Birthday month so far. . .

So Alistair and I celebrate Birthday Month instead of just a day. . .it's much more fun that way. We've done some fun things . . .

We went bowling (again), but we love it. I beat Alistair in 4 of 5 games. He was having a really off day and couldn't get it together. His highest score was 135 and that was the LAST game and when I couldn't bowl anymore AND the only one he won. Guess that makes my scores pretty low - I think I had an average of 122, but oh well - sometimes Alistair has to lose! After we play, I always go and try the dance machine. This one was "new" to me in that I had not really used it before. There were these two guys on the other one, so I tried this one - it didn't turn out too well.

You're all probably wondering why we can bowl and do things a lot more b/c of my back. I'm going to acupuncture and I totally believe in it. I have bad days, but the bad days are getting less and the good days are getting more!


We've gone shopping and so on as well. We went to a "new" restaurant - new to us anyway. It's called Blue (though I think it's spelled differently). Alistair tried the macaroni and cheese which turned out to be penne and cheese. But he said it was FABULOUS! The restaurant was pretty cool, they had all these little compartments where the walls were these lush fabrics. We'd definately go again.


We've also stayed at home and chatted, read, and blogged. Here's Alistair in his new boots - thanks to mom and dad- (specially made boots by Fluevog for the Dandy Warhols - Al's favorite band), his new drinking glass, and the book he helped write. It was a nice night - the weather here has been great though getting hotter. I see, though, that it's not as hot as everywhere else!

Global Positioning of our Apartment

Hey all,

If you need to find us EXACTLY, you can look here. . .47 degrees, 36 minutes 57 seconds North, 122 degrees, 18 minutes, 35 seconds West.

Elevation, 448 ft.

Day 5 of Vacation

Today is the last day we get to do anything together. We went bowling and had a blast. Colleen and Gary coached Hannah . . .

and she even got a strike (the best one of the bunch!). This is actually the picture of RIGHT BEFORE here strike. We just didn't get the strike on photo record. Oh well!
Gary was the overall winner of the day with the highest average. Alistair wasn't far behind and even got a turkey! All in all it was a great time.

After that, Colleen and I went to meet Joe and Michelle and Bonnie. We had an absolute blast at the Pyramid Ale House. We actually were having so much fun catching up that they kind of had to shoo us out at the end of the night. Joe and Michelle are doing great and I can't wait to hook up again for drinks or something else fun.

We came home, hugged and got ready for departure the next morning. A VERY full vacation in five days! But it was great and fun and I loved having Hannah here especially! Can't wait for it to happen again.

Day 4 of Vacation

On Day 4 we still had GREAT weather. So, we took our Seattle City Pass and went on the Argosy Tour around Puget Sound. We learned lots from our Tour Guide (here with Hannah) about the buildings, the mountains, the shipping industry, and all the piers. He also told us all about the history of the "board walk" where all the piers hang out (it used to be a rail road area). Hannah got her picture taken by the boat name sake (the Spirit of Seattle).

On the tour, we learned about the Old Curiosity Shop.
They have real mummies and really cool old stuff. Hannah checked out the old moving pictures for 5 cents. Pretty cool.




After that, we decided we needed some food and clothes. Hannah got some really cute shorts and a skirt (a girl after my own heart). You can see in some of the pictures, she's wearing my favorite tennis skirt. It was definitely adorable. At the place with the penguin (a true piece of art made of found objects only. . . ask her, she could probably tell you what it was made of - license plates, cake tins, forks. . . you name it) we had lunch. Hannah even ATE an avocado in her turkey sandwich with cucumbers and tomatoes and lettuce. . . it looked really good - she was really surprised she ate an avocado and liked it!

