Going to see grandma

Yesterday we went to meet Grandma in Palo Alto. C took a photo of the mud flats as we went over the bridge. K really liked the organizational possibilities at Ikea.

Whipped Cream

K: The air mixes with cream and creates bubbels ,then the fat sticks to the bubbles. Emulsion.

Roll-Call

Now that Bertha is gone, here's the line-up:

We have Pecker and Blackie, the "twins". Pecker is now the top of the pecking order, and she has the biggest comb. Blackie is slightly darker. Then we have Pumpkin, Glay and Acrobat, all Arucanas, and they lay blue eggs. The kids can tell them apart, but Mom can't. We'd label the photos, but can't figure out how to do it in this program.

Music

K: When I was doing my Star Wars music on my piano, I figured out that the capital letters above the notes meant that they are chords. That piece of music is pretty hard. I am only learning the right hand now, when I'm done with this piece (Theme Tune), I want to learn the Cantina Band song.

The REAL Frog Blog

C: We found this Pacific Tree frog on our front porch. I picked it up and showed mom, and she tried to take like a million pictures of it for the blog. And we ended up using only this one. He kept moving around. He liked the birdbath.

In Memory of Our Bertha

C: She was one of our first chickens, and the only one to die of old age.

She was always very fat.

She was about 3 years old when she died. When mom showed me she was dead, I felt real sad, because she was the last one of our first batch that we got. Then I started feeling like it was ok, because she died of old age, not killed by a fox or anything.

She laid brown eggs before she got too old to lay eggs that still had shells.

Whenever I tried to catch her, she made a game of it. She would run, then stay there for a while, then finally just squat and give up. It was pretty fun.

King Tut

C: He had giant guards, didn't he? Wh0 drank poison, to guard him in the afterlife?

Mom: How did you hear of that?

C: Well, um, in Superman.

Mom: What else did you learn about him?

C: He was a boy when he died.

Mom: Anything else.

C: No.

Mom: Do you want to learn anything else about him?

C: Well, his real name was Tutankhamen, King Tut.

Mom: Do you want to learn anything else about him?

C: Sure.

Mom: You learned all of that from Superman?

C: Yeah.

Pool Rules

New Pool (Yay!)

Old Pool (oops!)

Pool Rules
Adult at all times
No running
Do not mess with equipment
No diving
Man out float out
Wash feet
No horse play on ladder
Hang towels to dry
Do not steal mom's shoes

C did not follow the pool rules last week and was grounded from the pool for a week.
Writing this was one of the terms of his parole.

Father's Day

Mom had to work today, so Dad and the kids went for a bike ride up in the Sierras, outside of Long Barn.

Mom: Did you have any Eureka moments today?

K: When we finally got up to the top of the hill, at the very end of the bike ride.

C: Also, when two guys told us how good the water was. Its delicious. And, it runs real quick, all year. This one guy, who goes there a lot of times during the year, told us that. The only time it stopped was when the pipe was clogged.

Mom: Where did you get the water?

K: From a spring.

C: And, Mom, if we go camping there, lets not get water out of that green pump, its not out of the spring. The spring water tastes a lot better.

Mom: Camping where?

C: Dad, what's the campground called? I'm a little mad at Dad, because he wouldn't let me spend the money on what I wanted to buy.

Mom: What did you want to buy?

C: Bubble tape, at Safeway.

Mom: Where did you go?

Dad: Merrill Springs Road. The campground is Hull Creek, that's where the spring is.

Mom: What about the top of the hill that was your Eureka moment?

K: Um, when we got to the top of the hill, on the way back, we finally got there, then we got to go down this big hill, then we were done.

Mom: How many miles did you ride?

Dad: Nine.

Dad: We found a .22 bullet in the spring drain, and a detonator on the rail trail.

Mom: Wow.

Frog Blog

Actually, this is a toad, [Western Toad, Bufo boreas, from what we could figure out from the field guide]. The guide says "voice like the weak peeping of baby chicks, no vocal sac", and "Habitat: near springs, streams, meadows and woodlands."

K & Mom found this toad in the garden, while watering after planting a new garden area. It seemed to crawl up from under the big climbing rock, so after K took its photo, we put it back there. K says it's definitely a toad, she could tell, because of the warts.

NOT Barbies

C: I like to play Kens, but NOT Barbies. I like to play them because they are like overgrown action figures, but you can actually dress them up, unlike action figures.

I like to dress my Kens up in interesting clothes, like shorts and pants and jackets and shirts and shoes and stuff. Actually, Ken shoes are kind of rare.

K: I think Barbies are cool, too. I have all of these sets, and I even have a pool that I got from my grandma's. When I play with my brother, we make our Barbies dress up and go to Rodeos and Ball Games.

Mom: What do they do when they go to the ball game?

C: They watch, and cheer. . .

K: . . . and have some beer!

Mom: Really?

C: Yes.

Mom: Why did you draw a beard on that Ken?

C: Because I wanted him to look like Captain Haddock [from Tintin].

Mom: Why do you call him Mark?

C: Because that's what I like his name to be.

Mom: But I thought his name was Captain Haddock.

C: But, it is really Mark.

Mom: I don't get it.

C: Because I like his name to be Mark. He wears a bandolier that carries his tools, and simulates an "X". He also wears a blue shirt, and a silver coat, and black pants and blue shoes.

Mom: Where did you come up with the name Mark?

C: I just thought, "Hey, Mark is a good name. And, I have a cousin named Mark."

Mom: Is he named after your cousin?

C: Yes. He has the name of my cousin, but the clothes and beard of Captain Haddock.

Mom: Should we put a picture of him on the blog?

C: Nah.

Mom: Come 'on, please?

C: You have to put it on yourself.

Rites and Ceremonies

First pool party of the summer
Today we went to a pool party. One of our friends jumped on another one's arm and he dislocated his shoulder. So, we had to take him to a hospital, but it popped back in and his parents came and got him. Other than that, it was a great start to summer.

According to C: Rites and Ceremonies are the old stuff that happen every year, like the first pool party of the summer. Discoveries and Revelations are the new stuff that just happen this year, like this year I just learned how to dive from my feet, not from my knees. I learned about Rites and Ceremonies and Discoveries and Revelations from Dandelion Wine [book by Ray Bradbury].