School

Anya is one week in to her new school. So far, so good. The first day was a bit bumpy, since she really wanted to go to Wedgwood and be with her friends there. But by day two, she already had a new "BFF" (Clara) and "a boy that fell in love" with her. And she adores her teacher*

In the car on day two, dad asked how she was liking it.  She said, "I hated it yesterday, today was okay, tomorrow I'll like it. But the end of the week I'll love it."

There is some getting used to the different rules and way things are done here. Anya told me that last week, she got up out of circle time to grab some water (totally acceptable thing to do in her Kindergarten class; the teacher let the kids self-manage bathroom and water). The assistant teacher was kind, yet firm in letting her know her actions weren't OK and had her go back to circle. Anya got right back up to get water; assistant teacher picked her up and moved her back to circle. Rinse, repeat until she gave up on water until break time. 

It looks like she might be slightly behind in some of the things they are studying. Current and old school are both doing common core, but St. C's seems to have pushed ahead a little. I'm not concerned; she'll catch up quickly. 

But other than the expected adjustment period, all is well. She started CYO cross-country yesterday. At this age, there are only a handful of practices and meets. This Friday also starts CYO soccer. The entire grade is doing it and Chris is one of the coaches. He was born to be a dad, he will also completely rock being a coach. The kids are lucky.  I'm meeting lots of nice parents and we've already got a mom's night out scheduled for later this month. 

Here are a few pictures from the first day. 

with one of her best buddies right before we all walked to school 

posing in front of a building (this pic makes it look run-down, but it's a nice, pretty campus)

A few minutes of playground time before heading in to class

reading something on the chalkboard a few minutes after we got to her classroom. 

*Although, on the first day, Anya told a rather creative and elaborate story about how her teacher is actually a witch. That, as soon as the parents left, she changed in to her witch outfit (so the parents wouldn't suspect anything). And that at the assembly, she tied all of the children in a rope and took them to Maple Leaf Park. There, she banished them all from the school. Anya said, sorry, she was not allowed to come back to school the next day, since she had been banished. 

The End of Anya's Summer 2014

Yet another beautiful Seattle summer has come to an end.  Lot's of little things happened, so we're throwing together a quick summary of the last few weeks.



Anya finally learned how to drive.  Here we see her scooting around at Magnuson park and getting annoyed at traffic, just like mommy taught her. 

Seattle seldom gets rain to speak of.  This video shows that Anya is (yet again) her mother's daughter.  And Laika shows that she is her father's dog.

No summer is complete with out a trip to the Evergreen State Fair.  Here we see Anya practicing to be a marine hamster.

Also at the ESF, Anya got on her first big person ride (she was "taller than this" and was able to get on.  Seemed to like it.

She made a very good friend of a sheep.  We asked her to quit harassing the animals, but this sheep had a different plan.

Anya brought her good buddy Eva H to Remlinger Farms. 

And of course fishing with dad.  Anya is still crazy about fishing.  This summer we discovered that the closest water is also the most productive for our needs.  The Arboretum has tons of fish we don't want to eat, so the kid is never bored and I don't need to clean anything.  We smash down the barbs, and catch and release all day long.

An early shot of one of our more productive mornings.

Here we see evidence of Anya the fish whisperer at work.  She really does love to handle wild animals.  Speaking of which...

Anya's yearly snake handling revival in the woods.  This year it was at Dash Point camping with about 1/2 the PEPS kids.   

Here we find our love children making a stinking nest of sea weed.  Which they claim was necessary as a "clam sanctuary".

The PEPS kids. Liam in action.