Late-April Photos

Real cute

Mrs. Danielson's students. There are some really good violin players amongst these people. Christian asked if he could wear Adidas track pants and a button up shirt. I said no but I said yes to the shorts and crocs. I figured that was acceptable in casual Richland but there were some full suits at the recital! haha.

Violin piece (Suzuki) + piano accompaniment

Christian can climb the rope all the way up. I guess I missed this development because he says he has been able to do it for a while now. In order for the kids to get their next level Ninja Band (green) they have to be able to do 10 pull-ups. Christian says he can do 3. Olin says he can do none.

Olin reading Charlotte's Web :) 

Washington State Chess Tournament

I kept thinking "I hope the kids win at least one game at state (but I don't expect them to win any)". They both ended up winning 2 games. They were a little disappointed since the magic number to get a bigger trophy was 3 wins, and they ended up with the smallest (participation) trophy each. Our school as a whole got 23rd place out of 159 schools and we got a plaque. Interestingly, or not, the top 25 schools were all Seattle schools except for 3, which were Richland schools!

All in all it was a good, long day. It started at 6:50am when two other moms and I showed up at the venue to help direct parking. The tournament started at 9am and finished at 5pm. I think the kids were tired! There were tons of Asian kids at this chess tournament. Based on the names I saw on the lists, it looked like a lot of Chinese and Indian kids and a sprinkling of Koreans thrown in. We might have been the only Kornese but I can't verify that. hahaha!

The orange vests commanded respect! haha

Enough trophies to make your eyes cross.

First game...a win!

There were 1200+ students participating

Christian missed his baseball game due to chess. The team sent a video wishing him luck at his chess tournament! So nice. (This is just a screenshot of the video, not the actual video....)

In between chess matches....

So funny. Luckily these girls didn't pull out their tablets until the last 2 hours of the day.

Last game (a loss).

Olin had his last Bike Rodeo at his school on Friday so I volunteered to help man a station. They love Bike Day so much there. I'm a little sad that after 6 years at the pre-school this will be our last year.

Camp Hancock 2018

I chaperoned two nights at Camp Hancock with Christian's school. It was a very interesting experience and one I valued having. 

Great parts:

• the camp measured our ORT (don't know what it stands for but it is food waste). So as a collective 80 or so people, we were encouraged to take only what we needed from family-style food, and waste as little as possible. We would collect our ORT and have it weighed. The last meal, our entire group of 80* had a total of 5 ounces of wasted food! Our plates were SO clean.  I never finish my plate, and it was a novel and good experience to always have to finish my plate. I honestly cannot remember the last time I have consciously forced myself to finish a plate. So bad.
• campfire on the last night was fun
• it was fun to see kids' interactions and personalities
• the setting was really pretty in eastern Oregon
• all of the parent chaperones (I know most of them fairly well) were so cheerful and positive. It was actually kind of inspiring. I always feel so tired, and the other chaperones didn't seem tired at all. (Don't understand that. haha.)
• I didn't feel wasteful at all during these two days. 
• there was no internet, or at least I couldn't figure it out, for 24 hours, and then it was spotty. No phone calls were able to go out. I barely touched my phone except to take pictures and it felt good to not be available by phone.
• nice not wearing make-up and not caring about what I looked like at all
• no one really complained about anything (cold, tired, hungry, dirty, lack of good toilets, etc). That was also a nice example.

*80 people because it was our school of around 55 and another school of around 25. Portland's International Leadership Academy, bilingual French Immersion school.

Not so great parts:

• not having food readily available to me at all times. Ha! Apparently I snack and graze constantly at home because I really missed it when at camp.
• not having bathroom access readily available to me at all times. Apparently I also visit the restroom on all kinds of whims while at home because it was not so pleasant using the port-o-potties during the day (regular bathroom at night)
• being surrounded by many children all the time with needs
• being cold
• an error and our chartered bus not showing up to take us home so us waiting, bags packed with 40 kids, for 4 hours at camp. My poor mom. She had to find her own ride to the airport and even made us a dinner and left it out for us.

Camp Hancock Field Station, near Fossil, Oregon

My bunk was lower left. I brought my huge pillow as my luxury item. Ha! I think I was pretty much the only person carrying a huge pillow but that was ok with me.

The bleachers meeting spot

Christian was the designated food-getter for our table this evening. Spaghetti and meat sauce with garlic bread. I was so hungry and so not used to having to wait around to eat. 

Learning to make fire with a bow drill

The school.

Coyote cabin. 7 girls and 2 chaperones. All the girls slept really well. No one got up at night to use the bathroom. Phew. I actually had to go to REI to get hiking pants since I only had yoga pants and skinny jeans. Clearly not an outdoorsy woman! My ski jacket was a must. I barely took that thing off. It was cold, and we were outside pretty much all day and our cabin wasn't terribly warm. Maybe high 50's low 60's in the cabin.

