1/30 - My Fish

         I got a fish tank for my birthday. My mom and dad got it for me. That day I got my gravel,plants, and looked at some fish. We set my fish tank up that day as well. I couldn't get my fish because I had to filter the water in the fish tank for two days.






                                                                                    - Jack Rodgers

January 2011 Recap

We had a busy month to start out 2011! (While there will continue to be lots of blog postings during the month, our plan is to update this blog at the end of each month with a recap of the most exciting things we did.)

The month started out with Jack’s last single-digit birthday. The night before his birthday –the last day of Christmas vacation before everyone headed back to school – Dad and Jack went ice skating, Mom and Jack went to Starbucks to play some board games, and then the whole family went to a great crab restaurant on Lake Bellevue for a crab-fest (Jack’s favorite food). Jack was very excited about his birthday presents – in particular a fish tank with three fish he got to pick out! Jack also started playing basketball this month – he played in three games and scored a total of four baskets. 

It’s also a Harry Potter month – Henry is quite excited to finish the first Harry Potter book, and then watches the first movie! Plus all five of us go to the Pacific Science Center for a big Harry Potter exhibit – full of props from the films – Harry’s wand, the sorting hat, Hagrid’s hut, etc. etc. 

A highlight for Joseph this month is a one-on-one outing with Dad in which we climb Mount Si – a very prominent peak in the Cascades about 30 miles east of Seattle. It’s a 8 mile hike – 4 miles straight up and 4 miles straight down – far more strenuous than we’ve done in the past. The last three-fourths of a mile or so are past the snow line, and a bit icy with the steep grade. The view would be amazing but it’s a bit of an overcast day – we’ll have to return on a clearer day in the summer. 

All five of us end the month on a chilly day at Mariners Fan Fest – baseball season is just around the corner. The kids get to catch fly balls in the outfield, have their pitches clocked by a radar gun, and walk through the players’ clubhouse. In general the weather has been much milder than the East Coast – no snow accumulation this month at all, and temperatures mostly in the 40’s. 

1/30 - Rodgers' Online Photo Album Finally Organized!!

Dad finally got around to organizing our online photos. There are over 150 photos - some from back when we lived in Virginia (the oldest is two years old), but most are more recent. They are organized in "sets" (think of each set as an album) - if you click this link, it will take you to the Set Homepage, and then clicking on the name of the set will take you to all the pictures in that set. There's lots of ways to view them, but I think the easiest is to click on one of the photos to show it on a full page, and then click on the magnifying glass with a plus sign in it to the upper right above the picture. That will then let you easily scroll through all the pictures at your own pace. You can always find the link to our Flickr page on the right of this blog - feel free to visit it as we'll always be updating it with more pictures!

1/16/11 - Henry Finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!!!

         Today I finished the 1st Harry Potter book. I read some of the chapters myself.  I am going to watch the movie on Tuesday or Wednesday. I was surprised that Professor Quirell's master is Voldemort. My favorite part is when Hermione did the full body bind spell on Neville.

                                                                                                   - by Henry

Here's the cover of the book:

12/31 - Trip to Vancouver

         This week, we took a three-day trip to Vancouver. We did lots of fun stuff, including a walk through the trees, a scenic drive along lakes and mountains, and some great views of giant ski slopes on mountains. On the first day, we took a hike through the woods. To get to the hike, we walked across the Capilano Suspension Bridge, a long bridge over a little river. Then, we walked on a walkway up in the treetops. The next day, we took a drive through the mountains next to a lake and river. We stopped on the edge of an eagle reserve, and we saw 2 or 3 eagles in the treetops on the other side of the river. From our hotel room in Richmond (a suburb of Vancouver), we could see ski slopes on the mountains to the north. Also, on the way home from Vancouver, we stopped at Shannon falls, a giant waterfall. It was really neat, as the water fell a really long way from the top.
                                                                                         -Written by Joseph
                                                          
Here are some pictures of our Vancouver Trip:
 Jack, Daddy, and Henry on the bridge

 View of the river below the bridge, and the bridge's shadow

 One of the Eagles on the reserve

 An Eagle flying over the mountains

 The mountains where the ski slopes were

 Shannon Falls

The view on the scenic drive

12/24 - Merry Christmas from the Rodgers

         This Christmas, we did pretty much what we normally did at Christmas time. We cut down a tree at a Christmas Tree farm, decorated the tree with ornaments, opened extended family presents Christmas Eve, and opened family/presents on Christmas morning. We set up trains upstairs, drank eggnog, and did lots of fun activities. Some of the neatest presents we got included a music player (Henry), digital camera (Jack), and video game maker (Joseph). As a family, we got lots of board games, Sim City 4 (a computer game), and lots of other fun stuff.

Here are some pictures:

 Jack/Henry cutting down the tree

 Joseph cutting down the tree

Our Christmas Tree