Puzzling

This summer #1 Son has been busy putting together puzzle.  His behavior teacher discovered this is a calming activity for him.  He would put puzzles together during his lunch and study hall.  We decided to keep on doing puzzles during he summer. He really enjoys this activity.

It has been a long summer for my son and us too. We are definitely having a staying home summer. We needed to make some adjustments to his treatment plan that are too personal to discuss on this blog. We also are on a journey to discover whether or not my son has Asperger's.  Asperger's is considered an autism spectrum disorder. The logo of Autism often has the puzzle symbol. Believe me the symbolism is not wasted on us. We waited for 6 months for his first appointment at Children's Hospital in Seattle.  So now almost a year later he is finally scheduled for his testing. There will be a total of 4 appointments in the next couple of weeks. The first one is today. Wish us luck! This is a little of our journey thus far. Hopefully we will have a definitive answer by the end of the month.

Week in the Life - Tuesday

Check out  Day 2 in the Life at Ali Edwards Blog. I think Tuesday was all Puppy.  We got our new puppy yesterday afternoon so almost everything involved getting stuff for Puppy and getting the dog.  Our new dog is Tigger.  It is so TIGGER TUESDAY. All his litter mates had Winnie the Pooh names.  He is a lab mix of some kind. Tigger is going to be a big DOG. We adopted him from the Humane Society. We had to go through a few hoops - meet our other dog and mandatory obedience class. I got a few pictures of yesterday for the week in a life..  But the most important is this one:

I Heart Faces - Water

This is my first time joining the I Heart Faces Photo Challenge.  The Challenge subject was water. This photo was taken at Point Whitehorn Park on the beach.

Week in the Life - Monday

I am participating in a Week in Life at Ali Edwards Blog. Here are my pictures I have from our extra crazy fun day. 

Breakfast made by Hubby - Breakfast Burritos YUMMY

Wax Painting with the Diva. I was watching my neighbors kids this morning. The Diva and I love to craft together.  It is the only girl time I get in my house of boys. I especailly love the sparkly hat and belt. 

Totem Painting

I saw this crazy wood cut out in my Hubby's garage and decided it look like a totem.  So all the kids, help paint.  This was probably the hit of the day.  I can't wait to display this in my yard.  I hope to have a more detailed post on this.

Wii playing - Chuckles and Big E - It is lot more fun to play Wii with your friend

McDonald's- Hey, everything is better with a happy meal.

VBS- Chuckles went to Pandamania at Ferndale Alliance Church.  They go out.  Our neighbor is the pastor at this church and his daughter is dressed up as a Panda.  They were shooting little panda's out at the end of  the program.  Chuckles got to help in the set up.  He was SO excited to go and be in the POGO group.

I haven't exactly decided on my album set up but these are my photos.  As the day went on it was harder and harder to remember to take photos.  I did pretty good writing down things.

Point Whitehorn Park

It was exceptionally warm yesterday.  We decided we wanted to take our dinner to the beach.  We got subs and headed to the beach but apparently everyone else had the same idea.  It was crowded.  So we headed to Point Whitehorn Park a Whatcom County Park with a beach access via mile hike. Here is our previous visit.  We ate our dinner at one of the lookouts. 

The bugs were out to get us so we headed down to the beach.  There were very few people down there and eventually it was only us. We had never played on this beach.  The kids got wet.

 One child got really wet.  Despite NUMEROUS warnings not to get their clothing wet. We were not nice and kinda laughed at him on the mile hike back to the car in very wet clothes. It was a nice natural consequence in action.

Skateboard Swing

While browsing pinterest.  I came across this image of a skateboard swing.
***edited 3/27/12 I have removed the picture from pinterest as it wasn't credited to anyone but it did inspire our design

 

Our beloved much replaced banana swing(two sided glider) has once again bitten the dust.  The Giant Man Child is in the process of creating a more indestructible version.  But he thought he could make something like the Skateboard swing for a temporary fix. Here is our version.

Of course for safety reasons, the Giant Man Child gave it a go, too. 

Peace Arch State Park

We had dinner at Peace Arch Park, yesterday. Peace Arch State Park is located next to the US/Canada Border. It is a really interesting place to visit.  This visit I didn't get a picture of the actual Peace Arch. Peace Arch Park every summer has different sculptures. There seems to be fewer this year. I really liked the flowers.  The flowers I believe are growing out of an engine block.

The deer was cool with real antlers. The border crossing is in the background.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of the boys by the giant rocking dog.

The only playground at the park is swings which seems a real shame because this park is really used alot for events (hands across the border) Of course, we had to test them out. The houses in the background are in Canada.  The swings are on the US side.

