Sunday, June 14, 2009
Audrey Graduation
Our friends Kathy and Mark had their first child a couple of years before we had Audrey. They went to a co-op preschool and it always sounded cool but kind of a mystery. But Carol checked it out and ended up getting into the Phinney Neighborhood Co-op Preschool when Audrey was an infant. That was five years ago. Charlotte started when she was a year old and went for two years. This preschool was a fantastic experience.
If you're not familiar with the concept, at a co-op preschool the parents help "teach" the school. There is a paid teacher for each class (Infant, Toddlers, Tow's, Three's and Pre-Kindergarten). As the kids get older they attend more days and the parents work less. This year Carol worked one of the four days that Audrey attended per week and one of the two days Charlotte attended per week. On Tuesday mornings Carol got a few hours to herself with no kids.
The fellow parents (it's mostly the moms who work) have been great. Carol made some wonderful friends and so did the girls. Everyone there has similar values to ours and the approach is very casual. It was a wonderful fit for us. A few of the other families are talking about house swapping with us next Summer so we can have an extended visit to Seattle.
At the end of the year celebration Audrey's class sang some songs for the audience. Then each child in her class got a certificate and a beanstalk from Teacher Trina to symbolize that the kids are like beanstalks: they have everything they need to grow and they are perfect just the way they are.
Thanks, PNPC! Kindergarten, here we come!
Last Days in Seattle
Seattle has been giving us a fantastic sendoff. Usually the weather in late May and June can be depressing because it can be wet when you want Summer to start. This year the weather during that period has been fantastic. We've had a lot of good times outdoors.
On May 23 the Eastgate Cycling Club held a farewell ride in my honor. It turned out to be a short ride but then we all went to the Islander Restaurant on Mercer Island, which is owned by fellow Eastgate member Brian Patton. We had a great time hanging out in the sun. Bryce was even kind enough to go get donuts for Audrey & Charlotte.
I've written a lot about cycling exploits with members of the Eastgate club. I've been riding with them since 2002 and I have really, really loved it. Faster riders have joined and transformed the club since I first joined, and I have learned a lot and really expanded the limits of my conditioning by riding with them. Thanks especially to Scott Sensenbrenner for holding the club together all these years (for at least 10 years before I showed up). I'll miss you all.
On a different day we had Britt, Ken, Ian and Kaia over for breakfast. We hiked down to Alki Beach midday and the kids got to play in the forest and at the beach. Then we came back home and the kids were having such a great time that everybody stayed for lunch and then dinner. A very fun day. We'll miss them, too!
Our families have been wonderful babysitters and Audrey and Charlotte love to be with all of the aunts, uncles and grandparents. Aunt Betsy got in the habit of taking the girls for a few hours every Friday evening so Carol and I have had very regular date nights. We are really going to miss that.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Our Boston Home
From May 12-18 Carol and I traveled to Boston to try to find a new home. Let me tell you, trying to find a buy a house in 6 days is a very weird experience.
Carol and I have very similar tastes and we're also decisive. So we knew if we saw what we liked we'd be ready to commit. That helps.
Way back in November when we started contemplating the move we had identified West Roxbury as our target neighborhood. It has a couple of good public elementary schools, is a pleasant area and is a great commute for me. And on day 1 of our trip we found several potential houses there and one obvious winner. In Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood it would be sort of a dream house for us. The second day we made a low offer on it.
As the negotiations proceeded we also checked more carefully into schools. The Boston school district won't tell you anything about getting into schools until you have an address to work with. Well, it turned out schools just weren't going to work. Kindergarten (Audrey will go in September) is the key time at which you have a shot to get into a school you want, and we would be last to register. There was almost zero chance Audrey was going to get into one of the nearby decent schools, and the other public school options were farther away and very, very poor schools. We briefly considered a nearby Catholic school, but we'd be committing to that expense for 6 years most likely, and maybe for Charlotte as well.
Hmm, back to square one.
Our agent lives in Melrose, which is slightly farther from work in the opposite direction: north of Boston. The house prices were very similar. Melrose is a small town - only 4 square miles - and it has five elementary schools all of which are decent. So we looked at several houses in Melrose and decided on 35 Dyer Ave., a 4 bedroom, 1.5 bath "colonial" built in 1900. It's not perfect, but it's a very sweet house and we can envision being happy there.
We came to agreement on a price and I stayed an extra day to accompany the inspector. No major problems, so we close on it on July 7 which is the day after I start work in Boston.
