A Glorius Summer

At the end of August I took Zane to the Evergreen State Fair.  This is a very nice small fair that reminds me of the one I grew up with in Maine.  We went last year, too, and had a blast.  I bought Zane a full-day pass on the rides, but only a few tickets for myself.  I really should have gotten the full-day pass for myself, too, as there were still a lot of rides he wasn't allowed to go on by himself.  This year we went on an evening after work so that we could also see our very first monster truck show!

We got to the fair in good time and had plenty of time to whirl on tea cups, ride motorcycles, trains, airplanes, run through obstacle courses, and try our hand at winning dirty plush animals.  I did pretty well at the dart throwing, thank you very much!  I think the coolest things were huge clear bubbles which floated on water with a person inside.  The balls were unzipped a bit, Zane crawled inside, and then the ball was re-inflated.  Then Zane was shoved off into the pool!  When I was little I would have been freaked out a bit by these, but Zane loved them.

We had some time before the monster truck show started, and Zane was eager to see some of the animals.  I was glad since last year I had to drag him to the animals.  We saw lots of fancy rabbits and chickens.  I was running out of cash, so unfortunately we only munched on a corn dog, some egg rolls, and some food I had brought with us.

Then it was time for MONSTER TRUCKS!  I'd never been to a show and didn't really know what to expect.  There was a line to get in, but the grandstand was a bit more sparsely populated than I thought it would be.  The announcer tried to whip up the crowd, but the crowd was kind of tepid.  Before the show people were walking around looking at the trucks, and some sort of monster bus was giving rides in the distance.  When the show started those engines were LOUD!  I was surprised to see about half the kids without ear protection.  I wish I had some!  The trucks faced off in pairs and did a short hairpin-turn obstacle race.  In the end Wrong-Way Rick won, and he did it driving backwards!  After this was a race with some beater cars.  One of them was such an awful racer I think it was actually demolition car version of a clown.

During a break in the action there was a kids' dance mosh pit where stuffed animals were handed out.  At first Zane was too shy to join, and by the time he did join the animals were gone.  That was a bit of a bummer.  Then we headed over to some National Guard vehicles he had been ogling.  He wanted to go in, but I said we probably couldn't.  As we were peering into some sort of armored vehicle a guardsman asked Zane if he'd like to go in!  What a huge smile on Zane's face.  The man gave Zane a tour of the truck and let him sit in the turret of some sort with a periscope.  I was really surprised at how awesome Zane thought it was, as we talk way more about monster trucks and construction vehicles than about military ones.  I think this was the highlight of his Monster Truck Rally experience.

From the moment we got to the show Zane had noticed a huge stack of junked cars in front of a ramp. After the thrill of the military vehicle Zane was ready to go, but just before we did the big stunt happened.  Mr. Dizzy in his matte black car had been really talked up at the beginning of the show, and now he was ready.  We were standing almost in front of the ramp when Mr. Dizzy revved up and came at it.  As he went over the ramp flames shot into the air which shocked Zane and I, and then he crashed right into the pile of cars.  I let out an "EEP!", and Zane declared he didn't like it at all.  We watched Mr. Dizzy drive off and the pathetic smashed cars get cleaned up, and then we headed out.

We found an ATM outside of the grandstand and I got some money so we could have a caramel apple and a drink.  It was really late and already getting dark, so we headed home.  My clever plan was to stay out until bedtime so that Zane would fall asleep on the way home, but he was so jazzed by the experience that he stayed awake until I got him home and into bed.  On the way home in the car he told me an elaborate story about a robot garbage truck made of diamonds that could crush any other robot out there.

Well, in a complete 180º turn, our next adventure was bread baking.  Zane had been asking to do it, so when we had a full day open before a school potluck, Zane and I made challah.  Challah is such a lovely bread to look at, and you get to braid it, paint on eggs, and sprinkle on seeds.  What could be better!  I usually get the urge to bake in the winter and then have a hard time getting dough to rise in a cold kitchen.  This time it was summer, and we also have a newish stove which has a warming pad on it which is just perfect for helping the bread along.

 Zane eagerly put on his chef outfit he got from Grandma for his birthday.  He really enjoyed mixing the dough and did an excellent job of kneading the dough.  I was really quite impressed.  Waiting for dough to rise can be pretty boring, but we managed to have some activities in between.  We went out for brunch during the first rise, and when I asked for the check more quickly than usual, I proudly explained we had bread rising at home.  I felt so homemakery.

Next we got to PUNCH the dough, and after another rise braid the dough.  One more rise and we were ready to paint with eggs and sprinkle with sesame and poppy seeds.  Zane is a good egg painter, too, and really took the job seriously.

The bread came out beautifully, and tasted amazing.  Everyone at the potluck was very impressed.  Usually when I make something for a potluck I expect to have about half of it for leftover, but the whole thing was gobbled right up.  A little too successful!  We'll have to make another for us soon.

In early September we headed out for some blueberry picking.  I think that's when we went last year, but I guess the blueberries ripened a bit earlier this year due to our abundance of hot sunny days.  The berries were pretty sparse on the bushes.  Still, we had a good time.  It's a lovely way to spend a morning.

The next weekend we headed to the Seattle Tilth fair which is all about urban gardening.  We had fun playing in the park, eating honeyed roasted corn on the cob, and making a fairy wand.  I saw some raw peanuts for sale with their greenery still attached.  I thought it was pretty cool to show Zane how peanuts really grow, and I bought some.  We tried one uncooked to see what it was like, and it was like a tasteless plain white bean seed.  I roasted them at home, but they never really got to tasting yummy no matter home much I roasted them.  If I ever get more raw peanuts I'll try boiling them.

