Best of Spring

Some of the best photos from Spring 2015:

These pictures of the kids from their spring camp at Stough Canyon capture them both perfectly.

Beatrice reading under the tree at our local library

That's not how painting works, William.



 

Beatrice at Descanso Gardens in her favorite area, the Japanese gardens



 

 

Waking up the kids at midnight to go see the grunions:

Dev shines a light on grunion.

 

Hugging at Chuck E. Cheese

 

Cracking up while reading Wayside School is Falling Down

We raised and released butterflies again this year, as well as moths. As you can see, B was sad to see them go.

 

 

Arthur at the library for story time

Teaching B about the earth's motion around the sun



Arthur as Hector (Beatrice was Achilles, of course)

 

William at Underwood Family Farm

Arthur killing it at karaoke, singing Katy Perry's "Roar"

Beatrice dressed like Sappho for a school dress-up day

We got a new chicken, Lilli III, seen here being in the bath:

 

Tea party

At LACMA, Arthur decides he wants to be an artist's model.

 

Hipcooks class with Summer, Amy, and Amy

 

Visiting Lilli in San Jose

We were an IKEA test house.

Photos from my birthday party at Edendale

On to summer ...

 

 



Beatrice and Arthur's Birthday Party 2015

This year Beatrice picked The Trojan War as the party theme - and all four of her grandparents were there to celebrate with her and Arthur.

The kids wore their Greek costumes and picked mythological identities. William got stuck being Telemachus.

 

 

Some games:

Fire an arrow at Achilles' heel

 

 

Scylla and Charybdis was a balance beam

My mother drew this sad-faced Polyphemus for Pin the Eye on the Cyclops.

 

The Laestrygonians was a dodge ball game.



Name tags with the kids' names translated into "Greek"



A shadow screen (an idea I copied from the Getty Villa's children's section)
 

 

We brought in dinner from Zankou, baklava from Sarkis, and I made a (precarious) Greek temple cake.

 

 

Arthur distributing the party favors.

 

 

Happy Birthday, Beatrice and Arthur!

Happy 6th Birthday, Beatrice!

The kids' birthday party just wound up on Sunday, and today we celebrated Beatrice's sixth birthday. Suzan and Naresh are visiting, so we all took Beatrice to the California Science Center to see their temporary exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls (B's joke: "What do you call the body of a squirrel at the bottom of the ocean? A dead sea squirrel!")

Beatrice picked Casa Bianca in Eagle Rock for dinner, then brownies for dessert. Then we opened gifts - including her very own Leatherman from Dev - and she was off to bed, one year older.

Happy Birthday to you, Beatrice! You are wise and kind and brave, you think big thoughts, and you have a truly original mind. I can't wait to see what you do next year.

Beatrice's Sixth Birthday Interview

Another year, another birthday interview. (You can find last year's birthday interview here.)

1. Summer: What is your favorite food?
    Beatrice: My favorite food is probably ice cream.

2. S: What is your favorite animal?
    B: My very, very favorite animal is a kangaroo. [She had never mentioned this once before today.]

3. S: What is your favorite movie?
    B: My very, very favorite movie, which I have watched, is The Wizard of Oz.

4. S: What is your favorite thing about school?
    B: That I stayed there for 180 days – that's a lot of time.

5. S: What makes you the happiest?
    B: That's an easy one – when I'm around people who know me.

6. S: What makes you sad?
    B: I'm really sad when I see someone who doesn't like me in even one tiny part of their heart.

7. S: What makes you scared?
    B: I'm really scared, as you know, because I'm running back from the bathroom, because I think there are ghosts in there. Blue ghosts.

8. S: What is one new thing you learned to do this year?
    B: I learned how many bones you have.
    S: How many?
    B: Over or about 300 bones. Is that right?
    [We look it up.]
    B: Oh, okay, I learned it is 206.

9. S: What is one new thing you want to learn next year?
    B: Oh, I want to learn how to use my pliers.

10. S: What would you like to be when you grow up?
      B: A philosopher, like Socrates.

11. S: What is your favorite holiday?
      B: My birthday, because I get to pick my own theme.

12. S: What is your favorite color?
      B: My favorite color is probably blue-violet, it's such a beautiful shade.

 

13. S: What is your favorite song?

      B: Well, my favorite song is probably rock and roll.

      S: Rock and roll isn't a specific song, it's a kind of music.

      B: Okay, then the blues music.

 

14. S: What is your favorite toy?

      B: Well, my favorite toy to play with is probably the colored wooden Mexican toy that Nani gave us.

 

15. S: What is your favorite book?
      B: The Odyssey.

 

16. S: Who is your favorite character?
      B: Odysseus and Polyphemus.

 

17. S: What is your favorite thing to do?
      B: Well, I really liked going to Disneyland, even though it was a really long time ago.

 

18. S: What do you like learning about?
      B: I really, really, really can't wait to get into ancient Rome [now that we're finishing up our Greece unit]/

 

19. S: What is your favorite place to go?
      B: The Getty Villa.

 

20. S: Can you name some of your friends?
      B: Well, my best friend is Arthur... also Emma, Melanie, Miller, Donovan, and David. I also like Emmy, she's really into princesses, and Amyah, who plays with me.

 

21. S: What is your birthday wish?
      B: That I could stay with you for my whole life and never move away.