Procession

On Saturday we rode bikes downtown to watch the procession of the species, a parade of sorts involving people dressed up as or carrying likeness of animals. It was a part of the city's Arts Walk held annually around Earth Day. Downtown businesses host artists to exhibit their works, and on Saturday street chalk is handed out before the parade for coloring in the streets and on the sidewalks.  We all had a grand time. Odin wants to be a flying pig in the parade next year. . . we'll see if that carries on throughout the year or not.

New heights

Today Odin and I counted to 110 together. It was the first time he had counted that high (and held interest). What were we counting for you ask? We were counting dandelions. Yes he took me for $5.50 today.  He did a great job counting, this dandelion thing is just filled with teachable moments! We have been talking a great deal about saving money for something special. Instead of buying the first thing you see that you have enough money for like a rubber snake (Saturday) and a hotwheels car (today, before the $5.50). He keeps on eying bigger things at the store, I wonder if he will actually save up for that one big thing, whatever it may be.

Happy Easter Everyone

 

 

Dandelion update

For a few days I thought I was going to have to go the the ATM so I could pay Odin he was picking with such fervor. He has slowed down, so far this week he has made $2.25.

After school on Monday we planned to go to the grocery store, Odin brought his wallet in case he found something worthy of buying. He took longer than I thought he would in his selection. At the library he is very impulsive in picking the first book that looks good. But at the store he would look at one item, then another, then back to the first. Finally he settled on a fan powered bubble blower. It was perfect just the kind of thing that he always wants and I fail to see the magic in.

Before we went to the store I was wondering what to do about sales tax. I really wanted him to use his money and pay the cashier himself and receive change back so he can start to learn the whole commerce system. That is complicated enough as it is, but trying to explain a concept like sales tax to a preschooler is difficult. We kept on talking about it as we were evaluating possible items. He had $6.00 to spend and kept on eying things that cost $5.99.  He took it all very well, in the end picking an item that cost $4.99. His total with tax was around $5.42, it was great to see his excitement of getting money back at the cash registers AND HIS OWN RECEIPT! He was very proud of the whole experience.
 

 As for the toy he enjoyed that afternoon after lunch for a few minutes then started pretending that it was a lawnmower and trying to cut grass with the little foam bladed fan.

Contrast

This weekend brought two very distinct activities. Saturday we went to a Tulip festival. Tulips (and people) as far as the eye could see.

 

a fun game of jumping over the water, until the goal became jumping into the water.

The sun was out, there was gooey clay mud everywhere, it was a great day made even better when we pulled into a hotel a few miles down the road to catch some sleep before going . . .

you guessed it SKIING!

fog

Storm coming in

We saw nearly all weather during the day, except for rain. Even though it's mid April the unseasonal low temps here have made for great skiing. We had fresh snow, fog, sun and snowflake shadows.  Odin and I took a break he played in the snow I sat down and watched him a bit. It was dumping snow then the sun came out, and it was still snowing for long enough to see shadows slowly falling. It was an odd yet beautiful experience.

Snow shadows

Michelle and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Today started out with great intentions. Odin and I went to the open gym at his gymnastics center. He found a couple of same aged kiddos to play with. I talked with their mom and grandmother and found out the at they meet every Friday at the open gym or if it's sunny at a local park loose plans were made for next week.
Odin and I had plans were to go to the Y after and I would go to a class that was a big part of our routine in Minnesota (and I have not yet been to here). BUT Johno called and was having troubles with the Jeep, it wouldn't start.  (He was not at work he was taking a work test at a local community college). So we left the  gymnastics gym and headed out to rescue him. We tried to jump the Jeep, no luck. We ended up taking him to work- just missing the class at the Y.

Odin and I came home, ate lunch, and planned to go back to the Jeep with tools and remove the battery. Then we would bring it home and put it on the charger. Now mind you I have this irrational fear of blowing up, so I do things like this very deliberately and methodically. Thankfully when we made it back to the Jeep it was not raining. I set to work loosening the nuts that hold the battery in place. Then I started to loosen the nuts to disconnect the terminals. The nuts were covered in corrosion and it was like putting a socket over cauliflower. Finally I got them loose enough to disconnect. But they wouldn't budge. Not to worry I brought a flat blade for just this occasion. I was talking to Johno at this point (thank you bluetooth) to make sure that the screwdriver was safe in a prying action. (And yes I know the battery was DEAD and the risk was nill, but like I said it is an IRRATIONAL fear.) Pry away he said. As I am working the screwdriver I told him it did not feel right (I have done this before with much more success and much less help) and then I notice that the battery terminal is coming up and separating from the battery. Now it was personal, I was mad at that battery and it was going to come out of the Jeep. I hung up the phone and got back to work, finally I worked it free without completely opening up the battery. But I still had to do the negative terminal. Finally got that one too and called Johno to say we were buying a new battery because the old one was now damaged.

The new plan was to take our time getting back to Johno's office, pick him up, and buy a new battery for the Jeep. My immediate thought was coffee cart. We were near one of my favorites. I was feeling generous so I got an iced latte for Johno too, and it spilled all over me.

Once we picked up Johno we got a new battery (luckily this all happened across a parking lot form a Costco) and the Jeep started right up. Now it was dinner time.We decided to go to a Mexican restaurant partly because John's day was a bit haywire too and he wanted a drink. The place was within walking distance. It was a pretty fitting end to the day. My fish tacos turned out to be more like sushi tacos. The first one was fine but the second one had raw fish in side. Our server was very gracious and offered to make me something else, but I was done. He did bring a dessert for all of us to share... Odin stopped eating his dinner to eat ice cream instead.

