Strawberry U-Pick

Yesterday was the start of the strawberry U-pick season! The season is starting a little later than usual and we're glad it's finally here! We ran out of jam a few months ago, so will have to stock up all over again!

This is what 7.5 pounds of strawberries looks like.

Did 2 batches of freezer jam (Sure Jell pink box is the best I've come across so far!) and still have maybe another batch's worth of strawberries to go. Ran out of bottles!

Birthday

Today was a wonderful day! Started it off with a surprise treat from Pops - he went to Seattle to get my favorite French pastries before they shut the roads down for the parade! We ran a few errands and started in on some heavy duty yard work. Pops got a new tool for trimming the trees and we did some major trimming - the branches fill our front and back yards and will get hauled away tomorrow. We then went to dinner - tried out Pearl in Bellevue for the first time and it was a pleasant experience. Miso butterfish, crab pasta, cucumber melon mojito, strawberry topped bread pudding and complimentary butterscotch ice cream sundaes were really good and the kids enjoyed their meals. I would probably skip the calamari next time though.

Museum of Glass

Today we went to the Museum of Glass - a very neat place! We had a Groupon that expired at the end of the month, so off we went to Tacoma! There were a few outdoor exhibits and the Chihuly Bridge of Glass (where these pics came from). Inside, there were exhibits, a mini movie theater that showed a video explaining how they do what they do (this was the kids' favorite thing), a children's art studio where they had a couple art projects, and the hot shop - where a visiting artist was actually in house creating glass art in front of our eyes. We checked back in throughout the day to watch their progress. We got there a little after 10 AM, took a walk to a nearby brewery for lunch at 1:30 (super duper late for the kids but they were so engrossed in everything!) and left around 3 PM.

One of the exhibits was really interesting for the kids - "Kids Design Glass" where children draw anything that they would like the artists to create in glass. They had a room full of the children's drawing and the glass art next to it. There were animals, dinosaurs and many more creatures from the children's imaginations. In the art studio, Evan and Ellena drew their creations and turned it in, in hopes that their image will be turned into glass some day!

Karate Kids

Signed the kids up for Karate classes through an amazing Living Social deal (20 classes and uniform for $35!!) We got them registered and picked up their gi this afternoon - kids didn't want to take them off for the car ride home! And the first question Evan asked the worker when we entered was, "Where are the ninja stars?" Oh my.

Swim Lessons

On Monday the kids started swim lessons. This is Evan's second summer of swim and for a kid who hates getting water in his eyes in the shower, he sure does love swimming! I was unsure of how Ellena would do in class. She watched Evan do his lessons last year and this year insisted on taking them, too. I figure it could either go really really well (at the dentist she is very attentive and follows all of their directions) or really really BAD (flat out refusing to do what the teachers ask her to do and throwing a little Ellena attitude in there for good measure.) I am pleased to report that she was an absolute star in class! When the teacher would ask who wants to go first, she would never volunteer. But if the teacher asked her specifically, "Ellena, do you want to try..." she would not hesitate to do it! I was so proud of my big girl!

June Pics

My monsters: Ellena got a hold of Evan's vampire teeth and Evan has a fake monster finger.

My clowns - trying to get a picture before leaving for Evan's last day of school.

Evan chowing down at Novilhos.

Happy Father's Day!

For Father's Day, we celebrated with a "linner" (lunch/dinner at 2 PM) at Novilhos, a Brazilian steakhouse in Bellevue. The food was tasty, the service was great, and the kids loved getting their meats carved onto their plate. Evan, by far, enjoyed himself the most - we couldn't get over how much he ate!

Evan's "Last" Day of School

Evan attends a Montessori school a couple minutes away (thank goodness for the close proximity on those days we're running a little late!) He started when he was 2 1/2 years old and is now graduating at 5 1/2... Sort of. Last Friday was the last day of the school year, however he and Ellena will be attending the summer session together for 6 weeks before he heads off to Kindergarten and Ellena will start going 5 days a week. We hope this will help with Ellena's transition to the "big kid" school.

The above picture was taken as we were getting ready to leave for school. I'm tickled that the kids chose to wear the clothes I made them - Evan's shorts and Ellena's shirt.

The kids are walking to the play area, where they got to attend the school's carnival. I love how Ellena got in line with her brother and joined the class as if she were already a student.

Here are the kids with Mrs. Hoffman - Evan's current teacher and Ellena's future teacher!

Birthday BBQ for Uncle Alex

We celebrated Uncle Alex's birthday in June (although his birthday is in May) with a yummy bbq! Here are the kids with the birthday uncle and Aunty Marissa.

The kids loved playing with Uncles Hoku and Link and Evan proclaimed Uncle Link makes the best chocolate chip cookies ever!

Ellena's School Picnic

June! Lots of exciting events, but zero time to blog about them!

To kick off June, we went to Ellena's school picnic. It was the last day of her one-day-a-week pre-preschool. She loved going to school and would ask every morning, "Is today my school day?" We're sorry that this program is ending for her, but are looking forward to Ellena starting at the Montessori school this summer!