The Fourth (2010)

We headed to the local parade in the early afternoon. This is a tradition for us, and one that we always enjoy. The weather was pretty iffy, and we lucked out and missed the rain. It rained in all the cities around us, but not ours!

 We scored a great spot and got settled right before the parade began. Lookie who we saw in the parade! Joe and his daughters Kayla and Breanna!

Gotta love Star Wars!

Note: This years Darth was short! Of course my girls noticed.

We headed straight home to help host our First Annual Neighborhood Potluck. It was a great turnout!

We had our own fireworks show right in front of the house. I am not one to like the noise that comes along with this holiday, but the kids sure had a good time!

Dao made a fire pit and Smores were made!

Thanks to all of our family and friends for celebrating this special day with us!

Leavenworth For The Day

We have some family in town from California and so we have been playing tourist. We went to Leavenworth for the afternoon to show them what a cute little town it is.

I love that they have a Starbucks here! One of my favorite things about Starbucks is that the bathrooms are almost always clean. I know that it is a safe and clean place to take my kids to the bathroom, so it is always our first stop!

Next we were hungry so we went to "Munchen Haus" where we had them try the delicious brats. Dao got the "big Bob" and put everything on it and of course an ice cold beer to go with it!

The girls had pretzels and hotdogs. The prices are decent, and the food is delish. You should definitely stop and eat there.

This is one of the girls favorite shops. They have every kind of silly hat that you could think of  and they like to try them on and look in the mirror.

I'm not sure why Payton was posing like this in almost every picture I take of her lately, but I thought it was kinda funny that she is in a tank top with rosy cheeks next to a Christmas Tree. They have a few Christmas shops that have a very good selection of ornaments. This was taken at the Kris Kringl shop and they were stocking up for the holiday busy season. I am so not ready to think about Christmas yet!

It was over 80 degrees out, and Emma was happy to find a shady spot. I love all the flower pots on the sidewalks there. It adds such a pretty splash of color.

Another shady spot. The girls played for a long time with this drink fountain. Apparently if you hold the top one down, the little one at the bottom (for dogs) would shoot up and squirt you.

(From left to right: Dao, Frankie, Vanessa, Payton, Kaylin, Connie, and Queena)

A trip to Leavenworth would not be complete without an ice-cream cone! We stopped at because they were making handmade waffle cones that smelled delicious!

(James, Haley, and Emma)

The sun was starting to go down, and we wanted to stop at Deception Pass, so we left soon after we finished the ice-cream.

For some reason I didn't take any pics of the falls at Deception Pass. :(

After the Pass, we all headed home and the kids fell asleep in the car.

It was a very good day!

Father's Day 2010

Father's Day started off on Friday, with a box on our porch addressed for Dao. When he got home from work, I gave him the box and we all gathered around curiously to see what it could be.

It was a delicious box of Sherries Berries. Chocolate covered strawberries and a special cookie for just for him! It had a sweet note from his California family that read  "Happy Father's Day Dao! Hope you and your girls enjoy the berries! Have a wonderful Father's Day celebration! We'll see you soon! - Connie and Van". What a great way to start his special weekend!

Thanks Connie and Van! We ♥ you!

Sunday we went to Dao's soccer game, and then headed to the Seattle Pacific Science Center. We had planned on our usual picnic and fishing at a local pond, but it was raining hard, so we had to change our plans. Turns out the G6 had also changed their plans, and decided to go to the Science Center!
 David's Dad, Eddie (also known as Grandpa Eddie or GE) came along with the G6. I asked the Daddies to pose together for a pic, and they graciously obliged. :)

 

The Daddies took the kids into the butterfly exhibit, and I gave Dao my camera. I was so happy to see that he actually took some pics!

Apparently, the butterflies loved GE! They were on his shirt, his pants, and even his hat! The kids thought that was pretty cool.

There is a space shuttle type "ride" that the kids love to go on. It counts down and they sit and pretend they are heading into space. Right when it "takes off" Dao starts shaking it like crazy, and the kids crack up.

The sad thing is that the kids behind our kids want Dao to do it for them too!

The big kids go play on the "shadow wall" and the little kids like to play on the computers.

They have a new circus exhibit where you can dress up, and use a stage. The kids got totally into it.

So did the Daddies!

Of course the kids love it when the Daddies play with them. :)

 

It was another successful Father's Day!

6th Grade Graduation

Our oldest Haley is an amazing girl! We are so very proud of her accomplishments this year! She has completed 6th grade. And it was a busy year for her indeed. She played in the schools Band, Jazz Band, was in the African American Exchange Club, played Fall and Spring soccer and gave everything 100%!

 Her classroom does a big graduation where the 4th and 5th graders write a play and practice for months. The play is about the 6th graders and what each one of them might be doing in 20 yrs. They said that Haley was going to be a world known piano player and still playing for audiences. :)

 Here she is with her fellow graduates!

 I asked all of her besties to go outside for a group photo. I'm so happy they all agreed! Such a great group of kids!

 With one of her teachers, Siri. Her other teacher, Lynn, had to have surgery on her shoulder the week before school was out. This will give her plenty of time to recoup for next year, where I am hoping that Kaylin will get to be in her class. Siri and her husband (the Assistant Principle) will be leaving our school this year to move closer to family. We just found they are having a baby and are so happy for them. It will be there first!

