Allison

Master Magi Katherine and Master Magi Tebbi?

We decided to get away last weekend to Great Wolfe Lodge, a waterpark near Chehalis. The kids *loved* the waterpark. And, they loved MagicQuest – more on that later!

Highlights our stay:

– The Kids Cabin themed room (see bunks)
– The “toddler” pool where Allison spent most of her time. It was really 4′ deep, but Allison thought it was a toddler pool
– The raft ride that Katherine did with Steve
– Arcade with games and prizes
– All the automated animals and pictures that the kids could animate with their wands

MagicQuest is a game that requires you to buy a wand and pay for game time. With the wand, you can complete 10 “rune” challenges and 3 adventures. Each rune involves running up and down the staircases of the lodge, the hallways and waving wands to gather items for the rune. In all, the helpers told us that they estimate it’s a 10 mile hike to finish the game. It took us about 6 hours over two days to finish the game. By the end, Katherine was the last one standing in our family. Allison had resorted to eating a bag of popcorn and handing over her wand to Steve to finish the game for her.

On the first day, at the MagicQuest shop, the helper asked the kids in turn for their game names. Katherine gave her name. Allison mumbled something like “Tebbi,” and that’s what showed up everytime we waved our wand at the main game tree.

Steve and I were impressed with the thought that went into this lodge. There were no barriers to purchasing anything – just wave the room bracelet under a scanner, and it would be added to your checkout bill. There was no reason to leave the hotel. Besides the fact that its in the middle of nowhere, the lodge has lots of amenities for kids and adults alike. Steve particularly enjoyed the margaritas in the waterpark. 🙂

You did what?

We are continually amazed at Allison. Yesterday she was standing at the front door playing with a big rock. She picked up the rock…and dropped it on her toe! The doctor today said its just a bad bruise that will linger for a couple weeks. Steve and I just shook our heads. What an Allison thing to do.

On a more positive note, Allison finished her reading board. Katherine did as well, although it took 2.5 hours straight of reading to do this. For reaching 70 books on their reading boards, they each received a Hays Disney-themed suitcase. These are something else, virtually indestructible with light up wheels. Allison just about flipped out when I handed her the princess suitcase. Katherine’s eyes bugged out, and she promptly read a pile of fairy books afterwards.

Our Adventures

The kids and I visited the serpentarium in Monroe, home of reptiles. We saw amazing things, from snakes to turtles, alligators, lizards, etc. Katherine wasn’t too excited to stand next to the cages…hence the pictures of Allison with reptiles.

The girls went to their neighbor’s birthday party. It was luau themed as you can see.

We also went to Derby Days a few weekends ago. The girls rode in the kids parade with a bunch of other neighborhood kids. We rode in the “sports fan” section of the parade with decorated bikes.

Summer School

The girls have two days of summer school left before summer officially starts. They can’t wait to finish, so they can play with their neighborhood friends who are out of school.

Allison is thoroughly enjoying her new summer classmates and watching the first years make their way around the classroom. She’s done a LOT of pin-poking, tracing. And, she claims to be reading to her teachers. Katherine is learning about the first grade work plan, which is what the teachers use to hold students accountable for their weeks’ work. Katherine told me that she finished her first week work plan last Wednesday. She started a new one yesterday. Her one complaint has to do with length of recess, which is apparently shorter than that of the preschoolers. Otherwise, she loves having her own desk where she works, eats. Once she heard about the desk, Allison was very bummed to be still in the Mezzo building, asking me “When can I go to the Main Building??”

Recent Activities

The girls and I brainstormed a list of goals for our summer (seriously!). One of our goals is to get in shape for our Yosemite trip. To that end, we biked 11 miles roundtrip from Redmond Town Center to the Red Hood Brewery. Allison rode the trailer bike behind Steve. I cruised behind Katherine, who was on her bike. The first half of the trip was hard mentally for Katherine – but once she saw the brewery she perked up. The back half was much easier. For one thing, we had a great lunch (no beer). And, just as importantly, Katherine was able to count down the mile markers on the Burke Gilman Trail. Now we know that RTC is at mile ~0.5 and that the brewery is at mile 5.5.

What else? The girls are working on “exercising their bodies” which includes swimming classes and gymnastics. Katherine was thrilled a couple weeks ago to officially do a cartwheel in gymnastics class. This means that she’s earned 5 stars in level 1 gymnastics. Once she demonstrates a kick over (hang from a bar, kick legs over and end up leaning forward on the bar), she qualifies for level 2. I have to say that it’s been a long hard road with gymnastics. She started level 1 last summer, and we just managed to stick to it this past year. I gave her the choice of quitting gymnastics or moving up a level once she finishes level 1. Katherine has decided to stick with it – which means more gymnastics fun next year!

