An Early Start to Ski Season

Pat and Drew made their first trip to Mt. Hood today... hopefully, the first of many this ski season! It snowed off and on all day, with a few sun breaks to brighten things up. The video clip below is one Pat took during their lunch break, so Drew is a little preoccupied. Despite the lack of dialog, they had a great day.

Happy Thanksgiving...

Let's talk turkey...

Our Thanksgiving started with a great neighborhood soccer game (perfectly timed with a camera malfunction, so you'll have to trust us... it really was GREAT!) and ended with lots of yummy desserts with our friends Francesca, Rebecca and Eli.

Thursday was just a warm-up to Friday, when we officially ramped things up to full-speed for the holiday season with the Macy's holiday parade in the morning; selecting the perfect Christmas tree in the afternoon (we're limited by the dimensions of our living room and ceiling, darn it); and the official Portland tree-lighting ceremony in the evening. Here are some photos.



Happy Holidays to all!

Snow Day... sort of...

School is out this week for Thanksgiving Break, so technically, it's not a "snow-day". Also, there's the part where most of the snow missed us. Washington State got tons, but less than an inch made it our way before turning to ice and spoiling the moment!

Reports from the Field: Cell-Boats & Book Reviews

Emily and Jake recently completed their first big science project of the school year...documenting their knowledge of a cell's parts by assigning them to something familiar. Jake chose to create a blue-print of a house; Emily choose a boat (and the 3-D option).

Examples of the parts of a cell-boat... The dad-cleus in the boat is like a cell’s nucleus because the dad-cleus controls what the boat does like the nucleus controls what the cell does. The boat’s sail-plasts are like a cell’s chloroplasts because the sail-plasts capture and produce energy like a cell’s chloroplasts produce energy.

Examples of the parts of a cell-house... The vac-arage in the house is like the vacuole of a cell because the vac-arage is a storage area in the house like the vacuole is a storage area in a cell. Computo-matin in the house is like the chromatin in a cell because computo-matin stores information and makes it available to the nucleo-mom of the house just like the chromatin in a cell makes information available so the nucleus of a cell can direct the cell’s activities.

As for Drew, for banned book week back in October, he opted to read Animal Farm and created this poem as part of a "book mark" assignment.

I am from the farm,
once run by humans.
From the sweet communities;
and the simple life;
and few rules.
I am from the plentiful meals.

I’m from the work;
from the hard days.
I’m from the new ruler,
and the delusions and lies.
From the meager rations,
and the murders of comrades.
I am from the wars,
and the false rumors about our welfare.
I am from being deprived of my rights.
I’m from Animal Farm.