Liya and Anya like the secret code from Liya’s birthday party so much that they both sent letters to friends using the code.
Anya and Liya finished up a week-long soccer camp. Anya loves playing soccer, Liya not quite so much, but they both had fun.
“Under the Covers Hotel”. Angela thought Liya could do with some quiet time this afternoon, and tried to entice her to lie down on a bed by holding up a blanket and saying, “Welcome to the Under the Covers Hotel… Would you like a room?” Liya laughed and got under the covers. They played this for a while, laughing so much that eventually Anya wanted to play too. Anya threw a blanket over Angela, then Anya and Liya pulled out pretty much every blanket in the house and piled those over Angela too. When they ran out of blankets, they piled on towels. They all laughed so loud it’s a wonder they didn’t wake up Sabriya—the only one who was actually lying down for a rest.
First day of school for Anya and Liya. When we’re getting into the car, Anya is all smiles as she heads into 2nd grade, but Liya is apprehensive as she enters 1st grade. It’s not too surprising; Anya wasn’t excited when she was in Liya’s shoes a year ago. We think they both had such a great kindergarten teacher than neither of them wanted to move on. By the afternoon pickup, at least, both of them sound like they had a pretty good day.
Bree is becoming a little too self-aware. One of her favorite books (“Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs”, by Sandra Boynton) has a picture of a pair of cute dinosaurs with the caption, “Dinosaurs cute”. Whenever Jan reads this line to her, Sabriya points to herself and exclaims: “Bree cute TOO!”
After a week of cold and rain, it’s nice to get back to some warm weather. Jan meets up with Angela after her “mommy and toddler” yoga class with Bree, and the three of us get sandwiches to take to Madison Park beach. We’re so warm after we’re finished eating that we kick off our shoes and wade a bit in the lake. The water is cold and clear. Bree happily throws rocks into the lake until it’s time to take her home for naptime.
Liya has her first soccer game. She’s ambivalent about the game. When she was younger and Anya was playing, she looked forward to playing herself. Now that she’s actually on a team, she’s not so sure. Her team, the Starlings, do fine in the game. Liya has her share of time on the field, but shows more excitement after the game when Jan takes her out for ice cream.
Since the gorgeous weather is continuing for a third day, Jan takes Anya and Liya for bike ride in Seward Park on Lake Washington. We’ve taken the girls there countless times before for hikes, stroller rides, scooter rides, and rides on bikes with training wheels, but this is probably the first real bike ride we’ve done around the park (twice!). We get distracted when we stop for a snack at a beach, and discover a long thin log that can span the distance between two thicker logs to create a somewhat tricky balance beam. Jan and Liya grab onto overhanging willow branches for support, but Anya has superb balance and makes it across on her own multiple times. Anya and Liya eventually focus just on hanging on bunches of the willow branches and swinging off the balance beam while screaming—what Jan refers to as the “Tarzanya” move.
Anya has one of her full-on nuclear meltdowns at dinner. She cries and screams for two hours. When we give her a time-out in her room, she throws herself against the door so hard she cracks it. The spark that led to the tantrum? Anya couldn’t find a “special” green crayon that had been worn down to a nub. Angela threw it away a month ago. Anya wails over and over, “Why, why, WHY did you throw it away?!?”
Leno’s new show is hilarious! Not because of content, but because every time someone says “Leno!” Bree bursts out into peals of laughter.
Jan’s cousin Dick Ramsay and his wife Kathy visited Seattle. Kathy came to town last week to participate it the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk: 60 miles in three days. She finished the whole thing (with just one blister), then spent some time touring around before being joined by Dick a couple of days ago. It’s a rare thing to have family come out to the Pacific Northwest, and we were happy to have the chance to take them and Lyn out to dinner at Cutter’s across from the Pike Place Market.
Liya surprised us by deciding to stick with soccer. Although she gave it a try at her first game a week ago, she didn’t seem thrilled with playing, and she moaned that she didn’t want to play again. We’d only signed her up because we thought she’d like it, and if she doesn’t like it, we’re happy for her to drop it. We told her she could drop it now and give someone else a chance to play (the league is oversubscribed), or she could stick with it—but would have to play all the way through the end of the season. She seemed like she wanted to drop it, but after long consideration, she decided to keep going. Liya was a changed player at practice this past week: more engaged, and having more fun. Today was her second soccer game, and while there were a few moments where she hung back, she was generally active in the game. Liya continues to surprise us!
