Springtime Adventures

Wow.  It has been a bustling early spring.  So much happening, and Rosalie is growing up so fast, it is hard to keep up!  Every time she says something awesome I want to drop everything and write it down here, but so many of them are "you had to be there" moments.  But overall, the big R is happy, healthy, and ready for action. 

Rosalie continued to hone those skiing skills after that first lesson.  We went with Michael’s work to Whistler for a weekend in early March, and she did a day’s worth of ski school up there.  She just loved it. The whole trip to Whistler was lovely.  

The trip up was fun because we joined Michael's co-workers on a chartered bus for the trip up north.  

Here, we’re in the hotel room with Ro and “Wormy,” a little toy Michael’s co-worker gave her.  The snow was so beautiful--until it started raining and it all went to big buckets of slush everywhere.  But our girl didn't even care about the rain.  She did that whole day of ski school without a second thought.  Tough kid! Tough kid who really wants to ski!  

   

Whistler has a cool village, and we had fun walking around the shops and funky structures, including the Olympic symbol (the winter Olympics were held up there awhile back)

The gazebo with changing-colored lights was a big fave.

  

We had one more chance for an all-morning lesson a few weeks  ago in Snoqualmie again.  That kid is already at Level 3.  Michael was out on his snowboard that day and saw her going down the mountain with her teacher, and he was just blown away.  “She’s a sponge,” he kept saying.  It’s true.  It gets us a little worked up, thinking, This is the time!  She will learn anything, quickly!  

So on the way home from skiing we asked her what kinds of things she would like to learn sometime.  With some slight prompting (choices between this or that), we believe she is interested in piano, ballet, and art.  We’re hoping to drum up some interest in a sport, too, like soccer.  If not, that’s fine.  But just in case, we’ll make sure she’s exposed to various stuff anyway.  It’s no coincidence that she knows people who do piano, ballet and art.  Know what I mean?  The familiar is appealing.

Our young artist requested face paints, and if she'd just asked for them a single time I might have let it disappear into the ether, but she kept bringing it up...so a quick trip to Joanne's Fabrics ensued.  Here's one of her self-created pieces.

We had a tea party with some of Rosalie's friends from PEPS who also take gymnastics at the same time as her.  This was a post-gymnastics event.  Look at how civilized! I won't mention what the basement play area looked like after these five were done with it.  I call it Hurricane Tea Party.   I'll give them credit, though-- they did help clean it up.

Rosalie and I flew out to visit Uncle Nick, Aunt Amy, and cousin Sydney & Ethan this spring.  It was so great to see them.  The kids played and played and played.  The six of us also got to get out for a beautiful hike.  The cousins got along so well.  It made me wish we lived closer to each other!

In case you think this trail looks like a movie set--well, I agree.  It was a beautiful hike. Colorado is pretty amazing.

These were taken by Uncle Nick:

We also went out to Ocean Shores to visit Grandma & Grandpa Klatt.  The beach is always an essential part of the visit.  Here, Rosalie is "holding" a post upon which a bald eagle was perched.

Team Klatt at Ocean Shores:

In preparation for Easter, we started hiding plastic eggs around the house for each other.  Rosalie was asking for a hint, and Michael said, "Think CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT."  There was an egg hiding in Pedro, our ficus tree in the guest room.  It did indeed look like an ornament.  Anyway, later that evening, we were playing something more like "hide the kitty"  with her stuffed animal.  Michael and I were looking all around for it, and Rosalie said, "Think KITTEN IN A TREE."  We laughed so hard.  Yep, there it was.

Easter itself was a drop-dead-gorgeous kind of day.  It was the nicest Easter I remember having in years.  Usually it's cold & rainy, or at least overcast.   The three of us went for a family walk out to the lookout:

Then we had Raya and her family over for a backyard Easter hunt.  

It was lovely, low-key, and there was even an afternoon nap.  Rosalie looks as excited as I felt about that nap:

My friends Anne Marie and Miguel  and their awesome kids came to visit last week, and I pulled Rosalie out of school for a "surprise adventure."  We went on Seattle's new ferris wheel (it is enormous, on the waterfront) and then went to the park to play.  Too bad they didn't get along at all:

She was instantly sad as soon as they left.  Such great friends, such great kids!

Speaking of great friends and kids, Rosalie also had a playdate with Jenny's lovely kid Fiona, and I thought it was uncanny that both girls decided, on a sunny spring day, that they wanted to wear black pants with black graphic tee-shirts that day.  Rosalie's is a Halloween shirt'--"Spooky Hello Kitty" (inherited from Cousin Sydney!).  Seriously, though, that's weird, don't you think?  Do you think they called each other before the playdate?  

  

Or is the weird thing that I always notice these matching/twinsies moments?  Well, apparently I passed it on to Ro, who noticed during our rainy walk to the Locks today that she had a black umbrella that matched Daddy's coat,  Daddy had a red umbrella that matched my coat, and I had a green umbrella that matched the polka dots on her coat.  What is it about that? I just love it when people look like they meant to do that.  And apparently so does my daughter.

And on a final, cute note...

Below is a scene that Michael saw first thing in the morning when he came downstairs.  Rosalie was reading a story to her friends.