Farm Experience
We’ve really enjoyed our first half of August. It’s gone by in the blink of an ….eye. Each day we’ve tried to keep the kids active whether at a local park or some sort of children’s attraction.
Last week we joined the Root Connection – a local organic farmers coop. The concept is very straightforward. Pay upfront and then pickup your produce once a week. The farm volunteers dole out large portions of different vegetables, which you dutifully put in a bag or box to take home. Last week we picked up lettuce (2 kinds), lots of beets (yum!), carrots, small tomatoes, pole beans, bok choy, zucchini, squash, and more. We also wandered thru the u-pick area for basil, pole beans, rainbow chard and sunflowers.
The kids were on fire from the time they stepped into the parking lot. Literally. The lot has crushed, colored rocks which the girls picked up, fingered and played with. Allison kept returning to the pathway to exclaim, “ra!!” and play with rocks. Katherine talked about taking rocks home, but we put a kibosh on that.
Anyway, once we actually got to picking pole beans their focus changed. Katherine crawled thru the bean plants to pick and eat them. Allison managed to chew through four long beans – two handed! Katherine “helped” Dad cut the basil and chard.
As you can imagine, we’re slowly but surely mowing thru the veggies. Kids can’t wait for this Friday when we go again. We’ve learned our key lessons: bring kid-friendly scissors, plastic bags and socks/sneakers.
Bubbles and Sand
Last Thursday we had another first for us – taking the kids to a summer beach-type festival at the Pacific Science Center. I’ll have to post the pictures because they are just priceless. The key attraction: beautiful sculpting sand for the kids to play with and big vats of bubbles with wands. The other attraction which the girls did not appreciate was the rocket scientist who was finishing her show as we arrived. Essentially she used all sorts of interesting materials – say liquid nitrogen – and doing fun things with them. For instance, she put liquid nitrogen in a plastic soda bottle and dropped it in a barrel of water. What happened? A big boom and whoosh of water everyone. Katherine was not amused.
Katherine did end up waist deep in the sand, enthusiastically digging sand with her friend Sid. Allison first cried when plopped in the sand; this evolved into a quiet, sad looking face as she suffered in silence. That said, Allison loved the liquid Dawn and bubble wands. ๐
Is Madeleine going to be there?
For anyone who’s read to Katherine at bedtime, you’ve probably encountered her Carl books. We first learned about Carl from some friends who gave us Carl’s Masquerade Party. Now we have just about the full collection of books about a friendly and smart rottweiler who takes care of baby Madeleine when her mom leaves Carl to “take care of the baby.” While the concept of a canine babysitter can be a bit disconcerting to adults, the books have very few words and funny, well-illustrated stories. Katherine loves to tell the stories, flipping the pages and telling them her way.
So, she was really, really excited to find out that Carl was planning to visit a shop in Seattle last Saturday. Katherine asked, several days before the event, “Where’s Carl now?” “Can we see him today?” “Will Madeleine be there?”
Saturday finally arrived. We stopped by Trilogy for a pancake breakfast with both sides of the family. Afterwards, we headed into the city to a children’s shop in Madison Park. Having arrived early, we went to the next door bakery for donuts (a real parenting highlight!), bought the 3 last Carl book we didn’t have, read the books and met other avid fans.
The 30 minute wait was well worth it. Alexandra Day signed our books – one each for Allison, Katherine and Bisco. Carl walked around the shop, enjoying the attention and ear scratching. Katherine and Allison managed to get a few pets in and we headed home with both girls exhausted after all the excitement.
More Allison Developments
Allison is still a small, skinny kid. But, she’s getting increasingly verbal. New sounds are emerging from the back of the minivan during car rides, not just the “ba, ma” and other -a sounds. It’s almost like she’s talking to us, just with words and sounds we don’t understand.
One new word for her is gwanba or baba – for Grandpa or Grandma. She is also more clearly saying her other words.
We’ve also noticed Allison interacting more and more with us. For instance, the other day I told her that she needed shoes to go in the garage. She then walked straight to the family room shelf, pointed at her shoes and said “shoo.”
She also follows direction and does what we ask. For instance, I’ll ask her to stay at the bottom of the stairs. She’ll then close the gate and look back at me to see if I’ve noticed. Or, she’ll sit back down in the her big red wagon when we ask her.
What else have we done with kids? We’ve gone on a couple bike rides, taken them to playgrounds, visited with Steve’s family and played on the driveway. Their favorite activity is riding the tricycle (Katherine) and pretending to drive the Beetle (Allison). This gets hairy when they both decide to sit in the Beetle and when they both want to play with trike. So far, it’s all managing to work out; the kids are tired but happy at the end of the day; and we’re on track for school in 3 weeks.