State Capitol!

On Tuesday, my school went to the State Capitol in Olympia.

There are 42 steps to get inside the capitol building because Washington is the 42nd state in the union!

 Once we made it up the stairs, our guide Chris, showed us some bronze doors.  This set is permanently closed since the earthquake in '01.

 Once inside, we saw marble everywhere!

 I waited with Anne & Andy while everyone else went to the bathroom!  There were a lot of stairs inside this building.

 Chris showed us more things about Washington State.  We saw the state seal, state frog, state tree, apples etc....

 They also had a replica of the gun that shot Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago.

 Here is a rare handmade flag with 42 stars.

 The bronze state seal in the floor in the very center of the rotunda.

 This is the class sitting in the rotunda.  We tried out the acoustics, which were really good.

 The entrance to the state senate chamber.  The one behind us looked just the same, although it was for the house.

 We went into the reception room where they have fancy parties.  The pair of chandeliers in this room cost as much as the whole capitol building!  Wow!

 The only gold in the capitol building is found in the gold thread which make the state seal in these curtains.

 Chris was showing us pictures that could be seen in the marble.

 Mom caught me yawning!

 After the reception room, we got to sit in the gallery to see the house of representatives.  They come back to work tomorrow.

 The representatives work down there.  The senate looks the same.

On our way out, Mom took a picture of me by the big chandelier that hangs from the center of the rotunda, above the seal.  After this we had lunch and went to see the Justice building.

We got to go inside, but not in the courtroom.  Court was in session.  It was a fun field tip!

Meeting Sophie

On Friday, I got to meet my newest cousin, Sophie!  Fortunately, she wasn't a baby.

In the morning, Mom and I picked up Sophie, Uncle Colin, and Aunt Lori from downtown Seattle.  At first, I was shy, but I ended up liking her a lot.  

 We took Lori to Salt Water State Park.  Dad helped us to make a bridge over the creek to make it across to the other side.

Sophie introduced us to Pusheen the cat.

 I gave Sophie and I a challenge to built Pusheen the Cat out of Legos.  It was hard but we did it.

Once we were done, we showed it to our parents.

There's me and Sophie, proud of our work.

Mom made Sophie a Pusheen T-shirt.  I really liked Sophie, I want to see her again sometime soon.

Over the Mountains-Day 1

Mom and I woke up at 4:30 in the morning.  We needed to be at the Wenatchee River Institute by 9:00 am in Leavenworth, Washington, where we were meeting the rest of our class.  Mom packed the car and we were on the road at 6:15 and we got stuck in rush hour traffic.  Finally, when we made it to Snoqualmie Pass on I-90, it was snowing!!!!!!  We made it to the Institute, but we were 10 minutes late!

 This was "the Barn", a really awesome classroom to study nature.

 This was the original house on the property which now has offices and other services.

 It was a beautiful morning.  It started off cold, and warmed up.  Unfortunately, there were 30-40 mph wind gust through out the whole day.  The wind sounded like a loud train.

 We started off the morning by breaking into two groups and talking about our surroundings.

 We went down to the Wenatchee River.  This would be an awesome beach in the summer!!!!

 I love it now!!!!!

 Time for learning.  We learned about abiotic, biotic, and man made(the word started with a C though).

 We then went into the barn to learn about birds, because we were going to watch birds this afternoon.  I got a duck and was able to identifiy it as a Wood Duck from the bird book.

 Tazmin and Andy got song birds.  We did spend more time talking about the web of life and the balance of predators and prey.  Unfortunately, those 30-40 mph wind gusts made it really hard to go bird watching since they were all being blown away!

 We then went to our cabins at the Icicle fine arts center next to the Sleeping Lady.

 Then to a visit to downtown Leavenworth.  Mom loves this place.  I liked it too.

 Tazmin, Elliot, Andy and I found a fountain.

 After this, we had dinner at South, a funky, Mexican restaurant.

 Back at the cabins, we played on the rock out side.  It was huge.

 We went to bed by 8:30, but Mom and I had a terrible night.  We wer up and out by 5:30 am, headed to the Leavenworth Starbucks.

Over the Mountains-Day 2

 Mom and I did not sleep well the night before in the cabin at the Sleeping Lady Fine Arts Center.  So we booked a room for tonight at the Leavenworth Howard Johnson's.  But first we woke up and went to Applets & Cotlets / Liberty Orchards in Cashmere. Our class ate some of these candies at Teacher Andrea's "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" Party in December.  Applets & Cotlets are Turkish Delight, just different flavors than rose.

 Another hairnet!  Yes those are bags under my eyes....

 Like Theo's chocolates in Seattle, we got a tour.  It was short and sweet.  Unfortunately, I can no longer eat any of these candies since they are dusted with corn starch.  My corn allergy is new.....

 Next stop, Ancient Lakes trailhead near Quincy, Washington.

 Teacher Andrea and Mom.

 This hike was in a desert biome.  There was a lot of dust, rocks, and sun.

 It was a two mile hike to visit four small lakes, and strangely, several waterfalls!

Can you see the waterfall?

 Our class made notes about the biome.  What we saw, smelled, touched.  There were NO rattlesnakes, although several boys in our group really wanted to find one.

 Class picture.

 We were all really tired walking back, but I did a good job and did not complain.

After this, we drove back to Leavenworth for dinner.  I was excited to stay at the motel instead of the cabin.  Mom and I each had to take a shower to wash all of the day's dust.  I also got to watch an hour  of the Cartoon Network, before we fell asleep.