Sprinklers

Today our automated sprinklers came on at 4 PM instead of 4 AM and this is what happened next...

 "Logan! Stay out of the water!!!"

Yeah, that worked for all of about 1 minute.

Chinese Garden

We had such a fabulous fieldtrip yesterday, to the Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland.  We met our wonderful friends there. 

The kids are standing in a neat, circular entry into the garden, but of course I cropped that part off in an attempt to zoom in on the loveliness that is these eager, excited children.

The garden is just one city block (40,000 square feet).  It is surrounded by city streets and buildings, but inside...

it's a lush, Asian paradise. 

There is a lake, Lake Zither, that was one of the kids' favorite things about the place.  

They loved watching the Koi fish swim and splash.

That green plant growing in the lake is called Lotus.  The Lotus plant is similar to the water lily.  There are hundreds of native Chinese plants in this garden.  

Not sure of the name of this one. 

Here Logan and his buddy are hiding in a 
Weeping Willow and Bush Clover.

And this sweet, little red head is showing us the Hardy Begonia, which is a symbol of feminine modesty, beauty and virtue. This plant has been admired by poets and painters since the Ming Dynesty (1368-1644AD)  

The garden also had beautiful engraved wood work

and a calligrapher, who handpainted, with authentic brushes, Chinese symbols of any animal the kids chose.  The animals of choice ranged from a Shark to a mouse.  He then wrote "For (child's name) to keep and appreciate. The year of the rabbit. The Chinese Garden. (and then his signature)."   It was fun watching him work. 

Here's Logan with his "lion" and a weird grin of some sort.

And Taylor with her "cat."  What's with the weird smiles today?

The kids drew out "fortune sticks."  I forget what the kids' fortunes were.  Something like, 'You will be rich and take very good care of your parents in their old age' and 'You will become the most obedient child the world has ever seen!'

"I'm smiling as big as I can.  Hurry up and take the picture, so I can go run around some more!"

 "I'm a pretty princess!  I'm a pretty princess!"

The kids had so much fun it was actually hard to get them to sit still long enough to take a picture. 

The kids were given a guide/scavenger hunt to help them find and notice things.  They all did really well with that, working as a team and sharing with others what they discovered.

Far and away, the best things we saw at the Chinese garden were...

our friends!!!

Taylor loves....

Decimal Street.  She asked to do it, even though it's SATURDAY!!!

We take turns building numbers while the others aren't looking, then come and figure out what the new number is and write it down.  

The first time we did this the kids had so much fun they didn't want to stop.  Finally we moved on to something else and I casually asked the kids, "Do you know what that's called, what we were just doing?"  

They answered, "Decimal Street" and "playing with blocks." 

I said, "It's called Math! and you guys loved it huh!?!  Math is fun isn't it!"  

They agreed, math can be fun.  

Yes! (Fist pump)  We're making progress!!!

The most important reason I started homeschooling...

There were days last year that Logan didn't see his father at all!  James would be at school before Logan woke up.  Then if James was able to come home for lunch, Logan would miss out because he was at school.  And Logan would be asleep before James got home from studying.  It didn't happen very often, but it did happen.  

Not this year though!!!  It doesn't matter if James comes home at 11am or 1pm, it doesn't matter if it's for 20 minutes or 2 hours, Logan will be there to greet him!

Ever since our trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory

this is how the kids want to eat their cheese.  

I have to cut it into small squares and give them a toothpick.  The kids were so excited when the found "Tillamook" cheese at the grocery store.  "Can we get some?  Can we get some?  Please!"  

Yeah, sure, it's just cheese.

Logan wants a new toy

So he asked if he could earn some money.  I told him I had a great job that he could do. 

Vacuuming out the car!  He was actually very eager and excited.  He really wants that toy.  

First he had to clean out the car and then he vacuumed.  

And vacuumed and vacuumed and vacuumed.  Of course he had to vacuum his shirt and his shorts and his hands and the bottom of his shoes too.  

He vacuumed for 2 hours.  What do you think we should pay him?  What is the going rate for kid work these days? 

Why won't the door unlock?

 

I think I'm a bit tired or maybe I'm just acting out of habit and not thinking clearly, but I honestly did this today!  And it took me a minute to figure out why the door wouldn't unlock.