Aria's First Horseback Riding Lesson - Jan. 27 2019

Aria has been very interested in horses lately and has been asking for horseback riding lessons. While we have an introductory lesson scheduled for next week at a riding stable a friend of Ted's who is also a riding instructor offered to give Aria a lesson with one of her horses, whose name is Red. We met our friend, Terri, at a park and Aria got to learn how to respectfully meet and groom a horse and then got a an introductory riding lesson. It was all very wonderful and Aria is looking forward to her lesson at the riding stable and to a next chance to ride Red.

Here's a video of the experience. In total, our time with Terri and Red was about two hours long.

Here are some photos along the way. Aria and Red really seemed to hit it off together.

Aria's Halloween Performances - October 2018

Aria has had a very busy time this Halloween season. First, her school had their annual Historical Halloween on Friday, Oct. 26. Aria chose to portray Pocahontas this year. Here is a video of her speech:

Karen made her costume from scratch, which included a hand-painted bead necklace.

Here is the text of Aria's speech: 

Hi. My name is Pocahontas. I was born about 1596 and most of what you’ve heard about me is false. Here’s my true story. To start with my name isn’t really Pocahontas. Its Amonute. I also had the more private name Matoaka. Pocahontas was only a nickname and depending on who you ask it means playful one or ill behaved child. It is true my father Powhatan was chief of the Mattaponi people. He was a great chief uniting all the tribes of the tide water region of what is now Virginia.

One of the stories about me is that I saved the life of Captain John Smith and fell in love with him. That’s probably not true as I was only 11 and he liked to make up stories about other girls like me.

One of the stories that is true is that when I was very young I was captured and brought to England to show natives could be civilized. After being captured I took on the name Rebecca and married a man named John Rolffe and had a son. We named him Thomas. On the way home I fell very ill and died. That is my story. Thank you for listening. 

Next, Aria was in a dance performance as part of the Bellingham Arts Academy for Youth (BAAY) Haunted House. Here's a video of the performance. The first part of the performance is the older kids. Aria is in the second part after the video fades to black. BEWARE! This performance is VERY SCARY. Make sure that you don't watch it alone.

 

Karen made Aria's costume for the performance.

 

Aria Performs in her First Flute Recital AND Sings in the Kids Choir

Aria had two musical performances in one day! The big event of the day was that she performed at her first flute recital. She performed a folk song titled "The Honey Bee" and Karen accompanied her on the piano. Aria also made a batch of yummy chocolate chip cookies the night before (with Dad as assistant cook) that she shared with everyone after the recital. The recital was for six of her flute teacher's students and their friends and families.

Aria, her flute teacher, and the other flute students her performed at the recital

 
Earlier in the day, Aria sang with the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship Kids Choir. Here is a video of them singing "With a Little Help from my Friends."

Aria and Sparkle Enhoy the First Snow

We had a beautiful first snowfall of the season on November 3 and Aria and Sparkle had a ball playing in it. Enjoy!

Aria performs as Tamika Catchings at Historical Halloween

Aria's school, Montessori at Samish Woods, celebrated Historical Halloween again this year. Aria Choose to portray basketball superstar, Tamika Catchings.

The following video shows her presentation and how she choose to spend the rest of her day at home.

Here is the text of Aria's presentation:
Hello, my name is Tamika Catchings.  I was born on July 21, 1979 and grew up in Abilene, Texas. 
When I was a child, I had to wear big ugly hearing aids and was teased a lot.  It was so painful that one day I threw my hearing aids in a vacant lot.  My mom got mad at me, and my hearing aids were never replaced. When I was in sixth grade my parents got divorced. 

My life was stressful, but when I got stressed I played basketball.  When I was happy, I played basketball.  I played basketball  whatever mood I was in.

After a lot of practice, I got really good with my sister Tauja, who was my ears and voice.  We became famous.  This was hard because I had a speech impediment and people made fun of how I talked.  I just wanted to be a regular kid.
My parents supported my goals and never said I couldn’t join the NBA.

