Z is for...

Zeus! Ok, we're stretching a little on this one, but we were really stuck. We had a zoo membership for 3 years, and it expired at the end of July. We're not paying $40 to go to the zoo again just for Z. We've done it SOOOO many times. So we watched Hercules! Yes, it has Zeus in it. And Ilea has read some Greek myths before....and we're done! We meant to go to the library to get the book Zathura, but I twisted my ankle instead.

All in all it was pretty fun. I've thought about food ABC's in the winter, but my family's not very adventurous and I don't know if they'd try some things. We may do a movie ABC series - I'm pretty sure we own enough movies to cover almost every letter! We may try to save up some good ideas over the winter to do another series next summer. We'll see. Most were OK, but a few letters are pretty hard. Maybe we could do Letterboxing ABC's, find boxes starting with each letter? Depends on the price of gas....

Not Again!

OK, so I sprained my ankle...again! The first time was almost 3 years ago, then I redid it a few months later, but not so bad. I must be getting good at it, because this time has been quicker recovery than the first time. Tues night I was at Kyler's soccer practice. They had recently mowed the field, and so all the grass was level. I needed to take a ball back to the car and get Kyler's water, so just walking across the field I slipped into a hidden pothole, and twisted it again. The coach was an EMT, and he strongly urged us to get an x-ray, which I did. Again, nothing broken, just sprained a tendon or something. First swelling is the one that looks like a baseball under there, then it goes into Hulk mode where the whole ankle on both sides is swollen up, and doesn't bend well. I used 2 crutches on Wed, down to 1 crutch on Thrs, and am now hobbling. It's better, just a few angles that really don't do well. At least my nails looked good!

Y is for...

YMCA! Lucky for us, my friend Amalea has a membership, and allowed us to come as her guests today! The kids played well in the pool, and Ilea was able to pass the swim test, so she could go on the big slide. I went too - Wow! It's quite a slide! You really get going. The kids were both impressed with my big splash as I came out. Kyler also had a Yellow towel, and we're going to have some Yellow Yummy corn for dinner. Yay for Y!

What is X for?

Xtreme Camping and X-Ray Eyes! OK, I couldn't think of anything good for X. None of us could. But we went camping again, and compared to our perfect trip last time to the Hood Canal, this time was Xtreme! We drove for a long time, and finally ended up at the Hoh Campground in the Hoh Rainforest. Our campsite was right on the Hoh river, which was beautiful. The first part of Xtreme for us was that it was actually raining the day we got there. The weather forecast was that it would clear up that afternoon/night. They were off by a few hours. We had to spend about an hour in the car at one point. It was misty, and occasionally rainy the first day. We did get to eat outside, and have a fire for a while. It was pretty chilly though. Our tents do appear to be waterproof. We also remembered to bring all our food (except butter), but forgot to bring any pans. We had one small saucepot, the cookstove, and that's about it. Luckily the Camp Host loaned us a pan for the first night and breakfast. The other Xtreme thing was mosquitoes! The first night wasn't too bad, since it was drizzly. But the next 2 days was really sunny and we got eaten alive. Ilea counted about 29 on her, about 5 on her face, and the rest on her arms and legs. Kipp and I also have a lot, but Kyler seems to have escaped. We took some hikes, the kids got to do some activities and become Junior Rangers, and we saw Xtreme moss in the Hall of Mosses. The trip wasn't too bad, all in all, but we've had better. It was also Xtreme driving. To get there we went the northern route (214 miles), up Hwy 16, across the Hood Canal bridge, through Sequim, Port Angeles and around the top of the Olympic National Park. Coming back we drove the southern route (210 miles), and although we were Xtremely tired (especially of driving), we made a small detour back to the Camp 6 Logging train. It was open, and I didn't want to make another trip down to Pt Defiance. So we got to take a break and take a ride on the logging train. It was fairly cheap, and you get what you pay for! Gotta say it was shorter than I thought! But as always, the kids liked it.

Then we did some listening to the X-ray Eyes. The X-ray Eyes are a group that Kipp enjoys. One reason is that his co-worker, Shane Durham, is the drummer, and even sings on a few tracks. Their music is fun. Simple is a very catchy tune... give it a listen.

So that's X!

W is for...

