Dad's Canadian citizenship ceremony

On Monday at 1 pm, there was the main event - the reason for our weekend jaunt north. Dad had decided to become a Canadian citizen and his oath and ceremony of citizenship was Monday afternoon. I wanted to be there for it and Liesl wanted to come along, and I'm so glad we made it.

The judge's speech was well done, and the whole ceremony was moving, which is precisely what I remember from my own Canadian citizenship ceremony at age 13.

And then we went back home for "Canada cake" - a strawberry cake with whipped cream and a red Canadian maple leaf on top. At least, that was the theory behind my brilliant idea. In actual fact:
Liesl said "That in no way resembles a maple leaf."
Carl said "That was a sorry excuse for a maple leaf!"
Steve said "It's as Canadian as your dad."
... and mom and I laughed so hard we cried. We laughed at our incompetence, at our feeble efforts, at our utter lack of preparation and perfectionism.... we thought of what Kim would have done and said, and how amazing it would have looked, and that made us laugh even harder.  Our stomachs hurt we laughed so much. It was so funny, I'm starting to giggle even now just thinking about it.
Although Dad, to his credit, said, "Thank you for the cake. It's perfect."

visiting Grandpa and Popo

Liesl came with me to work on Friday - it was a no school day and also PSU's Take your Kids to Campus Day - and there were a raft of fun activities planned. Best of all, her best preschool friend Nina was also there for the day (Nina's mom is a professor of urban planning), and so the two girls got to spend the day exploring and chattering together. They made slime, investigated spider legs, wrote their names in Arabic, saw an archaeology dig, and various other fun things - we had lunch together and got free ice cream cones - it was really sweet.

And then at 3, Liesl and I hopped on the Amtrak train north to Bellingham. Six somewhat tedious hours later, Dad picked us up and we crossed over the border, and then to mom and dad's condo. We said hello to them and to aunt Linda, and crashed. But Saturday morning it was relatively nice out, so we wandered around Crescent Beach - along the beach, collecting rocks, into their garden plot, where we weeded the strawberry patch, and then to lunch.

In the evening, mom and dad's bowling club was hosting a spring dinner and dance, and Liesl and I gamely went along. We ate Greek food, met mom and dad's friends, and then had a really sweet time  dancing together. Liesl learned the steps of the waltz and foxtrot and more importantly learned how to twirl, do double unders, do a slide move, wrap and step, and all kinds of other partner dancing moves that were last in fashion long ago...  she had a grand time dancing with all three of us. And we had fun dancing together too - it's great to see my parents both out there still, grooving and singing.

fun with tortillas

I always tell the children not to play with their food, but I had to make an exception in this case. Sebastian's tortilla creations were pretty cool. (And yes, we're obviously talking a lot about our planned August trip to Italy. :)  )

1. the Tower Bridge in London
2. the leaning tower of Pisa
3. the Eiffel Tower
4. the Duomo in Florence
5. a castle

science fair

Sebastian participated in his school's science fair again this year, this time with friends Cason, Peyton, and Nick. They built cardboard boats and then tested their racing capacities in various liquids. It was a simple experiment but they had a lot of fun with it, and they did a good job working together. And then they were proud to demonstrate the racing boats and talk with parents and other kids about their project, which was the best part of all to see. (Plus, Seb was inspired to wear a collared shirt for maybe the second time all year, which is always a highlight for me.)

I love the science fair - it seems like half of the kids in the upper grades participate, and all of the parents and teachers come to support them and view the presentation displays and ask questions - a big community event celebrating asking questions and investigating phenomena.

Liesl's ballet costume

Liesl has been taking ballet lessons this year and is hard at work preparing for a spring recital performance. Last Thursday, the girls got to try on their costumes and have a mini-dress rehearsal. They were THRILLED. They were so adorable.

robot!

After dinner tonight, Liesl declared her intention to make a robot, which sounded awesome. She found a cardboard box, she started cutting armholes, she asked for help. I tried to help and proved myself adequate at scissor-usage, but lacking in grand vision. So then Sebastian stepped in and made us a robot. It was pretty cool (both the final product and his enthusiasm and creativity) and Liesl was appreciative, and it was a sweet family evening.

Sweet Creek Falls

Last post from spring break! We woke up on Thursday and had bacon and waffles (of course), watched some tv (of course), and then packed up to head to the beach again (of course). We returned to Siltcoos Beach, which was the one we had visited on the first afternoon we arrived. It was a gorgeous morning and the fishermen were out casting for surf perch.

We played baseball, we dipped our toes in the water, we made a big sandcastle with a deep moat, we ran up and down the dunes -- it was a really good beach trip and Sebastian was sad to leave.

 We had lunch in Florence at our new favorite place (Homegrown) and then drove out of town, heading toward Eugene and I-5. But first we took a short detour to Sweet Creek Falls, a lovely short hike along a stream to a waterfall. It's the place that Steve and I got engaged in March 2005; I haven't been back since. It was really sweet to return there with the kids and hike it with them.

The water was cold, and moving fast.

The kids were pretending to be super heros, or ninja warriors, or forest elves, or something. They were climbing and jumping and hiding and dashing, all along the stream.

Here we are, at the scene of the crime!*

And then we hiked back to the car, piled in, and drove all the way home, arriving around 6:30, tired, sandy, dirty, hungry, but overall pretty happy with our trip. Sweet Jasper was wiped out.

*** And just for fun, some photos from that first trip to Oregon and the Sweet Creek trail, in 2005.