Some glimpses of Alaska

We did a cruise to Alaska a couple of weeks ago. It was an awesome trip, enjoyed by the whole family. If you ever make your way over here, I'd definately recommend it.

I have not yet downloaded all my photos, but here are just some glimpses of Alaska.

This first photo is of Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. The second is of the kids touching some glacial ice. It's hard to believe that it's the middle of summer in these photos.

Whale watching in Skagway was awesome. Unfortunately my photography wasn't very good, and most of my shots were out of focus. We even saw these whales breech (jump completely out of the water) which is apparently rare in Alaska. My photo of this happening is terrible though, so you have to content yourselves with my most in focus photo.

I have so many more, but I'll post them on another day.

Grade 1

Isaac started grade 1 yesterday. I asked him today if he liked being in grade one - his response...

"It's better than kindergarten even though I don't get to play with the toys anymore".

Mt St Helens

We have just recently come back from 4 days at Mt St Helen's (or more precisely, a state park just near by). It was quite awesome to see the volcano up close, and to see the devastation that is still evident 27 years after it's eruption.

This first picture is one of the first glimpses we got of the volcano. Mt St Helens is the hazy mountain with the flat top in the background.

We stopped at a lookout part way along the road, and took these photos with Mt St Helens in the background.

This is the closest we were able to go to the volcano. I took this picture at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, which is the last visitor center you can get to. The entire front (north) of the mountain is completely wiped out, due to the blast going out to the side instead of straight up.

If you'd like to read about the history of Mt St Helens and the 1980 eruption, you can see read about it at ... http://www.mt-st-helens.com/history.html

What amazed me is that you could see evidence still of the blast. They grouped the blast zone into 3 different zones. The first zone was about 6 miles around the volcano and it was called the Tree Removal Zone. As guessed by the name, the trees in this zone were totally destroyed. These next photos are from this zone, and as you can see there are still tree stumps left and the vegetation is slowly returning.

The next zone was the tree down zone, which was from about 6-18 miles. In this zone, the force of the blast knocked huge trees down as though they were blades of grass. Lastly was the standing dead zone which was from about 18-24 miles. In this last zone, the heat of the blast killed the vegetation but the tree trunks stayed upright.

Ben was most facinated by the "silent" zone. The people in the immediate vicinity of the blast did not hear a thing when the volcano erupted. However, people a few hours away reported hearing sounds that resembled thunder or sonic booms.

All in all, I loved this camping trip. I've been wanting to see Mt St Helens since we moved here and it certainly met my expectations. The scenery was definately different from what I've ever seen before.

I'll leave you with this last photo of the Toutle River. The river is actually very small, but the devastation around it makes it look huge from the distance. (I'm guessing that the mud flow followed the river path)

Geometry Lessons

Each night we hold hands and say grace before dinner.

Last night Ben was about to say grace when Lizzy exclaims "We made a circle!". Ben hushes her because they've been told numerous times that we need to be quiet for grace. Suddenly at the end of the table we hear Isaac muttering "Well actually it's more like an oval".

Ben & I grin at each other and he begins grace. However he adds at the end "And thank you for the geometry lesson".

My Favourite Photo

Every now and then I manage to get a photo which I fall in love with. This was one of them. It's from the farm yesterday, as Lizzy ran around in the Hay Maze.

I love how it catches the twinkle in her eye as she runs through the maze.

At the Farm

Yesterday we went to Remlinger Farm. We go a few times each summer, and the kids always have a great time.

Pony rides were definately a hit. Isaac waited on top of the railing, while Lizzy went around on her pony.

Isaac then got his turn, while Lizzy was lucky enought to get another turn.

I loved this photo. I'm not sure who took who's hand, but they stood holding hands as they waited for the canoe ride.

Two random photos from when they climbed the rock hill....

This was the expression of their faces as they waited for the pumpkin ride to begin. Within a few seconds they had huge grins on their faces. However by the end of the ride, Isaac was yelling at Lizzy and Lizzy was in tears. They had a huge argument because Isaac wanted to pull the lever to go up while Lizzy wanted to stay low. They went in separate pumpkins the next time around.

