The End of the Snow

Finally, today, I think the snow is almost gone.  More than a week with snow on the ground is totally crazy around here.  In fact, I don't remember this happening here... like ever, in my life.  To say we were suffering from a bit of cabin fever would be a gross understatement.  I was just the lucky one who got to go off to work four of those days.  The snow itself wasn't that bad at all.  Our problems came with the ice.
The morning that the snow was deepest and best, it was sleeting by the time the girls were dressed to go play in it.  They couldn't manage the walk to the University campus to sled, so Matt piled the snow on our back patio stairs and the girls took turns sledding down the stairs.  Our almost 10 inches of snow became topped with a half inch of solid ice over the course of that day.  Our house became encrusted with half an inch of solid ice.  I had to shovel a trail into the yard for the dog because the icy crust was up to his belly.  I walked to work wednesday in silent peace, in 10 inches of snow, but by the time my shift was over it was a crusty mess.  On friday when I walked to work the sidewalks were littered with broken trees and shards of ice as sharp and treacherous as broken glass.  I walked down the middle of the road to avoid the overhanging trees laden with ice.  I listened to the trees crack the whole way to work.  There is one block on my route where the trees are so big that their branches become intertwined high above the middle of the street.  As I approached that block, littered with big black branches, I could hear the ice falling out of the trees.  It sounded like it was raining marbles.  I ran up that block, not like a giant chunk of ice wouldn't hurt me if I was running... I was just banking on the fact that 15 seconds of potentially being blitzed with ice was better than 2 min of pelting.  However, the relief that I felt when I saw my building ahead of me was briefly halted when I also saw security vehicles and about 10 guys from our security, grounds crew, and engineering departments outside of the door I usually enter, and the whole area taped off.  It seems, giant slabs of ice were falling off of the building.  And sure enough, as I stood there talking to the security guard a slab of ice about 2 feet long fell off of the building and down to the street.  Yikes.  I'm feeling not so bitchy about the rain these days.  All in all, we were quite lucky, we never lost power and other than a couple of trees in our front yard that look like they were pruned by a toddler, we didn't have any major landscaping failures.

Snow-tastic

 

On the phone, discussing the snowfall with Grammy and Grampy.

I am so glad that the weather gods decided to dump snow on my weekend off of work.  Don't get me wrong, I don't love the snow.  The kids love the snow.  And I like it just fine, in moderation.  I like visiting snow.  I like how it crunches under my feet.  I like how it makes everything quiet and soft.  I like how it can add up to inches and inches even when you didn't even hear it fall.  I like how it makes even dark nights seem bright.  Here are some pics of our snow days ~so far~ I'm sure there's more to come...

Cyclo-Diva

We hit up our last Cyclocross race of the season on Sunday.  In the days leading up to the race, the girls had convinced themselves that they would be racing in the kids race.  They told anyone and everyone.  They were super excited.  We got them their numbers and did a practice lap.  Tula on her scoot bike, decided that the swings were more appealing than pushing that little bike through the grass.  I couldn't blame her.  Gwen on the other hand ate it up!  It helped having the whole Tacoma Cyclocross team cheering her on.  She killed it.  Matt and I couldn't help but notice that Gwen's bike was not a cross bike, I think if she had had one the finish would have been pretty close. She ended up getting lapped by a kid half her size on a bike twice as big as hers.  We were actually pretty surprised to see that so many little kids had such fancy tiny cross bikes.  I suppose we shouldn't be so surprised, like all sports, the lure of fancy equipment is tempting.  Digressions aside, my girl did great!  We are so proud.  They did 6 laps through the grass track.  When the officials decided on 6 laps all of us grown ups said "6?" knowing full well that half of us would have been wheezing in the 35 degree chill if we had to pull 6 laps on that grass track.  Gwen didn't stop pedaling the whole time. When she finished she had a huge grin, followed closely by a couple brief tears of exhaustion.  It was great to see that accomplishment proudly displayed on her little face.    

Fort Nisqually

Last weekend I stumbled upon the fact that it was free day at Fort Nisqually.  We've been meaning to go there for years but never have actually gotten around to it.  We really were just intending to walk around and look at the buildings, we had virtually no expectations of the place.  We were quite surprised to find this little gem sitting in our backyard all along.