Our annual block party! We saw lots of folks from around the neighborhood too, and our friends the Nakanishis stopped by as well.
At the beginning of the summer, Jan and Anya drew up a list of things we wanted to be sure we accomplished during the season. Looking back on this last full day of summer, it seems we did pretty well:
Paper airplane book. Check! (although we used the web instead) Bike ride in woods. Check. Rocket. Half a check. We didn’t get a chance to fire off rockets again, but we did play with stomp rockets. Camping with Chris. Check! Swimming with friends. Check. Liyas birthday. Check. (But really, there was no way to not do this. :)) Sabriyas birthday. Ditto. Hiking. Check, check, check. Kite flying. Nope. Drink cold water. Check. (This health-conscious item was Anya’s idea.) Play games in the backyard. Check. Trip to Au Gres (to see Jan’s family). Check.
We did much else besides, but it’s nice to know that we did do the things we set out to. And having the list at all encouraged us to make sure some of these things actually happened!
Bree has her very first haircut (after 2+ years)!
Spelling tests! Liya has a very different learning style than Anya, so instead of studying “Spelling Bee” style, we quiz Liya with paper and pen, re-enacting a real spelling test at the dining table. This week, Angela read out the words: “On.” Liya: “On?” Angela: “Yes, like ON a table.” Liya: “On/Off ON?” Angela: “Yes.” Liya: “O - N on?” Angela: uh…
Bree doesn’t want to be left out, so she climbs into a seat, demands paper and pen, and scribbles as Liya spells out her words.
We’ve come to Suncadia for a quick weekend trip. We’ve wanted to visit for a while because it’s so close, has great scenery, and (thanks to being east of the Cascades) nice weather.
We start the morning with a bike ride around the resort, and discover a fun little playground along the path. The weather’s perfect. We slowly make our way back toward the hotel, but Anya and Liya melt down and have to be refueled with snacks at a point only 5 minutes from the end.
In the afternoon, Angela stays with Bree while she naps. Jan takes Anya and Liya to the nice swimming center. They stay in the outdoor pools for hours: hot pool, cold pool, hot pool, cold pool, … They would stay in forever if Jan didn’t pull them away.
After another snack break, Jan takes Anya and Bree on a short hike down to the Cle Elum River. It’s really, really windy at the top of the hill where the hotel is, but once we enter the woods, the late afternoon sun warms us up. Sabriya’s pretty happy to have Jan carry her in a backpack. When Jan describes himself as a horse, Bree laughs and says, “Daddy horse! Daddy horse!”
We finish the day with a nice dinner (no whining!), and since everyone’s feeling good, we take a dip in another, smaller pool at the back of the hotel. With the evening wind, the air is much too cold! Bree loves it though, and laughs for pretty much the whole time she’s in the water.
On the hike Jan takes Anya and Bree on, they have a funny little moment. Halfway through our hike, we stop at a river and snack on some peanuts. Jan shoulders Bree in the backpack again, and he and Anya head back up the hill. After about 15 minutes:
Bree [yelling]: “Nuts! Nuts!” Jan: Do you want peanuts? Bree: Yes! Jan: Anya, can you reach in the pocket behind Bree and pull out the jar of peanuts? Anya: Okay. Jan: Good. Put some in Bree’s right hand so she can snack on them. Anya: Okay. Jan: Great. Now, put some peanuts in Bree’s left hand too, so she’ll have some more to snack on. Anya: Okay… Wait a second. Her left hand already has nuts in it!
So Bree had been yelling for nuts even though she’d been clenching peanuts in her fist ever since we got back on the trail.
Another sunny morning bike ride around Suncadia, followed by another long session at the swimming center.
At bedtime, Bree has a little game she plays. Jan usually starts by reading a couple of books to her. (Her current favorites are Berenstain Bears books—the good old silly ones, not the tiresome hectoring new ones.) After the stories:
Jan: Okay, it’s time for a song…
Bree: Mommy sing.
Jan: How about Daddy sing?
Bree: How ‘bout Mommy sing?
Jan: Daddy sing.
Bree (smiling): Mommy sing!
…
[Jan goes and finds Angela, hands Bree over to Angela for a song.]
Angela: Okay, time for a song.
Bree: Daddy sing.