After the most amazing summer ever, on September 17th I finally conceded the end and packed away the pool, the slip 'n' slide, and the fans.  Many people are sad that Fall is here, and while I'm usually sad, too, this year I just feel really, really satisfied.

Four!

On August 15th, Zane turned 4!  It was a school day, but we had time to open presents in the morning before school.  He had been asking for a piggy bank with two slots, but got one with four.  A Spirograph set, an awesome Tidmouth Sheds for his Thomas trains, and a personalized apron and chef hat from Grandma with fabric markers to make them even more awesome.  His really big present, though, was his very own pedal bike with matching helmet!

In the afternoon I picked Zane up early from school, and the three of us headed downtown to the waterfront arcade and Ivar's. The arcade was awesome as always! We played tons of games and earned enough tickets to turn in for a flashing spider necklace.  At Ivar's we went to the fancy sit-down portion of the restaurant, and a very nice waiter made sure to get food going right away for a hungry boy.  We had window seats right next to the fire boat station, so we had a lot to look at while we waited.  I let Zane eat some cake and ice cream *first* before dinner! Then he finished his salmon and got the rest of his cake. He hardly left any at all for me.

A few days later on Saturday it was time for his birthday party in an oceanfront park.  He wanted to wear his train engineer outfit (smock), so in the pinata-loot picture it looks like he's wearing a dress. This park (Carkeek) is wonderful because it has a huge grass field to run on, hills and trees to hide in, several bunches of playground equipment, paths and greenery tunnels through bushes, an enormous salmon with a slide inside, and a bridge from the park over some train tracks to the beach.  It's like kid paradise.  Zane and I had gone to Display & Costume a few days before to select Batman cups, plates, dishes and even a Batman pinata.  We had finger food from Costco and pizza delivered at lunch.  After a break for a toy filled pinata, we had plain and chocolate Rice Krispie bars for dessert.  Zane had specially requested those after they were the treat at our neighbor's recent birthday party in the very same park.  We all had a great time!

Last year when Zane turned 3, here is what I guessed was in the year ahead:

In this next year Zane will begin school and I imagine that will cause a lot of changes, along with just growing older!  I can't think of any really big changes like weaning and sleeping in a bed and toilet training from the last several years.  I think there's a good chance that he might be reading just a little bit when he turns four.  Hopefully he will also be better with numbers and counting.  He still zips around on his balance bike, but maybe he will learn to pedal a bike without training wheels, too!  I hope he can form some really good friendships and start to hang out with more kids (I have to make that easier for him).

School definitely brought a lot of changes as he learned independence and has been challenging us a lot in terms of discipline.  I had the librarian's dream of having a reading prodigy, but he really is not interested.  Once or twice he has shown a flash of insight into how reading or writing go, but he just doesn't have the spark to learn quite yet.  He's a wiz with numbers and counting!  And just under the wire he mastered riding a pedal bike by himself.

So, for this year, what do I guess?  Well, I'll have to hope again that he gets the reading bug and really wants to learn when I try to prompt him.  I hope he can improve on his bicycle so that he can ride up small hills by himself, too.  He's grown a lot and gotten much stronger, and I imagine he'll continue to get coordinated in soccer and ballet.  I will love it if he can make it to the end of the day without getting so dang cranky.  But mostly, I hope he continues to be the most wonderful and fun child he already is!

Camping

I am such a blogger loser!  I think I'll blame it on Facebook.  I post a few pictures and a brief sentence, and then all the steam has gone out of my story telling.  That and I'm a lazy writer.  Since I post sporadically, and then do a bunch at once, you can surely guess that I was one of those students who put off her papers until the last moment, and then did a marathon writing session.

As I've said in other posts, Seattle had an amazing summer this year.  Day after day of blue sky and warm weather.  So of course, for our camping trip that I had been planning since MARCH, the weather forecast was for thunder showers.  For years I have been wanting to get out of the city to see the August Perseid meteor shower, and this year I organized a group camping excursion with families from Zane's school.  I found a site about an hour away and up a long dirt road.  Far enough away to seem like quite an adventure, but not too far to take up the whole day.  I took Friday off from work, and after a leisurely start to the day packing the car, Zane and I got to the site at about 1pm.  Getting there first has its perks, as I got first pick of the tent platforms!  Setting up our enormous tent by myself resulted in much swearing, but I got the job done and all the stuff out of my car.

A few hours later other families started to arrive, and the fun began!  I brought a bunch of toys with us which was a good thing, because nobody else did.  We had extra hammers and tent spikes to play with, buckets and shovels and trucks to dig in the gravel, foam swords, a soccer ball, and a croquet set.  Early on Zane, Ryder, and Anneke rode around on their bikes having some sort of foam sword jousting competition.  Later on in the weekend when more kids showed up I ended up having to put the swords away, but they were fun for a while.  The hammers and stakes were endlessly popular.

The first afternoon and evening was mostly taken up with the excitement of everyone arriving and setting up and all the kids playing and running around.  The campsite was really lovely, and we were right next to the toilets which was convenient (and only occasionally smelly).  One big bummer, though, is that there was only one solar water pump for the entire campground.  There were supposed to be two, but one was not running for some reason.  The other was about a 5 minute walk away, which is pretty far when you have an antsy almost-four-year old with you, and you have to drag the water back.  That was a little unexpected, so we washed much less than I would have liked.

