Playing during Spring Break

Spring Break wasn't all work. We made time for fun as well. On Wednesday we drove down to San Jose to meet Erika and Emily from Monterey. We went to the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum. We had so much fun there that we forgot to take photos.

Charlotte and I made a corn husk doll together. It reminded me of an Ohio History class I took one summer at the Old Stone House in Lakewood.

After a lovely picnic lunch outside the museum, we walked over to the carousel.













The children took three rides each. In addition to the ostrich, shark, and hummingbird, they rode a dragon, horse, cheetah, elephant, wolf, and others. It was quite a zoo!

Working through Spring Break

One of the tasks keeping me very busy since last October is our school garden project. I submitted a grant proposal through Lowe's Toolbox for Education, and our school was awarded $7000! Now I am coordinating the effort to make our dream garden a reality. This is turning out to be a slower process than planned, and more work as well.

Here is our yard before the project began.

Ten half wine barrels were donated a few weeks ago. We filled them with soil, and the kids were so excited!


Before Spring Break several classes planted seeds in their barrels and transplanted seeds that they had germinated inside. The garden needed tending during the break, so we made several visits.

Here they are planning what to plant.

Now they are sowing the seeds.

And watering them.

We returned to school yesterday, and this barrel already had many green sprouts: snap peas, radishes, and several kinds of lettuce. We'll post more photos soon!

Sunshine for Spring Break

We are so grateful that after what seems like weeks of rain, the sun has come out during our Spring Break! We decided to take advantage of it while it lasts. A few weeks ago the children insisted that they have never been to Coit Tower. They have, but maybe it was just too long ago to remember. We went again today.


We could not have asked for better. It was sunny, fairly warm, there were no crowds, and the views were lovely.

San Francisco and the Bay Bridge

Charlotte, Alexander, and the Golden Gate Bridge

Quilts

I've written before about the beautiful quilt that my friend Leona made me. It's a very cold and rainy day today, so we may find ourselves wrapped up in it soon!

A few weeks ago we joined Leona and her husband Larry at a quilt show in Santa Clara. It was particularly exciting to see two of Leona's quilts displayed.

Congratulations, Leona, and thanks for sharing your gifts with us!

Lily Cai dance

This school year Charlotte has been participating in the Lily Cai Chinese dance program at her school. She has enjoyed it very much. Her teacher says that she's "very smart" and listens well when she corrects her.


Last week Charlotte performed for the first time. It took place in the school cafeteria in front of all the students and teachers and some families. In May they will perform in a dance festival at Davies Symphony Hall.

New Year's Eve Bowling

On December 31st Alexander reminded me that we never used the free bowling passes that he had won during the library's summer reading program. They were expiring that very day! I had planned to do laundry in the afternoon, but we decided to go bowling instead.

Charlotte and Alexander had both done Wii bowling, but had never even held a real bowling ball before. Fortunately the Presidio Bowling Center has bumper bowling.

Charlotte earned a strike and a spare and reached a total of 96 points! Alexander wasn't able to give the ball enough power to knock down more than a few pins at a time, but he had a great time anyway.

They have already asked when we can go bowling again!

Lean on an Eqyptian

This year our school has a dance teacher as part of the VAPA (Visual and Performing Arts) program. She worked with Charlotte's class for 10 weeks in the first semester, and will work with Alexander's class for 10 weeks in the second semester.

Before Christmas the parents were invited to watch as the children performed the dances that they learned. They were far from polished performances, as they only had ten practices during which to learn the dance steps and choreography. Even so, they learned some dances, performed in front of a large audience, and had lots of fun!

First dance: "Lean on Me"

Second dance: "Walk like an Eqyptian"