Volunteer Time

This morning, I volunteered at the Big Kid's school. I was told that we were going to be packing gift bags for their big alumni anniversary party, but instead we were putting together photo albums.  They had been given hundreds (thousands) of photos from people over the years and no one has ever put them into albums.  The organizer had put them into generally accurate collections by year, so we just had to sort them by type (sports, prom, graduation, etc.) and put them into the albums with double-stick tape.  I put together 2001-2003.  There were some photos dating back to the late 1980s and as recent as 2006--after that, almost all photos were digital, so they're going to do some kind of Shutterfly books, I think.  I'll be going back tomorrow to do some more after the kids are away at school.

While the Big Kid is volunteering in the afternoons, I'm finding creative ways to entertain the littles.  Today we went to the beach at the Edmonds ferry docks.

The skies cleared and we had a lovely sunny afternoon.  The tide was out, which afforded lots of opportunities to play in the wet sand.


They built sand villages with lots of moats--digging an irrigation ditch from the shallow pools down toward the village.


Ben poked the live barnacles, making them cringe.  They're really funny creatures.


I mean, lookit 'em!  They look like they'll reach out and snap at your fingers.  These are acorn barnacles and are the most common type in the Puget Sound.


After they got good and smelly, fishy and sandy, I took them out for ice cream.  Ben's favorite flavor, Cotton Candy, is back in the stores!  I may have to buy several pints of the stuff to keep in the freezer over winter.  Cammie chose her favorite; rainbow sherbet.


Bathing, medicating, and chasing off to bed!