****Note: You will need a Discover Pass to park at the park.

Linky Love

Nine Things You Shouldn't Say to Your Kids This list was posted on CNN. A lot of talk shows were talking about this.

1. Leave me alone
2 You're so...
3. Don't Cry
4. Why can't you be more like your sister?
5. You know better than that
6. Stop or I'll give you something to cry about
7 wait until Daddy gets home
8. Hurry up
9 Good job or Good Girl

Well, I am pretty sure I am guilty of saying the Don't Cry one and Hurry Up .  Charged as guilty for saying wait until your Father gets home.  Just some food for thought.  I am definitely not from the perfect parent academy. Just some food for thought. The reasons for not saying these things are in the CNN article.

Next week is Ali Edwards "Week in the Life".  I am going to be posting my week. I still working on what format I will be using.  We actually have a more jammed pack week next week.  It should be interesting. I did this project back in 2008.

.10 notebooks at Fred Meyers.  It is school supply time.  Trying to find the Pacific Northwest Deals check out these bloggers who are sharing their deals and steals. Here is my post on school supplies demystified. Our school hands out the supply list with final report cards so you are able to stock up during the summer.

Playground Tour #3 - Central Elementary

 A couple weeks ago, the kids were begging me to go to the Central school playground near our newly relocated library.  The entry for this playground is on 2nd Avenue. Central Elementary has a small but updated playground.  We brought Big E with us. The kids loved doing the mini obstacle course. 

Top photo - Number #1 Son on the bouncer - Bottom Photo- Big E and Chuckles

I had to give the swings a go.

The murals on the playground had just been painted.  I really like the United States Map.  Big E is checking out Washington.

My favorite photo is Chuckles and Big E at the top of the slide

Sweet Smelling Frog

I was pruning my roses yesterday during a rain break.  LOL  I discovered this little guy nestled inside a rose. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Rainy Day Beach Day - Eagle Spotting

It has been really rainy.  I know it is Washington BUT it is summer.  We decided to head to the beach this Sunday with Mrs Epi and kids.  It was sprinkling but we managed to have a good time anyways.  It was low tide and we walked further than we ever had along Semiahmoo beach. 

We spotted an Eagle eating his lunch.  And darn it all I had was my phone camera.  It doesn't really do it justice. 

We also saw cranes.  There were about 14 cranes all together.

Yes, all those little dots in the water are cranes. All in all not a bad day to come out to the beach.

Italian Sodas

My son's teacher use to have Italian Soda parties as a reward for good behavior.  Our school district has since outlawed treats in school.  However, my son learned to make these sodas.  We like to have these during the summer as a special treat. Here is our recipe:

Italian Soda

1/4 cup half and half
4 tbs flavored syrup
mix
add ice
fill with Club Soda
mix again
Top with whipped cream

Post Office Mural

There is a new mural on the outside of our Post Office.  It is a community mural. Hand painted stamps were created by members of the community.  Before the stamps were put on the wall, they were placed in local businesses and people were urged to find all 45 stamps. It wasn't until I was parked outside the post office that I really had a chance to look at the individual stamps.  The cat and dog are my favorite. 

Here are some my other favorites

Squirrel

Hey, there is even a owl for Ms Smarty Pants

Playground School Tour

Some people are doing a different park a week.  The boys have been doing a different school playground . This was our 2nd playground tour.  We visited earlier in the summer. Each of our elementary schools in our town have very different playgrounds.  These pictures are from Eagleridge Elementary.

Lummi Mural

The Big Slide is a Big Attraction at this playground- It isn't as fast as it looks.

I didn't test the slide this day But in 2004, I couldn't resist . The slide is fun for adults too. Hey, you know you want to slide.

The Monkey's on the Monkey Bars

Not shown is also the awesome Totem pole at the front of the school, gravel track, and small Kindergarten playground . Check out our other Playground tours  - Skyline and Sunnyland

Playground, Geocaching, and Italian Soda's

#1 Son

We had a busy afternoon, yesterday.  We have been doing playground tours of various schools. This would make our 4th tour. I will hopefully be posting the other tours soon. Call it our own facilities assessment.  We met up with the Mrs Epi and two of her children and explored Sunnyland Elementary's playground in Bellingham.  This is a really nice one.  We managed to find a sun break long enough to let the children run off all their energy. We had to leave the playground early though as there was a day camp program being run from this location.

Bones and Princess of Quite a Lot

 

 This school is also next to Memorial Park.  I had never been to this park.It is tucked behind the school.

There is a very nice memorial dedicated to Veterans.  #1 Son and I found a geocache not too far from the park on the Railroad Trail.  So to celebrate finding a geocache, we made homemade Italian Sodas.  All in all not a bad day.