We are home now and so far the evening looks like it might not be so bad, but I am just going to lay low, maybe watch a movie. I just hope it isn't lousy! And if you have made it this far, good job... This was partly my way of getting it out and over with so I could move on to better things.



On a side note, at Costco Odin noticed a giant swing set and asked how much it cost ($999). He has taken interest in prices since he has stated making a little dandelion money. He told me he would not be able to buy that because we didn't have that many dandelions.

$0.05

I made a deal with Odin this morning- for every dandelion flower he picks, I would pay him five cents. I came up with it on a whim, and have been working it out as I go. So far so good. Today he made $4! 

He filled his bucket and then we counted them together, at one point he counted up to 28. Maybe I should have looked behind the house at the dandelion patch first. 

He is going to make a few dollars off of me yet.  I think this could go a long way in helping him learn money management, saving and spending. He is already talking about what he could buy. I'll keep you posted.

Mr. Man

a little after 1 pm

And just before two today. He looks so much older
now. And so much more
expressive. You can see his eyebrows!



 Yesterday Odin really wanted to go on a bike ride, actually he has really wanted to go on a bike ride for a few days. But the weather has not been so cooperative. But yesterday afternoon things looked promising, the sun was shinning intermittently so we went for it.  We rode to a park that I wanted to check out. Before I saw it Odin was asking if we could go to the playground. We rode up to it just as it started to rain. I stood under these trees until the rain passed.

We played for a few minutes, then It got really loud. The rain was gone now it was hailing. Luckily it passed quickly and we rode home.

I am glad we got home when we did because there was more hail later in the afternoon, it was bigger and lasted longer too.

What I have learned

1) Eight years past its expiration date, Baileys Irish Cream will not be consumable. Apparently the alcohol to dairy ratio is not high enough to keep the milk/cream from becoming the most curdled glopped up mess you can imagine. I am so glad that Johno insisted we move it, only to throw it out once we were here. (And yes I was looking to put some in my coffee).

2) We were not as careful in the move as we thought.
Here's the back-story.
We took many precautions with the many liquids that we moved (take that professional van lines with your prohibitions on liquids!). Each evening we would unload two cases of wine from the car, along with a suitcase, a ski stuff bag, an electronics bag, and water bottles. We did this because we are idiots that move in the winter it was winter outside and very cold. [I had an indoor / outdoor thermometer in the car (the outdoor portion was deep within the truck) and the internal truck temp was around 23 degrees until we made it past Spokane. ] The second morning, I realized that we had not removed a 3rd box of wine. It held four bottles, most were taller and therefore did not fit in the other two cartons. We got here, unloaded the truck, there was no red seepage coming out of any of the boxes, we breathe a sigh of relief. Weeks pass, we rediscover the wine box that never made it out of the truck and we find this:

But I guess if this is our big glaring mistake and only thing that was damaged in the move, we did quite well. (And we're not going to throw it away so really what was the damage?)

Recent Doings

Saturday was one of the coldest days we went out, but it had nothing on MN skiing!

In the past six weeks we have been skiing at least once a week. Let me tell you that kind of regularity does wonders for one's confidence and boldness on skis (and I am not talking about Odin). What comes to mind about skiing here in Washington? For the first time I am warm, I have even been hot a few times. Most days it has been snowy, or ice pellet-y. Odin has the ability so ski in the trees on the sides of runs. I remember doing that when I was young too. It was a blast, now mostly it is terrifying, wondering how he's going to manage around obstacles and not run into someone when he pops out at the end. Not to mention I am about 3 feet too tall for most and my skis are about 60cm too long to comfortably fit and turn on the narrow little trails.


Laying some tracks on deep snow.. He was actually walking because it was so flat.


Can you find him? The one complaint of his new ski jacket. . . it is hard to see. (He's coming out from the trees)

Last weekend we skied on Saturday and played here on Sunday. We mowed the lawn, I dug up some more dandelions (my count so far is about six five-gallon bucketfuls). Then we all went swimming at the Y.

Our recent International Vacation

A week ago we returned home from a weekend in Whistler, British Columbia. We went with one of John's childhood friends (and also the best man at our wedding) and his wife. They had a hotel loft that they invited us to share with them. It was a great weekend, it is fantastic the Johno lives so close to his best mate from growing up. They got to ski together and I am sure for the better part of the weekend they both felt like they were 14 reeking havoc on the ski hill.

It was my first time at a big ski resort. yes I have skied in Montana, and Colorado, and countless places here in Washington, but Whistler was the first "resort" type ski area for me. The village was very nice, I am sure last years winter Olympics had a big part of that. I was amazed at how big it was, how much terrain they have and how helpful the staff on the mountain was. Every time we pulled out a map it seemed like a "mountain host" was right there asking if we had any questions. The skiing was great. Odin and I won the last skier in prize on Saturday, we even out lasted Mike and Johno.

The drive went great. It was about six hours I think. Not too bad for world class skiing!


One of the many places just for kiddos. The tree house on Whistler Mountain.


The magic castle over on Blackcomb Mountain


At the playground in the village.


There was also a great slide made of rollers.


Riding the tallest and longest gondola in the world.