Final Seattle Photos

Seattle Photo Overload

Posers (See the Pac. Market sign in the distance?)

This photo cracks me up. Mr. Cool & little bro diving in to make bunny ears.

We followed the gentleman in the background for a few blocks & I kept snickering at how his shirt matched Nate's. Then when we stopped at a corner to wait for the light I snapped this. Nate had no idea, I got a kick out of it.

Pike's Place Market...the most festive location. Been there?

And we went to the Aquarium to be strangled by Octopi....

...and swallowed by Jellies.

...did you know my boys love chess? We sat and watched this downtown game for at least 30 minutes. Did you know I don't know how to play chess?

At the Pac. Science Center/ Space Needle grounds.

Yes, this is a real photo. No cropping and pasting here.

From the Needle we found this maze for the boys to run.

And we walked around a corner and found this....at about 7 p. I was not sure about letting the boys go in so late but we did and they had a blast.

That would be a teeny Eli.

Hey! A photo of me!! How do you like that?

Never fear, I have more photos to come....

Seattle Part 1 (Warning, Photo Max)

If you asked me about our weekend ventures the first thing I'd tell you is that I'm not a city girl. That being said, we had some wonderful adventures. I only took photos of the good parts, and I'd love to share. :)

Ralph at the Sound.

We haven't seen the ocean for a whole year!

From the Wharf....the Space Needle was the favorite thing for the boys.

Good food, no this meal was GREAT. Of course we had just walked about 4 miles, and I was starved. The best chicken-pesto-tomato sandwich EVER.

Then we found the monorail. The boys were thrilled to ride, we were thrilled not to walk more!

From the Space Needle

Can you find all three boys?

I brought this homely little creature home with us.

Pacific Science Center...mirrors that made us laugh a long time.

The Butterfly Room.

Excuse me...The Butterfly/ Exotic Flower Room

The Cocoon Room, I got to watch a monarch emerge!

The boys LOVED this set and begged to go back again and again.

The Aquarium, tide pools without the ocean. More pics to come. :)

The Week in Brief

Sunday morning I woke up s.i.c.k. Lucky for me, it only stayed for a day. But, when I finally scraped myself out of bed, this is the sweet note that was waiting for me, from my sweet husband.

Nate has been happily hammering for most of the week. The chair, above, is complete now, with about 200 nails in it. I don't know if you want to sit in this chair, it's a little, um, prickly. But, my Nate is happy with a hammer in hand and it seems like a natural project for a boy, don't you think. Send your scrap wood our way.

I think this taping job in Eli's room took me all day Saturday. It was a job! I was regretting committing myself to two stripes. I usually had company though, a sweet boy of some size on the top bunk of the bed visiting me.

1. Paint the entire room with the base color

2. Add a coat, or 2 for yellow. What is that?

3. After the base cures a day or two, measure twice & tape the walls to border the stripe.

4. Paint along the inside stripe with the base coat color to seal the tape, so the contrasting color doesn't seep under the tape.

5. Let that color cure.

6. Paint the final stripe color & Let it dry.

7. Carefully pull off the tape, put all the furniture and stand back and enjoy your work.

Yes, I finished the room and the colors are lovely & bright. Maybe a little brighter than I expected, but I'm sticking with it for now. This large-ish bedroom has only one little window (the other wall has a chimney inside) so it needed the light.

I'll post a pic...sometime, of the finished room. Eli loves it & it's done. That's all that matters.

Last swim for the summer....the pool is drained. Right after Eli's discovery of mosquito larvae. We'll be keeping these for observation for awhile. Don't worry, they will never make it out into the world.

Squirrel prances over our backyard, taunting doggy and hunting Walnuts.

And now I'm off to pack my bags for Seattle. We're heading over there for all the fun touristy stuff my family has never done there. Truthfully, it's been about 20 years for me, too. Of course, you'll see pics.

In the car:

1. doggy going to a doggy-friend house
2. clothes, sweatshirts included
3. camera
4. books & magazines for kiddos (a novel for me...no school!)
5. book on tape (Adventures in Oddyssey)
6. snacks, breakfasts & lunches
7. maps
8. a grand sense of adventure...Space Needle or Bust.

Hunt out yourself some beauty this weekend, ok?