat and an interpretive nature center.

One of the playgrounds had a climbing tower in the center of it. By the end of the week, Abe could pick his way around the entire surface. His favorite way to get down was to jump.

The nature center and the natural landscaping were a great mix of education and fun. One trail was lined with kid-scaled animal homes like this red-tailed hawk nest that Gibson is sitting in.

9 August 2009

This week we took our much anticipated trip to Lake Tahoe. The vacation did not disappoint. In the photo the kids are posing in a granite model of the lake. We heard and read a lot of statistics about the lake, mostly an attempt to quantify its place in a world-wide beauty contest for lakes (statistics like "It's the second deepest alpine lake of its size at this altitude. . .) Who cares. It's an extraordinarily beautiful lake in a superb setting.

Tahoe is ringed with beautiful beaches and littered with granite boulders. Our kids couldn't wait to get out of the car and climb at each stop. It's impossible to take a bad photo here; the views in every direction are magnificent. This photo shows Gibson at Sand Harbor. The kids preferred climbing boulders to playing in the sand, but there is plenty of sand along the shore.

At Sand Harbor, we watched Much Ado About Nothing as part of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare festival. Beatrice and Benedict are two of Shakespeare's most charming characters. Abe and Brandan especially loved Dogberry and Verges, the incompetent constable and his sidekick.

We went on a couple of hikes. Just like taking photos, it's probably impossible to take a bad hike in Tahoe. The trails go through beautiful pine forests and the views are stunning. This photo is from the viewpoint at Eagle Falls. The view looks down on Emerald Bay at the southwest end of the lake. If you look at the first photo, Emerald Bay is the finger-like projection behind Helen's knees.

One of our favorite activities was cruising across the lake in a paddle steamer, the MS Dixie II. A John Denver-esque fellow told stories and sang songs, just the right amount to stay interesting. Mostly we just enjoyed being out on the water.

This is Helen playing on King's Beach. We stayed in a condo near here, but spent most of our time exploring other places. The night before we left, we stopped to play and nearly had the beach to ourselves.

We believe in trip serendipity. We planned many fun activities-- some worked out the way we planned and some turned into plans B, C or D. Trip serendipity describes those magical experiences we couldn't have planned, but which make the vacation unforgettable. Some examples for our vacation in Lake Tahoe: While waiting for the lakeside movie to start (it was Back to the Future -- a treat to share an 80s classic with our kids), we watched the full moon rise over the lake and bats fly in the twilight. We got to participate in a citizenship ceremony for 21 new Americans. A 10 year old boy taught our family how to catch crawdads with a piece of bologna tied to the end of a string. We met some locals at a farmer's market (which got rained out- on to plan D) who gave us a pass to a great kids discovery place where we spent a couple of happy hours being creative.

2 August 2009

Our summer book club for kids met on Monday.  This month we read Hotel for Dogs, a fun kid caper that leaves you wondering, "Where are their parents?" until you realize the book was written in 1971-- back in the day when it was safe enough for parents just to tell kids to be home before dark.  We made dogbone shaped gingerbread cookies and dog puppets after we talked about the book.  Last month we read Poppy, by Avi and next month we're reading Fablehaven by Brandon Mull.  (All the boxes and buckets in the photo are exiles from the mudroom while Brandan works on shelves.) 

Becky offered the kids a quarter for each fly they killed.  So far Abe has earned $1.25 and Helen $0.25.  Sadly, there are still 3 or more flies tormenting us (hard to count them when they don't hold still.)

We've had record setting temperatures this week.  On two days it was 109!  It was only 103 degrees on the day we escaped to a nearby creek to cool off.

A swiftly moving channel alongside the creek made a natural water slide.

With juicy blackberries overhanging the creek, we even got a yummy snack.