Swim Lessons

We realized early in the summer that if Gareth wants to go to Camp Quest next summer we should make sure he knows how to swim, since it's on a body of water and all. We'd started swim lessons a couple summers ago at the local pool and they hadn't gone well. Ryan, at a family swim and in a matter of minutes, had succeeded in getting Gareth to put his head in the water. The group lessons proceeded to undo any small progress we had made with Gareth on our own until we finally got tired of paying money for him to sit at the edge of the pool and occasionally be taken on a tour of the pool by a teacher and pulled him out of the lessons. We decided at that point that we'd wait until he was a bit older and we'd pay the money for private lessons.

There are a couple places that I know of around here where you can do the private lesson thing. They both have a lot of outstanding reviews from other parents and the one we went with in particular had a lot of reviews about how their kids went from scared to swimming in a matter of weeks. I was a little doubtful it could only take a few weeks, but we figured even if it took a little longer we'd still end up spending less in the long-run going the private lessons route.

So Gareth started at the beginning of August, two half-hour lessons per week. I loved his instructor - she was the perfect combination of firm and nice. She wasn't going to let him waste too much time being nervous, chatting away in order to delay things. But she wasn't mean about it either. And she would give him explanations for things: You need to hold onto the edge of the pool with just one hand because if you're trying to lift half your body out of the water that will be more tiring than letting most of your body stay in the water. Or, if you look down while swimming then you won't have a problem with water going up your nose. Or, you need to be able to open your eyes in the water so that if you fall in water at some point you'll be able to find your way to the boat/shore/safety. She was firm when need be - if he was trying to cling to her instead of flipping over to his back float as instructed she would simply state, "No!" and flip him over to his back. But she was also very encouraging and would praise him when he did well. Really the perfect combination for Gareth.

I was a little doubtful after week two that he'd really be able to swim by the end of four weeks as he was so nervous about putting his face in the water and going to the deep end, but still figured he was making more progress than in a group lesson. Then in the next couple of lessons he made huge progress, and by the end of his four weeks he was jumping in and swimming the length of the pool! Not beautiful swimming by any means, but definitely swimming. Then we were off for a week or so while school started, but just one lesson later we were told he was ready for his clothes test. I'm still shocked that in just 9 lessons he went from terrified of putting his face in the water to swimming. So much better than paying for group lessons for a couple years!

He was really excited for the clothes test - he thought jumping in with all his clothes was such a crazy thing to do. As he said, "It's like I'm on a boat and a sea monster knocks me in the water and I need to swim to land!" He did great and I like feeling like he's less likely to drown if he goes to camp next summer (I'm sure they have lifeguards, but still). We've still got a couple more lessons that we've paid for, so now it seems they're just working to improve his skills. He's so much more confident in the pool now - and he loves it.

Sibling Education

Ryan occasionally watches Star Trek with Gareth. Usually, after the episode is over, he'll turn to Gareth and say, "That was a show called Star Trek" which elicits an irritated, "I know!" shouted from Gareth.

Yesterday Ryan decided to show Gareth an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and was telling Gareth that it was TNG, not the old Star Trek, before the show started. Malcolm turned to him and shouted, "I know!"

Grandma and Grandpa's Visit

Grandma and Grandpa flew in on the first day of school for a visit. This was Malcolm's first chance to meet Grandpa in person, so it was kind of a big deal. Gareth was very excited to know that they would be there when he got home from school.

We sent Gareth to school the day after they came because he didn't want to miss his friend's birthday. While he was at school, Ryan took his parents downtown. He showed them where he works and tok them to lunch at Lowells, Ryan's favorite place for fish and chips. They also spent some time at Pikes Place, which you may as well do if you're already there. They arrived home in time for Grandma to go help pick up Gareth. He needed to run inside for a minute when he got out and when he came back out he came with the principal. Gareth had been telling everyone who would listen that his grandparents were in town and the principal said Gareth had better come introduce him to Grandma.

We took Gareth out of school for the duration of their visit so that he could get some quality time with them. Friday the weather was supposed to be warm, so we headed down to Golden Gardens and Shilshole Marina to check out the sailboats. Grandpa would've loved to walk down on the docks, but we would've needed to have someone who lives there with us as access to the docks is restricted. But we were able to stand above them and look down at the boats. Next time they come we'll have to be sure to arrange a sailboat ride somewhere. We hung out on the beach for a few hours, letting the kids play. Ryan, after much urging from the rest of us, submerged himself in the chilly water.Gareth kept going in the water, but not usually very far because the water was just too cold to stand for very long. We came home and enjoyed a late lunch at our favorite Greek restaurant, Takis.

Saturday we hung around the house most of the morning. After Ryan got back from his lesson I took Ryan's parents and Gareth to Elliot Bay Book Company since Grandpa was wanting to check it out. I was slightly terrified to drive there since it's in the Capitol Hill neighborhood which I'm not at all familiar with and I was certain that parking would be a nightmare. I'm glad I had my phone giving me directions, and we got very lucky with parking - found a spot right in front of the store!  We enjoyed browsing there for a couple hours and then headed home.

