Practice

Today when we woke up, the ground was wet and the sky was cloudy and looking like drizzle (no actual rain fell today, but it did stay threatening all day).  And it was cold.  66.

I had the day off so I decided that it was a great day to start practicing for our new life in the Pacific Northwest.  First, Nory and I went over to the preschool for a couple hours.  This is Nory, still eating snack long after the other kids have finished and started playing.  She is either a really slow eater or wasn't sure about the pancakes and apples.

Then we did some running around in the World's Cutest Raincoat.

Unfortunately for mommy, Nory only slept for 45 minutes at naptime instead of the usual 2-3 hours.  Ugh.  I had an idea that maybe she would sit on the couch and watch a movie while I finished up cleaning the kitchen and doing some stuff on the computer.  It seemed to me that if we live somewhere with lots of rain, my kid should learn to appreciate a good 1/2 hour of kid TV here and there.  However, I couldn't figure out how to work our TV, and the only remotely kid-friendly video we had was Planet Earth. 

Which I turned off after noticing that one of the first scenes is of a wolf chasing down a baby moose and eating it.  Oh well, maybe I can just sneak onto the computer while Nory is playing with her toys in the living room!  Nope, because Nory has discovered how to turn off my computer.  Who on earth designed a power button that glowed blue, anyway?  This, by the way, is why I don't blog nearly as frequently anymore.  It absolutely cannot be done while Nory is awake.

Instead Nory played "look at what I am climbing up, standing on, and dancing around on!" with a laundry basket (among other things).

 The house was a frigid 67 degrees so I decided to make some pumpkin bread, which has to bake at 350 for an hour.  Failure - we were out of eggs.

Then we read lots and lots of books. Nory read some books with mommy and some books all by herself.

Later this afternoon, a friend called and asked if I wanted to meet for coffee.  This seems like something I will do often in the Pacific Northwest so of course we said yes.  Is it cruel and unusual punishment to park your kid right next to the cakes and then give her an apple?

Nory never stays in the stroller long if it isn't moving.  Soon she was running around the restaurant. 

Here are Nory and Keoni, ready to leave! 

After coffee, Nory and I went to pick up daddy from work.  Daddy doesn't bike on rainy days.  Or on any day that isn't perfectly sunny.  I guess we should sell all of his bikes when we move north.

Back home, having stopped for eggs, I decided to make pumpkin soup and pumpkin bread for dinner.  Maybe a little overkill on the pumpkin, but the chilly weather put me in the mood.  I seem to remember eating things like soup a lot more frequently in the Pacific Northwest.

We let Nory feed herself soup.  Dinner is always right before bathtime, so messes aren't as big of a deal.  Maybe in the Pacific Northwest it won't ever be warm enough to let our kid eat soup naked, but this was only practice!

All in all I think we had a very successful practice day.  A few more of these (and a pair of more reasonable shoes for Nory) and we'll be ready to move back!