Saturday, wake up at the crack of dawn (8:30am).  We'll be meeting up with Val and Kalya at 10am at the central park in Bellevue.  So, of course we need a gourmet breakfast before we go.  That consists of special scrambled eggs, strawberries and pear slices.

10am, at the park.  They're not quite there yet, so Yasmin and I walk around a bit, taking pictures of the ducks sleeping at the top of the water wall.  Yasmin gives me this nice description of why ducks have to turn their heads around and rest them on their backs to sleep.  It's so they don't get a sore neck from it hanging down otherwise.

Val and Kalya arrive, and an hour's worth of play ensues, ending with Kalya not wanting to leave. Typical behavior for kids, and adults for that matter.

Then, it's off to the book store, to sell some more books.  A couple of boxes full this time.  Mainly old computer books.  It will take 45 minutes for them to tally them up, because a lot of people are returning books.  It must be something in the air.  After 45 minutes, we go back and check, and I get... $16.50 for the lot!  Wow, let's see, at 45 minutes, that's roughtly $21.33/hour I earned from just standing around, and packing the boxes in the first place.  Perhaps I can make a career of this.

One interesting thing, the book “buyer” said, “The $16.50 was for that pile in front (points to one stack of the books).  That pile in back is older, so we're just going to donate them.”  Well, there you have it, one man's treasure, is another man's junk.  Donating is good, although, if they're going to be donated, I may as well take them to the library and get the tax benefit.  Nah, I can't pass up the 21.33/hour, so I'll just take my $16.50 and run. 

Then back home, with a detour to the super market to buy some lemons and a couple of other things.

So far, I think Yasmin has managed to read at least one book, while driving around town, and sitting at the breakfast table, and any other “down time”.

A while back, we went to Krispy Kreme's and got some donuts.  Turns out Yasmin only got to eat one of them.  So, she was crest fallen, and wanted to get some more.  Being the typical parent, I said “we can just make some”.  Alright, it was time to put actions to words.

Saturday I started the donut making process.  Real dough takes a long time to make.  You have to start the yeast a bubbling for about 5 or 10 minutes, then you add in some flour and let it rise for an hour or so.  Then you add all the other ingredients, and you let it rise for another hour or so, then punch it down, then let it rise over night.  Well, that's that for now.

Sunday: Off to Maltby Cafe for breakfast.  We'll need our strength so we can go to Plant World and get a bunch of seeds and other planting materials.  On the ride over, Yasmin's reading “The Wanderer”.  We're friendly sorts of people, so at breakfast when the waitress brings the head sized cinnamon roll to the table next to us, Yasmin chats them up, and bums a little bit of it off of them.  She's always good as a conversation starter.  The next table over has a guy who turns out to be a 4th grade teacher.  He sees the book, and that starts a conversation about the joys of reading, and how old is she, and what do we think of Harry Potter.  His lady friend concurs with Yasmin that the last book was getting repetitive, and the author seemed like she was just trying to extend the story.

Anyway, we got the seeds, and lots of them.  As I described them to a friend, the comment was, you'll need to buy some more land if you're going to plant all that.

Back home, and time to deal with the donuts some more.  But first, some yard work.  Mow the lawn, trim the edges, pick up the various fallen branches.  While I'm doing all that, Yasmin's inside relaxing doing some more reading.  She's finished “The Wanderer”, and she's already on to her second or third book by then. 

The donut dough has thawed out, and now it's time to cut them into wholes and holes.  Oops, we don't have enough oil.  So, off to the store to get some oil, PowerAde, and that's it!

Back home, start frying the donuts.  And what to top them with?  Sugar, sugar with cinnamon, sugar with powdered sugar, powdered sugar, and boiling honey!  This whole operation would consume the next hour or so, and make quite a mess.

The oil cost about $4.  The ingredients for making the dough probably cost about $1.  The time spent between Saturday, and all the labor on Sunday probably adds up to at least a couple of hours.  Given that I can earn $23/hour for doing relatively nothing (selling books), these donuts cost $51.  Now, imagine the Mastercard commercial:  New car to go on date, $20,000.  Fancy dinner out, $100, making donuts with your child, priceless.  For all the little nick nacks in life, use money, for time with your child, there's no substitute!

During this time, Yasmin managed to read another couple of books, I don't know how.

Then, we watched Ice Age, and she finally went off to bed, at 9:15, after finishing one more book.

That's a weekend with an 8 year old.  You do tons of stuff, and sometimes nothing at all, but it's hecka fun no matter what.