Night Out

Every summer the Seattle Police department has a night out in Seattle (http://www.seattle.gov/spd/nightout/).  This is to get people out, meet the neighbors and encourage crime prevention.  Typically our neighborhood has a pretty good group that comes out, a folks from a few of the area streets.  The firemen typically stop by and we occasionally have a keg or a band.  This year our neighbor who owns a bar down the road supplied the beer out of the back of his VW van and Kasen got to sit in the fire truck

Beach Weather?

Summer is always interesting weather wise in Seattle.  We hope for the days to reach 80 and be sunny, after all we haven't seen the sun in over 6 months.  Sometimes the weather likes to remind us that it can change overnight, or even in a few hours.  A couple Sundays ago we went to Golden Gardens beach.  The wind was blowing and the temperature was like 58 while we were there (it did warm up to a balmy 67 eventually).  Kasen enjoyed getting her toes in the sand and having the wind blow here hair.  Notice the pants and long sleeves, yes this is late July in Seattle.  Here's to hoping we get to see more Summer (but maybe not the triple digit heat they are getting back East).

Kasen and Face Painting

Kasen has been getting into things that bigger kids do.  The other night we were at a concert at the Zoo (part of the Zoo Tunes events at the Seattle Zoo) and there was face painting.  The last time we were there she noticed it but it was late in the show and time to go basically.  This time she asked about half way through the show so Karl and her headed over. The line was long but she was fairly patient, just wanted to be held while she waited.  When we got close she started looking over her options: ice cream cone, elephant, and frog all made the list.  Then she heard she could get a dragon and her mind was made up, dragon was the choice (she has been reading several books with dragons in them lately).  Here's a couple shots of her and the face painting.

Kasen the Brewer

Kasen has been going to the neighborhood brew pub that sponsors Karl's soccer team since before she was born.  She even had her first "birthday" party there (ok is was more for the parents).  She knows most of the staff and often gets hugs from them.  The other night she went back into the brewery and check out all the equipment.  She was so excited, maybe she'll be a brewer when she grows up.  Here are some pictures (they are not the best quality so sorry about that).

First Day of Preschool

Kasen started preschool today.  It is a really small Montessori program run out of a house near our neighborhood.  Kasen was so excited to go carrying her Hello Kitty lunchbox (wish I had gotten a picture).  She walked right up to the door & knocked by herself.  She ran in and barely looked over her shoulder when I left.  The program is from 9 - 11:30am, but I came back around 11:15am.  The teacher's report was pretty good.  She cried a bit (mainly when her snack was eaten by her friend Sam - the cutie in the blue shirt below), but overall had a good time.  They were just settling in for a classroom snack (popcorn and weak apple juice), so she stayed till the end.  Here she is with Sam sitting having their snack.  I still can't believe they use regular glasses & ceramic dishes, but Kasen did not spill a drop.

 She heads back tomorrow without the safety of having Sam there.  Hopefully it goes as well.

Finally some nice weather

The weather is finally starting to get nice out in Seattle and Kasen has been taking advantage of it (as has he parents).  She wants to be outside much more and that is nice.  It does make some things harder to do.  The other day Karl was trying to mow the lawn and Kasen wanted to "help".  She basically moved the mower a few inches but didn't want to give it up.  It took some bribery and bubbles to get her to release the mower.

She is also really into bikes right now.  Karl has been riding to work a few times a week, we now have a chariot for behind his bike, and Kasen of course has her bike.  The other day we took a walk to the library and she took her bike.  Mom or Dad of course push it but she "helps" out in the steering area stating "Drive, Drive, Drive" while she moves the handle bars (and therefore the direction of the bike) from side to side.  Of course she had to put on her new goggles from Grandma Barb to complete her outfit. She even kept them on once we got to the Library

Her first tattoo

Kasen and I went to the Edmonds Art Fair this past weekend.  They had a big play ground and strawberry ice cream, so Kase was ecstatic.  While playing at the playground, she met stalked a little girl with some wicked face paint.  There were rainbows on each side of her eyes and jewels in the middle - little girl nirvana.  When we got to the tent where the face painting happened, we discovered a new item to covet, a sparkly tattoo... in a Mickey design nonetheless.  This was actually a good change because the face paint would have been gone in an hour, the Mickey tattoo she is still admiring.  Think this will satisfy her appetite and she won't get the tramp stamp at 18?  I hope so...

"Don't mess with me.  I have a tat now!"