May 29-June 5

Well, this one has been in the drafts long enough, time to get it posted!

Laundry Basket Mania
The girls have played around with the empty laundry baskets from the co-op before, but this weekend they got the idea to see how high they could build them.  We have about 250 baskets that we use for the co-op.   The baskets kept them busy for hours.  They had so much fun building them, I decided the cub scouts would have fun too.  I'm bringing them to day camp and adding them to the Native American class.  We'll have laundry basket tee pee building!

They started in the lawn but soon couldn't get high enough with the step ladder

By building next to the car port, they could build  higher the top.

Still no new van
After looking, and looking, and looking, we've given up!  The little van is going down to the transmission shop and we'll fix the transmission.  That's bad news for the kids because they were looking forward to more leg room and air flow.  We've probably made it harder for them because we've been explaining to people for a month why we're thinking of replacing our van.  Now to hear that we're not, they are quite disappointed.  When Elizabeth heard that the van was going to the shop, she was quite sad.  I will be so glad to start driving the little van again.  In the big van, it might only take me 1/4 tank to drive to Everett and back twice (which I've been doing a lot of lately!) but we have a 30 gallon tank so 1/4 of it is $25.  Yikes!

New Art work
Sunday my mom came up for dinner and we celebrated her birthday.  Although we had a gift for her, she brought a gift for me as well.

She took these photos in her living room "studio".  Aren't they fun and colorful!  We used to have a problem with the kids "walking" up the wall behind the fire pole but they've all been trained so I can finally have something on that wall.

Zoo trip
Tuesday I went with Miriam's kindergarten class to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.  Since we live in Washington, it was a typical rainy day with some sunshine thrown in.  Miriam loved having her mom there with her.  So many parents were helping that I only had to be in charge of one more student, the little girl behind her on the monkey.  The animals were mostly hunkered down and hiding from the rain but we were able to see a few of them up close. 

Miram's class

Isaac's piano recital

Isaac had his spring piano recital Friday night.  He didn't seem too nervous leading up to it until right before it was time to go. 

Then, we found him getting in some last minute practicing before it was time to get in the car.

Isaac memorized his song this time.  We were very proud of him because memorizing is extremely difficult for Isaac.

Isaac's birthday
Isaac chose what he wanted to do on his birthday.  Ride the Trail 90's with his dad and go swimming.  Amazingly, we actually had a sunny day for it!  He and Dode went to the Anacortes forest lands to ride their trails.  I was worried about them staying safe but Dode assured me he'd have his cell phone with him in case they had any problems.  Since he usually has two on his hip at all times it was a safe bet he'd be able to call me.  Then, I noticed his work cell phone beside the bed and his personal cell phone on the counter in the kitchen.  Luckily, he didn't need to use them.  They had a great time and rode every trail there.  While they were gone, we went to a kid's health fair in Marysville.  It felt strange to be doing something with the kids on Isaac's birthday and not having Isaac with us.  I guess I have to be a good girl and share my son with his dad some times!

Dode and Isaac got home, everyone had a quick lunch, and we loaded up for swimming.  We went to the city of Lynnwood pool.  They've recently re-opened after extensive renovations.  They have two water slides, a lazy river, a water play area, and a typical lap swim type pool.  The water slides were tame enough for Miriam and William to enjoy going down them.  We had hamburgers for dinner and Isaac opened his gifts, a new style of Wave board skateboard and a new game for the kinnect, Joy Ride.  (The next day we were babysitting for about an hour and one of the children bumped into the XBox which scratched the disk so badly it could no longer be used.  Isaac took it really well so the next day, I ordered another one from amazon.)

 
Vacation is looking more and more frightening!

photo taken last weekend on the highway that traverses the Bighorn Mountains

This is where we plan on camping on our last week of vacation!

They must be clearing the highway just for us!

Ideal tent conditions?