I took some kids on a flashlight hike around the campsite while dinner was being made.  It was a bit spooky for them, and one boy told me in all seriousness he was afraid of sharks.  Apparently, they could come up the little streams into the woods!  All during dinner, the thunder rolled in the distance, echoing off nearby mountains.  We could see flash after flash of lightning, but it didn't seem to be getting closer.  After most of the kids were in bed the adults sat around the fire talking and watching the storm get closer and closer.  We did have clear skies for quite a long time, but no meteors were to be seen.  The rain finally hit us in the night, soaking one family's tent.  Zane and I and the Loggers (who were sharing our tent) were cozy and dry. 

By Saturday morning the rain was gone, and we were ready for an adventure!  Michael arrived just as we were heading off on a hike.  The Middle Fork campsite has a nice little loop trail nearby with signs about the trees, and a stop off on the Taylor River.  This turned out to be a truly excellent and memorable adventure!

First we clambered over the rocks to the river and discovered some kids in our group were already half naked in the water.  I parked my camera and bag and headed in with Zane.  We were ready with water shoes and swim pants!  The water was cold, but not too bad.  Michael got some pictures of us picking our way across the rocks in the river.  Eventually Zane wanted to see the other side of the river, so we carefully made our way over.  We discovered a small branch of the river entered there, and someone had dammed it up making a lovely swimming pool!  We saw another even smaller stream coming in that had also been dammed into a pool, but we didn't take a closer look.  After poking around for quite a while we thought we ought to head back, only to discover the rest of the crew coming over to join us!  We had 4 kids and 6 adults on this part of our adventure, and everyone thought the pool was cool.  Then Auggie's dad Eli discovered the very small pool from the stream was lined with what seemed to be bentonite clay, the green clay used for fancy-pants spa treatments!  Eli pried chunks from pool and soon we were all smearing ourselves with clay.  The kids loved smearing themselves, and Zane thought it was even better when I invited him to coat me with mud.  We hung around in the sun letting the clay dry while the kids played in the water.  Eventually it was time to rinse off, and the adults plunged into the water with exhilarated whoops while every single kid screamed and cried while they were washed.  We made our way home for lunch, and I managed to carry a chunk of clay back in a zip lock baggie.  I still have it under my bathroom sink!

The afternoon was filled with laid back walks and bike rides.  By dinner time, the thunder was rumbling again, and the rain had come as a soft drizzle.  We had to eat under tarps, but it wasn't too bad.  The kids didn't seem to care at all!  Zane was just about to lose his marbles, though, as he knew tonight we would make s'mores, and he couldn't wait for dinner to be done!  All of the kids were milling about the fire like rogue electrons, waving sharpened sticks.  We tried to corral them and make some rules about fire and sticks, and then we got down to business.  They were deee-licious!  When are s'mores ever not.  It was a great fireside end to an amazing day.

Rain and thunder came all through the night and started to get the floor of our tent wet, but not where it mattered.  The next day we discovered the only functioning water pump at the campground had quit, so we all packed up a bit earlier than we otherwise might have.  I'm so glad I finally got Zane out for some camping, and having a bunch of his friends around, too, made it magical.  Everyone agreed, we can't wait to do it again next year!

Adventures, Adventures, Adventures!

 

We've been having a gorgeous summer in Seattle.  Dry and warm and only occasionally hot.  The garden would like a little more water, but we help it along.

After our trip to Maine we started off with a bang: Crazy Hair Day at school!  Originally I wasn't going to have Zane go to school the day after we got home, but Crazy Hair Day and two birthday celebrations was too much to miss.  Michael picked up some hair gel for us, and I made some awesome spikes.  I personally think Zane had the best and craziest hair!

He wanted to have crazy hair again, so when we went to the Fremont Solstice Parade the following Saturday I brought along the tube of gel and spiked him up once we got there.  We rode my bike down on the hot, hot day, and lucked out on a shady spot to watch the parade.  This is the first year I brought Zane down, and he really liked it.  We got there too late to see the naked bicyclists.  Maybe next year!  As we were walking back to my bike many people complimented him on his hair.  "Nice spikes, Dude!"  He really got a kick out of that.

The next weekend's adventure was a Sunday matinee performance for kids at Teatro ZinZanni!  Teatro is in Seattle in an old spiegeltent of wood and canvas.  The performances are non-animal and contain music, comedy, and acrobatics.  For this one the kids could all sit right up front in a huge mosh pit.  I loved watching Zane's face as he saw a young girl swirl and do acrobatics in the air on silver hoops, a man wind himself up and down on a rope, pirates, genies, live music, glitter from the ceiling ....  He loved it enough that I may try to bring him to something more full length at Teatro, or maybe Cirque du Soleil next summer.  There are a lot of circus-arts classes in Seattle, too, which we can try when he's a bit older.

During this time we had a little bit of a set-back with soccer.  During the last month or so, Zane has sometimes been feeling very shy and not very confident.  We began the new soccer season with a bit of woe, as we thought we had the same coach as last session, and when we realized we needed to move to a different coach's class, Zane had a big breakdown and much sadness.  It took us until about the third Saturday to break out of the cycle of sadness and needing to run back to me for hugs all through soccer.  It helped tremendously that his friends and neighbors Caz and Henry joined his class.  Now Zane is doing his best ever.  He'll surely move up to the next level for the fall sessions.

Since the weather has been so nice, we decided to get his little blow up pool out.  Alas, it lasted a few years but it would no longer stay inflated.  I went to the store to get another, but I couldn't find just a simple pool.  So I came home with a combo pool/slip 'n' slide/sprinkler!  It's been a big hit.  The plastic seems a bit sturdier than the previous one, too, so hopefully we'll get a few more years out of it.