Sunday afternoon we checked out the farmer's market (I wanted to get some nectarines). We dragged Gareth along with us, but I think he ended up being glad he went once he got to try samples of fudge, toffee, soda, straight cranberry juice, and fruit. Plus we got donuts, so he really had no complaints in the end.

Monday we borrowed Redpath's station wagon so that we could all go to Snoqualmie Falls. I've been meaning to go for a while but we hadn't got around to it, so I figured it'd be a good trip to take with the grandparents. The waterfall is very pretty and the short hike down to the river/lower viewing point was perfect for the kids. Apparently after rainier/snowier seasons the fall will actually extend across the entire ridge, but since we're coming off summer (the dry season in Seattle), it wasn't doing so.

The waterfall

Mal playing in some old piece of equipment from the power plant

Gareth had fun playing by the river

Just seconds earlier Mal was holding both Grandma and Grandpa's hands, and it was very cute, but he let go of Grandma's just before the picture.

Attempted pic of boys at the top but Gareth's blocking the waterfall. Oh, well.

Gareth was very sad to say goodbye the next day. Malcolm has missed them as well, asking about "Grandma and Grandma" (couldn't quite get that pa sound down while they were here!) and generally being extremely cranky since they've gone.

Faces

When I went to upload the first day of school pictures to the computer I was surprised to see these photos. I'd totally forgotten that I'd let Gareth have the camera a few days ago:

First Day of School 2014

School started today. Last year I was eagerly anticipating this day, but this year I feel I could actually use a couple more weeks of summer break (which I get, but Gareth doesn't). Anyway, obligatory first day pictures:

2nd Grade! He says wearing his new shoes makes him feel like a college student. We have no idea where that came from, but apparently it's something he feels good about, so we'll go with it.

And he wanted to be sure to document how full his backpack was with all his school supplies in it.

Malcolm wasn't thrilled about the picture-taking.

Gareth's most excited about being in a "bungalow" (portable) this year. All the parents are less excited about this experience, but the kids think it's the coolest thing ever. He's got tons of friends in his class this year - in the picture he's talking to one sitting kitty-corner to him. Yeah, that seating arrangement might have to change. Lots of kids from his class last year, from his K class and several co-op kids. We even got our sitter's daughter in the same class again, so he'll have a very easy time at drop-off. Gareth's teacher seems really nice. We heard a lot about her being strict/old-school/mean at the end of the year, but over the last month or so we've only heard great things from friends who've had her - including from a 7th grader whose eyes lit up with excitement when he heard Gareth would have this teacher.

Fort Townsend State Park

I've been excited for our second camping trip since I reserved the site back in early June. I was looking up our Burke Museum membership and seeing where else we could get in for free with the membership. The one place is way over in eastern Washington and I knew there'd be no way we'd make it over that far. But the other place is the Marine Science Center in Port Townsend, just a couple hours away. Then I noticed that it's located in a state park (Fort Worden) and decided to see if we could camp near there. Fort Worden didn't seem likely since you can make reservations up to a year in advance, but Fort Townsend is just 15 minutes away. It was all booked up for the weekends through the summer, but we decided to check out mid-week and found a nice, large site available for the 27th-29th.

One of the fun things about this trip was that the driving is split by a ferry ride. About 30 minutes to the ferry and 45 minutes after the ferry. I was a little nervous about this - first time taking a car on the ferry. But our timing worked out pretty well. The whole process was easy and we ended up waiting about 30 minutes before loading onto the ferry. The boys loved the ferry ride and only regretted that it wasn't longer (it's about 20 minutes). Some of us ate yogurt on the ferry.

Our huge campsite. We could've fit our tent plus a couple smaller tents on the site if we'd wanted to. I kinda liked having a huge site.

Malcolm really wanted to help put up the tent, but since Daddy wasn't letting him hammer in the stakes, he decided he could hammer some wood instead.

Gareth was excited for a fire and marshmallows (as was Malcolm; he was constantly asking to see/play/make fire and for "smasmellows") and scary stories. Most of the stories weren't actually scary, but Ryan managed to succeed in scaring Gareth with a couple of them. Unlike me, Gareth seems to enjoy being scared, so he kept asking for more.

Gareth's really into making silly faces for the camera.

Malcolm hanging out either before or after our short hike. We kept the hike less than a mile since Malcolm is very into being carried right now. He'll walk for a few minutes and then run back to me saying, "I'll carry you! I'll carry you!", which, unfortunately, doesn't mean he's going to carry me. Gareth could not, for the life of him, remember that there was a big rock right here and kept falling over it.

Dirty face! It was smudged in dirt pretty much the entire time. A dirty face adds to the cuteness when you're camping.

More silly face.

Marine Science Center. They didn't have many sea stars to touch because of sea star wasting, which some of their scientists are helping to research and determine the cause(s) of. But there were a few you could touch, which Malcolm was a huge fan of.

Gareth loved looking at the plankton sample in the microscope:

Another building housed the orca exhibit and this whale head that you could touch to feel the baleen.

Orca skeleton

The boys loved touching the tube worms and the anemones. The tube worms pop back into their tubes fi you touch them, which the boys found hilarious.