Meanwhile the sale of our Seattle house closed on May 26 so that's all done. The buyers are a young couple and this is their first house. They're excited.
Now we're just trying to prepare for our cross-country road trip and waiting for the move. The movers will be packing our stuff on June 16-17 and loading the truck on the 18th. We will depart on the 19th in the camper van. More on that plan in another post.
We have plenty of room for visitors in the Melrose house! Come and see us!
Hood Canal Camping
Between Disneyland and Carol and my house hunting trip to Boston we squeezed in a one-night camping trip with our friends Scott and Susana and their year-old daughter Sophia. We chose somewhere not too far away: Twanoh State Park on Hood Canal.
It was a nice small campground. We shared an open campsite with a big grassy area. The beach was a short walk away across the road. Hood Canal is known for its oysters and the beach at this park is covered with them. It's a beach you wouldn't want to stumble and fall on because everything is covered with sharp barnacles.
Audrey had a great time turning over rocks and oyster clusters. Every one had a dozen tiny crabs living underneath they would scatter when uncovered.
We had a great dinner together and then sat around the fire and made s'mores. It was the first time Audrey and Charlotte had roasted marshmallows. There was a little hike right out of the campground that was a good adventure, although Audrey didn't like that it went up.
The next day we went to Belfair State Park about 10 miles away on the route home. It's also a great park with some fantastic campsites almost on the beach.
We wrapped up the trip with a Mother's Day celebration at my sister Tricia's house. My parents had just completed their spring northward migration so it was great to see them. Tricia and Frank always put on a delicious spread.
Disneyland!
We were at Disneyland from April 21-25 and had an absolutely fantastic time. It took me more than a month to find time to edit the video and photos, but here they are.
So much to tell...
Carol's parents Dennis and Mary joined us at Disneyland and were in the hotel room next door.
Carol has been planning this trip in her head since before she got pregnant with Audrey. She got serious a few months ago and researched how to do it with young kids. One key was to go for multiple days, so we bought a package deal through Alaska Airlines with free airfare for the kids and 5-day passes to Disneyland and California Adventure (a whole new amusement park in part of the former Disneyland parking lot). With a multi-day pass we could relax and not have ambitious goals. We decided the trip was really for the girls so we would let them set the agenda (with some guidance from us :)
We were a little afraid they might not ride anything so we took them to the small amusement park at Seattle Center to get them used to the idea. Carol showed them videos of Disneyland rides on YouTube so they'd know what to expect. Finally we used a little bribery: we told Audrey she could have cotton candy if she went on Pirates of the Caribbean and Charlotte if she went on the Haunted Mansion. They both did so, and they got their cotton candy. We went on tons of other rides with them and they enjoyed all but one...
Audrey indicated she wanted to go on the Matterhorn so I hopped on with her. She got scared right off the bat by the monster in the cave (you only see his glowing red eyes and hear him roar) and spent the whole rest of the ride terrified that he was going to show up again. I don't think she even realized she had ridden a roller coaster.
Most days we took a break for a few hours in the afternoon and went back to the hotel. Then we could enjoy the evenings being a little refreshed.
We deliberately scheduled the trip outside of anybody's spring break and that really paid off. Almost everything we wanted to go on we could walk right on. Our last day was a Saturday and it got a lot more crowded, so by late morning we were back at the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail at California Adventure which just has free play and no lines to wait in.
Some highlights and surprises:
- Charlotte loved the Haunted Mansion and rode it more than once.
- Audrey loved Soarin' Over California, a spectacular IMAX film in which you sit in a feet-dangling seat that rises way up in the air for the film so you're up in the middle of the tall screen. Amazingly immersive.
- Carol got choked up by Charlotte's reaction to meeting the princesses (especially Snow White) at the character breakfast. Charlotte was mesmerized.
- Audrey was afraid of the caves on Tom Sawyer Island. But I convinced to try them with me and she fell in love with them. They were a childhood favorite of mine so it was rewarding to see her come around to them.
Saturday afternoon I picked up a rental car and we drove to Palm Desert. Everybody seemed ready for a rest because the girls were calm and content. Carol and I just laid around for the entire first day. We made our usual visit to The Living Desert and saw the huge model train layout again. Grandma and Grandpa got to show off their granddaughters at Sunday donuts at the clubhouse. Audrey couldn't get enough of the swimming pool. She discovered that putting her head under water was not so hard and then she couldn't show off her new skill enough.
With Carol's parents at Disneyland and then a pleasant visit with mine, the girls got to spend time with all of their grandparents.
We can't wait for our next visit to Disney in a year or two!
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