Another way to stay cool is -- go find some snow!  I took Zane on a looooong trip to Mount Rainier one sunny day.  It takes almost three hours to get there, so it's a once a year kind of adventure.  Last year we had no snow in the winter, and Zane was pretty bummed, but we got plenty up on the mountain in July!  We spent about two hours up there slipping and sliding and poking in the snow.  We made little snow babies and a tiny fort sized about right for elves.  There was much more snow than I had hoped for, so we really couldn't walk very far as the trails were completely covered with snow.  The slope is steep enough that it was hard work slipping and sliding up.  I'll have to shoot for a late August or early September trip next year.  Zane's absolute favorite thing was poking overhanging snow crusts into all of the melt streams.  He could have done that all day long.  He even said, "I wish I could stay up here forever!"  I'd say that was a pretty successful outing.

Zane had been asking about how things are made, so we had been reading books about metal, plastic, glass, and paper.  I told him about glass blowing and decided to see if I could find some.  A studio in downtown Seattle has a fairly continuously used studio that the public are welcome to visit.  With Zane's friend Evelyn and her Mom and sister, we set off on a downtown adventure to see glass blowing and the big downtown library.  The glass studio was very cool.  While we didn't actually see glass blowing, we did see lots of glass shaping and glass blobs going in and out of red hot furnaces.  The kids also really enjoyed seeing the part of the studio where glassblowing supplies were sold; walls and walls of colored glass rods and weird tools.  There was a gallery at the front of the studio and shop, and that place gave me a bit of an anxiety attack.  Beautiful glass objects were displayed out in the open, and we had 2 almost 4 year olds and a toddler.  I glanced at one swirly pink bowl and it was TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS.  I told Zane not to bump into anything, because that one bowl alone was a year of college (or part of a year).  I wanted Zane to have something from the adventure, so I bought a small paperweight with iridescent swirls on the bottom and a yellow starfish on top.

The downtown Seattle Public Library was a bit more relaxing.  We drive by it every week on the way back from Kung Fu, and I had been promising to take Zane there. Emily and baby Kaylee hung out in the kids' area where Kaylee was finally happy, and I took Evelyn and Zane on a tour.  We saw words printed on the floor by the holds shelves.  We went up 4 sets of increasingly narrow yellow escalators to get to the top of the library and then looked down down down to the main floor.  I had to hold the kids up to the railing to get a really good look.  Then we took an elevator back to the kids' section after watching the workings of the elevator in the glass elevator shaft.  After some snacks outside we were back on a bus home!

In mid-July I took Zane to A Day Out with Thomas, which is something I'd been meaning to do for the last few summers.  At the Snoqualmie train station, a train made to look like the book/TV character Thomas from the Island of Sodor pulls passengers around.  We got there late in the day and immediately had to stand in line for the train, even though we had tickets for a specific time.  We got on the train, but we couldn't actually see the Thomas engine, so it was like riding on any train.  The view was not great, as we were mostly in trees or some sort of a ditch.  At one point we passed by the magnificent Snoqualmie Falls, but you could only see the very top of the falls if you stood on tip-toe on the right side of the train.  I was pretty unimpressed, but Zane really liked all of the old rusty trains and train equipment we saw along the tracks.  When we got off he was very anxious to make sure to tell a conductor about the rusty trains he had discovered on the ride.  Just in case they didn't already know.  Then we went to enjoy the other activities around the ride, and we finally saw the Thomas engine.  Zane has been in a "no pictures" mode for a while ("Mama, you have enough pictures."), so I don't have a good one from this (and many other) adventures.  He got to go in a bouncy house, play with train tables, drive an electric model train, eat ice cream, see Sir Thopham Hatt from a distance, and peruse the gift shop.  We came home with two trains. 

For our most recent adventure, we went to see a real machine, Big Bertha.  Big Bertha is currently the biggest tunnel boring machine on earth.  She will excavate a tunnel under the Seattle waterfront to replace our aging (and earthquake damaged) raised roadway, the Alaskan Way Viaduct.  The city was holding a special meet Big Bertha day where the public could go to the work site and see the machine before it disappears under the earth for 14 months.  I think I was more excited about this than Zane.  I was disappointed that we couldn't get super close to Big Bertha, but it was still very cool to see her in the tunnel pit.  We also got to see lots of other massive equipment and speak to engineers on site.  Sections of tunnel wall were also laid out for all to see, and we signed our names to a section of the wall along with thousands of others.  In a few years when we drive through, we'll know our names are there somewhere!  I think the best part of the adventure for Zane was that I bought him a Sprite.  It took him all day to finish it, and he kept proudly telling Michael, "Mama bought me a soda!"

In the spirit of Seattle tourism we all finally took a ride on the Ducks!  The Ducks are WWII amphibious vehicles that take folks on a 1.5 hour tour of Seattle by land and by lake.  The tour guides/drivers are known for keeping up a running banter of history and jokes, and Zane kept turning to Michael and saying, "Is that real?  Is that a joke?"  I had a blast, and I think Zane enjoyed it a bit, but he kept telling me not to sing so loud.  Shades of teen behavior to come!  The best part was when the Duck drove right down a boat ramp into Lake Union.  The view was fantastic, and at one point a float plane took off and flew right over our heads.

At this point I have to tell you that I was beginning to feel pretty tired of adventures.  But summer is when they all happen!  I guess when the weather closes in we can go back to having laid back "nothing days", as Zane calls them.  We still have coming up:  two nights of camping, Zane's birthday party, the Evergreen State fair with possible demolition derby or monster trucks, and I might try to squeeze in a visit to Wild Waves water park.  Just listing all that makes me tired, though!

We have been making some academic progress at home, too.  Grandma gave Zane a alphabet letter writing workbook, and one day I got it out for Zane when I was trying to keep him busy.  I was going to help him with it, but next thing I know, he had made a big A and little a all by himself!  I was pretty surprised as he hasn't done too much writing.  I haven't seen a repeat of this skill, but it shows he's ready.  He can write a Z and A for his name, so I think if I just worked with him he could probably write his name.