Again, we went to wake the sleeping boy and went to the flight museum. We saw all kinds of planes and things. Hannah and Gary got to see the Concord and the picture shows them coming out of JFK's Air Force One plane!
It was crazy - she was in the most expensive and safe plane (it carried the president!). She said it was the coolest plane. Colleen, Gary, and Alistair really enjoyed the new editions of the World War 1 and World War II displays. I recommend it highly, it is very well done. Hannah and I learned all the symbols of the airplanes that correlate to countries. Alistair enjoyed the bomber planes too. We saw planes take off and land. . . a good day.





We were sooo beat after that we went out to dinner at Jak's Steakhouse and had us some steak. Well, hannah had a great chicken sandwich. I think after that, we all fell into bed exhausted.

Day 3 of Vacation

Day 3 started off really well! The sun was shining and we decided to do some outdoor activities! We went off to Seattle City Center with the Pacific Science Center, Space Needle, and all things fun like a fair.

Hannah worked all the things in the Pacific Science Center. We saw her working dinosaur jaws, and rock climbing walls. See her here trying to climb the walls! This time it was a good thing.

Then she and Gary decided to be CRAZY and split themselves all up floating above the ground! Don't they look silly!They also saw crazy water things, HUGE tables, bubble contraptions. Hannah beat a big machine at tic tac toe. You can see her celebrating. . .

Then we went to the Space Needle, but on account of the really really really really really really really really long line, we decided not to go up and just got a shot with Hannah. It's pretty big!

We ended up riding some rides. Hannah and I went on the ferris wheel - Colleen got some pictures. Then Hannah got to ride the bumper ride. Since she was with a bunch of broken bodies, she had to go by herself. As you can see, she didn't seem to mind. She had plenty of people to bump into. The picture here shows how FAST she was going! My camera just wasn't quick enough to get a clear one. Perhaps she's training for NASCAR to give Jeff Gordon a run for his money.

After this, we again went home to wake Alistair and went to Lincoln park to go swimming. Hannah got to slide down a big slide. She and I were the only one's swimming. I got TOTALLY burned on my back, but we had a great time. The pool was a salt water pool, so that was pretty neat.

Alistair was bug collecting on the beach and Colleen and Gary watched us swim and took in some rays of sun! Then Hannah got to put her feet in the Pacific Ocean, sorry no pictures of that - but it was REALLY REALLY cold. She got sandy feet and water on her shoes. . . good thing they were flip flops.

It was a great day - we went back to Pike's Place Market and got salmon, shrimp, and corn. We had a HUGE dinner. Colleen and I cooked and it was FABULOUS. I loved all the sea food. Hannah even tried all the fish and shrimp. . . but her favorite was the corn. I can't blame her - it was REALLY REALLY good.

Day 2 of Vacation

So day 2 . . . Hannah and I slept on the air mattress out in the living room. The cats were out in full force.
But Hannah made a special friend with Willie! Willie is a terribly shy cat and doesn't come out for anyone except us! So, it was a great treat to see how Willie took to Hannah. He especially liked the Jeff Gordon blankie. He came every night (but this was the first night. . . it was super sweet.


We got up the next morning and found the weather to be less than desirable. So, we decided to go to the Pike's Place market. Hannah tried lots of things (dried apricots, doughnut peaches, and other bizarre fare). We also tried to see flying fish, but alas, we missed it with the camera. But Hannah got to meet the most famous pig in Seattle.





We came home to pick up Alistair to go to the Zoo since the weather was still cloudy. After waking up Alistair (a large feat in itself), we made it to see the animals. We got to see the Butterfly exhibit. Hannah makes a beautiful butterfly, doesn't she?




But before the butterflies are beautiful, they are adorable caterpillars. . . see Colleen and Gary?


Then we got to look at the wild dogs from Africa. They're incredibly rare and Alistair had never seen them before, so it was quite a treat. Especially since Hannah's favorite animal is the dog! It's a very pretty animal. . .






But alas, Alistair and Hannah got attacked by Lions!









Hannah was in Supreme Spider Court. . . passed judgment on some very nasty spiders. She needed to be consoled - besides, Colleen and Hannah look very adorable!









