And It's Good-bye Again

Well, it's good-bye to spring. I head to Michigan tomorrow.

Wonderful Weekend

Saturday was very rainy, so a good day for inside play.

Water play in the sink...

Duplo blocks. Two garages with doors and an airplane!

And of course, nap time.

Sunday - Happy One Month Birthday, Travis!

The forecast was for a repeat of Saturday - very rainy, but that's not what happened. So we "hopped" in the car. We've decided that we could make a commercial for Honda:

"Has your Honda Civic gotten too small now that you have two kids? Too small to squeeze Grandma in for your family outings? Move on up to the Odyssey. With seating for eight, Grandma will have room for both her shoulders and Grandpa won't have to ride in the trunk anymore!"

And we headed to Carkeek Park for some hiking and play time.

Through the temperate rain forest and over Pipers Creek...

Through the wetlands... Full of crows cawing and Katelyn calling...

And over the railroad bridge to Puget Sound!

This is one of the better of 20+ shots I took of the family. The one in the middle likes to wiggle!

Nature's art everywhere.

Then to the playground. The Bubble Man was visiting; how fun!

And the most important aspect of this playground, the Salmon Slide!

A spiral slide, of course.

And, well, Travis thought about as much of this park as he did of the museums. But I know it will be a blink of an eye, and he'll be keeping up with his big sister.

A tremendously long train came by and snaked along the coast. These are the tracks I will ride on when I make my train trip to Seattle sometime in the future. The thought makes my heart sing! So much beauty to behold!

After a delicious lunch at the Asian Thai restaurant, we headed home for a lovely nap. After that it was building time again while Karen and Travis continued to nap and Todd planned dinner. This time, Katelyn and I built airplanes, hangers, a runway, and an air traffic control tower. On the runway, waiting for take off.

Gaining speed...

Faster! Faster! In the air!

After the flight from Seattle to Boston and back, coming in for a landing.

To the terminal and hanger.

Katelyn made me a card before bed commemorating our successful airplane adventures today.

A tired crew

Off to bed. A very busy and wonderful weekend.

What's the Secret Word?

DOODLES!

The Seattle Children's Museum offers a free day for kids who have the secret word (from their newsletter) on the first Friday of the month if they bring a paying grown-up with them.  Well, the word was "doodles." How fun it was to try to describe to Katelyn what a "doodle" was! Finally, I took out my journal and showed her the margins of many of the pages. For those of you who know me, as expected...it was full of doodles of every kind! 

On our way on the bus...

Karen and Travis joined us for the fun.

First to the Orca...

Then on to the trains! I love trains!

And the bus. What a wild driver!

We were on our way up "Mountain Everest. It has snow at the top." Karen asked Katelyn if the bus had snow tires. She got out and looked at the wheels and then said, "Yes, because it just came back from Mt. Rainier!"

Next, the construction zone.

Starting with walls...

Tightening the bolts...

Affixing the roof...

And finally, a cupola!  Or the beginning of one, then tiredness and whining set in. It was my lunchtime!

There was so much to see, and we ran ourselves out of energy after many hours.

We headed back to the bus stop, but needed to stop for a quick run through the singing flowers. I have this video of them singing, but it came out SIDEWAYS, and I can't fix it! Arrgh...

So, watch if you like...sideways.  :-)

Once home, a short nap was had by all. I sure needed it!

Travis' First Bus Ride

The first Thursday of the month is free museum day in Seattle, and I try to take advantage of that each time I visit. Karen and Travis felt well rested enough to join me!

Here we go!

After much debate, we went to the MOHAI - Museum of History and Industry for the day. Here's what Travis thought of most of the museum...

But he was more impressed with this one sculpture, John Grade's "Wawona", as Karen and I were, made from the planks of a decommissioned ship made from Douglas fir. It ran from the basement to the roof!

The inside is designed to have the feel of the boat and the ocean.

There were many excellent exhibits, though Travis slept through most of them, a blessing actually for Karen and myself. While he ate lunch, I went to the "Drawn to Seattle: The Work of Seattle Sketcher Gabriel Campanario" temporary exhibit. The link shows his work much better than this, but, of course, I had to take a picture of his rendition of the Theo Chocolate Factory.



Then I sat down to rest my feet and looked out the window.

Since sketch pads and pencils were liberally distributed and their use encouraged, I did a little sketching of my own.

Before leaving, I needed one more picture of the famous "Lincoln Toe Truck." It just makes me laugh every time I see it!

Thoroughly tired, we headed home with a plan already hatched for Friday!