It was such an emotional day for Haley. She is leaving the center/classroom that she has spent the last 3 yrs of her life in. She and her friends will all be split up for Middle Schools classes. Our school is K-8, so she will still see many of them, but it will not be the same.

Dao and I met in the 7th grade and started dating in 8th. I keep telling her that she could meet her future husband next year! That is until her Daddy completely freaks out and says "No Way!". Hahaha!

Third Year Party

At our school, we have Kindergarten, Primary centers (which are for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students), Intermediate (for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders) and Middle School (7th & 8th grade). At the end of the Third year, a party is thrown at a local pool to celebrate completion of the Primary years.

At the party the kids start off with a "mixer" where the kids have to answer certain questions on a piece of paper by finding kids who have the same birthday as you, or have blue eyes, etc... They are not allowed to ask the same student twice, they can not ask someone they know, and they can not ask adults. The party and mixer are designed for the kids to get to know each other in the hopes of them starting new friendships in their new classes for Intermediate.

Ummm...ya. I have four kids, and the only way I can go to the pool with them all, is to have them (not the oldest anymore) where life jackets. They have had lessons, but I guess I am a little uncomfortable with them just floating around with out their safety vests. Well, Kaylin was one of the only kids who wore a life jacket at the party, and it was a bit of a wake up call for me. I need to let go and let her swim and float on her own, especially when she can touch the ground!

Cousin Luc is like a fish in the water. He had just gotten in and I asked him to turn for a picture. He was about to do the peace signs, but I took the pic too soon, and it looks like he is doing quotations! haha!

This is such an exciting right of passage for these youngsters! Just one of the many things that I love about our school!

Art Walk

Our school is very artsy. Every year the classes work hard on projects to present at the annual "Art Walk", where families come to an "open house" style event. The classrooms are all set up with art and projects that students are proud of. Music is played by the band, and our PTA type board hands out free Italian sodas.

Last year a silent art auction was started during the event and was very successful. When they asked for volunteers to donate for this year, our oldest immediately thought of her Grandma and Goo-Goo's (aunties) who are all very crafty.

Goo-Goo B, designs her own Jewelry and donated a lovely set with freshwater pearls and garnets!

Grandma hand knitted this cute scarf and hat set, along with another hat, and an infant hat and booties set!

Our girls were so proud to walk around the auction and announce that they're family members made items that they were bidding on!

The classrooms make it a full event and even fancy up the hallways with welcoming displays. This is the entrance to our oldest daughters classroom.

The kids in her class were challenged to create a project based on the work of Alexander Calder. She did "Broadway Productions" and created a theatre with a stage and people sitting to watch the show. While walking around the class, the kids were all so proud of what they created, as they should be. It was very cool!

They also were learning about Lewis and Clark and created a map to document their trip.

Kaylin and Em are in the same class, as it is 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders. This is the entrance to their classroom.

Every year they have a big project, this year it was called "The Expert Project". Kaylin made a list of things she was good at, and narrowed it down to things that she is good and passionate about. She chose (all on her own) "How to make a friend". She got her bestie, Isa and her sister, Haley to help. They made cute signs and took pictures of the steps. I gave her some patterned scrapbook paper and printed her pictures and she did the rest. She did an amazing job!

Em didn't make a list. She just announced that she was going to do "How To Braid Hair". I then asked her if she knew how to braid hair. She said that she did and then showed me buy getting to strands of her little sisters hair and twisting it. Ummm....not exactly braiding, but she was so dead set on it, that I couldn't make her change her project. Instead, we got out one of those big Barbie Heads with the long hair and I showed her how. She picked it up so quickly! After that, she just kept practicing (often using her little sister), and she wrote down the steps that it takes so that she could teach her class. Her Daddy drew the pictures of the hair, and she colored them and glued them to her poster board. I again, pulled out some scrapbooking supplies and let her pick the embellishments she wanted to use. It turned out great!

Cousin Luc, did his project on Chess! He had spent a good part of the year in Chess Club (the one that his cousin Sheree from G6 brought to our school) and really enjoyed it.

I forgot to mention that the kids also had to do a 3-5 min. presentation demonstrating how they are experts.  Kids made cookies, smoothies, gak, did presentations on chess, baseball, friendship bracelets, etc...

It was so fun to watch these!

The kids had some of their artwork in the hallway. They used construction paper and tissue paper to make these "3D" type pictures. (Kaylin helped her teacher get ready for the art walk, and  he was all out of juice, so he rewarded her with a soda! Wow! She was a happy girl!)

I love that the hand in Em's pic had rings on and nails painted. Ha! She is such a Diva!

Thank you Goo-Goo B and Grandma for your kind and generous donations!

Thank you to Goo-Goo Linh, Goo-Goo B, Goo-Goo Xuan, Dan, Auntie Robin, Auntie Andria and Uncle Van, and Grandma Ruppert for coming and supporting our girls!

We love you!

My little Daisy

Em and her troop. :)

(She has known six of the girls since pre-school. Her buddy, Breanna, is also in the troop, but not in the picture.)

Em has enjoyed another year of being a Daisy in Girl Scouts. This year, we unfortunately missed many a meeting due to conflicting schedules. But, she did have fun and has decided to continue with Girl Scouts next year. She went through the bridging ceremony to become a Brownie. They received flowers and ate cookies to celebrate!