Wednesday, September 09, 2015

Evergreen State Fair

boys watching animal races
We spent half a day at the Evergreen State Fair (in Monroe) on August 27th. It was opening day which meant free admission until 1 pm. Parking was 10 dollars so that was a bit painful. My boys weren't interested in any rides, even the gentle ones, like the giant swing or the ferris wheel.

We saw lots and lots of animals. The bunnies are adorable. So many different kinds. I think they are my favourite animal, at the fair anyway.
It was fun to see the guinea pigs since we have owned a few ourselves. The cutest breed is the teddy bear.

I enjoyed posing with the minion made from hay bales.
Near the minion, we ran into a former writing teacher of A's so that was a fun surprise.

We also found Smokey the Bear, carved out of wood.

We saw many baby pigs.



Fair food we consumed was scones with jam, a corn dog, lemonade, and a milkshake. The scones are the best deal going at $1.50 each!

Our last activity was the animal races. I was expecting pigs racing other pigs but this was more of a comedy race with some racing animals plus others that really don't get into racing such as a turkey and a duck. Here is the turkey santering around the track.

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Tuesday, September 08, 2015

Summer Memory: Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium

walrus
I wanted to sneak in another family outing before school started. We went on August 22nd. Point Defiance Zoo Aquarium was easily seen in an afternoon. It is a smaller zoo than the Woodland Park Zoo (Seattle) but I think that is a good thing. We saw almost ALL of the animals (that weren't sleeping or hiding) during our visit. That isn't possible when you go to the Seattle Zoo, unless you spend the entire day there and come home exhausted from all the walking!

The setting is gorgeous, right on the coast of the Puget Sound, which you can see in the distance.

The first animal we encountered was the Asian elephant.

Giant Porcupines

Camel ride. My boys weren't interested in riding a camel but I was!



Walrus

Puffin

The polar bears were a no show so we took a photo by the picture that shows the actual height of a polar bear. More than twice my height!

Red wolves

Little owl

I reallly enjoyed the aquarium, although the boys went through it too fast.


They have sharks!
Sting ray.

The leopard cubs were the cutest part of the zoo.

It was a good family outing. If you go, be aware that you may encounter some traffic slowdowns as you near Tacoma.


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Monday, September 07, 2015

Our Tween Turns Twelve


Note: This party took place on August 28th. To start off the party in the afternoon we went to a local high school field and the birthday boy and his guests played soccer, football, and tag. For supper, I took seven boys to Chick Fil A and survived. We ate at our house since there wasn't enough room for our crowd at Chic Fil A. We had an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen.
 
J and I gave A the birthday "bumps." We were surprised to find out that none of his friends had heard of or experienced the bumps before. Apparently it is a British/Canadian tradition.

The game "Murder in the Dark" was a big hit. It isn't as bad as it sounds. :) It was a great party game. Here are the instructions:

Get some strips of paper. Write “murderer” on one, “policeman” on another, and “civilian” on the rest. Shuffle these or something so that you give them out to all the kids in some random and secret way. Have them look at their own card, memorize it, and return it.  At that point get them to spread out around the house and turn off all the lights and everyone moves around (slowly but safely). The “murderer” then has to murder as many people as possible – often it’s just one. This is done via some agreed-upon convention such as double-tapping them on the shoulder. The victim then dies by collapsing. If a living person finds a body they shout “body” and the lights go on and everyone reconvenes. If he policeman is alive, he interviews all the living civilians to try to establish the identity of the murder. Once he thinks he’s figured it out, he gets one guess. At that point the murderer must tell the truth and identify himself. (If the policeman is dead, another person takes his place.)


The boys watched the movie Apollo 13 and it was interesting to see which of the boys enjoyed it and which were not as engaged. The boys good at math were very interested. The other boys played on their tablets and were not very interested in the movie. Almost all the boys slept over, in our living room. 

In the morning, J and I cooked pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs. To finish up, J led the boys in a few "Minute to Win It" games. They are quick games that are usually timed.

1. Ping-pong ball off a small table into Styrofoam cups. Kids had to stand a couple of feet from a small wooden table, bounce a ping-pong ball off the table, then into a Styrofoam cup. There was a ring of cups that were 1 point each, and a center cup for 2 points. Team with most points after all team members tried it won.

2. Straw & Cotton Ball Relay: Kids had to move cotton balls as a team from a bowl at one end of room to a bowl at the other end using just a straw, all in one minute. The second team wasn’t able to figure out the technique.

3. Pedometer: The teams had one minute to pick a strategy and a representative and then a minute to see how high that representative could get a pedometer without using their hands. One team opted for attaching it to their glasses and shaking their head, and the other team attached it to their sock and ran in place. The team that used their head won.

Sorry, no photos of the games. I needed to run an errand during the games.


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Friday, September 04, 2015

Back to School 2015


September 2, 2015

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