[day 273... sep 30]

Last week was Woods Parent Meeting, this week it's Meadows' turn. It made for a busy day, because we had Carissa time (Niall's OT) in Shoreline after school, then drove all the way back to Bellevue for the meeting. We got sandwiches at the Subway for dinner, and just as we were leaving, Cory's friend Theo and his family arrived. It was still a half hour or so before the meeting, so we stayed and visited with Theo's family while they ate their sandwiches, then headed over together.

It was great to learn about Cory's class and the various projects and routines. With Joyce as a teacher, they always have a huge variety of things going on - a characteristic I remember well from both Kellen's and Niall's tenure with Joyce! She works very hard to keep fresh, interesting material in the classroom and to integrate the children's emerging interests in a rich, educational mix that not only covers academic areas but develops their social skills and tends to their emotional needs as well. No wonder she's in the classroom every evening until at least the time I walk by on my way to picking up my kids from Extended Day.

[day 272... sep 29]

As I drive back home through the valley, this is the view I often see to the south: a wide sweep of green grass and sprinklers (courtesy of the company that grows sod) and then Mt. Rainier at the far end. It's so beautiful.

We have another gorgeous view of Mt. Rainier on our way to school driving down 405 - at least on a fair day when it's still light as we drive down the freeway in the morning. It always makes my heart sing to see the mountain in all its glory. Just a normal part of our day but so awe-inspiring, every time.

[day 271... sep 28]

Breadtabs! Kathi's class started collecting breadtabs years ago, in response to the children wondering how many "a million" really was if you had that many items in front of you. This project shows just how long it takes to collect a MILLION of something. The tabs are collected and counted, then placed in bags of hundreds, then gathered into thousands. I believe there are four or five bags of TEN thousands by now - ? Perhaps more than that. But still a long, long way to go to get to a million.

Joyce's class took up the challenge several years back, so Niall and his friends have counted breadtabs for several years. And now that Joyce is Cory's teacher, Cory and his classmates are following the tradition.

I started saving and bringing breadtabs to school whenever I first heard about the project, sometime early in Kellen's career at Little School. I do it automatically now, whether my child is in the class that is counting the breadtabs or not. Someday we will get to a million!

[day 270... sep 27]

Keeping up with my new weekend plan for going on adventures on Sundays, we headed down to Snoqualmie Falls today. It was a beautiful day, perfect for an outdoor outing. I've never been to the Falls before (amazing but true) so it was a treat to finally see them, even at this time of year when they're relatively calm.

Unfortunately, the trail from the viewpoint near the top of the Falls down to the river at the bottom of the Falls is closed because they're working on the hydroelectric plant (which I didn't even know they had at Snoqualmie Falls - the turbines are all underground). So we drove around and eventually found the parking lot for the lower viewing area and river access. (They apparently don't want people to find the park because there are no signs or other guidance after a single sign off the main highway.)

We all walked over the boardwalk (which goes back around the building you see in this photo) to the viewpoint that looks "up" to the Falls, then walked back and climbed down the rocks to the water. Tynor decided to stay put and read.

There were lots of big river rocks exposed, with the river so low right now. Niall and Cory loved climbing around them. We watched a small kayaking group head out down the river too - very colorful, looked like a lot of fun. We can't wait to go back!

[day 269... sep 26]

The annual Little School Heritage Festival is always a great event, with a wide variety of food and terrific entertainment from students, teachers, and parents who perform in a "variety show."

This year's highlight (in my opinion!) was all the teachers (those who came, at least) performing "In the Kitchen," a popular song at Friday singalongs. The teachers dressed up with all kinds of kitchen items on their heads and hanging from their instruments, and (just as the song says) banged on pots and pans at the appropriate place. It was hilarious!

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the kitchen singers because I was taking a video. But this is Niall, sitting with some parents from Alice's class, enjoying the show as one of his classmates plays the violin on stage. (My friend Samantha and her family are sitting at the table in front of Niall.)

[day 268... sep 25]

We had a morale event today at a fancy bowling place in Bellevue for our newly-re'orged and streamlined CPub + International group. Unfortunately, I'm still recovering from a horrible cold so I didn't participate in the bowling, though I did try a "Mojito" drink - yum!

The bowling place, Lucky Strike, is in Lincoln Square, just across from the Bellevue Square Mall. The lobby features a gorgeous hanging glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly, an amazing local glass artist, and a two-story waterfall. Very pretty.

[day 267... sep 24]

There's a big construction project in progress at one of the two main intersections at the bottom of Hollywood Hill. They're putting in three roundabouts: one big one, to replace the traffic light, and two smaller ones to help side traffic at the baseball field (that's the nearly-completed one you can see in this photo) and and the soon-to-be-exit for a "village" development (that seems to be on hold for now because of the economy nosedive).

It's intriguing to watch the roundabouts take shape. Not the usual roadwork we see, which typically involves adding a lane, repaving, or other more mundane work. I'm really curious how the main roundabout is going to work, with all the commute traffic heading to Redmond in the morning and back to Woodinville in the evening. I hope it improves the flow of cars through the intersection because there are typically big backups. I'm sure that's the plan. But we'll see!