First Day of First Grade and End of Summer

 Ryan and Luke started 1st grade on Monday.  Ryan was so excited about going to school that he had his backpack on and his bag of school supplies in his hands an hour before it was time to get on the bus.  They had a great day and a great week.  Greg and I are looking forward to Back to School Night next week so we can learn a little more about what they will be doing this year.  We are so glad that they are back in school - Ryan really thrives in the routine of a school year and Luke loves being in a classroom.

 

We only have 2 weekends left at the pool  - which is always sad for me.  I've loved watching the boys grow up each summer and improve in their swimming and their comfort level in the water.  This was the first year that I've felt confident enough in their swimming ability to not be right there with them in the pool all of the time.  Ryan is able to swim the full length of the pool and dive to the bottom of the 5 ft level.  Luke feels confident enough to tread water for a long period of time, swim the width of the pool, and dive to the bottom.  I think they could spend all day every day at the pool.

 

Ryan's New Reading Helper

      Ryan is a good reader - but he struggles with confidence and gets easily frustrated.  Greg and I get equally frustrated when we try and read with him - he shuts down with us and doesn't put forth much effort.  We know he can do it - he worked with Luke's Kindergarten teacher this summer and she said he was doing great.  I even sat in on one of their tutoring sessions just to listen - Ryan wanted me there, too, so I could see how Mrs. Crouch helped him - he did so much better with her than at home.  That doesn't surprise us, Ryan likes to perform for others.  Greg and I have talked about finding a high school kid who we can hire to read with Ryan a couple of days a week - to give all 3 of us peace of mind and remove the power struggle from the equation.  However, Ryan seems to think he has found the perfect solution.  He now only wants to read with Luke.  We never would have thought that this would be a good idea.  The 2 of them fight so much and Ryan tends to get so much more frustrated if he hears Luke read before him.  But we stumbled upon this solution a week ago.  Ryan loves it - Luke sits next to him and if Ryan asks him for help with a word, Luke helps.  Ryan's fluency has increased and his frustration has dramatically decreased, and he has been reading books that are well ahead of where he was even a month ago.  We'll see how long this lasts - much of this depends on Luke's cooperation - which so far he wants to help, but I know that there will be times when he doesn't.  Hopefully Ryan will be able to continue to build his confidence up so he will be more willing to accept help from us in the future. 

Today's  creations at our house:

 Ryan's "car" for aye-aye.  He had made something similar using paper plates and cups a few weeks, but we told him it was time to go in the recycling bin.

I bought some new shoes last weekend and Luke immediately claimed the shoebox for himself.  He asked me if he should build the Statue of Liberty or the Olympic Stadium with it.  In my limited creative vision, I told him it looked more like a stadium.  But Luke turned it into the Statue of Liberty today - I never could have envisioned that.

 The boys met both of their 1st grade teachers yesterday at their school's Open House.  Luke is excited to be back in school - but Ryan is absolutely thrilled about going to 1st grade.

Spiderman

Luke created his very own Spiderman costume.  He found a white t-shirt and fabric markers and went to town decorating his outfit.  He then put on blue pants, red socks, and gloves (and Spiderman has blue arms, so he put on a long sleeve blue shirt underneath).  He was not satisfied with his costume until he could create a mask.  We cut up a pair of white tights and he colored it and then cut out eye holes.  He is a bizarre and creative boy.  His antics crack us up on a daily basis.

Vacation: Part 4

       The last part of our vacation was spent in Vancouver.  We drove into Canada pretty late in the evening and spent about 30 minutes in the car line through the border checkpoint.  It was very late by the time we got to our hotel, but we were able to sleep in some the next morning.  I hadn't prepared for our visit in Vancouver at all, so we were somewhat at a loss of what to do - made worse by the fact that our phones were in international roaming, so we couldn't get on the Internet (what did we do before technology?). 

       Someone in our neighborhood had told me about the giant suspension bridge and tree forts in Vancouver and that their kids had loved it.  Vancouver is such a beautiful city set right in the mountains.  Many people assume that living in Denver would give us the same kind of environment - but we have to drive to the mountains - in Vancouver, they are right there.  It turned out that the Friday we were in Canada was a "Public Long Weekend."  We asked our server at breakfast what holiday was going on, he said, "I don't know, it is just a long weekend."  I guess that is Canada - you get a long weekend for no reason - sounds nice.  As a result, the suspension bridge was pretty crowded with lots of families.

  The suspension bridge ended up being pretty cool - but also scary, not helped by my fear of heights.  I attempted to send Greg off with the boys ahead of me so I could get a picture, but I couldn't get a great close-up of the 3 of them (you can see Greg about 1/2 way across the bridge in the blue shirt).  I followed shortly thereafter, and held on to the side the whole way, fearing for my life - the bridge seriously swayed the whole time - there was no way I could have stopped and taken any pictures.  I went back with Greg and the boys after we visited the other side - I was amazed to see how completely fearless Luke was about the whole thing - the height and swaying didn't bother him one bit.