My mom took great care of Olin while I was gone and said they had a nice two days together. I guess his piano playing wasn't quite the 15-20 recommended minutes per day but if that was the worst of it I am happy as a clam! Thanks as always mom :)

Thriller at Bombing Range Field 3

Christian's baseball team is 2-0 so far this season, but the competition had not been stiff thus far. That all changed today when his team went up against a formidable opponent in Henry (friend's) team. Our team was pretty much getting crushed, outplayed, and losing 7-0 until the bottom of the final inning. With two outs, our team managed to score 8 runs and win the game. It was actually thrilling. :) 

Of course I captured no pictures except when Claira and Olin were playing tag and lying on the ground exhausted at the game. 

End of a Stringed Instrument Era

Christian had his last violin lesson today and his "farewell performance" will be the violin recital this Sunday.  haha. Although my overriding feeling had been relief to have one less thing on our plate, that feeling quickly turned bittersweet when at the very end of his lesson today his teacher, Mrs. Danielson, said "Christian has a real gift for stringed instruments. The book we got through usually takes my students a couple of years". She said it's one of those things that maybe he will pick up again in orchestra in high school or something like that. So we definitely have a little sadness that he has quit, but I think it's good to pull myself away from the feeling that my kids have to try and conquer every sport and musical instrument. He wanted to quit, he gave it a good 8 months (give or take) and I feel ok about it.

Just Because

A few photos I found cute.

I asked him 'did you style your hair? we aren't leaving the rest of the night!' after his shower and he said yes and I started laughing. In styling his hair, he told me that he just pushes it over to the right.

Selfie with raised eyebrow at Five Guys

More raised-eyebrow selfies

We were stopping by Jefferson field to measure the pitching distance and happened upon Matt, Henry and Claira practicing! So we joined them. Lots of fun.

Playing a new app game from their Goldfish crackers package. Post-shower.

Olin Loses First tooth (of natural causes) and Baseball Games

It was a little loose but he was ready so I took it out. It hurt him a little bit but he was really excited to lose it. 

First T-ball game! Their name is the "Bats". I think that's such a funny name.

Up to bat. He hit well off the Tee. It is SO windy at Bombing Range. Ridiculously windy and cold.

Catcher. He had very limited mobility while donning this suit.

Christian hit 2 for 2 during their team's 12-1 win over their opponent. So far they have won both their games! The players pitch but after 4 balls the coach comes in - seen here. Christian hasn't pitched yet and he doesn't seem particularly interested in pitching. haha.

Chess crew. State is coming up next week. We had a little party to celebrate their coach Stan (far left) who volunteers their time to coach our club.

Spring Break 2018 - Tour of Southeast USA and the Caribbean

We spent 3 days in Chattanooga (Ringgold, GA), 3 days in Miami (South Beach) and 3 days on a Royal Caribbean cruise (hitting Coco Cay, Bahamas and Nassau, Bahamas)...

Here are photos in no particular order. Too tired to organize them.

We found a friend down the street called Jay who was fishing on the pond right next to Halmoni and Haraboji's house and offered to have the boys fish with him. For Olin, who has been begging to fish for months, this was a nice surprise. They didn't catch anything but Jay did catch (and release) one fish.

The South

Tennessee aquarium - touching stingrays

Ordering hush puppies from a take out window in Chattanooga

Christian next to a picture of a sea otter. 

Hush puppies

Chick Fil-a at every airport

Welcome to Miami

Dinner at Havana 1957

More Tennessee aquarium

Huge turtle

How many frogs can you spot?

French-Persian restaurant, Fooq's, in Miami

Gator Park. They both said this alligator was heavy. The big one in the back was fake.

Miami pool. Olin kept dumping water on Baba's head

Carrying groceries home

Chess at hotel

Tequiza's waiting for food

Delicious food at Tequiza's

"Sand Castle"

Dinner at Makoto in Miami

First time at laundromat for the kids, in Miami 

On board the cruise - waiting at Muster Station 8 for our safety drill

Flying high on the corded trampoline jumps, aboard the cruise

Empanadas and "guava and cheese" danishes at this Cuban take-out place in Miami.

Olin's first permanent tooth! Shark tooth, #25.

Our kids heard the word show, and they wanted to go. They didn't realize it was a boring shopping show aboard the cruise.

Nassau was interesting. We walked a bit and the kids complained it was hot and humid.

Lots of pink.

Queen's Steps - a set of stairs in the middle of the city.

Our room - bunks came out of the ceiling. Good use of space, just like Disney.

Family GagaBall. Goal is to get other people out by hitting their shins or feet with the ball.

Coco Cay, Bahamas

Watching the "World's Sexiest Man" competition. hahaha.

Shuffleboard on board

Gator Park in the Everglades (during Miami portion)

Gator!

Everglades

Lots of waiting time at airport. This was the only Mad Libs we could find at Miami Airport.

Sleeping. Last flight got changed by 4 hours later.

Jumping on South Beach.

The Egg, a walkway in our hotel

Leaving Nassau. Atlantis Resort is in background.