Ground Cover

HERE, FISHY FISHY: I woke up this morning thinking about steelhead. "Isn't March when the steelhead run?" I pondered. Seems like that was the case all the years I live in Clark County. Perusing the Internet, Christian found a chart that backed up my inkling (it showed February and March as the height of steelhead migration season at the locks). So we decided that today we'd take a field trip to the Hiram Chittenden Locks - a couple miles north of our home.

To date, we've always done the shove and shuffle to the locks (translation: Christian and I pushing CeeJ and Bee in strollers). Today, by god, I declared the kids were riding their bikes to and fro - about a 4 mile round trip (our route on the right, in blue).

We struck out in 40-degree temperatures, feeling the chill having been spoiled with nearly 60 degree temps this weekend. We got down to the Locks certain we'd see steelhead galore. Yeah, well, notsomuch. We didn't see so much as a fingerling of any sort. That said, it was still totally worth the trip. Since we were the only ones (and I mean The Only Ones) down at the Locks today, we were easily able to hear the educational audio tracks playing in the underground fish ladders.

On the way home we came across a crew of workers repaving a street near our home. We stopped to watch part of the process, including a roller, a double-trailered truck with hydraulic lifts, and the asphalt spreading machine. It was a fascinating, loud and stinky process. (I can't help worry/wonder about those workers breathing that all day long. That can't be good for you.)

BROWN-EYED GIRL: Annabelle has mentioned from time to time that her eyes feel "blurry" whe she's using the computer. So we thought it prudent, of course, to take her to an optometrist today to see how bad things are or aren't.

Christian took Bee to her eye appointment (she's 20-20, yay!) while CJ & I wandered the Capital Hill block. Happily, we discovered Red Balloon, a great toy store. Within the store was an m&ms station - featuring all sorts of "exotic" colors the kids have never seen before.

When we got home, we took stock of our exotic inventory, and found that we had purchased 14 different colors of m&ms. We made a list of each color and the kids ranked their favorites from 1 to 14. CJ's favorite was dark blue. Bee's was dark pink. Interestingly, both CeeJ and Bee's ranked yellow as their least favorite. Personally, I'd rank teal/aqua as my fave. Christian opted for maroon.

LET IT SNOW: One of the cool things we found at Red Balloon today was Insta-Snow, which says it expands 100 times its original size. I thought it an appropriate purchase since we actually had few hundred snowflakes fall today! It was a test tube with a mystery ingredient. Christian read the fine print and found out it is the same ingredient that are used in ultra absorbent disposable diapers. That took some of the magic out of it. ;)

After the toy store/eye appointment, we made it a point to stop by Cal Anderson Park - a spot we'd never been before. It was deserted in today's frigid temperatures, but it wasn't hard to imagine why Forbes called one of the nation's best parks in 2009. It's an expansive oasis in the middle of a very densely populated neighborhood full of condos and apartments.

CJ & Bee checked out the water volcano, and desperately wished it was upwards of 60 degrees out instead of in the 40s. In addition to the volcano, there were multiple large wading pools that I have to imagine are packed in the summer.

The kids checked out the playground equipment, and on our way out we found a pair of oversized chess boards.

GETTING HIS GEEK ON: We stopped by McMenamins in the Fremont neighborhood for a late lunch, early dinner. While there, because we're nerds, we were discussing the fact that Pi Day (3/14) is coming up. Using French fries, CJ provided a visual for us.

PUZZLE PEOPLE: I got an email today from http://www.download-jigsaw-puzzles.com/, letting me know he'd used a picture I took of an orangutan during a field trip we took to the Woodland Park Zoo recently. So, we gave the easy (100 piece) version of the jigsaw a shot.