I have been doing a much better job of working with him on his bicycle skills, though!  Zane has been zipping around on his balance bike for a year and a half now.  For about a month or so he has also been able to ride his pedal bike without training wheels on flat or downhill sidewalks.  I think he just needs a little more strength in his legs to make it easier for him.  Maybe he will be getting a new, lighter bike very soon ...  :)

 

Maine 2013

 

Well, I'd better do another blog post before all of the hoopla coming up for Zane's fourth birthday!

I probably always say this, but I feel like Zane's body and brain have been doing a big push on growing lately.  He's been loving ballet, making big improvements in soccer, and starting to cruise on his real pedal bike all on his own (no training wheels)!  He and Michael put together a small rocking chair, and Zane did a really good job helping.  He's also been continuing his Zane's Big Questions Series with questions such as:
     "After the Dinosaurs, where did people come from?" 
     "Where do bees poop?"
     "Where did the first chicken come from?"
     "Why is water cold?"  [at room temperature]
     "How does hair grow?"
     "Why is there metal in our blood?  Why do different animals have different metals in their blood?"
     After a story about a bad splinter I got on a replica of the Mutiny on the Bounty we talked about the original Bounty, and then the replica sinking in Hurricane Sandy.

     Which of course led to lots of discussion about how hurricanes and tornadoes form.

     One night he asked me about bombs and was quite worried about them.  I have no idea where this came from.  We talked about them for a long time, and I convinced him he was very lucky to live in a place where he didn't have to worry about that.

In May we went to the Northwest Folklife Festival on a Monday afternoon.  I had to work that weekend, so we only had Monday to go.  It was drizzly, so we didn't stay outside much, but we had a great time watching musicians and dancing together for a bit.  Zane wanted me to carry him for all of the dancing, so it was pretty tiring!

In June we took a trip to Maine to see Grandma, Pa Jim and Becky, and for me to go to a cousin's wedding.  Flying with Zane gets easier and easier, but I've also learned to expect no napping, ever.  On the leg of our flight from Newark to Portland, we got on a very small plane called a Q400.  The air conditioning was not working on the plane, so the pilots had their door cockpit open.  As we boarded I glanced inside and saw the all digital display panels, and pointed out to Zane how cool it was to see inside.  And then the pilot invited him in!  He even let me step up!  It was such an amazing experience since cockpits are generally secured in these post-9/11 days.

Pa Jim picked us up at the airport and we got to Harpswell late at night and conked right out.  Last year Zane had a great time helping Pa Jim with his garden, so he headed out there first thing in the morning.  A neighbor had hired some workers to take out some brush, and we encountered a tractor/chipper at the end of the driveway.  The man driving the tractor invited Zane up and even let him steer the tractor backwards and forwards a bit!  Heavenly.  We spent some time investigating the woods near the ocean and got good and muddy. 

The next day was a bit drizzly, and we headed out to the Boothbay Harbor Aquarium.  It was a small building with a really impressive array of live enormous and mutant lobsters.  There was a display of lobstering equipment on the back porch, and Zane learned to band a lobster claw.

I'd been trying to find time to visit with my friend Zach, and we managed it on the next day.  Zane had fun with Zach's three kids and their enormous outdoor CedarWorks play ground.  When we left Zach asked if Zane would like some red rain pants his kids had outgrown.  Zane's face lit up!  Some friends at school had rain pants, and Zane had been asking and asking for them!  Next we headed to a farm with Pa Jim to pick up some fresh yogurt.  On the way home Zane said, "Maine is as fun as Hawaii!"  That's a pretty ringing endorsement!  I have to agree that Maine in the summer is the best.

Next stop was Grandma's house.  She has bunk beds just for grandsons, and we created an awesome fort in the lower level out of blankets.  Zane made an airplane with a lot of steering wheels drawn onto and old box.   Then he and Grandma made yummy granola one morning, and then went out to do some gardening.  Grandma and I were getting ready to go to a cousin's wedding, and Zane helped us pick out toenail polish and cards.  Back home the toenail polish was irresistible, so he and I both got gold toes with a cover of sparkles.  He had a hard time keeping his toes still while the polish dried, so I help them still while reading him a book in the warm sunshine on the porch.  It was delightful!

Sunday turned out to be our busiest day ever!  We dragged kayaks out from under the house and Zane and Grandma washed them.  Some of the kayaks were in this very cool 4' high basement which only Zane could stand up in!  Being a kid comes in handy sometimes.

Next we went down into Camden to see the Megunticook River waterfall and investigate low tide.  My Mom (aka Grandma) has been taking courses in being a local naturalist, and she wanted to practice her low-tide knowledge on us.  We had a picnic in the Camden Amphitheater and found silk flower petals left over from my cousin's wedding the day before.  The Amphitheater is a really fun place to explore and hide in.  It's also a photo-op at every turn.  A lovely fountain at the top of the amphitheater by the library was especially fun to dabble in.















We managed to fit in some gift shopping for Fathers Day and some ice cream by a river before heading home for a much needed nap.  And then we met my friends Ann and Jon for an adventure of kayaking on Lake Megunticook!  Zane got to be in Grandma's boat.  We paddled around for about two hours and had a fantastic time.  But is that enough?  No!  Ann and Jon came with Zane and I for some junk food and candlepin bowling in Rockland.  The bowling alley had an arcade and a tattoo vending machine.  You could not make a better paradise for Zane.

On our last full day in Maine we had a lovely visit with my other newly married cousin and her husband and my Aunt.  My visits with everyone for this trip had been relaxing and almost entirely outdoors!

