East Portland Sunday Parkways

Audrey and Kate rode with Mama and Dada in the last Sunday Parkways of the season today. This one was in East Portland. Highlights for the girls included running into Jackson and his parents along the route and a stop along the Springwater Corridor where they got to climb a pile of gravel and get "salmon hats" to go on top of their bike helmets (the hats were to raise awareness of efforts to restore salmon habitat in Johnson Creek). They also checked out a "hydro-fiets" (a "ride-able water filling station") Jackson's dad Ethan had brought to the event and had some cotton candy. They played for a bit in a playground at the end of the route, then headed home, stopping at Burgerville on the way.

Monkey bar skills

Audrey tells us she's been practicing climbing the monkey bars at school. The effort has paid off, as was apparent today when Audrey demonstrated her skills at Grant Park.

Bike ride

Audrey and Dada rode their bikes together on a short trip through the neighborhood this evening. It was Audrey's first and longest bike trip where she was riding in the street untethered to Mama or Dada's bike. We rode down Klickitat to 47th and came back on Siskiyou.

Rail day

While Mama and Audrey were gone for an out-of-town birthday party today, Kate and Dada decided to head down to the grand opening of the Oregon Rail Heritage Center. Turns out today was also the grand opening of the east-side loop of the Portland Streetcar, so Dada thought it might be fun to ride the new streetcar to the train museum. As we probably should have expected, there were some opening-day glitches, and we had to wait almost 45 minutes. When the streetcar finally came, it was standing-room-only, which made the trip somewhat unpleasant. So we were both a bit annoyed when we finally got down to the Rail Center, and Kate was consequently not feeling very photogenic.

But we tried to make the best of it. Honey Grandpa met us there, and it was fun seeing the historic locomotives and the new building that houses them. Kate even recognized the locomotive -- the Spokane Portland & Seattle 700 -- that pulled the Santa Train we rode last December; she remarked that it was missing the Christmas decorations it had when we last saw it. There was a band, a Lego train display, speeches by local dignitaries, and lemonade and cookies.

The thought of the return trip home on public transit seemed daunting, but Grandpa offered to drive us. Walking back to Grandpa's truck, we had to wait for a couple of freight trains to pass. So we had lots of train exposure today. We stopped at a food cart pod on Belmont on the way home.

Back to school night

Mama and Dada paid a visit to Audrey's school this evening. We got to see Audrey's classroom, the table where she sits, and some of her artwork. We also heard from her teacher, Mrs. Davidson, what the school schedule is like and some of what the kids are currently reading and studying (it includes Henry Huggins and worms). She said Audrey is "studious" and good at listening and following instructions.

Music class

Kate had music class in preschool today. The teacher, Adam, uses the Music Together program, which the girls participated in from time to time when they were smaller.

 

Sunday school

Although they missed Rally Day last weekend due to their camping trip, and despite getting plenty of school already in the last few days, Audrey and Kate biked to church this morning to attend Sunday School. It was Kate's first time in a Sunday School class; up until now, she's just hung out in the nursery with Mama or Dada (or both). The most memorable thing for her from the class was the snack, apparently. Later, they biked over to the Lloyd Center to have sushi for lunch.

Soccer season

Audrey started Mighty Mites soccer lessons this morning. These lessons are a little more serious than the ones she's taken before, as she now has shinguards and cleats. The lessons are taught at Grant High School by students from the school. There were so many kids there it was a bit chaotic, but Audrey seemed to like it. However, while she is good at following the ball around the field, she still doesn't quite seem to get that she needs to get the ball and kick it towards the goal.

School week in review

All in all, things went quite well for Audrey and Kate their first full week of school. Good reports were received from Amy and Karma about Kate. Among other activities this week, she got to make homemade pretzels, visit the preschool's plot in the community garden to pick some beans, and do plenty of art projects. Her teachers have been impressed with her drawing, saying she draws as well as some five-year-olds.

