Marina Touch Tank

 Cam and I are both home these two weeks with both kids. The four of us need (NEED!) stuff to keep us out of trouble. I have a physical need called "Getting out of the house each day."

So, on one such rainy day, we took the kids on down to the Squalicum Marina "Aquarium" (we've been here before, remember?)

Once again, Clem watched only. She refused to touch any of the terrifying sea creatures.

 Whereas Dutch would have climbed in if we'd let him.

If you guessed that Dutch tried lapping up the water from the touch tank like a puppy, then you are correct. When Cam intervened, Dutch realized that cupping his hand and bringing it to his mouth could do the trick.

Yup, our visit there was short.

Hello again, old friend

 It's been ages since we hit up our old haunt, the Skagit County Children's Museum. I think Clem had to be 3 or 4 when we were there last. And now we can't remember why we waited so long!

 There's a whole toddler "farm" for wee lads like Dutch...(who by the way ONLY went up and down the two slide-like inclines on this play structure. What gives?)

(and also has been taught by Daddy how to do a perfectly scary bear cub growl, now he loves bears!)

 

...there's also plenty for a 6 year old explorer like our favorite wee lass. 

She loved fishing and playing princess Barbie dress up, 

 She got to play long-shoreman and semi-truck driver.

 Then she rode this gull like a rodeo bull.

And made a snow man frame in the art area. Seriously, I just can't get enough of this place!

Gymnastics Showcase

Last week was Clementine's Gymnastics Showcase. The love of my life went to cheer her on (mama had a meeting! Sad face) while she performed.

Clem's pretty cautious these days with the "dangerous" stunts they teach her (when did THIS happen??) but I love that she is building confidence. I love that she is positively beaming at the end. She is just beginning to dip her toes into the world of gymnastics and I hope it's something she decides to stick with.
So proud of her.

(And so in love with Daddy's Daddy-Pride.)

Winter Concert

My favorite Kindergartener decided to spice things up a bit last week. On Tuesday after school, Clementine decided to hop on a school bus, following all of her friends' lead. The only problem is, she doesn't take a bus home, she comes to my classroom after school. Her teacher, our principal and Dean of Students and I hurriedly scoured the building for her. For 10 nerve wracking minutes no one knew where she was. Finally, our Dean of Students came off of the school bus, Clementine in hand.

 

That's him giving her a "Go get 'em tiger." pat before her concert on Thursday. It's not often we get to see this brave girl looking cautious. But before the concert we did!

 She sang some very cute songs with her kindergarten class. She even got to play jingle bells and bongo drums!

 

 

Here she is singing the Cordata coyote leads the way song!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it SNOW!

 

 

Yesterday, we all woke up and made this face! It  had snowed all night and school was cancelled! I was extra jubilant because I literally couldn't fathom making it through another day of teaching in 2013. It's been a rough couple of weeks.

Instead, we raced out the front door at a reasonable time of day (like 8am) dressed in multiple layers of warmth. This was Dutchy's first real snow experience and consensus is: HE LOVED IT! He spent most of the time we were out there eating the snow.  

 

 

And Clem built and built. She went out multiple times during the day--we got snow until about 2pm when it finally stopped. I think in all she built 5 or 6 snow creatures.

A Visit with St. Nick

 We finally made it to see Santa this winter! Nothing like waiting till nearly the last minute! We braved the snow this afternoon and  drove out to Bellewood Acres to meet up with Santa. Clementine made a request or two while Dutch wasn't quite sure what to do!

 Then we hightailed it out front where the kids had noticed the hand carved ride-on rockers. A GIANT horse/donkey, a mini horse and a mini pig!

 Dutch is cautious in new situations (and not at all cautious when it comes to climbing chairs, couches and tables at home). Not for a single second did Dutch let go of Cameron's hand, he was pretty unsure what to do on these rockers!



Quoting Clem

Our girl. There aren't words to describe her cleverness or her sweet and tender soul. Here are some recent conversations from six year old Clementine:

-Today at the consignment store, I was browsing the racks while Clem played in the little toy area. She was alone in there for a bit, then a boy a bit  younger joined her.
"Hi! I"m Clementine! I just turned six years old!"
"I"m K. and I just turned four years old!"
K. went on to describe his upcoming birthday party while Clem told him that hers was Superhero themed.
"Do you like superheroes too?" she asks. "Because if you do, you'd like my dad. He's like the Hulk only he's not green. Just big."


-Last week her class got a new student. A girl! And it was BIG excitement around here. Clem couldn't wait to meet her and had a list of things to tell the new girl before the day began.
After school, I asked Clem what the new girl is like and she said "Let me think about it....I guess...she's really just like a rose with a big smile on it."


-At dinner one night she told Cam and I that her good friend in her class E. doesn't live with his dad because he's one of Santa's Elves. But not just ANY elf, E.'s dad is the TOP elf in Santa's workshop. So obviously E. is not only the luckiest little boy in all of the world, but he can't see his dad as often because he's up in the North Pole.