over the weekend and into monday and tuesday

we hit the palouse trail for a family bike ride. unfortunately, the spring weather went from semi-bad to worse and we had to turn back. the kids did great riding 8 miles round trip in the wind, rain and hail. um, yeah, we were freezing...brrrr! because i was trying to keep warm by riding, i didn't take too many pictures. here are a few.

this was williams first ride in the bike trailer. he loved it!
he and issy stayed toasty warm, while the rest of us were icicles.

after a cold bike ride, we settled in for a nice warm cup of cocoa, some warm blankets and a musical, The Slipper and the Rose. gotta love a cheesy musical! as the day wore on, the hail and rain turned into a snowy blizzard. we were sure glad we went on our bike ride when we did.


******************

emma is quite a little environmentalist. she is part of a group called "roots and shoots" that meets after schools on thursdays. they discuss things from endangered species to organic gardening to taking care of the earth. they also participate and advocate participation in different environmental issues. this past saturday was earth hour. she was very excited and reminded us all day to be prepared for earth hour.
are you wondering what earth hour is? well, it is where you turn off all electricity for 1 hour. here in moscow, we were asked to turn off all electricity from 830-930 pm. we spent this time sitting around candles telling stories. we would each take a turn telling part of a story and then the next person would continue the story from where it was left off and so forth. it was a fun evening. below is a photo taken of the kids during earth hour. can you find them??


******************

william sustained his first childhood injury. it was kind of scarey how it happened. a shelf on the wall has a wooden picture on it and i had just recently dusted the shelf and replaced the picture. a few minutes later we were all sitting in the living room about to begin family home evening and the picture falls off the shelf, hits the ground, bounces up and hits william in the head. poor kid never saw that thing coming, i guess none of us did. it happened so quickly. he cried a good howl and quieted as i soothed him, just like a good boy should. unfortunately, that silly wood sign left a mark.
moral: never dust.

****************

this past week at lena whitmore(the kids elementary) they have been celebrating ismat sheikh international week. the halls are lined with different native dress, they have special assemblies with dancers from other countries, they taste different foods, learn about cultures in their classes and then at the end of the week they have a parade. as you can guess, emma is in hog heaven. she loves learning about other cultures. she also loves to dress-up, so she is quick to volunteer to be a part of the parade. this year she is dressed up in an outfit from mexico.

OLE OLE!!

***************

issy had dance photos today. here are a few pictures we took before dance class. isn't she a total model? she absolutely loves the camera.