Although it has been moved, it is the original, built in 1833.  We were really impressed.  The girls especially liked the blacksmith.  Matt and I adored the characters.  All of the volunteers and employees have a historical persona that they become while within the walls of the Fort.  They pulled it off wonderfully.  We really talked a lot about necessities with the girls.  The amount of work it took to make a pair of shoes or a dress.  The laborious tasks of washing laundry or making a meal, which required a lot of water hauling.  Gwen really seemed to get it.  It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Study the past, if you would divine the future.
-Confucius

Adventures in Homeschooling Day 4

Matt's chalk tribute to 2nd Cycle

I had to work friday, but Matt had a full day planned for the kids.  Just before lunch the fam headed down to the Frost Park Chalk Off.  The Chalk Off is a weekly event every friday held at a former fountain downtown. Neighborhood artists, kids, and downtown workers on lunch break come out to enjoy some chalk art.  Here's some of the art; butterflies (not pictured) done by my big girl and a (for real) homeschool friend.  Friday was also Park(ing) day.  So, Matt and the girls toured the scene.  They got freebies from vendors and had lots to tell me about when they stopped by my work to say hi on their way home.

Adventures in Homeschooling Day 2

My box fort is cooler than your box fort!

Today was a task list and I was at work.  Here's what the fam did while I was away:

• Showers
• Breakfast
• Dishes
• Harvested beans, peas and strawberries from the garden
• Walked Frankie
• Birthday Thank You cards/work book pages
• Stripped sheets/laundry
• Lunch!  
• Bike ride to the library
• Rang our bells for the Teachers at Hoyt
• Stamped and mailed Thank You cards at the Post Office
• Played at Puget Park with other "homeschoolers"
• Rang our bells for the Teachers at Mason
• Bike ride home
• Nap for Tula/Reading for Gwen
• Party in the box fort
• Play with the private school neighbor kid who went to school today
• Dinner



Party in the box fort!

• Kids played outside while we decide if our daughter was going to school or not; answer: Not.

Thank you TEA/TPSD for giving us a lesson in right and wrong.  We will be homeschooling our little girl again on thursday, with a field trip to the lines.  Take care teachers, we are with you.


"The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind." -Kahlil Gibran 

Adventures in Homeschooling Day 1

In support of the TEA/TPSD teachers strike I will be blogging our family's activities.  Both in support of our teachers (good god I miss them already) and to remind myself that there is a very good reason for my children not to stay home with me everyday to attend public school.

Monday night we were sure school would be canceled so, I started thinking of smart nerdy things to do with my kids.  Top of the list was the Science Center, perhaps I just wanted to relive the butterfly mayhem.  Got the Robocall; no school; shocker.  Planned the day.

Tuesday morning we headed north.  Got into the parking lot and found this:

FRICK!  Craptastic.  Now what?  Quick searches of other local attractions (thank you iphone) and some quick math based on the 6 of us, yielded this +9.5% sales tax:

Woodland Park Zoo: $87
Seattle Aquarium:  $81
Seattle Children's Museum: $45

We joined the Science Center to avoid such dilemmas! Now, it's not just that mommy is cheap; daddy's cheap too; and so's Auntie Heather.  How on earth do people have large families and actually afford to do anything?  Ugh!

Beechers Cheese

So, we decided to be tourists.  Albeit, cheap tourists.  The kids didn't know any better.  We scoffed at the closed science center and quickly changed directions and decided to tour the piers and the market.  It was great.  We had fun.  My girls were rather awful and I wished that I could give them to someone else for 6 hours; did I mention that I love teachers?  We toured the piers.  I was reminded of the Seattle of my early 20's.  We took the stairs up to the market and the kids all commented on how the stairwell smelled like pee...nice.  We bought lunch and ate it amongst the bums in Fireman's Park.  We watched the bicycle cops ride through and watched the fully uniformed Park Ranger meander about.  Seattle's weird.  Part of me misses it; part of me just wants to bathe in hand gel.

All it all, I'd say it was a success.  We all survived.  We made a memory.  We came home, went to REI and then... we stopped at our farmer's market to get our produce.  I love Tacoma.