We needed to head back to the airport, but we managed a little bit more sightseeing before we left.  The Rockport Marine Park had an old bell buoy to explore, lime kilns, and an old train like the ones used at the kilns.  I had just read Zane a book about Andre the Seal, so we also stopped to pay our respects to his statue.

















We had a bit of a long flight home, but overall it was a great trip!  Traveling with Zane gets more enjoyable all the time.

Easter and beyond

Home from Hawaii, and right into Easter!  Zane had been looking forward to this holiday, because he knew he would get more candy.

Zane's dip into philosophical questions continued from our trip.  Whenever a holiday like Easter comes up, I feel like it's a good opportunity to talk about why people celebrate it, and what Michael and I and most of our family believe (or don't).  On the way to a puppet show we had a long conversation in the car about symbols of spring, old celebrations, and Christian Easter beliefs.  Zane wanted another god story. I gave him a synopsis of Jesus' life and explained which parts I thought were true. Then I told him about the Christian beliefs of the son of god, dying for sins, rebirth, and Heaven. Zane was very upset at the death, and then decided he liked the religious explanation with coming back to life. Once again, he likes the god version of the story. Very interesting to me, but it also makes sense for his level of understanding how the world works.

I think the talk of heaven also got him thinking about what is outside space.  On the way home from the puppet show he asked, "What's outside space?" I said it was just more space, on and on, filled with stars and planets and galaxies. "But what's outside that?" Well, some astrophysicists say that our whole universe might be just one of many, some with all of the same things in it we have in our universe. "Oh! So there is another copy of the book If I Built a House in it!" Yes! There probably is!  OK. Teaching about parallel universes: done.

The Saturday before Easter we went to the zoo for their annual egg hunt.  Michael took Zane last year, so I was excited to go this year.  Actually, it was kind of a bummer.  There was nothing in the eggs, and then you turned them in!  At the exit to the zoo, they had candy to choose from, but it's not the same as discovering in eggs.  As much as I hate for Zane to get tons of candy, I think next year I'll look for a hunt with more reward.  We had fun on the carousel, though, and it was a beautiful day so the sides were all opened up.

The next day at home, we discovered the Easter Bunny had visited!  JoJo was very interested in the basket, which is what she usually sits in when she gets combed.  Also, the Easter Bunny had used JoJo's own hay in the basket, which made it smell extra yummy.  Zane was excited to find eggs all over the living room with candy in them!  His Easter basket also had a bug collecting kit and a nice ceramic tea set.  I would say he was pretty pleased with his haul.  At breakfast I let him have his very first Cadbury Creme Egg.  As I expected, it was too rich for him to really eat very much, but it was still a very special treat.

We've had a few adventures this spring so far.  Our cousin Leah and her fiance Matt came for a visit, and we had a rare sparkling clear day.  We all went up on the Seattle Great Wheel, which I've been wanting to do for awhile.  We had a fantastic view, and the ride was amazingly smooth.  After we were done Zane had a really great time in the arcade on the pier below.  I think my favorite game involved stomping on spiders.

Later in the week I took Zane to see Adventures with Spot at the Seattle Children's Theater.  I didn't think it was quite as fantastic as The Cat in the Hat or Dot and Ziggy, but Zane seemed to like it a lot.  Next I'll take him to Pippi Longstocking, which I'm really looking forward to!

A few days later we went back to Seattle Center for their annual spring break Whirligig.  They had about 10 different bouncy houses set up, and several of them were obstacle courses.  Zane loves obstacle courses.  I didn't take him last year as I was worried about him getting creamed by older kids.  I actually did see that happen this year, but Zane laughed and loved it.  He was always finding older kids to follow around and roughhouse with.  As I watched in great anxiety, I composed this haiku in my head to help calm myself down:
      Zane careens inside
      The obstacle course of doom
      I learn to let go

We had a chilly and drizzly trip to Kelsey Creek Farm for their annual sheep shearing event.  I was surprised how interested Zane was in the fiber arts room.  We spent quite a long time watching wool dyeing, carding, spinning, and knitting.  And then, by god if there weren't bouncy houses.  We finished up with that and headed home, full of kettle corn and hot dogs.

In May we have started to have some really excellent weather.  We had our first trip to the beach of the season, and I could have worn a sundress and been warm.  It was amazing.  Today we did our first family walk down the stairs and in the woods nearby Golden Gardens.  Zane's legs are much stronger for going up the stairs than last year.  He still go mighty tired out, though, and has gone to bed early.

I'm especially proud of our trip to a local fire station.  I organized this for Zane's entire preschool,  and I felt a bit nervous about being responsible for everyone having a good time.  I was most anxious about taking the bus there and back.  In the end it all went of really well, and I just needed to be a parent chaperon while letting the teachers be in charge.  The firefighters were awesome, and I was especially pleased that a woman firefighter led most of the tour.  At first they quizzed all the kids on their fire safety knowledge, and they let us know what to do if an alarm went off.

Then we got to see the truck, and handle some of the equipment!  Zane had been bored at the first part, but he was front and center for the rest!  He is hefting a nozzle in the photo above, and he claimed later that it wasn't heavy at all.  One firefighter showed off some sort of mechanical gripping claw, as well as an axe.  He asked if anyone wanted a finger chopped off, and one boy eagerly offered his hand.  All fingers stayed on.

A third firefighter then showed all of the equipment he had to wear and why.  I think the kids liked this most of all.  The firefighter kept saying, the more gear I get on, the less I look like me!  I look more like something scary, but I'm still just a firefighter.  Every time a new piece of equipment went on, Zane kept shouting gleefully, "I still know it's you!  I still know it's you!"  I thought this was a great way to help kids not be scared of a big, heavy breathing black monster coming at you in a fire.

