Spring Garden

We did a bunch of work on the backyard over the weekend. Sam and Andrew have adopted the area near the new red maple tree; they picked out the plants around it, and have been watering them daily. It was great to have 3 days of beautiful weather to be outside and enjoy the garden!

Andrew's field trip

Andrew's class, along with two 4th grade classes, took a field trip last week to Tillicum Village. They had to arrive at school really early (7:30) to take a bus downtown Seattle. Here's a description of the adventure: http://www.tillicumvillage.com/tourdescription.html

Unfortunately, the weather was not as nice on the day that they went as the photos on the website show. Also, the longhouse was closed for repairs, so they did most of their activities on the ferry. It was still a very special day, and Andrew took well over 100 pictures to document everything that happened.

Spring Violin

Andrew and Sam had their spring violin concert on Tuesday night at a local assisted-living facility. It was quite a musical place; when we arrived, there was a karaoke sing-along going on (selections included "New York, New York" and "Swanee"), then the singers all came in to listen to the kids play. The concert ended with the National Anthem, and as you can see in the top picture, Sam and his cute partner got to wave the flag. The studio recently recorded the Anthem, and is sending it to the Mariners and Rainiers to see if they can get a date to play.

Our other violin event was last Thursday, when Andrew played his Book 2 recital. He played for the Vincentians (seniors) group at our parish, for their monthly luncheon. He did a terrific job, and got many encouraging comments from the crowd. The highlights for Andrew were getting to leave school in the middle of the day, and playing Bingo with the Vincentians after he played!

Huskies at Safeco

Last night we watched the UW baseball team play OSU at Safeco Field. The game wasn't great for the Huskies, who were outmatched by the Beavers in just about every way. But, we sat down close, and enjoyed a different kind of atmosphere with the Husky Band playing between every inning, and the fans sitting on opposite sides of the diamond to root for their teams. Brett and Sam came with us, while Andrew was at a sleepover with his friend David. Here they are enjoying "Shishkaberries" - strawberries covered with white chocolate and sprinkles!

Sam's evolving smile

Sam lost tooth #6 this afternoon! Fortunately, it came out at home, and not at his baseball game tonight. He's really happy, because he's been saving up for a Lego ship, and the tooth fairy money will get him pretty close to having enough.