Bree cuts out an alphabet letter or two from felt, and is so happy with the result that she and Liya cut out a complete alphabet in both upper and lowercase.
Our neighbor’s chickens sometimes escape into our yard.
Sabriya has her friend Hazel over for a playdate, and Liya graciously gives them a ride around the block in a wagon. When Jan goes outside to look for them, he can’t see them, but he can hear the gales of laughter from around the corner.
It’s Bree’s turn to be “super kid of the week” in her kindergarten class. She brings in a bunch of photos and some of her favorite toys. The most interesting photo may be one from six years ago: the kindergarten teacher, who had Anya in her class at the time, is shown holding a tiny baby Bree.
The girls construct a “Snuggle Pit” in the family room. That’s Bree poking her head out, but there’s at least one other girl in there somewhere.
We drive down to Salem, OR, to meet our new nephew/cousin, Leif. He was born to Jan’s sister, Skye, and her husband, Jared, about a month and a half ago. He’s quite the little cutie, and the girls happily coo over him. At dinner, Leif seems particularly entranced by Liya, who manages to coax smile after smile from him.
Skye takes us a nice walk through Salem’s Minto-Brown Island Park. All three girls are excited to take turns pushing Leif in his stroller.
We’re only in Salem for a short visit, but enjoy a final lunch with Skye, Jared, and Leif at Amadeus Cafe. We’re not sure when we’ll get to see Leif again, but it’s certain that when we do, he’ll be a whole lot bigger!
Anya routinely leaves socks all over the house. Today:
Angela: “Anya! There’s a dirty sock of yours on the kitchen counter!!”
Anya: “It’s not dirty.”
Anya and her friends are considering forming a club to build a model of a German WWII Enigma code machine. They wrestle with the question of what to name the club such that boys will not want to join it.
Our lovely backyard cherry tree is not long for this world. A couple of years ago, we noticed the little treehouse seemed to be listing to one side. We figured it just needed some shoring up, but recently discovered that the treehouse isn’t actually tilted at all — it’s the whole tree that’s tilting.
We have an arborist come to look at it, and he instantly spots some little knobs growing at the base of the tree. They turn out to be some sort of mushroom that’s symptomatic of rotting roots. The tree is old and doomed, and will need to be cut down.
This is so sad! Aside from the beauty of the tree itself, we won’t be able to put the old treehouse into any tiny replacement tree we plant. We’re also sad because this cherry tree was one of the trees we anchor our hammock to every summer. Even if we arrange another way to hook up a hammock, there’s no way to replace the canopy of shade the cherry tree provided. Darn it.
For our 16th wedding anniversary, we spend a night at the Willows Inn on Lummi Island. They have a fantastic restaurant there, and it lives up the press it’s received.
While we’re away for Friday and Saturday, Jan’s mom watches Bree and Liya. Meanwhile, Anya attends a two-night sleepover at Island Lake in Poulsbo with a group from Mercer Island Presbyterian Church. She participates in a number of fun activities, but the highlight is probably riding a motocross dirt bike.
Jan launches a preview of his new company’s product at a Google-sponsored event in San Francisco. His co-founded, Bruce (in blue shirt at lower right) comes down as well. The presentation goes smoothly and is well-received. The product doesn’t do much yet; these days, it’s becoming somewhat common for tech startups to preview early versions of their product in order to get feedback from the market. So while Jan and Bruce don’t expect much in the way of actual users at this point, it’s fun to have actually reached the point of sharing something publicly just a few months after starting.
While Jan’s down in S.F., he also has the chance to get together for dinner with his brother, Chris (whose own company, humangear, is doing very well).