Great Lake

HARVEST TIME!: This morning it was clear we couldn't wait any longer. We had to harvest our first portabella mushroom before it entirely overtook the master bathroom, where we have our fungus project underway.

The mushroom was MONSTROUS. Just look at CJ's hand compared to it!

Tonight I made a 2 die 4 mushroom and kalamata olive topped pizza with white pesto- sauce. OMG. Did I mention it was delicious? Even though I was generous with the mushroom topping, we have seriously like a pound of portabella left over. Looks like we'll be forced to have mushroom omelets, steak and mushrooms, and other mushroom infused foods this weekend. Darn it. ;)

HE'S BA-ACK: We had a nice surprise in Annabelle's summer session of ballet this morning. There was a boy in her summer session last year whom she was tight with (translation: he stuck to her like glue). Today, he popped up again, and he picked up right where he left off. :)

After class Annabelle reported, "He followed me around during free dance. All The Time." He asked Annabelle to come to the park to play with him after class, but, alas, we had to give brother Kennedy a ride to work. Maybe next week, ballet boy. ...

TOY MAKER: For the past seven days running, CJ has started every single day by announcing how many days are left until the Toy Story 3 premiere. This morning he was grinning ear to ear at 6:30 as he notified me there is just ONE day left.

In preparation for the Big Event, we visited the Toy Story Web site today. No surprise - it's very snazzy.

CJ enjoyed playing Space Pong (just like the 70's classic "Pong" but with LGM hitting the 'ball' back and forth). Annabelle explored the site's creative features, including "Comic Creator" and "Toy Creator."

Here's a photo of the toy she created, flanked by a couple of his Pixar pals. ...
MOUTHS TO FEED: This afternoon we had to go to Petco to get the dog and our fish some food. As always, we wound through other store aisles, checking out the live critters in tanks and cages. Today, we lingered over four ferrets for a bit. They were - dare I say - cute, and curious about us. Before too long, Mr. Sensory asks, "What's that smell?"

That, CJ, would be ferret funk. That was the end of hanging out by the ferrets. "That smell is AWFUL!" he said, wrinkling his nose and heading for the relatively odor free parakeets.

BUGGING ME: This afternoon CJ called out from his room, "There's a bug in here." I went in to investigate, and CJ pointed me in the direction of Wario (one of Mario's nemeses). It was a small, green insect, rather resembling a leaf. CJ wanted to know what kind of a bug it was and I didn't have an answer for him. He said, "Well you can find out on the Internet."

Normally, he'd be right. Several times a day we pop online to answer questions. But how in the world could I find out the bug's name by using search terms like "small green insect"? I hated having to tell CJ I didn't know the answer, and I really didn't know how to get it. (CJ did give whatever it was a ride outside on Wario.)

Tonight when Christian came home he said, "We used to call them stink bugs." So we Googled that and BOOM, there it is. We found photos labeled 'green stink bug' that looked just like our specimen. Mystery solved!

ROW, ROW, ROW YOUR BOAT: A few weeks ago I purchased a steeply discounted family membership to the Center for Wooden Boats, a hands-on history museum. The place is just six minutes from our house, at the south end of Lake Union.

Part of our membership included a 'free' one hour row on Lake Union. Cool! Since it was gray (our new normal, BTW), the lake was a pretty lonely place today. We had our pick of any of the CWB's fleet. We chose a Whitehall 15, billed as 'a fast rowing water taxi' thought to be of New York City harbor origin, its design circa 1840.
Christian carefully navigated us away from the boathouse, but once we were on the open water, the kids each got a chance to row.

Most of the ride, the kids sat at the bow so they had a great view of where we were going.

The scenery from the boat was enthralling. It would have been STUNNING if it weren't so damn gray out. Sigh. Though other boaters were few and far between, we did see several seaplanes. It was cool to get to see them take off and land at such close proximity. (Though I'll admit, when you see them zeroing in on the part of the lake you're bobbing in, you sure hope they can see your lil' ol' wood boat.)
"It was really fun on that row boat. We weren't polluting," Annabelle pointed out.