Seattle Day 1

We spent the weekend in Seattle to celebrate Eric's and my 10th Anniversary (last January). I must say, as much as I enjoyed the visit, I have changed my mind about retiring there. Too many people and hills!!

I took over 156 pictures on the first day, here are some of the highlights.


We started off the trip by going on a duck tour, one of the tours on the vehicles that let you go around the city and then into the water.
Aeden's school Spirit Bear joined us on our trip and enjoyed Aeden's duck sounds made with the quacker Tigtigs and Papa bought him.

Eric attempted to get some decent shots of me. I looked pretty much the same the entire trip, my hair was pulled back in a barrett to avoid being whipped around in the wind. No picture for you though as they are all on Eric's camera.

Seattle has a lot of "art work" according to our tour guides. Apparently (no fact verification was done, all is on the word of the guides) businesses have to donate money for artwork. Here we have a steel tree.

We have entered the water. Aeden was a bit disappointed that the water didn't come into the vehicle.

After the duck tour we ate at Sky City, the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. Before dinner we went out on the observation deck. The west side was VERY windy!

Aeden really enjoyed the rotating restaurant. Some people had left notes against the windows earlier so Aeden continued the tradition. It kept him busy for awhile.

By the way the seafood pasta dish is divine!

Although we had been up since 4:30 am NY time, we headed back to the observation deck for some more observing. The history of the Space Needle was very interesting, as was the view.

We left before sunset because we were getting really really tired! On the way back to the hotel we got to see some more artwork. Metal grass...

The Space Needle looked particularly cool against the darkening sky.

Obviously my pictures are out of order because this sky shot is lighter, or maybe it is just the reflection, who knows. In any case I thought this was a cool angle of the space needle, Eric's shot is even better!

We headed out in time to watch the sun setting and the clouds turnin colors.

Overheard 3/18/09

While I was serving his dinner, Aeden went to get a fork. He saw I had one in my hand and asked:

Is that a short-sleeved fork?

Sledding

Sledding on the leaves...

Bravery

We took Aeden ice skating again this weekend. Last time we stayed for half an hour and he spent most of his time in the penalty box. This time I used some excellent parenting tactics to get him to try and skate more with us and on his own. The bribe tactics worked very well and by the time an hour and 15 minutes had passed he was begging me to stay and skate more while my legs were begging me to stop.

Skating on his own through the centerof the ice.

Skating with Dad

Looking like he just had a great workout. He told me your legs are supposed to be tired because were were doing exercise!

Here is a video showing the progress he made in the span of an hour.

(click through to actual post to see video)

News Bulletin

Electronics withdrawal has intended effect in increasing local library's utilization; Librarian's plot a success!!

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What happens when you are grounded from electronics and you are starting to get twitchy?

Why you start looking for ways to (legitimately) get a quick fix, where can you go when you need the fix? To your local library!

Aeden is grounded from electronics (among other things) but he asked to go to the library. I took him and he politely asked the clerk if he could use the OPAC*.

Look at this excellent hand placement for typing! Makes a geeky mom proud. :)

First he thought about his searches, then he typed them in himself.

What searches did he do you wonder?

---Mario (title, keyword, and subject searches)**
---Mario Brothers (title, keyword searches)
---Nintendo (title, subject, keyword searches)
---nintendo (title, keyword searches)
---Poke'mon (title, keyword searches)
---food (keyword search that yielded 199 results which Aeden looked at and declared with disdain that none of the books looked like food books to him!)
---food books (keyword search that did lessen the number of books he found)
---Nate (title search, yielded results, he went to get the book)

After the Nate search I was adamant that he was done so he went to get the book. Instead of a Nate the Great book, he found and checked out a Scooby-Doo book.

