Karin's Life in America

Monday, July 13, 2009

Amelia's new haircut

Like three years ago Marlene, it was time to get Amelia's hair cut. She was not happy any more to have it in a braid. In addition it had been damaged by water and sun. So it was time for a cut. I think it looks great and she loves it. Oh, yes, Marlene's was cut, too.

Friday, July 10, 2009

More Summer

We had big plans this week, but first the weather was a bit on the cold side and then Marlene got sick with a stomach virus. On Monday we decided to change it up a bit and visit the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. I love our zoo, but it is nice to see something else for a change. We have been visiting the Tacoma zoo about once an year and it is always nice to see the changes. Unfortunately the belugas are gone, since one of them died and the other one was afterwards send to Vancouver to join a group there. But new and exciting was a Budgie enclosure, where they have several hundred parakeets flying free. Like here in Seattle you can get seed sticks to feed them. Amelia loves budgies, so she was very happy, when one immediately landed on her stick. Another new attraction is a camel riding station. The girls used their money from Grans to pay for the ride. They pretended to be with Daddy in the Jordanian desert.
After two cleaning up the house days we went to Bellingham on Thursday to visit Jen, John, and Zoey. It was great to walk along the water. We had a great view of Orcas Island. It is always nice to see friends. Jen watched my girls while I got to walk around Lake Padden by myself. It is salmonberry season and I was able to find quite a bit of berries. Not that I need more berries, since I have been making tons of raspberry jam with berries from our own yard.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Happy 4th of July

Happy Independence Day everyone! In honor of the day we made these tie-dye t-shirts (one for Daddy, too). It was a lot of fun starting with white, dying red and then blue. The girls were very proud. Thanks Scott and Mara for a great party!

Friday, July 03, 2009

Summer Activities

We are coming to the end of the second week of summer vacation (hey, only 10 more to go!). Last week the girls went to camp at Wedgewood Presbyterian Church in the morning. Since it was a very low tide during the middle of the week, on Thursday we went to Carceek Park. We found some very exciting creatures. There was a Moonsnail alive with shell, a colony of geoducks (for everyone that is not from the northwest try googling "Geoducks" and go to image results - you will get a good laugh!), a spider crab, many sea stars of all kinds, and even baby eels. It was very windy, which made it quite cold, but it did not keep the girls away from completely flooding their boots.
This week, after taking Daddy to the airport, we tried to spent as much time as possible in the water, since it has gotten really hot. I have not been to Mathews Beach, our neighborhood beach on Lake Washington, in years. It was eye opening for the girls to have a vacation beach right by our house. On Wednesday we went to Tacoma to the Washington State History Museum. Besides the regular displays about Washington there was a special exhibit about Women's right to vote in WA. Women gained the right to vote in 1910 and at that time WA was the 5th State to grant this right. There was a brief time in 1883-1889 that women could vote here, but it was revoked mostly due to efforts by the "Saloon -Lobby". The history museum in in downtown Tacoma right by the Museum of Glass and the Glass Bridge (it is not made out of glass, but a bridge that displays glass pieces by Chihuly and others). The girls enjoyed that very much (they were not very impressed with their voting rights).
Thursday was all about pop culture. It was first Thursday, so most of the museums had free admission. We took that opportunity to go to the EMP and pay our respects to Michael Jackson. Apparently we were not the only ones. We had to wait in a line that wrapped around the building to get in. They let in groups of 50, because many people had decided to come on this beautiful Thursday evening. The girls had been talking a lot about Michael Jackson and asked a lot of questions. It is weird to think, that he has no meaning to them. The EMP had a special exhibit about the work of Jim Henson (creator of Muppets, Fraggles and Sesame Street characters). The girls liked that better. We saw Kermit, Ernie and Bert, and some other puppets. We were not allowed to take pictures, so use your imagination (insert picture of girls with Rowlf). Afterwards we played in the fountain at the Seattle Center. It was a beautiful hot summer evening and many people had gathered around the fountain. The girls splashed for over an hour until they were finally so cold that they were happy to go into the hot car.