Camp Edmo

This year we picked the Minecraft theme for our Edmo week. Zachy and Alex had the chance to learn a little bit about programming while playing one of their favorite games! I'm still not sure how it all works, but they worked together to create an adventure map and saved it on a zip drive. Presumably, they can play the adventure map at home and even expand it! The secondary theme of the week was DIY duct tape. For spirit day on Thursday, they created these amazing hats and magic wands.

 And had the chance to hang out with old friends!

Green Light

Mady: "Red light means stop. Yellow light means careful.  Green light means go faster car! You can do it!"

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy Chinese New Year! It is now the year of the monkey. Actually, the first day of the new year was February 8th, but CCS is celebrating today with a special chapel.
Zachy was chosen to be part of the color guard today. He was nervous about it, but did a great job!

 Alex's class sang a song in Mandarin. (This is both third grade classes.)

 Here are the words so you can sing along next time.

The next evening, the PTF sponsored a cultural event. There was lots of food, beautiful Asian dancing (that Mady loved and tried to imitate), Taiko drummers (which is so powerful) and a Kung Fu demonstration.

We are so proud of Alex for getting up in front of his school and performing his routine by himself.

Little Slugger

Usually Daddy accompanies Mady to her baseball class on Saturday mornings, but today she asked me to come with her.  It was fun watching how well she listens to the coach and participates in class.

Cleaning up the warm-up balls at the start of class.

Listening to Coach Jorge.

I think you missed one Mady!

An unorthodox swing, but she hit the ball.

 Let's go team!

Early Valentines

The kids all celebrated Valentine's Day at their schools. Mady enjoyed red snacks and then the classmates took turns handing out their Valentines. Mady was so excited to hand out her treat bags and loved getting cards from her friends.

Alex's 3rd grade was being independent again. I know they had yummy snacks and passed out Valentines. I'm sure they had fun!

Zachy really wanted all of us to come to his Valentine's party, and Daddy was able to leave work for a bit and celebrate with the 2nd graders. The class did a combination Valentine-Chinese New Year celebration, so we had some yummy buns from the Chinese bakery.

I'm not really sure what all the crazy expressions are about in this picture!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Super Bowl City

Mady is really enjoying the Home Depot projects, and this week she got a little crazy with the paints.

After a quick lunch break, we walked down to the ferry terminal for a ride to the City to check out the  Super Bowl hype. We arrived at the ferry landing just as the boat was pulling in, but the line was too long and we had to wait for the next one. Fortunately, extra boats were scheduled for the weekend. While we were waiting, we bought a box of Girl Scout cookies from a couple of business savvy girls who had set up shop at the ferry terminal. Even with the crowds, we were able to get window seats on the ferry and had a nice trip across the bay.

There was a fairly long security line to enter Super Bowl City, but it moved quickly.

Once inside, we headed over to the STEM display. The line to get in was very long, and we had had enough of lines, so the kids just peaked inside and looked at the letters.

One of the volunteers leaned over the railing and gave the kids color changing rulers. Mady was amazed by hers! Surprisingly, we even saw someone we know among all the people! Zachy's classmate and family were checking out the craziness too.

Some days it is really difficult to get everyone to look at the same place and smile at the same time. Today was definitely one of those days.

There really wasn't that much to do, so we didn't stay too long. Apparently, there was another event (spendy ticket prices) that had more kid-centric activities. We walked along the waterfront for a bit and then headed back to the ferry building to join the line to get home. We were amazed to make the cut for the first boat that arrived!

There was a lot of security all around the city. We talked to a nice police dog from the Washington State Patrol. And the Coast Guard was on the docks and ferry. While it was better safe than sorry, it was also a little bit intimidating. Fortunately, there weren't any security events.

Alex is 9

The celebration is official today! Alex is 9 years old. For breakfast I surprised him with pancake and sausage on a stick. That's a yummy way to start the day!

Another birthday dinner, this time chicken sandwiches.

But no more cake for Alex, delicious frosted brownies are standing in tonight.

On Friday, Alex and Zachy were off from school. Mady still had class, and Zachy went to a friend's house. So Alex and I went out for an extra birthday treat.