Redondo Marine Center

We've been hearing for the last couple of years about the Marine Science Center down on the Redondo Waterfront (just a 10 minute drive from our house). It's a research aquarium run by Highline Community College, but it's open to the public on Saturdays, and it's free. We decided to check it out yesterday, and it was well worth it. It's a small aquarium, built out on a pier. There are no tropical fish, only local inhabitants from Puget Sound in natural surroundings. One of our tour guides said that people often bring in specimens that they catch from the next pier over. There are many types of fish, starfish, urchins, anemones and jellyfish. Apparently they had a young octopus for a while, but it outgrew it's tank so they released it back into the Sound. We spent a good 90 minutes learning about the inhabitants of Puget Sound, and made it back home in time to watch USA soccer.

Happy Father's Day!

We spent Father's Day at the racetrack with the Harvey's, enjoying some wholesome family fun. Sam had the best day of anyone; in 6 races he picked 3 winners and 2 2nd place finishers. It helped that he usually went with the favorite, so he won a total of about $8. It was rainy and cold, but we had a good time anyway. We finished the day with a barbeque at the Harvey's.

Cuteness Overload

We visited Donna and Brian yesterday to meet 6-day old Noah! Sam and Andrew were fascinated by how tiny he is (they were never that tiny, but close). He was very sweet and sleepy while we were there.

End of the Season

The AA Mariners finished up on Saturday in beautiful spring weather (finally!). Andrew and Sam had great years, particularly in defense and pitching. Andrew pitched an inning in the final game and had another terrific appearance. Alan says he is the Doug Fister of the team - the tall, crafty, right-hander. Sam's biggest accomplishment was learning to switch-hit, which probably limited his hits at the beginning of the year, but will be a great skill to have as the years go on.

Honor Choir

There are many things about which I think, "Andrew and Sam don't know how good they've got it." One of those is in regard to their school music teacher, Mrs. Schneider. Not only is she one of the nicest people on the planet, she really knows her stuff. Last Wednesday, it was on display at the Honor Choir/Steel Drums concert. The Honor Choir is 4th and 5th graders who meet throughout the year. Earlier in the year, they were chosen out of all the elementary school choirs in our district to sing for a school board meeting. They sang 4 songs at this concert, including one that had an oboe part, so I got to help out. Next year, Andrew will get to play Steel Drums as well, which is a long anticipated *big* deal for 5th graders.

In the close up, the girl in the middle is Hazel, of the February 13th blog post.

Sam's Stories

It's amazing the progress that 1st graders make in a year. Sam brought home some stories he had written today, and I was amazed (and delighted) at what he's been up to at school. Here are a few of them. The writing prompts are in bold.

One day I bought a robot and I taught it how to print me cash. I would also teach it how to scare my brother away with a laser. Then I would teach it some words. One day I didn't feel like doing my homework so he did it for me. After a while he'll want a name so I'll give him the name Dawson. He'll be the best robot ever.

Once, there were three pigs who decided to go to Florida to visit their mom. They reserved a special hotel with a mud pool. When they went in the mud pool they wanted to go in the hot mud tub. But when they went in the hot mud tub it was too hot! So, the three pigs went back in the normal mud pool and it was just right.

If I could build a tree house, I would paint it green and red. It would have a bed for me to sleep in. It would have a Wii in it. And my friends would come over and play the Wii with me. It would have a window with a great view of Mount Rainier. It would also have a TV with alot of channels. I would watch it every day after school. That's what I would do if I could build a tree house.

Memorial Day Weekend

We braved the traffic and rain last weekend and headed east of the mountains to Lewiston, ID. We enjoyed visiting with Grandma Sprenger, and Janet and Tom (and their new puppy Abby!). By a stroke of good fortune there was baseball to watch too, in the form of the NAIA World Series at Lewis & Clark State College's charming stadium.