Let summer begin!

We had summer weather for a while, now, but since it is officially summer, rain and cold have returned. When we walked to school on the last day before summer break it was raining and cold. It actually felt like the first day of school in September and I was thinking of carving pumpkins.

The last week of school had been a long holding pattern. We had three additional schooldays because of the snow last winter. Given the amount of snow, it is amazing, that we only had to add 3 days, but luckily hell broke loose during Christmas break. We had swimming on Monday, we spent a lot of time with our 4th grade rainbow pals, and we got to witness the 1st Annual Egg Drop. The 4th graders got a project to design something, in which a raw egg can be dropped of the school roof without breaking. The kids came up with all kinds of designs and surprisingly enough only about 20% broke. Everyone had fun especially Mr. Brooks, the custodian, who got to throw them from the roof.

On Tuesday Marlene had her last baseball game with a party afterwards. We made baseball cupcakes. On Thursday was Field day, where the kids get to play for half a day on the lower field, carnival type games. Every year it is organized by a group of dads and we definitely had a change of personal, with new games and new events. Fiel day is as well wacky hair and hat day. For the first time I sprayed the girls hair pink and they just loved it.

Last weekend was summer solstice and that means Freemont Fair and the big Solstice Parade. After 12 years in Seattle it was my first time and I really loved it. It is definitely an alternative parade without high school marching bands and diesel powered floats. Everything is manual and different. For non-Satellite's to give you an idea, it starts with the naked bikers. Some are dressed up, some have their bodies fully painted. It is quite a sight. We saw the Superhuggers, the largest kickball rolling over people, who laid down to be rolled over, the Spagettimonster, the bellydancers, Sambagroups, and many more. The girls had their faces painted and wore their tie-dye shirts. After the parade we wandered around the booths of the fair. Here we participated in communal art and sampled many different granola bars. It was a lot of fun and we will definitely do this again. Happy Summer Solstice!

Butter and Cheese

Two weeks ago, Jen and I took a "home cheese making" class. I have been wanting to take this class for a long time, but I was always too late signing up. The class is always full and the teacher, who used to live in Seattle, but now resides in Wisconsin, only comes to Seattle twice a year to hold the class. We learnt about milk and what to look for. Linda gave us each some Piima, a Scandinavian cultured cream. This is a good base for more cream and from that we made butter. I have been making butter at home now twice, and every time my family devours it. We saved the buttermilk and used it to make feta cheese. At home I just have been drinking it; what a pleasure to drink real buttermilk. I have to face the fact, that I am a serious food snob.

We learnt how to make Mozzarella. It is fun and easy and the kids have been helping me to make it. All you need is milk, lemon juice, some rennet and a thermometer. From the whey we made ricotta, which is very simple, as well. Now I just have to find applications for all these things.

In addition, during the class we talked about kefir, yogurt and how to make hard cheeses. when the heat of summer is over I will try to make Gouda and Cheddar. I can not wait!

Graduation and Beach Day

We are now truly coming to the end of the school year. Last week Amelia had her graduation from Tiny Tots at the Ravenna Eckstein Community Center. We had a great time, made many friends and loved Teacher Carol. Thank you for two fabulous years! Wednesday was graduation day. The kids had practiced a lot to perform several songs on stage. We heart among others the ABC song, the Fishy song, and the DO Re Me song. Then every child received a bookmark and a graduation certificate. The older kids did really well, some of the younger ones were not so sure about the whole thing. We were very happy, that Amelia's best friend Lucy was able to participate, since she had come down with a nasty flu the day before.

Over the weekend we had the German School year end picnic, where I was so busy talking, that I did not take any pictures. On Sunday we went to a BBQ at Paula's house, for which we made cheese and butter (a separate blog about that).

Monday was Beach Day at John Rogers. Like previous years, Marlene's class went to Golden Gardens. Different from other years was the weather. It was a pleasant 70 degrees with a light breeze, so absolutely perfect. Everyone referred to last year, when we had 50 degrees, rain and an hauling wind. The second graders were paired up with their fourth grade reading buddies. We had a fairly low tide, so there was lots to see. Besides the usual crabs, barnacles, jelly fish, and tons of sea weed, we saw a large purple sea star and a live rock crab. After the exploration phase, we had lunch at the beach and then the children were allowed to play. This visit will be one to remember.