Pumpkin Patch 2009

Creatures of habit, we visited the same patches this year as last. Stoney Ridge Farm (in Everson) and The Farm (in Snohomish).

Our family loves apples. Who doesn't? But, we really love apples and the kids eat them like crazy this time of year. Thankfully, we still have many orchards left in Whatcom county and enjoy fresh apples.



We met some families from Cole's kindergarten class at Stoney Ridge Farm on Friday. The day started out pretty dismal with serious rain but it cleared up and the kids had fun feeding the goats, picking apples, and running around like wild things.

Cole and classmate Amelia. Amelia's mom arranged the trip. Amelia and Cole sing silly songs together and the teacher Mrs. Lind "doesn't even mind". Amelia told her mom this story. Cole absolutely cracks me up. He is the extrovert to my introversion. He says hi to strangers. He strikes up conversations with adults about Star Wars or alphatons (a creature of his imagination).



Picking apples.



Best buds, Cole and Jacob.



Tractor ride back from the pumpkin and apple fields.



Feeding goats.



How tall this fall? At least a couple inches taller than last.







Last Saturday I took a pediatric CPR and first aid class and Alex took the kids to the pumpkin patch. Cole is still wearing his glasses and we are also patching his "good" eye 6 days a week. The patch is a drag. But so is being blind in one eye.

Moon Festival

First a couple pictures taken yesterday on Lake Whatcom.





This afternoon we joined the Mei Hua school for a community event celebrating the Moon Festival, also know as the Mid-Autumn Festival, and highlighting the students talents. Cole and Audrey decorated paper lanterns and we enjoyed many performances by children and adults. Traditional singing, dancing, Tai Chi, a story teller, etc. It was an exceptionally stunning fall day if a bit breezy.

Decorating lanterns. Older children helped us put a glow stick inside. Cole went to bed with his shining dimly on his bookshelf.



Finished lanterns. Cole put a lot of effort into his. I'm always delighted to see him really get into something.





An elderly gentleman kindly wrote some characters for us. He chose "peace and happiness" for me and for Cole, his name phonetically translated. Audrey's name presented a challenge - he drew two characters and told us he'd translated her name into "living buddha, lying down" and that was a much better name!



Children from the Mei Hua school singing Mother's Eyes and Jasmine Flower.



We then went on a chestnut hunt while deciding on the merits of different Bellingham ice cream establishments.









Being slightly tricky, I convinced the kids to eat at Fiamma Burger and have a shake in lieu of the aforementioned ice cream cones. Audrey and Cole are always up for "cheeseburger fries".

If you're downtown Bham and hungry you should try this place. Pepper Sister alums Ken and Dan opened this and La Fiamma together. Not only is the food good but they are committed to attaining zero waste. You can compost anything you don't eat on site including the "faux plastic" cups and straws.

nǐ hǎo

Just three weeks into Kindergarten and so much has happened - yet no blog posts! 对不起

Back to day one. Here is the picture that made me cry. I think the teeth are due to a recent viewing of a movie called My Neighbor Totoro.

Cole is one week into his Mandarin study. He's learning numbers 1-10, hello/goodbye, and family names. We'll be attending the Moon Festival on Saturday at the Fairhaven Village Green hosted by Mei Hua Chinese School.

He is working on forming his letters and numbers correctly using a program called "Handwriting without Tears". We are poised to help him at home if we should ever find time after getting him dressed/fed/out the door/back in the door/fed/undressed/bathed/read to/and asleep. I think Wade King Elementary is fabulous. More on that in later posts!

Today was "Globe Trot" day at Cole's school. They hold one fund raiser a year and it is a walk/run-a-thon with an international focus. Each grade studies a country and raises money from family and friends to help fund programs that have been cut or are underfunded (field trips, application for International Baccalaureate authorization). The kinders studied the United States because the teachers thought it important for them to know something about the country they lived in. Other grades studied Madagascar, China, Norway, and Italy among others.

Audrey and I were there to cheer them on and to take pictures of course!



The PE teacher "dj'ed" the event with r&b/hip hop numbers to get the kids moving. The principal, Mr. McElroy, led the kids in the first lap to set a sustainable pace. The P.M. kindergartners ran with 4th graders.



Here is Cole in yellow running about the middle of the pack, starting off strong.

A hands on principal. The visionary for an IB primary years school.