Back at camp, working on a s'more

Ready to head home late Friday morning. We tried to pack up the tent before the rain hit. We didn't quite make it, but luckily it was just a sprinkling, not a downpour. Gareth was sad that we couldn't stay longer and has asked for a longer trip next time around. Cute Mal with his dirty face. Gareth biting his hand for some reason?

I tried out a couple new recipes on this trip, chicken noodle soup and honey-rosemary lamb sandwiches, both of which were good and will stick around in our camping food repertoire. Ryan still didn't sleep well on this trip, despite the much improved conditions, so we're going to look into other sleeping options for him so that he can enjoy our trips more. Other than that I think we can say that this camping trip was far more pleasant than our previous one. 

Gram's Visit

We've spent the past ten days enjoying a visit from my mom, or as the kids call her, Gram. Our house (and our family) has been grateful for how clean she's helped us keep it (sweeping every day! dishes done after every meal! laundry folded! toys picked up!). Not that we don't try, but somehow between kids and school and work and music some of those items are rare occurrences. The kids have been thrilled because you can always use more adult attention. Gareth's been thrilled to get obscene amounts of video game time, playing on Gram's tablet at every opportunity. When we insisted he not do video games he usually opted for her Kindle, reading through another Diary of a Wimpy Kid and the first of the Oz books as well as part of the second.

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a picture-taker, so we didn't take many pictures. But we did fit in many fun things. We went to Pike's Place Market and bought way more than we intended, making the trip back with the kids and a stroller and all our items on a crowded bus rather entertaining (after the fact - more embarrassing/difficult in the moment).

We went to Theo Chocolate and sampled/bought treats, including chocolate covered marshmallows. That prompted my mom to make homemade marshmallows. The coconut covered were the best, chocolate was good, and powdered sugar was just way too sweet.

We took a trip to the science center with some friends of ours, allowing us to use our guest passes that we almost never use.

Gram convinced and helped me to hang pictures. She bought a couple prints for us at the market to go in the kitchen. We still have tons of wall space to fill (we have lots of big, empty walls here) and we need to get some updated family photos done (we don't have any with Malcolm - they're expensive around here!), but it makes a difference to have at least a few things up.

Note the random paper stuff Gareth had previously hung. New pieces up: clay mask made in pre-K days, a picture I took in my photography class, and a print of Starry Night which Gareth specifically asked to have in his room.

Horrible lighting, sorry. These were taken when Gareth was about 3.5. We really need to get some new family photos; it seems a little odd to me to have old ones around and not new ones, especially since we have none with Malcolm included. 

The prints my mom bought us.

How they fit into the kitchen overall. 

Print from a PEI vacation as a kid

Lovely crocheted piece someone gave to us for our wedding

This is another one I took, hung in our bedroom across from the side of our bed.

She also helped me pick out a duvet cover for our old comforter which, while still totally functional, was getting really boring and faded as well as not so nice looking after our stay in mildewy Indiana (no amount of cleaning can eliminate the rusty looking stains living in that home caused). I was really drawn to bold, dark colors, but the paint in our room is a dark green. The room is pretty small and I wasn't willing to spend a fortune on a duvet cover. Most of the ones we found in my price range had too much dark color, not enough white to balance it. Even with the white it may not have worked well with the dark walls. So instead I opted for a lighter cover and we got some accent pillows to provide the pop of color I was wanting. Though, of course, as soon as we started looking at pillows I was laughing internally the whole time, knowing Ryan would bring up this rant as soon as I came home. (He did!) And, in all honesty, I have to agree with the rant. The overpriced pillows will serve no purpose. They will spend most of their time off of the bed in all likelihood. We might lie back on them occasionally when the bed is made, but probably not all that often. But I couldn't think how else to get the bright colors I was wanting without making our room seem ridiculously tiny. And they look really good with the duvet.

The boys helped my mom pick apples from our tree, which we turned into an apple-blueberry crisp (the apples are usually too tart for adults to eat plain, though the boys love them). We went to a friend's birthday party where the boys got to bring home superhero capes/masks. Here's a blurry SuperMal:

We also fit in a trip to Pioneer Square so she could buy some glass pieces for her bookshelves. And spent a day at Golden Gardens. This morning before she left we snuck in a trip to the Locks to check out the salmon. We had a friend of Gareth's with us, so it was a bit interesting trying to squeeze two boosters and a car seat in the back seat of our car. Thinking we'd play on the grounds a bit, I'd brought some frisbees with us. Unfortunately, we were there early enough that the grass was still quite wet with dew. And there were lots of geese around that had left lots of poop all over the grass. So we opted against playing on the grounds. Instead we went home and played there for a bit while Gram finished preparing to go and then went out to lunch before driving her to the airport. I took the boys to Golden Gardens again after we got home, where Malcolm loved the big kid slide (a huge deal, because he can be extremely hesitant toward playground equipment).

Gareth cried several times today because he was so sad to see Gram (and her tablet) go. Malcolm, of course, had no idea she was leaving, so he was less affected. And he fell asleep on the way to the airport, so he didn't even get to see her leave. It took him the whole trip home and a trip to Golden Gardens before he realized she was gone and asked, "Ere's Gam?".