To the Ballet Matinee with Amelia

Today we went with Amelia's ballet class to a student matinee of George Balanchine's "Jewels". It was a special performance with excerpts of the ballet that included introduction by the Pacific Northwest Ballet staff, open set changes, and a live orchestra. The whole matinee only lasted for one hour which was plenty for the mostly preschool and elementary school children. Amelia got to wear her special dress and was very excited. She liked all of the dancers, but most of all the Diamonds.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

After all the grey and darkness we have had sunshine for the last few days. It is glorious. We are trying to be outside as much as possible. Since it was a Holiday today, there was no school. I thought going to the beach might be nice and possibly some beach clean up as volunteer work today. But this is Seattle and there was no trash at the beach. Let's face it freezing temperatures, rain and wind are not an inviting environment for beach parties right now.

So we played at the windy beach. After over 10 years in Seattle I finally bought rain boots last spring. And I love to take them for a walk on the beach. At last no more wet feet! Someone had built a shelter out of drift wood, but then the girls took it over and added to it. We extended the roof and closed up two sides. It was actually quite cozy inside. After about an hour I could not stand the cold any longer and we started walking along the water. The high tide was only just receding so there was not much walking to be done. We did not see many sea creatures, just barnacles, a few anemones and some tiny crabs. I am looking forward to summer and the really low tides during the day. It is so fascinating to watch all the different creatures.

Finally even Amelia had enough and we went back up to the Carkeek park playground. I just wanted to get into the car and drive home, but then we spotted the Bubble Man! He is a Seattle Institution. You can always see him from far away with his purple car, music playing and him making bubbles. He is very good with kids and they love him. Years ago we talked to him at Greenlake and he gave Marlene a glass pebble. She still has it and treasures it. In the crowd we met the Seawalls (Marlene's friend Grey Bird and Amelia's friend Alli with their mom and brother Asher). Since it was much warmer at the playground we stayed another hour. The kids watched Bubble Man and played in the grass tossing a football.

Christmas 2008

I thought it is about time to post our Christmas Pictures. You might think that with all the snow and being tied to the house it should have been easy to do so earlier, but it seems, that the opposite was true. I pretty much did not get anything done. Well, here we are. Our family picture is very representative, because Amelia likes to turn away. The girls got new socks, that I made in December. Off course, Amelia declared immediately, that she does not like them.

This year we had to do the things we usually do before Christmas afterwards. But we managed to do some of the usual outings. We did a few excursions to the Beaver Pond to check on the ice. We went downtown and saw the Gingerbread Houses at the Sheraton. This years theme was superhero's and Christmas. We all likes the Nintendo DS house with a Marion Brothers game in Jellybeans. The girls always love the Nutcrackers on parade all over town. We rode the carousel, but the Teddy Bear Suite was already closed. This year we also made it to the zoo, which was really nice, because there were very few visitors.