March on FB

Nerd panic moment: I can't find my APA Manual. I may need oxygen.

 

Sadly, we didn't manage to eat all of this on Pi Day and so we're burdened with leftovers

The bonus of getting to use my grandfather's nice camera is that I can still get pics of Ben even when he's playing on the other side of the field. And he's always on the other side of the field. 🤦‍♀️😆

We visited a wildlife refuge on a beautiful, sunny day and were lucky enough to have some wildlife pose for us.

Living my best Peeps life

Ben is 15

This is a child who, after FIFTEEN YEARS of having birthdays, is pretending to be surprised that is mother is frustrated that he blew out the candles when she and her camera were not ready.

Luckily for posterity, that picture was taken before his actual birthday and at his family birthday party we had the weekend before. While we enjoyed spending time with everyone, it was truly a dry run for the the big day.

As per tradition, the big day started with balloons. I learned later that he hadn't counted them which sort of defeats the time I spent the night before blowing them up in my closet in secret. So maybe not 16 balloons next year - just a bunch of them. This was not my best work. I heard his alarm clock going off while I was taping them to the wall and panicked. But the effect was the same. 

Ben lucked out and his birthday was a half-day for the public schools. He had soccer practice and then the rest of the day was his to take a nap and talk to family on the phone. Josh popped on by to give him the one, true sword....I mean, the master sword from the Legend of Zelda. 

After a burrito bowl from Chipotle, Ben finished off his birthday dinner posing nicely with an ice cream sandwich so I could get my picture. (Note: the ratio of candles to years is 1:15)

It's been a year of new experiences, challenging himself, denying that he has curly hair, and frustration at how easy trigonometry is. We're excited to see what this next year brings.

Battle of the Books: 3rd Grade Edition

This picture below (compliments of the PTA) shows the spunky bunch of 3rd graders who participated in the first annual 3rd Grade Battle of the Books. Isaac signed up for this great activity and enjoyed ready the books during the school year. 

On the reading list:

The Wild Robot

by Peter Brown

The Terrible Two

by Mac Barnett

Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth

by Judd Winick

The Tapper Twins Go to War (with Each Other)

by Geoff Rodkey

Isaac's team was called the Book Covers. They seemed to work really well together and they all participated in the deciding their team answer. After 30 minutes of questions ranging from overarching themes to the name of the type of fish one character put in her brother's backpack, Isaac's team came in a strong second. 

He was pretty bummed, but it seemed to be a good experience overall. Hopefully he'll participate next year and get to read more interesting books.

Spring Celebration

As one would expect, it was raining on the day I chose to have our Spring Celebration. Instead of getting soaked together and experiencing mutual irritation, we played Jackbox 3 (so people could be irritated one at a time when they came in last). Then the boys opened their Spring Celebration shoe boxes (getting creative over here).

This year's haul included Girl Scout cookies (a win), Peep flavored candies (not a win), and matching shirts and socks (another win). 

Hot Chocolate Race

While I was living my best life flying in a tiny airplane flying from one side of the state to the other, Jason took Michael, Ben, and Isaac to Seattle so that Michael and Ben could run another 10k. 

The weather cooperated beautifully and refrained from raining until they had finished. They picked me up at the airport on the way home.

WLA 2024: Spokane

The Washington Library Association conference reached its most eastern location this year which meant that the attendees all congregated in Spokane for a few days of information fun. In a lovely, late turn of events, my LTI Lab pal Rosine was able to come and we ended up on the same flight from Seattle to Spokane.

The SJSU LTI Lab hosted a booth at the conference which we used to help people try out the MetaQuest 3 and Vision Pro. The Vision Pro was released in February and I was so hoping the iSchool would get theirs in time to bring it to WLA...and they did! I got some quality time with Apple's latest spatial computing system (their words - not mine).

The Vision Pro did not disappoint. And neither did Spokane with a beautiful three inches of snow on Friday morning.

 The conference included at 7am meet up for the WLA Divisions.  Only three of us and the WLA president showed up for Special Libraries. I am guessing the early hour made it a difficult sell.

The Alki Journal Editorial Team also got an award, so I was able to eat lunch with some folks I have only ever met on Zoom.

On the last evening, we had an SJSU dinner at a restaurant. I convinced the LTI Lab folks that we should walk over and we were rewarded with the opportunity to take some selfies with the massive Radio Flyer we passed on our way there.

I enjoy the WLA conference and am looking forward to it being closer next year.