First Snowfall of the Season

Noelle is pretending to surf while stuck inside after our first snow drop.

Here are Emily and Reese being good citizens and shoveling the neighbor's driveway after our recent snowstorm.

Cross Country Meet, 9/26

This past Monday concluded the fall Cross Country series for the Land Sharks Running Club. Emily did not do very well last week because she developed a stitch and came in with a time of more than 14 minutes. She psyched herself up for the last race and did very well. Reese also did very well with a personal and seasonal best.Emily is pictured 3rd from the right and she came in with a time of 12 minutes, 2 seconds in the 1-1/2 mile race.

Here is Reese coming in with a time of 4 minutes, 22 seconds in the 1/2-mile race.

Scenes from the Week

Water fowl and foul water.

Admiring the geese in Denver's City Park. 

We'll call this one "Posing with the Dead". This is Emily, Reese and Noelle in front of the 'Poor Woman Mummy' at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Noelle waited patiently all day to see the mummies at the museum and was fascinated that everything there was dead. She constantly asked "Is it dead?" in regards to the mummies, the dinosaurs and the animals. Emily wants to go back in a few weeks when the 'Grossology' exhibit will be in town. Yum, body functions and bathroom humor. We'll have to invite Uncle Paul to go with us. 

Reese 

Noelle, the goofball. 

Here is Reese at her first ice skating lesson in a long time. She was a little rusty on the ice, but enjoyed herself. 

Cross Country Meet, 9/19/05

Weekend Update

On Monday, Emily and Reese had their first cross-country running race. Reese ran in the 800 meter (Kindergarten and First Graders) and placed 20th out of a field of 91. She placed 5th among the girls and 1st for her school. She ran the course in 4 minutes, 27.2 seconds.

Emily ran the mile race (4-6th grades) in 6 minutes, 52.3 seconds- placing 12th out of 126, 2nd among the girls and 1st for her school.

It is remarkable how much improvement Emily has shown since this past spring when she ran the track series. This is Reese's first foray into running club and she is really enjoying it.

There are two more races left in the season and I will post the results of those races as they become available. Maybe I will even remember to bring my camera next time. :P

The Vino Vessel

Recently, Emily had a school project to do that required her to build a boat that would float for at least an hour and try to use materials that no one else would use. With a little help from Mom and Uncle Paul, Emily built The Vino Vessel. Using some corks that Paul had lying around and zip ties, Emily built a boat that floated not only the requisite hour, but the whole day. Paul also suggested the name, which earned some bonus points with her teacher. No one else in class used cork, therefore Emily met all of the criteria for an 'A'.

Noelle's First Day of Dance Class

Here are some pictures of Noelle on her first day of dance class. She is taking a combined tap/ballet class for 3-4 year olds. She has been talking about class for days but only expressed an interest when she heard me calling around to different studios to register Emily. I will have pictures after Tuesday of Emily in her first Jazz/Hip Hop class.

Some Updates on Emily

This past spring, Emily was notified that one of her poems was submitted and selected to be in Anthology of Poetry by Young Americans. We are not sure who submitted her poem, but were pleased anyway. Emily did not even know which poem it would be. We have just recently received the book, and here is the poem:

WINTER
Soft snow warm tea.
Red and blue mittens build a snowman.
Christmas lights fill snowy nights.
Blowing white snow cold windy day.


And, to top off her week, Emily was elected Class President! She is very excited and honored to win the votes of her classmates. She and her Vice President, Danielle, worked hard by campaigning and giving speeches. This was a perfect end to her week.

First Day of School, 2005

Here are Elle, Emily and Reese getting ready for the big girls' first day of school.

New Ride

Check out our new ride!

Too cute not to share

Noelle's facial expressions are priceless and this is no exception. What a ham!

Ocean Shores

On July 30th, we drove to Ocean Shores to take in the Pacific Ocean. We told the kids over and over that this water is very cold and that they could not swim in it like we swam in the ocean when we were in Florida many years ago. After the first frigid toe dipping, they got used to it and did a lot of beachcombing. They came back with many sand dollars, crab shells and oyster shells. These pictures are just priceless and we feel so blessed to have had this opportunity to spend the summer in Washington.





Getting over the initial shock that this water is actually very cold!













Emily













Elle













Reese, Emily, Elle and Jeff



























Beachcombing


















Digging in the sand.














Crab carcass












Jeff and Noelle













Jeff wading in the surf with his girls.














Our resident beach bum.















Mmmmm.....Dinner?

















Summer fun.













Playing on the beach.














Sunset on the Pacific.















Emily on the beach at sunset.

Mt. St. Helens

On July 28, the girls and I ventured to Mt. St. Helens with another mom and her son. This was one of the more interesting day trips we have taken and the 3-hour drive was totally worth it. Notice the plumes of steam coming from the top? There have been a series of small (about 3 on the Richter scale) earthquakes almost daily being registered in the area. All of the fallen trees have been left to lay just as they fell and the scenery is just awesome! I highly recommend taking the time to visit this area if you have the chance.

Another Fun Week

For the past week and a half, we have divided our time between day trips and lounging by the pool. The weather has been very warm on most days and we have taken advantage of the fact that we are one of the few families staying at the hotel. We have had the pool to ourselves most days and we are not bothering anyone by being a little loud and rambunctious. Noelle is swimming by herself, underwater, at 5-foot stretches at a time. It is really exciting to see her do this at such a young age.

We have taken a few day trips. We did go to Snoqualmie Falls and enjoyed the scenery and a lovely hike. The kids found more than a few HUGE slugs and were more interested in those than the waterfall itself. After our visit to the waterfall, we stopped and had a really great lunch at Uncle Si's Pizza. I had the best sandwich I have ever had! It was a hot veggie sandwich with all kinds of veggies, roasted garlic and dressing. Yum! I also bought a few bottles of wine with the label Mad Housewife. I figured I could give some out to my friends as gifts. It is a very fitting moniker.

The kids and I took in a movie one rainy day and on another day we found a park with a playground nearby. This city is really great in that there is so much to do within walking distance and the town is pedestrian friendly.

This past Saturday, we met Jeff's dad at the ferries and put the car on a boat and sailed across Puget Sound to Bremerton. Jeff and John wanted to go to Bremerton because they had already been to Bainbridge Island. Jeff and John were also interested in touring a Navy warship, but us girls were a little cool to that idea. They decided to do that excursion when the chicks were not around.

On Sunday, we met Jeff's dad at a restaurant called 13 Coins. This restaurant came highly recommended, and I can see why. This is a 24-hour gourmet restaurant that was voted one of the top 5 restaurants in America by Food Network. I had a calamari steak that was just sinful and John had a Salmon Eggs Benedict that looked just heavenly. The booths at this restaurant were a little elevated and a little enclosed so that you had a sense of privacy. A really excellent choice.

Yesterday, one of the other ADIC families, the girls and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. This is a really nice zoo and is by far one of the nicer ones that I have been to. I don't know if the girls enjoyed the exhibits or not because they spent most of their time collecting leaves and sticks to do "experiments".

This week we will find ourselves going to Olympia to visit with my Grandma Ko, Uncle Sangjin and his family. We will also be meeting up with John and Joanne after they arrive in town to set Joanne up at Ft. Lewis. We plan on scouting out some apartments for her so that she will not have a whole lot of running around to do before she leaves for a visit to Minnesota.

Have a good week and I'll write another update next week!