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*OPAC: Online Public Access Catalog

**He is also grounded from Mario Brothers...so is it coincidence that it was his first search option?

***News Bulletin wording courtesy of Eric

Icicle

That giant icicle in the previous post was brought into the house and put in the tub where it lasted almost 18ish hours before the last little bits had melted. It would have lasted longer except some bits fell off when it was transported to the tub, and then again when it was transported to the sink so that the shower could be used, and then there was an issue when it was transported back to the tub...moral: if you are an icicle maybe you should stay away from this house...

In any case when the first bits were knocked off the icicle they were cheerfully gathered by the boy. Who then trotted through the house chomping on them and singing:

"I am a winter bunny. I eat ice carrots."

In like a Lion

March came in like a lion with a lovely winter storm...followed by more icicles. I had hoped we were done with icicles for the year because although they certainly are charming, their presence indicates the fact that it is still COLD.

Ice Skating

Aeden was invited to an ice skating birthday party last weekend, for one of his favorite friends! I was unable to attend do to a vicious stomach bug, so Eric took him. What a good dad, taking his son (the only token male) to a girl's birthday party, at a skating rink, in downtown.

In any case ice skating did not make a stellar impression on Aeden, he came home with a bloody lip and a declaration that he didn't plan on going again...ever.

Sad for him as I had decided that I did want to try ice skating, so today we headed off to a bigger rink (i.e. not in downtown) so I could try skating.

Aeden was less than thrilled with this idea...

I love his expression here, he is hugging the wall for dear life and tried to convince me to let him stand on the sidelines/entrance and he would watch me. :P Luckily we got there when public skating first started so it wasn't too busy for me to take some pictures.

Eric and I took turns holding Aeden's hand while he hugged the wall. He preferred to attempt to walk on the ice and when he was done he would just go down on his knees.

Note: I was wearing two sweatshirts, one of which is XL hence the bulky look.

Aeden liked my holding his hand more than Eric, I think I must have gone slower to start with.

We put Aeden in the penalty box a couple of times (it is located away from entrances) so he could sit and watch us skate. He would have been happy sitting there the entire time. Towards the end we had him actually skating while holding both of our hands (one of us on each side). We are going to try and go again before the rinks close.

Interview with Kids

This interview is floating around fac*book. Basically you ask the kids the questions and then type their responses.

From Aeden, Age 7
1. What is something mom always says to you?
do your checks (chores)

2. What makes mom happy?
when I do the right thing

3. What makes mom sad?
when she is sick

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
when she tickles me in the armpit

5. What was your mom like as a child?
the same thing as me except no mario and pokemon and she didn't get anything she wanted
to do

6. How old is your mom?
33

7. How tall is your mom?
70 feet (he originally wanted to give my weight :P)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
read

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
read all day

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
reading all day

11. What is your mom really good at?
reading

12. What is your mom not very good at?
jumping jacks

13. What does your mom do for a job?
working with people

14.What is your mom's favorite food?
pizza? root beer float? a super root beer float? What is it?!

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
when she gives me all the toys I want

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
she would be a pokemon, a new one, handsome girl, gonna say 'handsome, handsome,
handsome girl'

17. What do you and your mom do together?
read

18. How are you and your mom the same?
we both go to bed

19. How are you and your mom different?
we are a boy and a girl

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
she says "I love you"

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
they got married

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Starbucks!

Place Holder

There is a tree right outside our house where the squirrel sits and taunts the cats. The cats watch from the backdoor hoping to get an opportunity to show the squirrel who is boss.

As I was making hot chocolate for Aeden I happened to glance out the kitchen window, I was going to gauge the snowfall. Instead of noticing the snowfall, I noticed that there was a new inhabitant of the branch.

I quickly grabbed my camera and tried to get some shots through the kitchen window. This was the best:

Although the flash gave me away, the hawk was kind enough to wait patiently for me to go in the wood stove room, quietly move the curtains aside and snap a quick (non flash) picture of him through the door.

By the time I got back to the kitchen and Aeden's hot chocolate he was gone. Perhaps he was only keeping the branch warm for the squirrel?

On another note, this post is serving as a place holder for others that are floating in my head. Watch for a post displaying the basketball trophy coming soon...