Visits to Spiritridge Elementary

The sidewalk to the school's main entrance.  I will be walking on this path with Sean, Aly and the other two in the stroller every weekday from next Monday!

Sean wasn't too impressed with the new playground.  I agree.  It looks like an art than a plaything.

The main entrance.  There is a library in the back.

The construction of Sean's new school, Spiritridge Elementary, is in the last stage. We drive by it everyday and saw it's transformation from the old brick buildings to a bigger and modern mountain lodge-like buildings for the past year. It helped Sean to slowly accept the idea of going to kindergarten and he is genuinely excited now to start the new chapter in his school life! If you ask him, he would proudly say that he is going to the new Spiritridge Elementary because he is a big kid! 

We took a walk the other day with all four children to take a closer look at the new school.  I didn't see anyone else touring, but no one bugged us, either.  The school is beautiful.  It is modern, but it blends in very nicely with the native trees and plants they had kept.  The property looks much bigger than before, even though the buildings are larger.  It makes me happy to see Sean being excited and telling everyone he is going to the new kindergarten.  So far so good~  Looking forward to the first day of school next Monday!

Good-bye Clements!

Manuel making the batter for his special crepe (his mom's recipe).  They were yummy!

The Clements family~ 

The game room was packed with children staring at the TV (one of them were playing a game).

They had a drum set out on the deck.  Sean, Aly and Saya spent quite sometime banging the drums.  Christine suggested buying a drumset for them, but hmmm I don't think so...

Saya in the sun! 

Aly insisted on wearing this dress since she was going to a party.

The Clements are moving to California next weekend. :-( 

They had a crepe party at their house this morning and we went to say good-bye to them with a bowl of brown sugar and buttered bananas for the crepe topping.  They were such a fun family to live nearby.  They held movie in the yard event every summer, helped organize a neighborhood block party etc... it won't be the same without them.  Christine made Saya a pink stuffed fish when she was born and gave us two swaddlers, pink and blue, when the twins were born.  They were also the first one to knock on our door when we moved in with a homemade muffins.  I am truly sad... At least the Facebook will keep us connected.  We will miss you, Manuel, Christine, Soren and Claire!!!

Lakeside Autism Center Fun Day

Sean taking a water break.  He was playing very hard, enjoying himself!

Noah climbing onto the bouncy house.  Vina, the Speechy (a nickname for speech therapists amongst other therapist!) on the left.

Sayarrito!  Ay, yay!  Each kids get wrapped like a burrito after bath and I have to pretend to eat them.  I don't know how long we can keep this tradition going because Sean's getting too long to carry side way.  He even told me it hurts when I carry him.

Last Friday, Lakeside organized a fun day for their students in the afternoon. We had nothing to do after 3:00 pm, so I decided to take the kids there. There was going to be a bouncy house, so we definitely had to check it out. As soon as I arrived, I noticed they had the water spraying equipment there. I knew I was going to have a very wet boy the minute we walk in. So, I took his undershirt off so that he would have a dry shirt to wear later. Noah did dive into the water as I predicted, but it was a hot dry day after all. I took his shorts off and both his shirts and shorts dried fairly quickly. All of them enjoyed the bouncy house and spent a long time in there. One staff brought Saya to me saying she was red and was no longer jumping, so I let her take a break inside the building where it's cool. The kids had fun playing in the motor room and transition room where they had a kinect game set up. Most children attending has Autism or some other disability, but they were being just kids! They all seemed to be having a great time.

The beautiful things I saw there were the staffs' genuine smiles.  They were out there for hours in a hot heat cheering on each time the children came down the slide, flashing their beautiful smiles.  Sean and Noah feel completely comfortable with them and I know they really care about their students.  It's one of few places where we feel normal.  I am glad to be part of their community and I commend their staff for the wonderful job they are doing!!  Thank you, Lakeside!

My Amazing Noah

Noah has been a persistent child, but lately his assertiveness is coming out... in a form of explosive tantrums!  Where did my sweet Noah go?  He was a relatively easy-going and smiley child with the cutest chuckles and mega-sized cheeks.  He still does have his charms, but boy he could shake up the house!  In the photo above, he really wanted to get the statue that was in the shelf above the fridge.  He cannot reach it with the bar stool, so he put a step on top of the bar stool to reach.  Of course, I would not allow him to do that, so I hid all the steps we have in the house (he even brought the step from the upstairs bathroom).  He was not happy about that and was letting me know how angry he was by screaming + crying.  I went upstairs to do something and noticed his screaming had stopped.  I thought he had actually given up but nope, not Mr. Noah.  He brought the spinning toy from downstairs and balanced himself on top of it to get the statue.  It looked very dangerous, but I had to take a photo of him and admire his determination and problem solving skills.  All the while he was throwing his tantrum, he was scanning through the stuff we have in the house to see which one he could use to get what he wants!  So, I let him pat on the statue for a bit!  Go get 'em Noah!  You might actually achieve something amazing like finding cure for Autism!

Picnic on the Deck!

We had a picnic on the deck last Wednesday to make the lunch fun for the kids.  I put their sandwitches in their lunch boxes and pulled out their picnic mats.  It made their lunch time ten times more fun!  They were encouraged to eat faster, too, since they could play as soon as they were done.  I think I will do it more often since it worked out so well. 

Reminger Farms

Friends have been telling me about a farm called Reminger Fram in Carnation where they have U-Picks and family friendly amusement park , so we decided to go check it out last weekend.   It's a scenic drive getting off I-90 past Issaquah and going through Fall City. We passed a river and a bunch of bikers enjoying a day out on the country road.   It would be fun to bring kids for fishing sometime in the future when Noah learns to stay away from the water.

