Seattle

Some of you may not have noticed, but I haven't blogged in over a week. We took the kids on their first airplane trip out to Seattle to visit Grandpa Darryl and his wife, Lynn. I've been to Seattle a few times before, but it was a different experience to be there with the kids. Seeing the way they experienced the city really added a new dimenstion to the trip.

One of the most difficult parts of the trip was the change in time zones. 2 hours doesn't sound like much, but it really wears on kids. When we were trying to have dinner at 6:00, the kids were crabby and ready for bed. When we wanted to sleep in, the kids were up at 5:30 AM, begging to go swimming.

Speaking of swimming, we did a ton of it last week. Fortunately, this resulted in Addi now being able to swim with arm bands, Max being able to swim in the deep end, and Kristin getting green hair. High five!
The airplane ride went better than expected. The kids watched movies and played games. Addi spilled her orange juice all over Kristin, but that was the only downside.
Upon arriving in Seattle, we were picked up at the airport, took a bit of time to settle in, then walked to dinner at, where else, PF Chang's! On the way, there's a fountain. See how everyone looks like they're shivering? That's because they walked through it!
The following day we took the kids to the "Scratch Patch", which is a really cool idea. Basically, the entire floor is covered in polished stones, and kids can pick through them to find their favorites to bring home.



We then went to visit the troll. He lives under a bridge. Max scared the crap out of Grandpa with the way he climbed and jumped all over the troll, but we all had a good time.
Addi definitely needed a nap, so we laid her down and took Max over to Pike Place Market. He was displeased with me taking his picture.
The next day we took the Monorail (yes, the freakin' MONORAIL, how cool is that?) out to Seattle Center to go on some rides.
Max drove the bumper cars.
Both kids went on the Viking Ship. (or would it be a Seahawk ship?)
We all went on the Ferris wheel.

And I almost vomited on the carousel.
Max convinced me to go on the log flume with him. That's the Experience Music Project in the background.
w00t!
There's a fountain in the middle of Seattle Center that shoots water in sync with music.

It was actually quite peaceful to listen to the water and music while the kids played in the fountain.
I narrowly avoided getting soaked.
The next day we hit up the Pacific Science center. This was one of the best parts of the trip for me. So much cool stuff to see!

The human hampster wheel.
They wouldn't let me ride the bike because I didn't have shoes with a back on them.
Shooting the water cannons.
Playing giant chess.
They made this on a harmonic something-or-other.
The main attraction at the Science Center was the butterfly room. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a big'n.


Addi has better balance than I do.
Back at the fountain.
Tired girl. It was like 80 degrees in our condo, and she felt that she needed to wear a sweatshirt with Pupper zipped up inside it.
The "gum wall". Yeah, that's all chewed gum. Glad I don't live there!

I think the best part of the trip for the adults was taking a 70-foot sailbout for a tour of Puget Sound. This was my first time sailing, and it was awesome.

The boat was leaning just a bit to the side.
Max played below deck almost the entire time. I guess we all have our own idea of "fun"!

Back at the condo, swimming. Cheap entertainment.

He's getting big, but I can still launch him.
One of the best parts of the trip was that I was able to walk to get coffee (and hot chocolate) for the whole family every morning.
And we had a great view! I wouldn't want to live downtown, but it sure is fun to visit!
"Our" condo.

I'd love to write more about the trip, but I should probably get some work done!

Howdy Y'All

No blog updates until the weekend. Follow me on Twitter if you miss me.

Ingrates

Neither of my kids wants to get this book from the library. I haz a sad.

We Finally Found Something Ted Can Beat Me At

It turns out I'm not very good at shooting. My gun must be bent or something. That's the only explanation.

Lots O' Fishing

In case no one noticed, I was gone for several days. You all noticed, right? Right?

Several of my co-workers and I went on a fishing trip to Lake of the Woods. The weather was horrible, but we still managed to have a great time and bring in some fish.

We caught a total of 38 fish in 4 days, but were really only able to spend about 10 hours total on the lake. It rained the first 3 days, and the 4th day it was too windy. Suck.

The rain started as soon as we arrived.
So we started drinking.

Our "cabin" was actually a double-wide, but was well-equipped. Satellite TV, full kitchen, and 2 bathrooms.
Since it was raining pretty much the entire trip, Bob donned his full-body condom - er, rain gear.
When it wasn't raining, it was too windy to troll. This picture doesn't do justice to how windy it was and how big the waves were.
A good eater.
Biggest fish of the weekend...a 30-inch walley.
It cleared up for a few hours on Saturday...
...and we were actually able to fry some fish. They were ridiculously delicious.
Brett will make someone a great wife one day.
It was calm when we left the boat landing.
Because of the weather, we actually came home a day early. I was still in "fishing mode", so I decided to take Max and my nephew, Roman, out fishing the next day. There's a musky lake a few miles from Franz's cabin that used to be a DNR stock pond. It's really hard to get to, but fun once you're there. We caught 2 musky in as many hours. Not great, but at least the weather was decent!

This was the boat landing.

It was rutted out, so we decided to take the boat trailer off my Exploder and push it down the hill. Too bad we didn't give any thought to how we were going to get it back up.
I caught a 26" musky.
Roman broke his rod reeling in a weed.
Max even learned how to cast an open-face reel.
Roman caught our other fish, and we had several follow our lures to the boat.
It was really difficult to get my Exploder down the landing to hook up the trailer. I honestly didn't think I'd be able to get it out of there. I put it in 4-Low and shit-canned it. I'm pretty sure I caught air on my way out, but we made it.
In all, it was a nice, long, relaxing weekend.