Then  the alarm went off!  We all quickly stood to the side and filed out of the station.  The firefighters quickly suited up and the truck was off with lights flashing.  I was a bit disappointed that they didn't use their siren.  I'm not sure how much more they would have showed us, but I don't think we missed much.  Maybe they would have let some kids into the truck.  I thought it was really a great ending, though.  Later on they offered to have us come for another tour, but we were satisfied.


And speaking of heroes, a big part of our life lately has revolved around superheroes.  A number of kids at school talk about superheroes, and Zane was ecstatic when I found a Spider-Man t-shirt for him in a pile of hand-me-downs.  I looked around the library catalog and found a bunch of superhero stories just for little kids.  They don't have much physical violence, mostly just some witty repartee and getting wrapped up in webs.  Zane is enraptured by these books.  Some of the books are pretty bad, though.  One introduced about 15 different superheroes, and only one was female. All the male super heroes were outside doing super things, while the one girl was in the frickin kitchen! How many editors and artists and publishers saw this and thought it was a great thing to publish?! Aaaaaargh!  I've managed to bend the superheroes to my will, however.  We have had some problem with getting Zane to poop in the toilet, so some Spider-Man t-shirts and a sweatshirt have been dangled as rewards.  So far they've helped a lot!  Way to go Spider-Man!  My hero!

Now if only Spider-Man would eat vegetables in his books.  We really don't do well with this.  Zane eats raw and cooked peas, carrots, and corn, but not much else.  Michael and I are not great role models here, either.  We all eat tons of fruit, but veggies get short shrift.  I decided to try fruity smoothies with vegetables in them, and I got a cookbook from the library to help.  I got Zane involved in the prep, and he absolutely loved it.  He claimed he like the smoothies, too, but they did not actually enter his body in more than minute quantities.  Darn.  I should probably keep plugging away, but I feel defeated.

Physically Zane is getting great exercise for his body.  He comes home from school most day covered with cuts and bruises, and I consider that to be the signs of lots of good climbing attempts.  We're trying something new, though!  A few months ago Zane saw a bit of the ballet Swan Lake on Sesame Street, and a few days later he told me he'd like to try ballet.  I was surprised!  I know a few girls and a boy from school go, but he'd never expressed interest.  I was hesitant to sign up for expensive lessons, but I didn't want to quash his interest, either.  I asked at the local music and dance school if he could do a trial class, and they said sure!  We went on a Sunday and it was awesome!  The teacher was a male dancer/acrobat, and he had the kids running themselves ragged and then acting out a story with a princess, a fairy, and a dragon.  He spent quite a bit of of time flinging Zane in the air, too.  And through all that, Zane learned first and second position and plie.  Plus, the big bonus is that parents do not go into the dance room, so I can sit outside and read!  We were sold.  I can't wait to go back next Sunday.

OK, so that gets me all caught up with stories!  I hope I won't get so behind again for awhile ...

Hawaii

In March I had a series of nasty colds, but surely I would be better before our trip to Hawaii on the 19th!  Yes, I was finally getting better!  Then, the Sunday night before our Tuesday morning departure I felt that tell-tale tickle in my throat and ears and a bad headache.  I felt really, really cold.  I took a sick day on Monday and felt so tired and cold all day long, plus my throat/ears/head hurt and I had a deep yucky cough.  I really thought that resting would help, but of course I still needed to pack and do laundry and run errands.  Monday night during dinner and bath time my eye began to itch and ooze pus.  Oh joy.  I called the consulting nurse to say I thought I had pink-eye (which had been going around Zane's school).  I thought they would tell me not to get on the plane!  I was soooo tired and all I wanted to do was go to bed early, but instead I drove 30 minutes to the nearest Group Health urgent care clinic.  I could hardly see through the goop and painful eyelid.  Yup, I had pink eye and a fever.  They gave me stuff for my eye and a face mask to wear on the plane.  I ended up getting home in time for a pretty good night's sleep, and the next morning we were off!

The first morning in Hawaii I was sitting on our lanai looking at the ocean and thinking what a bummer it would be to be sick for the whole trip.  Ha ha!  That won't happen!  But it did.  Being on vacation is not very restful.  Also, Zane went to bed at Hawaii time (late) but still woke up at Seattle time (early) every day.  Both of us had horrible coughs that kept us up all night, so we were both exhausted and cranky a lot of the time.  I could never rest enough to get better.  Halfway through our trip Zane came down with a fever, too, but he seemed to bounce back pretty quickly.  Miraculously, Michael never got sick.  So that is the background noise for our trip.  It could have been better, but at least we were still in Hawaii!

This year we returned to our favorite condos at Napili Point Resort.  They are not in an overly built up area in terms of malls and stores.  There is a lovely crescent of beach that we can get to with just a short walk along the seashore.  Right in front of the condos is a cove filled with turtles and corals and fish.  In the mornings I could watch the turtles from our lanai, and one day I counted seven on the surface at once!  On our first day at the beach near our condo, two turtles came right into a tide-pool area and Zane and I could see them from only about three feet away!  Very cool.

On our first day Zane and I headed to the beach.  I had rented a huge bag of beach toys ahead of time, and they were waiting for us in our condo when we arrived.  It was a great mix of stuff.  We set out to the beach and got right down to digging!  After a while we went for a walk along the rocks to see what we could see in the tidepools.  We saw the turtles I mentioned before very close up, and lots of fish and arthropods and urchins.  When Michael came along he and Zane went out for another jaunt along the tidepools.  This spot on the beach was one we returned to just about every day.    One day Zane found a small hermit crab in one of the tidepools.  When we returned to Seattle Zane made a treasure map for our friend Mike, as he was going to be on the very same beach a few weeks later!  He sent us a picture from the beach with his map and some treasure he discovered.

