Ballet Camp

Henry just wrapped up his last day of a week-long ballet camp in Lake Oswego. He asked me specifically to take ballet, so when I heard about this class it seemed like a perfect opportunity. Overall I think he really enjoyed the class although I don't think his instructor was very well suited for preschoolers. Regardless, he had fun and is still interested in ballet, so perhaps I will try and find him another class in the fall. He was the only boy in the class which I found a little surprising. I certainly didn't think it would be an even split among the genders, but I thought there'd be at least one more boy. I am metaphorically shaking my head at gender stereo-typing in this day and age. I would have thought more people would be more open-minded about it, but I guess not. The interesting thing is that no one would think twice about sending their little girl to a basketball camp (or something similarly male skewed) but a boy in ballet? Everyone comments on that.

Here is a picture of the kids lining up to enter the studio (the teacher definitely had the "discipline" aspect of ballet down pat) and one of them at the end of their last class.

Henry's First Movie

Last Sunday we went to see the new Winnie the Pooh movie at Cinetopia. It was the first time Henry has ever seen a movie and I had a difficult time explaining to him what it was all about. He was convinced that the characters were going to come out onto the stage - since all we've been to previously were live shows, he didn't understand the whole movie screen concept...even though I kept telling him it was going to be like watching television on a larger screen. I don't think he's quite old enough for a movie yet, since he spent more time out of his seat than in it! Or maybe it was the subject - he's not that familiar with Winnie the Pooh; perhaps if it had been a Caillou movie he would have remained seated the whole time! Nonetheless, I think he enjoyed it, especially since he told me he wanted to go see it again.

Backyard Swimming?

This video reminds me of the axiom about kids enjoying cardboard boxes more than the toys that came in them. On one of the few hot, hot days we had last week Henry and I went out and bought a fancy new wading pool - a blow-up alligator pool that has a built in sprinkler. We got that all set up and then I also pulled out the little sprinkler mat we got a couple years ago. The neighbor kids came over and were enjoying the new "water features" in our backyard...but where was Henry? I had to get the video camera rolling when I saw him, shunning the new water toys and was instead sitting on the deck in a plastic storage bin filled with water. :)

Berry Picking

On Friday, Henry and I headed out to pick some berries. Another mom at Gymboree had told me about a place about halfway between Beaverton and Newberg called Smith Berry Barn, so we headed there. It was a great day for berry picking - not too terribly hot, but still nice and warm. I went without knowing what would be ripe and available to pick. When we got there we found out it was just a couple different varieties of raspberries - no blackberries, which is what I had hoped. Nonetheless, the raspberries were wonderful and we picked about 2 and 3/4 pounds of them in about an hour. They also have chickens and goats so we spent some time looking at those before heading across the street for lunch at a cute little country diner. I definitely want to go back again when we get home from Hawaii for those blackberries!

Fourth of July

Finally we got some hot weather and it, coincidentally, coincided with the 4th of July. What luck! We spent the morning bumming around downtown, walking, riding MAX and ending up down at the waterfront where it was already starting to get crowded with people saving spots for the fireworks later that night. Henry fell in love with the fountain down there and I think would have stayed and played in it all day if we let him. Later that night, we did some fireworks at our place with Gigi and Bumpa. Henry loved the sparklers, the rest he also liked, but could have done without the loudness!

Long Overdue Update

I haven't uploaded any pictures since our trip to the Wildlife Safari, so I really don't have anything new to post; but, I felt badly that it has been so long since my last post so I felt the need to throw something up here! So here's a picture of the brownie madness that ensued one night after my dad gave Henry money to go to "the brownie store." At past 9pm the only "brownie store" we could think of to take him to was Zupan's. When we pulled into the parking lot Henry said, in a super-disappointed voice, "this isn't the brownie store! This is just a grocery store!" Oh well, all was forgotten when he finally got that brownie in his little hands and proceeded to dance around with it outside before eating it.