When I was 15, I was named Ms. Basketball in Illinois and was the youngest person to win that award.

After high school, I decided to go to the University of Tennessee to play for the legendary coach Pat Summit.   The first day I went to college she said I wasn’t playing the right way, and I had to play her way.  It was hard work but I became a better player.

After college I joined the Women’s National Basketball Association and went on to win four gold medals on the Olympic team.  Just last year I retired after 15 years playing for the Indiana Fever.

What I want to tell you is that despite any disability, with hard work, through thick and thin you can do it!

Total Solar Eclipse Adventure

On Sunday, August 20, Karen, Aria, and Ted set out on an adventure of a lifetime - to view a total solar eclipse. We started out in the morning from Bellingham and drove for about nine hours to our destination in Baker City, Oregon. We choose Baker City because it was within the 70 mile-wide path where the sun would be totally eclipsed. Even though we had anticipated the trip for nearly two years we ended up heading off with no certainty about where we would stay or where we would view the eclipse the following morning. We also didn't know with certainty whether the weather would be clear or not. Being in a more arid part of Eastern Oregon and at a higher elevation, Baker City had a good chance of being clear. The weather forecast the day before the eclipse called for light clouds but as the eclipse time approached the forecast called for clear skies. We kept our fingers crossed.

We arrived at Baker City just before sunset and stopped at a city park that had a great playground. Aria enjoyed the playground while Karen found us a nice parking spot for the night next to the river that flowed adjacent to the park. We spent the night sleeping (sort of) in the back of our car and got up early in the morning of eclipse day - August 21, 2017.  The sky was perfectly clear and cloudless - perfect conditions for eclipse watching. Given the location of the sun in the sky, we decided that the grassy area near our car would be a perfect place to watch the eclipse. As we waited for the eclipse to start other people arrived. Some folks came from just north of Bellingham and even recognized us!

The partial solar eclipse started, as predicted, at about 9:09 am with the moon nibbling a small bite out of the sun in the upper right hand corner. For the next hour and ten minutes we used our special eclipse glasses to watch as more and more of the sun disappeared behind the moon. About five minutes before the total eclipse started we could see many changes start to occur - shadows were becoming sharper and sharper as the sun became more a point of light, the sky started to take on a darker shade, and images of the sun projected through the trees took on a crescent shape. The light level didn't seem to drop a lot until the last minute or so before totality. And then, in just the few seconds before totality began at 10:24 am it went through the quickest twilight I've ever seen becoming pitch black in a matter of seconds. Then we saw the most awesome and beautiful sight imaginable as the sun's disc was completely covered and the solar corona shown brightly like a glorious crown of light. We watched and cheered in awe at the beautiful sight. And then ... it was over as quickly as it had begun. The sun peaked back out from the upper right corner of the moon and the sky stated to lighten. After a few minutes the city street lights turned off and it was almost a normal day again. We continued to watch through the eclipse glasses as the moon's disc moved off from in front of the sun.

We enjoyed a little more time on the playground checking out the partial eclipse until it ended a little before noon, packed up, grabbed some coffee and lunch and started the long trek home.
And, as Aria said during the eclipse, "this is EPIC!"

Here is a video of the time before, during, and after the eclipse.

The photos below showing the partial solar eclipse were taken by Karen through the solar eclipse glasses

view from our camp (car) of the park and river

Karen and Aria waiting for the eclipse to start

Our neighbor Carl setting up the solar viewer

 

Karen enjoying the partial eclipse using the solar glasses

Aria waiting anxiously for the total eclipse to begin

Partial eclipse about 40 minutes before totality

Just a few minutes before totality

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE!

Partial eclipse following totality

Aria and Karen Play With Awesome Bubbles

Aria and Karen blew and played with huge bouncy bubbles.
Enjoy