John Rogers Walk-A-Thon

Yesterday we participated at our first Walk-A-Thon at Marlene's school. The kids had a blast. About half the school population walked circles around the playground. Everyone was wearing a card with their name on it, that were punched for every round. Before the kids had collected pledges and now they tried to walk as many rounds as possible. This was not easy, because the sun was burning down and the temperatures were in the 80s. Finally someone was getting out a hose to hose the children down. They loved it. After all, this is Seattle, if it does not rain, the children need to at least get wet! Our little picies Amelia decided to spent the afternoon in the water spray area. She was so soaked, that the goldfish, that she was eating, started to float in the bag.

Weekend of Parties

These are the days of glorious early fall in Seattle. Actually a little bit too glorious. During the day we are hitting the high 70s and 80s, but at night it drops down to the 40s. The sky is blue, the sun is shining and everything is starting to have its own fall colors. On Saturday we went to Sophia's 2nd birthday party. Her dad, Chris, works with Jason. There were several kids in age between 4 month and 5 years. Everyone had someone to play with. And, off course, toys at other peoples houses are always cooler. The girls had a blast playing inside and blowing bubbles on the porch. On Sunday we went to Golden Gardens, where Marlene's friend Olive had her 5th birthday party. It was a mermaid/ocean theme. Julie had made an awesome cake. The beach was very busy. Half of Seattle seemed to try to get the last bit of summer in (the other half was watching the Seahawks play). It was quite windy; I don't think I have seen that many boats out there on the water before. Amelia turns out to be quite an artist. She draws with everything on everything she can get her hands on. And on Sunday morning she was playing the Blues.

New Routine

This is now Marlene's third week of school and we have developed our new routines. So far we have been really good; we have been walking to and from school every day. We were lucky that the downpours happened before and after. When Marlene is in school, Amelia and I spent the morning running errands. We have to be back by noon for lunch and her nap. If I am lucky she sleeps until about 2pm, so I actually have some time to myself. I can not do much in the house because she tends to wake up. So I am doomed to read books, work on the computer or just watch TV. It is really tough. When she wakes up, we play a little and get ready to walk back down to the school to pick up Marlene. Marlene is usually very tired when we get home, so she eats a snack, watches a little TV and then we start homework. That usually means reading, which is quite difficult, with Amelia trying to take part. After that it is time to get dinner ready and then we are facing clean up and bedtime. The days move fast this way. Amelia's nap - as nice as it is - takes a lot away from the day and it is hard to get things done. One of the things we like to do, is to go to Lynnwood to Alderwood Mall. There is a great playground for the little ones. Especially on rainy days this is a great escape. After playing for a while and wearing herself out, she is usually content in her stroller to let me walk the mall and have a latte. It is her treat for having to come along when I do the groceries or run other errands. On Mondays we still have Totwatch, but we have shrunk to only 4 children, since the older ones are all off to school. It felt totally weird on Monday, when Julie and I just sat around, had coffee and the little ones were playing quietly. Yesterday (19th) was "International Speak like a Pirate Day". Marlene and I went in the evening to an author reading at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park. Dave Palmer and Ridley Pearson read from their book "Peter and the Shadow Thieves", the second prequell to Peter Pan. The event was over Marlene's head. I thought it was great. I love when children get to ask questions to their favorite authors. They are relentless and they come up with great suggestions. Before the actual event, they had an open stage for pirate-talk. A lot of people were dressed up as pirates. It took Marlene a while to work up her courage to go on stage to tell her Pirate joke (how much does a pirate pay for an earing? - a buck-an-ear). We were lucky that just week we had bought her pirate costume for Halloween. Originally she wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow, but I encouraged her to be more original. So she decided on "girl-pirate". I guess this is a good follow up to the "girl-knight" of last year. We are getting in gear for our Halloween Open House. We are slowly getting out the decorations and making a few new ones. So far for today.

Marlene's First Day of School

Today was Marlene's First Day of Kindergarten. Hier in den USA ist "Kindergarten" das erste Schuljahr. Kinder fangen mit 5 Jahren an. Was in Deutschland Kindergarten ist, heisst hier Preschool. We got everything ready last night and Marlene slept surprisingly very well. She chose to wear one of her new outfits, and was ready to go an hour before school. Usually it is pretty hard to convince her to get dressed. We walked down the hill to school. The closer we got the more did Marlene talk. She was very excited. When we got there it went very fast. The kids lined up at their room number. Mrs. Drown, the teacher, came to let them in. The kindergarten rooms have their separate entrence from the rest of school. The parents were allowed to come in, say "good-bye" and 2 minutes later we were herded into the lunch room, where there was some coffee prepared. We got to socialize with members of the PTA while helping to get the packages of paperwork together.

The End of Summer

I can not believe this summer is already coming to an end. I think it was the best summer ever. We had a lot of fun going to Disneyland, visiting with Karla, camping on Orcas, attending various camps, and off course celebrating Marlene's birthday with a Pirate Party. So now the last few weeks are trickling away. Even the weather seems to already have given up. The nights are definitely getting colder and even some of the days are truly Seattle style. I was already wearing my fleece (in August). And we finally had a day of rain (can you say free water?). I am dreading this next water bill. I always forget, that it does not rain here in summer. I think the last day of real rain was in May and then absolutely nothing until the end of August. I try to fill the days with small activities with the girls before school starts and then the routine completely changes. One exciting outing was, going to the Evergreen State Fair (that is Washington) in Monroe. Previous years we had always gone to the Puyallap Fair which is technically just a "western Washington" Fair, but it is much bigger. Since the Puyallap Fair does not start until school is on, we decided to go to the Evergreen Fair, which is smaller, but less expensive; and it still has all the animals and rides for the children. We went with my friend Julie and her two girls Olive and Vivienne. All four loved looking at the livestock. They were allowed to pet cows and calves. Amelia's favorite were the barnyard birds. I was a little nervous because she stuck her fingers in all the cages. Some of us might have memories of geese, turkeys, or ducks pecking at little fingers. Well, she was lucky and the life lesson might wait another year. Last Sunday we drove up into the Cascade mountains to visit Jason's friend Mike at their cabin. It was nice spending the afternoon in the middle of the forest, just hanging out. The way back took us across Blewitt Pass to Ellensburg and then via I90 back home. For Labor Day weekend we have few plans. On Saturday we went to Zoe's 1st birthday party. The kids had fun playing at a playground in Wallingford and having a BBQ. It was a hot day and the cake started to melt away. Sunday I worked, and Monday it was time a gain to can more pears. If anyone needs pears, you know where to get them.