(April) Foolin' Around

LO AND BEHOLD: We had no ballet today so we were free as birds, schedule wise. I've been wanting to visit the central/downtown branch of Seattle's Public Library system for oh, two years now. Guess what? TODAY was the day.

A major impetus finally getting us to the Really Big Library was the fact that at 1:30 today there was going to be a free play about "Johnny Appleseed." We'd studied John Chapman last fall and still talk about him from time to time. How could we pass up a free performance by the Book-It Repertory Theatre?

We got to the library a good hour ahead of the play time. Our early arrival was on purpose - to give us time to explore the amazing edifice.

Ahead of time at home, I'd printed out a self tour guide and map of the library, so I knew the highlights we wanted to hit. We came in on the ground floor, where the children's library and auditorium are located. We'd visit those spots later - we had other things to see. To the dayglo lemonlime escalators it was!

Our first stop: The third floor, where a small cafe and gift shop are located. We perused the offerings (so many items the kids and I wanted to buy!) and then wandered the floor. I swear, it was the United Nations - so many people of so many different cultures/ethnicities. Very cool. We hit the escalator again to make our way to a balcony overlooking the third floor. What an amazing view.
We continued riding the escalator up, encountering more amazing views along the way.In case you're wondering, the central library was built using 18,400 cubic yards of concrete, 2,050 tons of rebar and 4,644 tons of steel.

Of course, the most amazing element is the glass. It's overhead, alongside and often even seemingly underfoot. There is 126,767 square feet of exterior glass on the 11-story structure and about half of the building's panes are triple-layered glass with an expanded metal mesh between the two outer layers.
PLAY TIME: We returned to the main floor a few minutes before 1:30 p.m. (playtime). In the children's area, we had a typical library experience (the kids used the computers and found DVDs to check out).
Soon, we migrated to the line by the door and by standing there for 5 minutes or so, we were able to score front-row seats. Cool!

The play was GREAT. Fast paced, with lots of belly laughs and fun songs. My kids LOVED it (but please don't get me started about other people's kids, who were allowed to scream, kick, cry, run around, etc. Grrrrr!) WE COUNT: Today is national census day. As regular readers know, we are SO far ahead of the curve, having filled our form out day before yesterday. ;)

However, to help reinforce things we learned while talking about the census, we used a BrainPop lesson about population growth. It was geared for kids quite a bit older than CeeJ and Bee, but they comprehended the concepts and got 80 percent on the quiz following.

YOU MUST BE JOKING: Long before the sun was up, April Fool's Day plots were being hatched. The first of the day - under orders from CJ and Annabelle, I was to put raisins in Christian's lunch, but amongst the raisins, I was to include a couple of Craisins (dried cranberries). Oh, the hilarity! So this all went down as I was making Christian's lunch around 5:31 a.m. Such fun !

Then tonight, when Christian came home, the kids were both waiting for him, eager to give him welcome home handshakes. Like that's not out of the ordinary. ... Good sport that he is, Christian greeted them with a handshake and was victim of a couple of palm buzzers for it. Then, as Christian went upstairs to change his clothes, CJ subtly suggested to him, "Go sit on the toilet, but don't look!" That sort of suggestion wouldn't make you think twice, now, would it?

You've probably already figured out that we'd scored (for the bargain price of $1.25) from Archie McPhee, a really rude little seat squirting unit. Nice guy that he is, Christian played along and made all sorts of noises about getting soaked in the privacy of the privy.

HISTORIC FLEET: I found a super short-but-sweet video about the few (less than 10) remaining schooners in what once was a large fleet of halibut fisherman on the Seattle Times' Web site this morning and showed it to the kids. We're down at the Ballard Locks (where the vid was filmed) a lot, and we've seen some of these boats before. It's nice to know a bit about them.