White River Museum! And because it's Wed....it was Free! Gotta love it! Also, it was pouring rain today, so it was a good day to be inside. We were also going to go to Lake Wilderness park with the Webelos and Wade in the Water, which would have been perfect! But it got canceled. Luckily we were already planning to hit the museum also. Free is good for these local things. One time is all you need to do, and it doesn't take long. It was interesting. I like history, and the kids zoomed through all the pictures and exhibits. We also learned about the Wholshootseed language, which is the language many of the native people around here spoke. The Auburn area is very diverse, and had more than just agriculture. I also found out about Outlaw Harry Tracy. I know about him from a series in Letterboxing. It was interesting to read more about him. Plus, if you finish early, there is a library right next door.

V is for...

Valentines! I know we're a little out of season, but we had a hard time coming up with something for V. I brought all my heart and love stamps, and pink and red inks. They did a great job. After a few suggestions, they went with thier own designs, and learned how to use the stamps. Kyler is saving his to give to Koji next February. Ilea decided to give hers to Aga, my good friend, who had her baby today! That was definately a Very wonderful thing! And it was a vaginal birth, so that counts, right? I had the privelage of being there, and it made my year! Caleb was born at 8:48, 4 weeks early, 5lb 2oz, and is doing great.

U is for....

Underground tour! While our friends were visiting from California we went downtown and took the tour. Kipp and I did this the first week that we moved her from California. Having done it twice in 17 years, I think we're through! It's a lot of history, and is very interesting. The kids all enjoyed it, and it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

T is for....

Tie-Dye and Tacos! Ilea received this kit ages ago and we put it away and forgot about it for a while. We even had shirts given with it (Thanks Marian) and they fit and were ready to go! This kit is OK. The colors are not super bright, but not bad. The main problem is that it is more parent intensive than kid intensive. Instead of dipping into messy dye, you tie strings around the shirts, then submerge in hot water for 15 min, then rinse in cold. Not a lot for the kids to do, except pick a color. The kit also had fabric included, with the suggestion of making a teddy bear. Love it for T day! A Tie-dye Teddy bear! You'll have to watch for an update on the completion of that project. The kids loved the results, and are looking forward to making the teddy bears.

Tonight we're having tacos for dinner, another favorite. Too bad Margarita doesn't start with T...

S is for...

Seattle (Pacific) Science center! We've had a membership to the Pt Defiance Zoo for the last 3 years or so. It was fun, but it's small, and we're finally getting tired of it. This year we got a membership to the Science center, and yesterday was our first chance to go. What a fun amazing place! We went to an Imax movie on Race cars. Not being a big fan, I wasn't expecting much. But it was a really interesting movie, and now I know how crazy those drivers are! The whole science center is packed with hands-on activities for all ages. There is also a butterfly exhibit, which we all loved. We spent all afternoon there, and probably missed things. We will enjoy exploring this place during the next year. We also went to Starbucks in the Seattle Center. Kipp and I needed a break after all of that!

Q is for...

KidsQuest Children's Museum - Again! Try 2 worked. We went on Tues, and the kids loved it. I am getting way too old for this kind of place. It was noisy, smelly, and not many places to sit. The target age group is 0 - 8, but Ilea still had fun. They had a water section, with hands-on activities, lots of noisy activities, and a big section that was for 0 - 4 that my kids totally wanted to go into. Also, adults had to pay the same price as kids, which is really a scam, in my opinion. We were there almost 2 hours, which was more than enough time to try everything. They also had a large tree house in the middle which the kids loved.

For lunch, we had Quesadillas, which they also loved.

R is for... R? What happened to Q?

R is for River wading, Riding a bike, and Reading! Why R? Because Q was going to be Kids Quest Children's Museum, and as we all know, most museums are closed on Monday! We were ready to walk out the door, then I thought I might double check their hours. So we have decided to switch Q and R! Wild, I know. We quickly changed gears (hey, we might do something quick tomorrow...), and went to the Green River to go wading and throwing Rocks. They played for about 45 minutes. We also Rode our bikes, and had some Reading time. For dinner we're going to make Real pizza (as opposed to the ones from Papa Murphy), and Relax watching the Olympics.

P is for....

Painting Pets, Pool, and Pokemon! I got the first idea from some friends, and so we headed to the wilds of Renton to get rocks. They are nice and smooth, and made great pets! Kipp had to help the kids hold them since they were "heavy". They had fun painting them. Ilea made an easter egg, a turtle, and a red pumpkin, while Kyler cat and an alien pumpkin.

Kipp also took the kids to the pool yesterday. Ilea passed her swim test for the first time and was able to go on the slides and jump off the diving board! They love going swimming.


