Spring has sprung

Easter.










Celebrating a belated birthday. Bonus: The kids got their very own sundae complete with candle.







Sylvia and Nonna (me) headed for a girl's outing to see the Seattle Pacific Ballet company ballerinas in training perform Hansel & Gretal. Beforehand Sylvia was able to touch real ballet slippers and various of cotten-candy colored tutus and grab a bite before the performance began. So impressed with the hardness of real ballet shoes she kept looking at her sparkly maryjanes and saying, "mine are hard, feel them". She has for a while twirled around like a ballet dancer and worn her little tutu. She was enjoying the performance and tracking the story line when the darkness of the theater made her so sleepy she completely conked out. We'll do this again as it was sooooo fun.

Papa builds a playhouse

Tom (aka Papa) had plenty of help building this 4 x 4-foot dream house. A genuine wooden structure put together with lots of screws, bolts and washers, the kids didn't wait until it was fully erected to begin playing in it. Andy donned ski mask and gloves to more safely help in the construction. Last night Tom finished the structure complete with roof and topped with a wind vane. Sylvia had already managed to bar-b-que some hamburgers and corn on its tiny grill and transfer loads of sand to the house's tiny sink (what was the logic there? we didn't ask). A picture of the finished structure will follow in a later blog as it was dark by the time the house was completed.

Zoo-mazium

Emerging from a bout with the flu, persistent haking cough aside, Tom (aka Papa) and I (aka Nonna) took the kids to the Woodland Park Zoo on a Spring-ish day. We saw the new digs for the penguins (huge but where were the penguins basking in the pleasure of their new and improved home?), visited the gorillas (who were, of course, just sitting there watching us), observed the Flamingos, and then had lunch. After lunch we headed straight to the Zoomazium with all sorts of activities for the kids. It's popular. Lots of little kids bouncing around. Andy touched a real cockroach (Ewhhhh), Sylvia spotted then carried around her "mingo" (Flamingo). Both rode the bronze baby elephant though Sylvia actually filled her cupped hands with water from the fountain and "fed" it to the elephant (little puddle at her feet). It was a fun, albeit, short trip to the Zoo but with the Spring weather it just felt time to go.

Andy Turns 5

On Saturday Andy turned 5 years old. We forget what a big step is 5 years. In the fall he begins Kindergarten and it hardly seems possible to this grandmother. In any case, his Mom made sure that this was a birthday party Andy would not soon forget. She invited 17 of his friends, surprised him with a Scooby Doo bouncey house, painted dog faces on everyone, staged a wonderful series of mystery clues to find the missing cake (stolen by the masked bandit -- his dad) which led them through a lot of fun stomping balloons, wrapping themselves as mummies, knocking candies from a pinata, tossing balls into the bat hole and finally to the cake. Great birthday party Mom!