Here's Mr. McElroy thinking .... a spirited child, wonder if he's going to be trouble later?!

Crazy laughter from Cole.

Audrey enjoyed participating as well.



30 minutes of sustained running and two joyful boys with medals.



14 laps for Cole.



Cole and Jacob greet each other with, "Hi Cuz!", gleeful laughter, and a hug. This is Cole "posing" ... cheese!



In the halls are many reminders why Alex and I chose this school for Cole. The focus this year in the push to get authorization as an IB school is "Kids taking Action". That's students taking meaningful self-directed action. In this display, a young lady commits to riding her bike to school and suggests that if everyone made one less trip by car everyday we'd create positive change.

First Days

Both Cole and Audrey started school this week. Audrey will attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 2 hours and Cole is in afternoon kindergarten five days a week. I'm out of energy but here are some pictures ... more to follow with explanations tomorrow.

Walking to cafeteria from recess with new buddy, Jacob.

Ah, hot lunch. I remember those days ... hot dogs without buns, peanut butter oatmeal balls. Here Cole and Audrey enjoy milk, a red delicious apple, and "pizza".

Jumping right in.

Ava and Cole were in Infant Co-op together in Seattle.

Mrs. Lind reading The Kissing Hand. The kids did an art project during class using the ideas in this book. I avoided crying when I dropped him off but cried when he showed me this project. I'll scan and post tomorrow.

Huckleberries

We went to Mt. Baker to pick huckleberries the weekend before last. They were out in full force and I expect a bit early due to all the hot weather. We didn't get up there until after noon so it was lucky that we needed only to walk 50 feet from the Lake Ann trailhead to find more berries than we had time to pick.

Just as with the strawberries early this summer it was a hard sell to get either child to actually pick berries themselves - even for personal consumption. I was reminded of the classic book Blueberries for Sal as I suggested Cole explore the meadow instead of trying to swipe berries from my container.

Tons of fruit but they are so small it's hard to pick a significant amount.

Tess enjoyed sitting in the sun.



Mt. Shuksan (I think)

Chocolate Beet Cake?!

We're trying a new tactic to increase our veggie consumption - Dandelion Organic Delivery. We get a rubbermaid container filled with mostly local produce delivered to our house every week. I'm mixed about it so far. Alex thinks it's too expensive for what you get and I was a little disappointed in the quality of the produce we got in our second delivery. The wax beans were tough (maybe they're supposed to be tough?) and the green onions and corn were old. I thought the first box was stellar though and I've had a great time trying to figure out how to use it all up. So we had beets tonight with our salmon. I cooked them in my new pressure cooker. I've been on the fence, wanting one and reading about them for a year or more. This past weekend Macy's had them on sale so I got one. 15 minutes to cook 5 large whole beets and then the skins easily peeled off. The kids wouldn't eat them so we had left overs. I made a Chocolate Beet Cake. I doubt very much the kids will eat that either. Sigh. It's very moist and looks like a red velvet cake. No one is going to fool a kid into believing this is a standard chocolate cake though. I can definitely taste the beets but they do pair well with the chocolate. I only used half the sugar. The recipe I used is below.

Beet Mash Chocolate Cake (adapted from Dave’s Dinners page 195)

2 cups beet puree (about 3 large beets) 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar 3 eggs 1/2 cup warm water 1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa 2 t baking powder 1/2 t salt

To make the beet puree, you can boil the beets for about an hour… or, do what I did and peel/trim them and bake them in foil with a little dab of butter for about an hour. I didn’t want to loose any of the beet goodness into boiling water, and I’m quite glad I stuck with this approach. However, if you are concerned about the cake being “too beety” feel free to boil them. Once the beets are soft and cooled, mash them with a potato masher or a food processor.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Combine the melted butter, sugar, eggs and water, and mix until smooth.

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder together into a bowl, and then stir in the salt. Then, slowly add the dry ingredients into the butter/egg mixture. When it is smooth, fold in the beet puree.

Scoop the batter into a prepared baking pan. You’ll have to adjust your baking times for the size of your pan. For a small, 4-inch round, bake for about 30 minutes. Cupcakes are about 20-25 minutes. The Budnt cake from the original recipe called for 70 minutes. I recommend checking fairly frequently, and using the tooth-pick test to ensure the cake is set once the top starts firming up. Don’t over cook! You want the cake light but still moist.

Cool the cake on a wire rack before icing.