Hey, you are not Cups!
Hello, I am Cups' little brother, Gofres! Below please enjoy my jiejie's big hurrah before she returns to school for first grade.
The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department hosted Big Day of Play last Saturday and offered free kayaking and canoeing. Cups paddled under Daddy's supervision.
Cups went back out in the water, and a lifeguard walked alongside her kayak. The super nice lifeguard was funny. She asked whether I was Japanese - just in case I knew her mom.
On Sunday we went to Fremont to feed ducks. Perhaps it was a little chilly; we did not find any ducks. We watched the Fremont draw bridge open and close for ships and tried dumplings at Dumpling Tzar (in an alley) - yummy!
We tried a flourless chocolate cake recipe, and Cups started the process by chopping semi-sweet chocolate while I was busy with something else. She is experienced after making chocolate truffles. She did really well. I skipped a step, so the cake did not turn out quite right. It was still yummy.
Cups has been forced to work on Chinese over the summer - in preparation for her upcoming two-hour Saturday class. It is a struggle since there is nothing natural about it as the character writing needs to be exact and strokes need to be in a certain order. The combination of bribes and threats works for now.
I have encouraged her to not spend time that could be spent doing something fun afterwards whining, and her attitude has gotten a lot better with that. We have not worked to memorizing what each character means or sounds; I just wanted to get her familiar with the work. It has taken half an hour each day, and I have not yet enforced the whole plan - spelling the sounds phonetically and reciting short verses. I am not sure how this will go over once school starts.
At registration the Chinese school principal, whom we've known for years for Cups' kindergarten class, asked whether I would want to put Cups in the class with kids that speak Chinese at home. I asked for the reason, and she said that Cups would learn more. I laughed as I told her that I didn't want to give Cups too much pressure. Cups' goal for wanting to learn Chinese is to be able to communicate with Agong and Ama.
I have encouraged her to not spend time that could be spent doing something fun afterwards whining, and her attitude has gotten a lot better with that. We have not worked to memorizing what each character means or sounds; I just wanted to get her familiar with the work. It has taken half an hour each day, and I have not yet enforced the whole plan - spelling the sounds phonetically and reciting short verses. I am not sure how this will go over once school starts.
At registration the Chinese school principal, whom we've known for years for Cups' kindergarten class, asked whether I would want to put Cups in the class with kids that speak Chinese at home. I asked for the reason, and she said that Cups would learn more. I laughed as I told her that I didn't want to give Cups too much pressure. Cups' goal for wanting to learn Chinese is to be able to communicate with Agong and Ama.
On Tuesday Agong and Ama visited for the day and took us out to lunch.
Agong and Ama have also been busy visiting with 94-year-old Azo (Ama's mom) at the nursing home in Vancouver, BC. We are most fortunate that they visit us whenever they can!
On Wednesday we visited the American Girl store before Sarah's birthday party, and Cups found her look alike. The only thing missing on the doll was the freckles.
Happy birthday, Sarah! (The birthday girl is in light blue next to Cups.) Cups wore a new dress from Costco to the party. She loved the dress so much that she wore it three days in a row. If she had not been threatened to put it in the hamper, I think she would have worn it everyday until she had to put on an uniform.
Cups had such a great time at the birthday party that I think her smile burned a whole through the pillow of the driver's seat. She was super happy with the food selection and quality for the afternoon tea at the American Girl bistro, treats from the game that Auntie Angela hosted and the treat bags from Auntie Angela and the American Girl bistro. She was so sweet to Gofres all the way home through the next morning - the power of joy/happiness.
On Thursday we attended the Breakfast of Champions. The Seattle Public Library offered a ballot for every ten books read for its summer reading challenge. The reward was brunch at the Space Needle. Cups won at our branch!
Leslie, the reference library from our library, had gone to tell the kids about the summer reading challenge at the end of the school. Cups came home to tell us about it and pointed out Leslie to me on one of our trips to the library.
Cups had over 30 ballots in the drawing (and over half of that for Gofres), and only two of them that Daddy filled out had Elizabeth on them. Unbeknownst to me, even Leslie knew Cups as Cups. When Leslie called for Elizabeth to announce the great news, she said, "Wait, I know you by your voice." When I reintroduced myself, she said, "I don't know her by Elizabeth." I said, "Cupcakes?!" Later in the conversation Leslie piped in, "Cups! I know her by Cups!" Leslie was thrilled that someone who frequented the library, which is a block away from home, had won. The family was thrilled to be able to tag along!
Here is a picture of Cups with Leslie on the left and Dennis Bounds from KING 5 News on the right. Cups thought that the Champion Reader medal was the best part of the award. She wore it proudly for most of the day, and she and Gofres have taken turns playing with it around the house since.
After the brunch Cups had a great time on the observation deck.
I hope you've enjoyed this update on Jiejie. Someone help me down, please!!
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