The parking lot was already starting to fill out with the minivans and SUVs with tots. The admission was $12 per person even for a little one like Saya! We had a coupon for two for one admission for two tickets, but we had to pay the full price for the rest. I was thinking at that point, it better be worth it!

The farm looked pretty big. It sort of reminded me of a Japanese touristy place because they had a huge souvenir store right at the admission gate. They had a play area by the entrance and we spent some time there. Noah liked the rocking horse there and everyone liked the carriage they could climb on.   After playing there for a bit, we went into a barn.   They had goats, sheeps, chickens and a lot of bunnies in there. Aly, Saya and Sean loved petting the animals.  They were friendly (?) and didn't seem to mind being touched by little hands.

We were ready to check out another area, but Noah had a different idea.  He wanted to stay in the barn and pat the big pig and cow statues sitting by the entrance.  When I tried to separate him from them, he started to scream.  I let him stay there for a while and let the others go with Mike.  He was there for a while but I was getting impatient.  So, I carried him to look for the rest of the crew.  He was not happy about that at all.  He was cranky and screaming with a very red face!  He was so loud, everyone was staring at me.  I tried destructing him to let him calm down, but he is not easily fooled.  At that point, I was ready to thrown in the towel and told Mike to meet me in the car.  So, we left only an hour later.  Was it worth it?  Well, if we have stayed longer.  But we had to try it and I am glad we did it!

Venting...

Wee tiny broccoli.  I waited too long thinking it is meant to be bigger and it flowered...

Parker loved our pool.  Too bad we haven't have much hot days.  The kids all love playing in the pool.

Miss Saya.  She is a funny little girl.

They were making up some game amongst themselves.

Noah likes to do his own thing, but does like the others' company.

Sean being silly.

This long summer break is finally getting to us! The boys are in yelling mood (yes, my sweet Noah, too!) and how much I can take is the question. Sean and Noah's summer school ended 10 days ago and the schedule has been off since then. Sean attended a reading summer camp last week, but that was just one week. I thought about enrolling him in another summer camp, but realized that he gets more stressed out going to a new summer camp at this point before kindergarten. Noah only has two therapy sessions in a week and he seems bored and insecure. He shouts a lot and started throwing tantrums, very very loud ones.

So, I've been arranging playdates almost every day and I think that is another reason why I am exhausted. I think I will slow down and convince myself that sometimes it's ok to just stay home and take it easy. What a nutcase!! I feel like I am running a very long marathon and I am at 3/4 distance to the finish line. The school will start on Sept 6 and I am so ready for it to begin.

This is the snap shot of a day (last Wednesday)

9:40 am - Left home with 4 kids to drop Saya to her Japanese class.
10:00 am - Left Saya's school to go to YMCA to let the three remaining children play until Sean's summer camp at 11:15 am.
10:50 am - Left YMCA to drop off Sean to his summer camp, however Sean fell outside at the Y and became hysterical. Rushed to Bartell's Drug Store to buy band aid. Put band aid on Sean but he was so frantic, I had to tell his teacher he cannot attend the class today.
11:30 am - Drove to Saya's school and waited around with the kids in the car until noon.
12:00 pm - Picked Saya up from the Japanese school and went home for lunch.
12:25 pm - Arrived at home and made lunch quickly to feed all of them.
1:15 pm - Left with four kids to drop Sean off at his Occupational Therapy with Jessica.
1:30 pm - Took the remaining three kids to the nearby mall to kill time.
2:20 pm - Picked up Sean from the OT.
2:30 pm - Drove to Issaquah for Sean and Noah's Autism Therapy at 3:00 pm.
3:00 pm - Dropped Sean and Noah off at autism school and drove back home with the girls.
3:20 pm - Finally home!! Passed out on the couch while the girls play and fight.
I am sure other Mom's have similar schedules.  I see minivans with children everywhere in town.  Kudos to all the Mom's out there!!  Here is hoping I get some kind of stress relief soon so that I won't explode!! 

Blueberry Picking

It was a cool morning, but the kids were warm running around the farm.

They went far to find the perfectly big blueberry.

We did better this year!

Strapped!

Aly was showing me the big ones she found.  She looks very pretty in this picture.

Sean found "the one" towards the end and carried it around until he accidentally squashed it in the car.  He was very upset about that.

On last Saturday, we went to the blueberry farm on 148th to pick one of Aly and Saya's favorite fruits.  We went there last summer as well and Sean and Aly had a blast.  I remember Sean was directing two-year-old Aly to pick the right ones and tossed out the green ones that were put in the bucket.  This year, Miss Saya had the chance to pick some.  She was very excited to pick them, however she could not stop eating them off the bush no matter how much we told her not to.  So, she joined Noah and was strapped in the stroller.  She was not happy about that!  We didn't take any chances with Noah.  The farm is on a very busy street without any fence and he could easily elude us behind blueberry bushes and disappear within seconds.  Sean was so happy and was chatty the whole time.  "Mommy, look at this one.  It's huge!!" "Oh, this one is my favorite one in the whole world!"  It was fun listening to him talk.  Alyson joined the conversation and they were pretty cute together.  We picked about 3 pounds of berries for $3 and the girls and I ate them at home.  They were a bit sour, but the girls didn't mind it.  We will visit again next year and continue to go every year as long as the kids are willing!