We were impressed with Audrey's independence and interest in school this week. She really seems to have been ready for kindergarten. She looked forward to school and riding the bus each day (although she did remark one afternoon that the days feel long). She's been to music and PE classes. Turns out there is another Audrey in her class (as well as a third Audrey in a different kindergarten class), so she's been writing "Audrey S" on the top of all her school work. She's very attentive and observant about all of the new school routines and people: she relayed how she heard the principal talking about how they might change her bus route, and she instructed Mama on the proper procedure for visiting her at the school (checking in at the office, etc.). At an all-school family picnic tonight, she pointed out where on the playground she has recess and some of her new classmates in the crowd. It has helped to have her friend Olivia from across the street around to show her the ropes, particularly with the bus. Audrey now has an assigned seat on the bus, and a seat-mate named Stella.

We are very proud of both girls. The days were long, however, and they were quite tired at the end of the week. They also may have picked up a cold. We'll rest up over the weekend in hopes of starting strong next Monday. Audrey's going to try out buying the hot lunch on Monday, as the meal will be mac and cheese, one of her favorites.

School daze

Today was Audrey's first full day of kindergarten (she had a soft-start last Friday). Dada was all prepared to drive her to school, but she insisted on taking the bus. It helped that the bus stop is only a block away, and that her friend and neighbor Olivia, who's a second-grader, also rides the bus and could show her the ropes.

She had a busy day at school, doing lots of activities and getting familiar with the new routines. She gets to sit near her friend Charlie from preschool. She went to music class, and discovered that she can buy chocolate milk in the cafeteria at lunchtime (she has a meal-card account loaded with a few dollars). She ate most of her lunch she brought from home, but couldn't finish her cookie before it was time to go out on the playground for recess. She was tired when she arrived home on the bus at the end of the day.

Bike upgrade

Audrey was given a bike by Olivia, the neighbor girl across the street, so Kate got an upgrade from her tricycle (Audrey's old bike with the training wheels put back on). It's a tad too big for her, but she can pedal it for short distances on flat surfaces.

Silver Falls camping trip

Audrey and Kate went camping with friends (kids of some of Dada's friends from high school and college) at Silver Falls State Park this weekend. They arrived on Friday evening and "helped" Dada pick out a tent site and put up the tent as the sun was going down. It took them awhile to fall asleep, given the excitement and the new surroundings. It probably also didn't help that Kate kept sliding out of her sleeping bag and off her air mattress.

On Saturday, the main activities were going on a short hike to the North Falls and playing in the wading pool. Kate likes to throw rocks into water, and so had many opportunities to do so. Since Audrey enjoyed making bows and arrows on her backpacking trip in June, Dada brought supplies to make them again. Of course, all the kids ended up wanting ones, so Dada spent quite a bit of time assembling bows (and nunchucks and slingshots). Audrey and her friend Meagan added stick swords and guns to their "weaponry" and called themselves "The Princess Hunters" (as in, princesses that hunt). They spent quite a bit of time together over the weekend.

All in all they enjoyed the trip, although Kate was feeling decidedly un-photogenic when it was time for group photos.

Off to kindergarten!

Today was Audrey's first day of kindergarten. She will be going to full-day kindergarten, but they ease the kids into school the first week. Yesterday, Audrey went to school for a half-hour orientation and assessment with her teacher, Mrs. Davidson. She got a tour of the classroom, was shown where she'll store her things, found out where the bathroom is, and learned other things to help her familiarize herself with school.

Today, she went in from 12:20 to 3 to have a short session with half of her classmates. Next Monday will be her first full day.

Mount Tabor with Mama

After a short kindergarten "assessment" at school in the morning, Audrey and Mama went for a mother-daughter walk on Mt. Tabor to mark the end of summer and the pending start of school and a new job, respectively. Later, they met up with Audrey's friend Jackson and his mama for lunch.

Kate's "first" day of preschool

Today was Kate's "official" first day of preschool (she had a test-drive of preschool on a handful of Fridays over the summer). Looks like she'll still be the shortest kid in the class, but what she lacks in stature she makes up for in spirit. Mama and Audrey saw her at the top of the slide when the class went outside shouting about how she's a "pirate princess." At pickup, teacher Karma told Mama that at one point Kate stated that she was done with an activity and that she was now going to go and sing, which she did in fact walk away and do for five minutes. She definitely is not the shy and retiring type, and certainly has her own ideas about how things should go.

Tomorrow, Kate will spend both the morning and the afternoon at Heartwood. It will be a new experience for everyone; Audrey only went to preschool three mornings a week, but Kate will do one morning and two full days.