They enjoyed the carosel, despite that fact that Isaac is getting a little bit too big for it.

I explained to Isaac that he needed to look at his reflection in the camera to get a photo of him looking at the camera. This was the result...

Although Lizzy looks a little stunned, I thought it was a cute photo of Isaac.

4th July Photos

We had a very quiet 4th July. We just stayed at home and enjoyed a BBQ on the back verandah in the late evening. (Yes...these photos were taken around 8.00pm).

The kids enjoyed eating corn on the cob. It's currently in season and so very sweet and juicy.

As you can see, Isaac not only enjoyed eating it but he enjoyed making faces with it.

I had to show you this cup...Isaac kept on calling it all manner of names. It was the Independant Cup (my favourite), the Independance Cup and the 4 July Cup.

Gymnastics Camp

Something broke a long time ago on the kids websites, so photos have not been updated there in a very long time. One day that will be fixed and you'll all be able to enjoy photos again. As you will have noticed I have been doing a photo dump. I hope you have enjoyed getting some new photos!

This first post have photos from Elizabeth's gymnastic's camp. At the end of the week they did a presentation for parents and were awarded a medal at the end. This was one of her "moves" where they crab walked over the bars.

She was so proud of her medal. You would think that she had won some major prize. Lizzy wore it for the next 2 days, and showed everyone who we met.

Audio Options

Lizzy has a couple of movies which she enjoys watching. Every now and then she'll come and ask me if she can watch one of them but lately there's been a twist. Our conversation tends to go like this...

"Mummy, can I watch Cinderella?"

"OK. Go and put it on."

"Mummy, can I watch Cinderella in French?"

"OK. But you'll need to change the Audio Options."

"Thank you."

And off she goes and changes the language option to French (or Spanish if that's the mood she's in).

I'm not sure if she knows the DVD well enough and follows the story that way, or if she's actually taking in a little of the other languages.

Summer Hairstyles

It's been a time for new hairstyles in our house. Ben & I had our haircut today and Isaac & Lizzy the other day. Everyone but Isaac have had dramatic changes, as you'll see below.

Ben has had everything lopped off for the first time in about a year. Doesn't he look handsome? He's got the haircut now he just needs a job ;)

Me...we'll let's say I'm sporting a "mummy" look. It's the first time I've ever had short hair.

And I just love Lizzy's hair - no more screaming over having her long hair brushed. And to make things even better, she loves it too.

And finally, a photo of Isaac. He is the only one who hasn't had a hairstyle change. I really couldn't get a good shot of his hair because he didn't want to take off his hat. However, I caught this moment on camera and thought it was cute.

Year One Forever

Tomorrow is Isaac's last day of Kindergarten. He is very excited about summer holidays beginning and was telling me everything he wants to do over the next couple of months.

We then started talking about next year, when he suddenly annouced "I want to be in year 1 forever and ever." Ahhhh. If only time could stand still like that but, alas, he will grow up.

The Cheat Sheet

The kids computer is password protected. We chose to do this so we could monitor how much time they spent on the computer.

As the password was for time monitoring (not content monitoring - we have a whole other system for that!), I allow them to enter the password by spelling it out to them as they type it in. I knew it would only be a matter of time until they learnt how to spell it by themselves.

The other week was a typical day. Elizabeth had asked to play on the computer and I'd given permission. I wasn't looking when she was asking "Mummy, what's the next letter?". Little did I know that she was writing the password onto a brown paper bag instead of typing it into the computer.

So now she has her own cheat sheet. Luckily, she still asks me whether she can play on the computer. If I say "yes" out comes the cheat sheet, and she types in the not-so-secret password.

Junuary

I know they say that if you can't find anything to converse about, talk about the weather. Here in Seattle, that's easy. Even the comedians of the world have worked this out. Ben sent me this cartoon, which sums up our weather.

