A trip to the snow

We drove up to Mt. Baker to try to find some snow for sledding. We found just a tiny bit piled up in the parking lot just past the upper lodge. Another family was trying to make the best of things and the dad fixed up a place for the kids to use the saucer sled we brought. The run was about 4 feet long (!) but I guess North Carolinians are easy to please when it comes to snow. The views alone are enough excuse to make the drive.




We went for an extremely short "hike" and threw some snowballs at each other.






Later the kids posed with the Ghostbuster Truck.

Cole's next choice for a Halloween costume after Darth Vader was to be a Ghost Buster.


Audrey is very much interested in doing things for herself - brushing teeth, eating, drinking, walking, etc. She has gained some proficiency at feeding herself with a spoon but it's still an incredible sticky mess after a bowl of brown rice.

Just try saying no to this face!

Safe places to store stuff are quickly disappearing as Audrey is able to move and climb on chairs to get to what she wants.

Preschool Update

Cole loves school and all his school friends. They are focusing on Thanksgiving now and exploring the idea of being thankful. They are of course making artful turkeys as well.



Teacher Heidi is switching out learning stations every month in one part of the classroom. This area was originally set up as the "kitchen", then became the doctor's office, and is most recently the veterinary clinic. Here are some of Cole's classmates working in the doctor's office.


Camden is checking patients in.


Keifer and Arianna are doing a routine check up on Maren.


Cole listening to his own heartbeat.

Cole making a turkey with Teacher Heidi. Working with scissors is not only very appealing to young children but is also great fine motor practice that helps them hold a writing tool more effectively.


Last week Cole's class took a field trip to a Veterinary Clinic.
Today they visited a local fire station.


Cole and Keifer held hands for part of the visit.


Cole with buddies Bennett and Eli. A couple weeks ago Eli sent Cole some Star Wars drawings in the mail. It was very exciting to get mail addressed to himself. I'm so pleased that Cole is making good friends and doing so well in school.


Here the kids learn about firefighting turnout gear. I learned something too. I've always told Cole that they had oxygen in their tanks but really it's compressed air. That just makes sense now that I consider it - who wants to go into a burning building with a tank of oxygen on their back?


The whole crew.

Poker Night

Alex here, guest blogging for Heather again...

Upon our return from Iowa, Heather wasted no time getting back into the swing of things. On the first Saturday after our return, it was her turn to host the co-op moms monthly poker night.

 

For the hardy souls willing and able to make the trek from Seattle, it was a lively evening of good food,

 fine wine,

fun times and some racy playing cards (a gag birthday gift one of the mom's received last Summer), not to mention breakfast at the Mount Bakery.

Cole went to an overnighter at Grammy's house (and came back singing songs from Mary Poppins). 

Audrey tried to make the scene, but Mom wasn't having any of it. 

Audrey used all of the tricks in her arsenal including being cute;

and feigning interest in the conversation,

But it was all to no avail. Time for bed little one,

On the following Wednesday, I dropped Cole at his co-op preschool and took Heather's place at the Ones coop preschool that Audrey attends.

We all got spiffed up for school and even washed behind our ears. Mom was so impressed that she snapped a couple of shots,

At home Audrey enjoys facilitating entropy by removing things from their proper place and depositing them on the floor. She doesn't do anything with them, she just enjoys having everything readily available on the floor, vs. being put away. 

At school it's a different story. Here she is helping her friend Garcia put all the blocks away properly. They made sure to front them so they were all the same distance from the edge of the shelf, Garcia took the lead on the project, but Audrey was totally on board with the idea.

She's also a big fan of the slide,

The next day Heather went and got her hair done. It's a new look for her and she's still getting accustomed to it, so I was forbidden from posting a picture of it until she's more used to it, but here's an earlier shot of her from 11/15/1972,

Thanks for the shot Grammy!

Happy Birthday Heather!!

Iowa

This is Dad doing some more guest blogging.

A few years ago, our friends Lee and Julie decided that they’d had enough of spicy ethnic food, progressive politics, a thriving arts community, and all the high points of metropolitan living. They decided to put their thoughts into action so they packed all their worldly possessions into not one, but two Ryder moving vans. I was privileged to drive one of them back to the bustling burg of Spencer, Iowa. The trip itself was a great opportunity to see what the northern tier states looked like (during Summer, anyways). I spent the majority of my road time with their younger son Wren throwing grapes back and forth. Lee and Julie and their two sons are great people who we really enjoy, so we decided to spend Halloween with them this year.

The trip out was good except for the part where Heather and I stayed up past 1 A.M. to get packed and clean up the house, then woke up at 3:30 to catch the 5:40 flight out of Bellingham. Both kids napped during at least half of the outbound leg from Seattle to Minneapolis, making for a more peaceful journey for our fellow air travelers.

On the first night there Cole (Darth Vader) and Wren (Luke Skywalker) got into a winner-take-all lightsaber duel.



It was witnessed by the ghosts in our hosts’ beautiful restored 1916 home…



Cole got to do his second favorite thing after playing Star Wars, which is hanging out with older boys…





The big house...



The Little Sioux River just behind their house. Picture taken by Cedar.



Professor Cole



Audrey got to learn about static electricity thanks to the warm dry weather…



Along with Fall weather comes large piles of leaves…

Although not always with a kid’s head inside.

Wren demonstrated his juggling skills for us;

Audrey got to critique Lee’s pumpkin-carving skills…

Wren and his Mom went at it as a team, but Mom doesn’t look too comfortable with the knife work here…

Cedar flew solo…

Heather and Cole worked on a great Darth Maul jack-o-lantern…

Cole never missed an opportunity to go shirtless and shoeless...

Cole contemplated a midwestern state of mind....



Cole also performed the "Pumpkin Dance" for us and gave us a shot of his pects...



Brothers, not that you couldn't tell by looking....



The trick-or-treaters;
Darth Vader, an Ewok, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo...



Some handiwork by the two families....



As much as we enjoyed our visit, it was soon time to leave. Cole and Audrey looked out the window and hoped the plane would take us all the way to the Big Island to see Grandpa and Tutu.



Maybe next time. Until then, here's a big howdy to Richard and Sara...