I had rented some snorkel gear for myself and a life jacket and boogie board with a window in it for Zane.  Last year he had finally gone in the ocean water on the last day, so I was hopeful we'd get in this year, too.  That never did end up happening.  I'm not sure if maybe it was because we were both sick and tired.  One day I tried really hard to get him to float on the boogie board so he could see the coral reefs, but he was just too scared, and I didn't want to push him.  There's always next year!  We did have way more fun in the swimming pools this year for some reason.  So we had plenty of days where we at least got wet a bit, and then Zane would come back and have loooooooong hot showers.

Although we were sickies, we still managed to get out and have some adventures.  Last year we had a nice ride on the Sugar Cane Train, and we did that again this year.  This year we played a game where we tried to see how many fruit trees we could see.  Mangoes!  Bananas!  Papaya!  Fig!  We capped it off with the obligatory shave ice.

Last year I had wanted to go on a submarine ride, but after a disastrous day at the aquarium we decided to put it off.  This year we booked ourselves onto a ride, and it was fantastic!  The boat ride out and back was pretty exciting all by itself.  When we were heading back Zane said his favorite part was riding on the water.  We'll have to do a boat ride somewhere this summer, or at least next year in Hawaii.  After taking the boat out to the dive site, we got to see the submarine surface from the previous tour. 

When it was our turn to get on, we had to climb down a ladder into the sub, and Zane managed that pretty well.  Inside the sub we had a pretty small space to sit in but it was neat to see all of the controls in the cockpit up front.  The dive was neat, and then everything was bathed in blue light.  While we were chugging along to our first view we had a bit of trouble with Zane getting bored and goofing off, but then we finally got to see some fish out of the portholes.

The boat operators had promised a sunken ship, and Zane was very excited to see it.  He was convinced it was a pirate ship.  I was worried were going to have a very disappointed boy, but then our guide passed around some photos of the ship being purposefully sunk, and good golly if it didn't look like a pirate ship!  It had been a replica of a whaler (see it here), but eventually it needed to be scuttled, so the submarine company bought it and sank it for an underwater attraction.  Zane looooved the photos of the ship being sunk -- it was the thing he talked about most after the ride.  The ship itself was neat, too.  Zane has decided that real pirates were on the ship when it was sunk, but they swam away and were OK.

When the sub surfaced and we got back on the boat to take us to shore, there was one more treat in store for us.  A whale breached about 20 feet from the ship, stuck up its tail, and then poked its head out of the water.  Wowie zowie!  Michael and I were more impressed than Zane, I think because we knew how really special that was.  We saw many whales playing off shore this year, but this was our first close encounter ever.  Since Zane enjoyed the boat ride so much, I think next year we should go on a whale watching tour.  When we got back to land we had lunch in Lahaina and even visited a few stores.  I thought Zane was looking especially cute with his lemonade.

Our next adventure was our annual drive up Haleakala.  Last year Zane surprised us by loving the drive up.  We had forgotten our warm clothes so we froze a bit at the top, but it was a good trip.  This year I remembered our warm clothes!  Zane had woken earlier than usual that morning, so I expected him to sleep on the way up.  He did pass out, but as we drove up, up, up, it became clear that he was really getting sick.  He felt very hot and began breathing more rapidly as we got higher and higher.  When we got to the top the sky had cleared and the wind was low, and it was warm and beautiful.  Zane was hot and sick.  I got him out of the car for a pee and he said "Mama, I can't stand up!" and he cried.  I got a pee out of him, and then after a quick look around we headed right back down the mountain.  Zane's breathing calmed down as soon as we got down to about 8000 feet.  When we got back to civilization I stopped at a drug store to get children's fever meds and some Fever Bugs which give a good quick temperature.  He ended up liking those a lot.  His fever went away that evening and he was right as rain except for a cough.  I think he got my bug.  I hadn't been careful with contagion since I thought I got it from him in the first place, but I guess not!

Near the end of our visit we had some gray skies and I decided our last adventure would be a quick one to a nearby whaling museum.  Zane did pretty well in it, and I was surprised at how interested he was in a lot of the stuff.  For some reason he was in poopy mood, though, and wouldn't let us get a good picture of him with a whale skeleton.  The museum is in a big shopping mall with a very neat series of waterfalls, and that kept him pretty happy.  That and the ice cream and his very first small Lego projects we brought back to the condo.  We had fun putting them together, although they turned out to be still a bit too fiddly for his little fingers.

I've noticed in the past that when we go on vacations, something about the upheaval in routine kicks Zane's brain into action.  When he was smaller he would learn new skills.  On this trip he asked us a series of pretty interesting philosophical questions, just about one per night.

Tuesday:  "Mama, tell me about the God man."
Wednesday: "Who owns the Earth?"
Thursday: "Is there humans eating humans?"
Saturday: "Where does the earth start?"

I had a lot of fun talking about these and coming up with some answers.  He's keeping my on my toes!

Well, Hawaii was fun, but kind of low-key due to our health.  The day before we left I made a doctor's appointment for our return to make sure I didn't have any gruesome disease I would pass on to my co-workers.  I didn't, but I did get some meds to help clear me head.  My ears had actually been plugged up for about half the trip.  When I got back to work I found out that it was a feature of the particular bug going around, and several of my co-workers and friends were also shouting "What?" and coughing and hacking.  The meds seemed to have no effect, and it took about another two or three weeks to really get well.  I sure hope next year's trip to Hawaii goes better!