I know I moan every year, but this year is it's really sad. The media is calling this month "Junuary" because although it's almost summer, we are having winter weather. Yesterday, there was even snow in the mountains. Come on summer - I'm missing you.

Mum & Dad

I have fallen from grace. My name is no longer Mummy. I am now called Mum. Ben has also taken the tumble with me.

What has surprised me though, is that it's Lizzy who's made the change. To Isaac, we are still mummy and daddy.

One part of me smiles, and thinks "oh my she is growing up" while the other part of me is sad whilst thinking the exact same thought.

The funny part to all of this is that I'm "Mum" if she wants something, especially if she's calling from a distance. However, for quiet times, I'm still Mummy. It's like she's sitting on the edge of little girl and baby. I think I'd like to just teeter here for a little longer.

Secret Hideout

The other weekend, we cleared out all our junk from the space under the stairs and Ben turned it into a server room. It's now not uncommon to go looking for Ben, and find out that he is hiding out in his "den" fixing something.

Isaac discovered this room the other night when Ben was working in there, and he happily spent an hour playing his gameboy next to his daddy.

However, it has now become his "secret hideout". Ben came home from work, and Isaac ran downstairs to get his gameboy while calling out "Daddy, I'm going to the secret hideout."

For now I'm going to let boys be boys, and they can have their hideout. It's kind of nice also knowing that it's the boys space, but I know where to search if I need to find them.

Apportioning Blame

One of the great things about having a brother or sister, is there is always someone else that you can blame. If something goes wrong, it's never your fault. The downfall happens when one of group goes to school. There is no longer someone else to carry the blame when something goes wrong, or even if there is any possible chance of getting in trouble.

That's when Elizabeth arrives on the scene. No, not our Lizzy, but the other Elizabeth. The doll that goes everywhere with Lizzy.

"Mummy. Elizabeth wanted a pear." (as she uses the doll to lift the pear from the fruit bowl, and then begin to eat it.)
"Mummy. Elizabeth wanted to play in the water." (when explaining how water got on the floor)

Yes. It's good to apportion the blame. In theory that surely means that she gets in trouble half the time.

Poetry

Isaac has been learning to write poetry at school, as April was National Poetry Month. They learnt all about free verse, and these were Isaac's efforts at writing some...

The Fish
A fish can swim
Fast as a rocket
going to the moon.
That is fast!
Wwwwwwooooooowwwwww!

Hurricane
The eye is calm.
No winds at all.
Outside, strong winds
blow trees
until they bend.

Pokemon
Gameboy.
Double screen.
Fun to win.
I love Pokemon.

Orcas
They look like
I could swim
with them
and have fun,
fun, fun, fun
fun, fun, fun
fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.

My favourite was the Hurricane poem. I was really quite impressed with them all though.

Tip-toeing through the Tulips

Last weekend we headed up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, and were lucky enough to see the fields in bloom. (There had been concern due to our unseasonal weather that they wouldn't bloom in time). I thought I'd share this little part of our weekend with you...

This is how Lizzy spent much of her time at the tulip farm...

The Grandma's will be proud...

Lizzy has decided that we need to have tea parties.

She will pick flowers (read...weeds with little purple flowers) from the garden, and put them in a cup. Next she tells me that it's time for a tea party, and I need to make cups of tea. Then we choose a snack. She likes to pour the milk and put the sugar in her tea.

So for the past week, she's been drinking tea almost every day. I'm sure that within the year I may even be able to tolerate a cup. Right now, I just dutifully take a mouthful and say "thankyou".

So next time we are home, Lizzy will probably be drinking tea with the best of you tea drinkers and loving every minute of it.

My Favourite Words

Elizabeth

becept - except
Awona - Werona
Lawy - rally (imagine the vowel sounds being correct but "L" instead of "r" and then "w" instead of "l"


Isaac

optapus - octapus

Their little word exchanges are quite cute, but I have to smile at Lizzy with her "becept". There is nothing like an arguement where she's saying "Becept I wanted to have my turn first."