After the bridge, we drove to Stanley Park and went to the beach.  The boys had an absolute blast.  I had brought along a change of clothes, so I had told them they could get in the water - they both immediately ran in. 

 

Both boys tried to jump over the waves.

They both continued to wade further and further into the water.  We had great weather that day, and the water was not too cold.

The next morning we drove back down to Portland (after an hour plus wait at the border crossing) to catch our flight early the next morning.  I love my husband, but I do hope that he does not book a flight that requires us to get up at 4 am during a family vacation again.  We had a great trip, but he was nice to be home.  The boys and I have been enjoying the last few days of our summer vacation.  I go back to school on Friday and they start 1st grade (!!!) in a week in a half.  Who knows where we will go next year - Luke has offered several suggestions, one of which is Korea - I don't think that will make the short list.

Vacation: Part 3

 After leaving Seattle, we drove up the coast to take the fairy to the San Juan Islands.  It was a beautiful trip and the boys loved the boat.  Before we had left for our trip, Ryan had declared that he was afraid of boats.  That was the first we had heard of that, and Ryan is more fascinated with vehicles than any boy we've ever known.  As we expected, he loved the boat.

 In the San Juans, we went on a whale watching tour.  Orca whales are very common in this area in the summer, so we were hoping to see some Shamus.  But the Orcas weren't out that day, but we did see a minke whale and a humpback whale (which is supposedly very uncommon in the area).  The boys really had a great time.

 We also saw a ton of seals - which were Ryan's favorite.  He didn't like learning that the Orcas prey on the seals.

 The view around the island was great.

 We watched this humpback for quite awhile.  He would come up for about 3 breaths, and then on his 4th he would take a deep breath and dive down, showing us his big tail.

 We also got to see a baby chick Bald Eagle.  Our guides said that he had flown out of his nest the prior week.  The boys were interested in learning that Bald Eagles are born with all dark feathers and don't get their white heads until they are about 5 years old.

 Mom (who is in the tree in the middle) was nearby trying to coax the (big) baby to fly around more.  They were making quite a racket talking to each other.

 The last thing we saw were Sea Lions - they were chilling on the rocks basking in the sun.  They make quite a roar when they talk.

On the fairy ride on the way back to the mainland we saw the Pacific Northwest mountains for the first time.  It had been too cloudy or hazy the previous few days for us to see them.  We were most amazed to see how giant and close Mount Rainer was to Seattle on our way back to Portland a couple of days later.  We hadn't been able to see it at all while we were there.

Vacation: Part 2

We've had a great few days in Seattle.  Yesterday we went downtown to Pike Place Market and then spent the rest of the day going to 2 different parks.  We came back to our hotel in the early evening to give the boys a chance to relax for a little while.  Today we went to the Museum of Flight - that was really cool, but my camera battery was dead, so no pictures of that.  However, we did get to go inside Air Force One, a B-17 and a Concorde -plus we saw tons of planes outside and several planes take off and land right next to us at Boeing Field.  It was really neat - I'd say it rivaled the Smithsonian in Washington.

 Part of the appeal of Pike Place is the first Starbucks.  I didn't actually get any coffee inside - the line was too long and there were about 3 other Starbucks in a 2 block radius.  I think Seattle must be the most caffeinated city in America - there are a ton of Starbucks, independent coffee shops, and tons of little drive-thru shacks on the side of the road throughout the whole city.

 The highlight of the Pike Place Market is the flying fish stand (can you see the fish in the air in the picture above?).  The boys really loved watching the guys throw the fish as the orders came in.  They also were really fascinated with all of the dead fish packed on ice.  We were amazed at how large many of them were.

 Luke's favorite part of the market were the many fruit stands.  Luke loves fruit and would chose to eat it above anything else in most cases.  We got him some raspberries, nectarines and champagne grapes.  We also stopped at a fruit stand in Oregon and got him blueberries and cherries.

To counter balance all of the exercise we had partaked in the day before during our long hike to the beach - we went to Top Pot Doughnuts.  We ended up having a long walk back to our car afterwards, so we burned off more calories, as well.

After our trip downtown and lunch at a great wood-fire pizza place, we went to Green Lake Park and rented a paddle boat.   The boys loved it and they were even able to help us out a bit with the paddling.

 Our last park of the day was to Kerry Park to get the best view of Downtown Seattle.  The boys really loved the playground that was nearby and they burned off even more energy.  They ended up taking a nap on our way back to the hotel.  We have so far dealt with pretty heavy traffic in Seattle, but it has given the boys a chance to get a little extra sleep in the car.

Tonight we ate dinner near our hotel at a restaurant right on the Sound.  After dinner we watched the sunset over Whitby Island.  Now the boys are asleep and are resting up for their our big day tomorrow and drive up to Vancouver.