Lastly, Hannah tried to hide in the ant hills of bug city. But don't worry, we found her! She was pretending to be a very dangerous red ant. Better watch out!

Day 1 of Vacation

I couldn't stand it any more, so I finally took off from work and picked up my family. Colleen, Gary, and Hannah all arrived well! Hannah called her family to tell them she was good and told them how the flight went. Apparently she got to go to the cockpit of the plane!! Can you believe it? You'll have to ask Colleen for that picture since its on her computer.

Everyone was hungry, so we went to Piecora's, the best NEW YORK STYLE pizza in Seattle (if you ask Alistair and me).

Then we decided to go to the Aquarium downtown at the docks. Hannah and I took the bus, and Alistair and Colleen and Gary took the car. Hannah was excited to take the bus. It wasn't too busy, so it was kind of cool (or boring). Hannah got to pull the cord a couple of times to get us to the stop down by the water. We stopped to look at the birds and the water before we met everyone at the Aquarium.

Take a look.









We saw Sea Otters playing, and Alistair was showing Hannah the fish that lay in the sand to cover themselves up. They're pretty creepy!






Hannah wanted to touch the star fish, but it was a little scary, so Colleen helped a little. But as you can see here, after that first touch, she got to touching as much as they could!




We ended the day with a CRAZY big octopus in this tank. Good thing Gary was there or we'd be TERRIFIED (everyone involved). This one was SERIOUSLY sucked to the side of the tank!

More on the next day - we went to the market and the zoo!

4th - pretty!

Well, most of the day was spent in preparation for the Comeau/Koehler visitation. That's fancy wording for cleaning - must be ready for my family. But we did have a chance to see some fireworks. Nice thing about our apartment is that we don't have to go very far. . . like our deck for instance. Pretty easy to see the whole city's fireworks (and other cities as well). There were probably about four or five different displays going on from 9:30 until almost 11pm. So, I took a TON of pictures with my tripod and timer. Thought I'd show a few.

If you look really closely, the long lights at the bottom of each picture is the bridge over to Bellevue. If you look at all the pictures I took in succession, you can see the moving. Hope all of you had a great holiday!

lazy day

So, not much got done today. We got up late. There was kind of a view of the only other volcano you can see from our deck. Glacier Peak. There is debate internally whether it's east or north east or whatever. At any rate. Here's a picture. It's not fabulous b/c it's really far away.


Here's MouseMouse. This picture definitely sums up the day - reading and sleeping.

my little sweeties

wanted to show you my cuties. I have three (no - not my kitties, tho they're cute too). I mean my niece and nephews.

Hannah's looking quite nice in her first communion picture, but someone ought tell the priest to behave!!!




Gavin's a clown, or maybe he's the genius - he's doing great things with lnumbers.










Sam is adorable, but looks like a nap might be in order!

much love to them all! hope they see it on-line.

Night bugging

So, apparently Al likes to look for bugs at night. And, he thought it would be a good idea to bring me along. . . It was dark, kind of cold, and we had to wear head lamps as you can see.

But we did learn a couple of things about collecting at night.

• Headlamps attract bugs
  
• Headlamps attract the wrong kinds of bugs
• this park is NOT the best park for beetles
• It is a good park for slugs. . .

It's called Discovery Park and we were at the part called Wolf Trail.

You get the idea, go and look for bugs on trees. Alistair does some crazy stuff by going down in raveens, etc.. . . I stayed out of that stuff.

Then we went and collected his traps. From his cursing right now, I can tell it was a VERY unfruitful visit. He's ranting about taking the trap out. But he did put some rancid pork there this time to see what kind of carian (probably spelled wrong) beetles will come. Here's a picture of is trap(s). He's got one hanging (very useless in this area) and two in the ground - haven't heard anything yet on that, so I'll let you know if anything fabu comes out of it.

It's late (after 1am), so I'm going to take my night bugging butt to bed.

Boy - isn't it exciting to be a Ramsdale?