Rattlesnake Ledge Hike

The hike is 4 miles round trip with a bit of elevation and Andy did it without being carried (albeit a lot of whining)! The ledge top view is beautiful and Andy played in the water for a little bit after going downhill.

Andy's Daycare Friends

His favorites are Guo-guo and Samantha at Little Dinosaur. Guoguo's mom Mary is the daycare owner and a classical Chinese instrument musician. We have Guoguo over sometimes after school and the two just talk in Chinese non-stop. One night we tried sleep over, didn't succeed as Guo-guo finally wanted to go home when he realized it's really bed time. The two kids really bond and so do the two moms :-)

Swimming Lessons

Andy has been taking beginner swimming lessons (6 weeks per session) since March. The first couple times he didn't want to get in the water, but he's grown to like it. He does back floats with the teachers, blows bubbles, but doesn't put his head under water yet.

Snow Day: Jan 12

The only snow day this year (Andy had the day off school): only a couple inches as you can see.

After Sea World Visit

After a day at San Diego's Sea World, Andy added the following to this tooth brushing routine tonight. He dumped the toothbrush into the sink, pulled the plug, filled the sink with water and declared it's the toothbrush a shark. Andy said "don't drain the water." "We have to drain the water so we can wash hands."
"No, we can't."
"Why not?"
"Because shark has to swim in it."
Before going to Sea World, he was set on seeing the sharks.
His favorite today was the "Shamu show".

4th July Uncle Brad's Family Visit

Brad, Karin and Kaia came for a week visit during 4th July as well. Andy split time between my family and Joe's. He grew very attached to cousin Kaia.



Having a good time at a birthday party at Seattle Children's Museum (which has become a ritual to go with daddy on Sundays).

Boise Trip

We went on a long car trip (8hr, split into 2 days) to Boise to visit Matthew's grandparents (10/1 eve-10/8). It was a lot of fun and relaxing (internet free). Andy did surprisingly well on the trip. He only got cranky when we got close to Boise declaring he didn't want to go to Boise. He got even better on the way back: he just quietly enjoyed all the scenery (which was really gorgeous that'd I'd love to spend a month painting along the highway) mostly. I guess even car trip is trainable: he was significantly better on the way back.


The first rest stop in Idaho



Chasing ducks at the Julia Davis park to the zoo across the street.



Playing with dog Chole
Andy loved Charlotte (Matthew's aunt)'s dogs and cats. When he saw a dog days after, he talked about Chole, we were really surprised that he still remembered. He warmed up to the grandparents well. He and Matthew's grandpa fed a lot of ducks together by the river stream running through the back yard. By the end of the trip he didn't want to leave Boise, he said let's go to Charlotte's house and go play with Chole instead.



Climbing the sand dunes!



The discovery center full of physics experiments!




Andy remembers places along the way many days after: his favorites were Yakima and he'll add that there're 3 swimming pools (referring to the hotel we stayed at) and Pendleton (the hotel on the way back, pictured him in the pool).
It was a wonderfully relaxing week with wonderful people. I painted with Matthew's grandma (who also paints) in their sunroom during duck feeds.