Lastly, Kyler has been saving his money for a Gameboy DS Lite. He didn't have enough money, so he was trying to sell his current Gameboy Advanced. Someone called yesterday and Kyler was able to sell it for $20, which was enough to get the DS Lite. We had already purchased it off of Craig's list, but Kyler couldn't touch it until he had all of the money to pay us. So yesterday he got to play Pokemon on the DS! He was really excited. He figured he should be able to play all day, like N day, but we didn't go for that.

O is for....

O - k - l - a - h - o - m - a! I was so excited that our local theater (it's a step above high school) was producing one of my favorite plays! I took Ilea (Kyler didn't feel like going), and she enjoyed it. It was the longest production I've ever seen though! It lasted from 8 - 11:15! There was a 20 min intermission, plus 2 songs I've never heard of. The 2 lead singers were outstanding though! So worth it! The boy who played Curly was home from Boston Conservatory, and he had a fantastic voice. Laurie also had a very strong, clear voice, and did a great job of all the songs.

We also did a few crafts for O day. The kids made octopuses (octopi?), which was fun, and we tried to make some cookie octopus also. We had a hard time with the dough, and in the end they all spread together when they cooked so we had one big pan on chocolate cookies. They tasted good though!

N is for...

Nintendo! Kyler was jumping up and down about this one! They didn't actually play every minute of the day, although Kyler tried. They had to wait for Grandma and Grandpa to leave, and they had to eat lunch.... They took turns choosing games, and even mom got into it. I love Mario Galaxy, and we all played Mario Cart. Kyler played his Gameboy a lot also. Ilea and Kyler also played Galaga and DigDug for a while, and Kyler also sampled Pacman and Pole position. We meant to get to Donkey Konga, but didn't have time. Maybe this weekend, between Olympic events?

Kyler's thoughts on God

Out of the blue today Kyler said, "Mom, you know what God can do really well? Better than anyone else? He can make people! He does that really well."

M is for ....

Memorial, Museum, Movie, and Mystery Minerals! First we headed to the Renton Historical Museum. Kipp and I lived in Renton for 9 years, drove by this a million times, but never went there. So off we went. Turns out that there is a memorial to veterans right next to it now, so we looked at that first. Then we went over to the museum. Renton has been around for about 100 years apparently, and they had lots of historical items on diplay, inlcuding info on the indians that lived her first. It's pretty small, but they had a lot of information. There were also some hands on crafts, and the kids were able to make a hat that the indians used to wear. They also had Flight Simulator game which Kyler enjoyed in honor of Boeing. Did I mention that the first Wed of the month happens to be free? What a great deal!

The kids picked a movie to watch in the afternoon (they should have picked Mulan or Monster's Inc, but chose Peter Pan).

And lastly, Ilea and Kyler are working on Mystery Minerals that Ilea got for Christmas. It's a clay ball with 14 minerals and fossils in it. Ilea found some pyrite already, and Kyler is taking a turn working on it now. We'll see if they get the rest out. Turned out to be a big M day. Tomorrow, N, is going to be Kyler's favorite....

L is for ....

Letterboxing, Log camp, library, and lunch! What a day! We had an errand to run in Gig Harbor, so we grabbed 2 letterboxes there. They were numbers 212 and 213! It's always fun when you actually find them. One was part of a series where we found #2 and #3, but not #1. So we went back and got the first one.

Next we went over to the Logging camp at Point Defiance. We had looked it up on the computer a couple of days ago, but didn't notice the tiny print that says they are closed Mon and Tues. So unfortunately we didn't get to take the Log Train ride.

We stopped by Costco for Lunch, which the kids loved. Pizza and frozen yogurt! Wahoo!

Finally we stopped at the Library, another favorite spot. New books, and everyone's happy. Big L Day!

K is for....

Kaar's and Koolaid slushie! K went over the weekend and carried onto Monday. Our friends the Kaar's visited from California, and we were able to spend a couple of days together. Pam was Jenny's roommate in college for a few years. We went into Seattle and did some touristy things, and visited a lot. They also came to church with us on Sunday morning.

The kids also wanted to try Koolaid Slushies, so we did that on Monday. You make it with crushed ice, water, and sweetened Koolaid. It came out the exact consistancy and flavor of slurpees! Who knew? Ilea liked hers better than Kyler.

J is for...

Jumping! We went to the Bouncy Place today for a lot of Jumping! The kids love it. That was a pretty easy one, and always fun. Mom got to read for an hour.