Tuesday, August 26, 2014

August 26, 2014

One week until the first day of school.  Hurray!  I've been looking longingly at the boys' new backpacks hanging up in their closet every day for the past month.

This morning Asher and I biked down to Green Lake so he could attend soccer camp on the pristine green soccer fields next to the lake.  Then I came home and worked remotely while Ed took care of Noe.  At noon I picked Asher up from camp by bike and we stopped at the library to collect more books and drop off others before heading home.

We all ate a quick lunch together, and then headed out to Mercer Island to play at the Adventure Playground.  This is essentially a forest where kids have access to all kinds of building materials and can build, construct, imagine, and explore.  The kids had a great time playing and pounding nails all afternoon!  On our way home, we stopped by a home in the Wallingford neighborhood that hosts a year-round 'soccer shoe bank' on their side patio.  We found some cleats that don't pinch Asher's feet and I will add his old shoes to the bank next time I am in the neighborhood again.

After a seafood dinner, Ed took the boys for a walk down to the lake while I worked on getting ready for some upcoming Lego robotics classes.  I enjoyed the cool breeze coming in through the windows and the rare silence in the house while I worked.  There is just a hint of fall in the evening air and we haven't seen any real rain in weeks.  Such a beautiful time of year here in the PNW!

Before bed, I worked with Noe on his literacy skills and using his communication device.  When I told him we were finished for the evening, he requested to continue working.  This doesn't happen very often and he probably just wanted an opportunity to earn more fruit snack rewards, but I'll take it as a win.  Now Ed and I are settling down to finish our 'Mad Men' marathon.   Just a few more days before the Seahawks officially open their season, so I'll try and enjoy these last couple of evenings together.

#LovingtheSeattleLife

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Giraffes By Asher, Age 9

Asher has been working on completing requirements for his Cub Scout Bear badge this summer. I'm not a fan of the BSA program, so this is something he does on his own, without any push from me.   Someday he will understand the politics behind it all, but for now, he enjoys going on adventures with his friends and the refreshments at den meetings.  And I do see the appeal…he likely isn't going to get a chance to shoot a BB gun with Ed or myself.

Anyways, one of the many badge requirements was to research and write up a short report on any subject.  I decided to repost his report on our family blog because it is such a cute representation of him at age nine:  Bright, engaging, full of all kinds of useless facts and righteous indignation.   And always looking for a laugh.  It will be fun to read this a few years from now……

GIRAFFES

Here are some amazing facts about my favorite animal, giraffes.

First, giraffes don't sleep much.  You're probably thinking, "oh my gosh giraffes are gonna get sick after staying up till midnight," but they do that because of those mean lions and tigers out in the savanna.  As you can see, if they sleep, the tigers are gonna sneak up on them and eat them so some giraffes died because of that.  The ones that stayed up till 4 o'clock in the morning survived.* In fact, they still do that at the zoo even though they're safe and far away from the lions and tigers, I hope.  This is no excuse to as your parents to stay up and watch TV!

Second, a giraffe's neck is up to 6 feet, 7 inches.  THAT IS NOT FAIR!  Why can't mother nature create us like that!  Long necks, oh yeah!  I could get my cereal from the top of the fridge because of that instead of climbing up and getting it.  We'd have to make our doors extra tall for our heads to fit in, too.  Alright, let's stop talking about that and talk about why giraffes have long necks.  That's because they love to eat leaves and where do they come from ?  Trees, of course.  So they have long necks to reach up and eat the leaves.  You probably knew that.  It's not like Mother Nature would put our food in the trees to reach.

Third, giraffe's skin is brownish-orangish and white.  I like my skin how it is so there's no point in changing it.  Their skin is that color because when they're born, they start off white.  Then they start changing color to brownish-organish and white.  I really don't want to say that a million times.  I'm gonna say white instead!  And for some reason they're white.  I like their color.  Do you think they could blend in with nature?

Fourth, many giraffes live in Africa.  That's pretty obvious.  Above, I said lions and tigers and savanna so you can see they live in Africa.  I heard in Africa they have mosquito nets around their beds so they don't get bitten by mosquitos.  But that has nothing to do with giraffes.

Fifth, baby giraffes are called calfs.  I love baby giraffes.  They're so cute.  I love them.  I kinda talked about them above.  Read on.

And finally, giraffes are common hunter targets.  I don't like hunters.  Why do they have to kill giraffes?  Why can't they get lions and tigers instead of giraffes?  They use the body as meat, tail hair as fly swatters, and hair for necklaces and bracelets.  Why can't thy go to the store and buy them?  LOL

I hope you enjoyed this helpful, and crazy report on giraffes :) :) :)
 


*We talked about natural selection on our last trip to the zoo.  I guess he kind-of got it?