This week has been rather eventful. We made some new friends and had outings with them on three different days. On Wednesday, we headed up to Burfoot County Park, in order to experience the lowest tides of the year.

It was a pretty neat experience. The mudflats stretched out forever, and the place was overrun by sand-dollars. Not the bright white ones that you find on the eastern shores, but dark, furry, living sand-dollars. They were everywhere. The boys had fun collecting the shells of the dead ones, and learning to tell one from the other. They also found baby crabs & a shell full of tiny little hermit crabs. We stayed until the tide came back in, and the time got late. The Sunchild, was tired and muddy, and very glad to have had a long afternoon playing in the muck with some new friends.

On Thursday, we left early and headed out to Spooner's Berry Farm. The strawberries are ripe, and only $1.15 a pound when you pick them yourself. Once again, the boys ran about, playing in the grass, picking berries, and learning to avoid stepping on the plants. I had to cut myself off after a bit- I think 9lbs was plenty for us- at least for this week! We have been living in strawberry heaven, too. I even melted some fine Callebaut chocolate in a makeshift double-boiler to dip the strawberries in. A few minutes in the fridge, and ooh-la-la!!

Friday was our friends college graduation. Luckily for us, it was at Evergreen State College, where things tend toward the unconventional. It was entertaining to see the various outfits & costumes that some of the graduates wore to the event. There was even a person in medieval chain mail, with a silver mask, and raven wings. I am not quite sure what the message was supposed to be, but the Sunchild was delighted.

We have also been getting back into the groove of some of the more traditional educational activities. He has been practicing his writing, with the aim of sending off some letters that he has promised to write. We also just finished a book called Knights, by Catherine Daly-Weir, which is a second grade reader. We switched off reading aloud, line by line. It was much more interesting than many of the earlier readers that he could manage on his own.

He has developed an interest in chemistry as of late, as well. This is neat because we know someone who is a chemistry major at Evergreen who has offered to tutor him. He is excited to pursue that. His favorite chemistry fact is the transition of silver nitrate into copper nitrate (with the silver coming out of solution) by the addition of copper wire. We have yet to perform the experiment (where does one get silver nitrate, anyway?)- but he has found it in several books about chemistry, and loves to explain what is going on to anyone who will listen.

Well, there is more I could write about, but the Sunchild has an agenda involving an experiment, and he needs my help. I will have to write again some other time.