We have other activities lined up for post-July 4th. They’ve just started thinking about what they want to do for Derby Days this July. Derby Days claims to host the largest kids parade in the US, where the kids dress up themselves and their bikes and go a whopping 0.3 miles thru Redmond. After discussing this with their next door friends, they’re thinking of a soccer theme. I expect that this will change quite a bit over the next week before we rush to decorate our bikes. As well, the kids are chomping to go back on the 545 Express to visit Seattle, and they want to go to the Reptile Zoo to see the 2-headed turtle. It’s going to be a very interesting summer.

It’s Finally Out

We’re all relieved that Katherine has FINALLY lost her third tooth – lower left of center. This tooth was literally ready to come out for several weeks. Steve kept offering to pull it. Katherine kept pushing it with her tongue. Finally, after chewing some steak at a BBQ next door, Katherine shrieked, “My tooth came out!!”

Discussions got tricky after that. Katherine is pretty sure that her parents are Santa. And, she’s pretty sure the same is true of the tooth fairy – although I would say that she’s hopeful that we’re not. To that end, she wrote a very neat note and put it under her pillow:

“Dear Tooth Fairy, Please can you Not take My tooth. But you can take my Note.”

We left the tooth plus $2 and took the note. 🙂

Fur-mination

At a friend’s recommendation I took Bisco to Petsmart to get Fur-minated. This sounds like a very nasty procedure. But, it’s just specially formulated shampoo (hmmm) and 30 minutes of brushing with a special tool. Voila! He looks great.

Our Fairies

The girls went to Talia’s birthday party yesterday and had their faces painted. They were sooo excited about the process and the end result.

School’s Out!

School’s out for now…the girls have a week and a half before step-up summer school. Katherine gets to go to two weeks of summer school to prepare for first grade. Allison wants to go to regular pre-school summer school, so she won’t be left out. 🙂

I’ve downloaded some of my favorite pictures the last couple weekends. We took the girls to Tiger Mountain last Sunday. We made it exactly .91 mile up the main trail and ~700 ft in elevation gain. Basically, Allison (more so than Katherine) ran out of steam. We took this picture to remember where we stopped. The next time we hike, we’ll go further.

Both girls ended the school year on a wonderful note. Allison brought home her pillowcase project, which she sewed herself. If you look closely, you can see where she started and stopped each time she sewed. Katherine brought home her kindergarten book of stories and pictures – and an art project book.

Thankfully we can say that the girls loved their teachers and their classrooms. Katherine told me a few days ago that she’s really going to miss her teachers. Even though she can always visit Mezzo building and say hi to Mezzo C teachers, she won’t be in the classroom anymore. I think once she finds out more about the Main Building, for instance she can visit the library in her free time and check out books anytime, she’ll be more excited about moving up. The girls also went with me to Sees Chocolate to pick out treats for their teachers along with book gift cards…very exciting and tasty trip.

One funny story last week: the girls were “discussing” in the car whose turn it was to sing a song about peace. Steve said, “Do you think it’s appropriate to fight about a song that’s about peace?” No answer. Then, I asked, “what do you think peace is?” Katherine answered verbally. Allison struck this lotus pose in her car seat and said, “this is peace.” I took a picture of her demonstrating this at home in her favorite blue outfit.

3 Days and Counting!

This morning we went to a Thank You breakfast in Katherine’s classroom. She served us a little breakfast and rolled out her number roll on the sidewalk in front of Mezzo C. The number roll is a very big deal for these kindergartners. My interpretation is that it represents closure on kindergarten and readiness for first grade. For those who haven’t seen it, the roll is 50 strips of paper taped together rolled around a piece of TP cardboard. One each paper they write 50 numbers, starting at 1 and ending at 1000 finally. They put little polished rocks on the rolled out pieces of paper when they are done to measure it.We also toured her class garden which is brimming over with herbs. Katherine loves to pick little pieces of herbs, put them in her folder and bring them home. She was very proud to have contributed tarragon, oregano and the pepperment to the garden a couple weeks ago.

Allison last night said something very interesting as we were reading a Fancy Nancy book. She said, “I wish I could jump in the book.” When I asked why, she said, “Because I want to see what it’s like.” I wonder where this came from!

Katherine is officially entering the bad Knock Knock joke stage. Newest one courtesy of a kindergarten friend, “Knock knock. Who’s there? Pencil. Pants will fall down without a belt.” And then gales of laughter…

Both girls have started their 100 book boards. And, they’re even negotiating privileges for when they finish their boards. Katherine doesn’t really need the book board per se, but I think she doesn’t want to feel left out. Allison started her board a couple weeks ago and is on book 20-something. She is reading the Diego books now…with snappy titles like “Linda the Llama” and also Biscuit books too “Biscuit goes to the Dog Show.” She’s come quite a way with her reading in the last couple months. It’ll be interesting to see where she ends up at the end of the summer. Katherine is a bit peeved that Allison reads “short” books, while her books take longer to read (either silently to herself or out loud to an adult).