Springtime Happiness

Happy Spring!

 

 In early April I had wanted to take Rosalie to The Quad at University of Washington (The Liberal Arts Quadrangle, officially).  She loves cherry blossoms, so I wanted to show her the 30 or so Yoshino cherry trees that grow there, when they were in bloom.  

Their blossoms, which used to fill me with joy in the spring when I was a student there, have grown in popularity even more in the past two decades.  We arrived there on a Monday afternoon and the place was packed like a party. (The picture above was taken after lots of people had cleared out, and I was sort of strategic to make it look like there were less people). 

People were climbing the trees and standing in front of them for pictures.  Picnic blankets were spread out all over the place.  Seemed like there were only a few actual university students there, if any.  Many Japanese people were there, of course, because it’s a Japanese custom to appreciate the beauty of cherry blossoms in the spring, feasting under the flowers with picnic blankets spread wall-to-wall (or tree-to-tree).  This ritual is called Hanami. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanami  I love the idea of Hanami and am glad that people do this ritual, honoring the coming spring and the beauty of the blossoms.  It’s difficult during this honoring, though, to get your kid alone in a tree for a couple of minutes, but it all works out because everyone is very polite and takes turns. This is Seattle, after all.

I definitely have this feeling, now that Rosalie is the enormous age of 6, that I want to give her the chance to do the things that excite her sense of wonder.  You know? Slow down and enjoy stuff.  So when we went to Ocean Shores to visit Michael's parents recently, we stopped at Sharky's, the gift shop on the strip that will eat you up--kind of literally.

 We have passed by that place so many times, and before this time we had never stopped and gone inside.  Now we know what happens inside the shark.

 Shark stuff!  (and other tourist toys).

 Also this spring I led a little food art activity in Ro's classroom.



Carrots, raisins, cream cheese, rice cake, celery strings (antennae), tomatoes, cheese, basil.  After creating the art, the kids had a healthy snack.  I loved the creative things the kids did with the materials.  Some people did a beautiful job of recreating the scene above, and others made things like tropical islands and parks and faces. Fun! It's cool to volunteer in her class weekly to see how all the kids think and interact.  It's a sweet class.  Hard to believe the school year is almost over, and Ro will be a first grader.

Kind of a wake up call.

Rosalie continues to be best friends with Raya (pictured below with bubbles),

 though she does also branch out sometimes at recess nowadays.  I've seen her playing with other girls, looking for ladybugs on the shrub next to the fence, spinning on the spinny toy with several people, practicing monkey bars a lot, hiding under the play structure being a kitty. Sometimes there are some tears when someone hurts her feelings or people aren't wanting to play the same thing as her, but mostly she seems to get along with people and they like her.  So that's great!

Here are some egg-gathering shots from Grandmama & Papa's farm:

 Goofiness at the airport waiting for the plane home:

Easter was fun--Raya came over for an egg hunt in the back yard.  I'm really sorry to tell you that I accidentally deleted the cute picture of the two of them holding Easter eggs up.  Bummer!  But here were a few of the eggs that Rosalie, Daddy and I decorated (and also a friend of ours, who was visiting on that Saturday)

Dentist checkup...her new tooth is growing in nicely after she lost that first one, and also a new molar is coming in.  I've seen those adult teeth lurking underneath on the x-rays, and they are BIG.  So her tooth-losing adventure might be a slow one, so that her growing mouth can accommodate new teeth whenever possible.  We'll see what happens!

The three of us like to go to the Ballard Locks often, and right next to the Locks is the old railroad track--a great spot for balancing

Rosalie has faced her fear of The Troll under the Fremont Bridge.  You can't see from this pic, but under the Troll's left hand is a full sized VW bug.  The camera doesn't really capture his vast, gruesome quality.  Even as an adult I'm kind of unsettled by him. But there she is, climbing on him like it's nothing.  Way to tackle the troll, kid!

The other weekend we went ice skating at a local rink.  Fun! We all enjoyed it.   Rosalie used the handrail and Daddy's hand for her support.  I was thankful for the walker (you can see it on the right) but can foresee a future without it.

Last Friday Rosalie's class invited the moms to a Mothers' Day Tea in the room at the end of the day.  They set up the tables like long, low banquet tables and served us lemonade and cookies.  It was so sweet--as you can see, they also made us a little vase of tissue paper flowers.  They even did a little musical number for us.  The song was "Four Hugs a Day."  Confession: I got a little weepy when the kids all hugged each other in the number. It was adorable.  We are so lucky to have the best kid ever.