The Monday After

GAMERS' PARADISE: On Saturday and Sunday, we headed to Seattle Center for the fantastic Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show. We'd never been before, and weren't sure what to expect. Boy oh boy, were we happily surprised. There were over 350 pinball and arcade games to play for free - after paying admission at the door.

Saturday afternoon where were a lot of people there, but there was never much of a wait to play a particular game.

At 2 p.m. we ceased playing to attend a seminar by guest speaker Steve Wiebe, who was profiled in the documentary "King of Kong." Wiebe is a past DK world record holder and hopes to capture his title back this summer, when he's not teaching math at a Seattle area middle school (his "day job").

CJ and Christian had met Mr. Wiebe before, at a local fundraiser. After that meeting, CJ decided he heeded to buy a present for Mr. Wiebe and found a vintage stuffed Donkey Kong on eBay and bought it for him months ago. Saturday, he would finally have a chance to give it to him. Of course, Christian and I asked CJ "Are you sure? Are you sure?" about a dozen times. He insisted he was.

When we ran into Steve Wiebe in the hallway before the seminar, CJ asked Mr. Wiebe if he wanted the Donkey Kong. I was surprised that he didn't already have one, frankly. I mean, he's the King of Kong! Of course, Mr. Wiebe asked CJ multiple times if he was sure and CJ said he was.
After the DK handoff, we sat in on Wiebe's "Donkey Kong 101" class and gained some valuable pointers about playing the game and racking up points.

Afterward, the kids posed with Mr. Wiebe for a photo. And tonight Steve sent Christian a message via Facebook, saying, "It was great seeing you and CJ at the show. Please tell CJ thank you for the stuffed Donkey Kong. It was very generous and it will be displayed in my classroom with my other Donkey Kong items. I hope you enjoyed your weekend and hope to see you at next year's show or another event in the future. Thanks again, Steve." Very nice. :) Then, we went back to the show floor and played LOTS more games. And after that we definitely wanted to take advantage of the sunniest Saturday so far this year, so we hit the water features at Seattle Center.
Sunday morning, we went back for more. There were fewer people at the show, which made it even easier to navigate and machine hop. CJ's favorite new-to-him game was Donkey Kong II, a fan/non-Nintendo made arcade game that was so soooooooooo hard. (Even Steve Wiebe mentioned it and said how darn difficult it was during his presentation.)Sunday afternoon CJ managed to clear the game's first level. I don't think a whole lot of people had done that because when CJ did it a small crowd gathered behind him to see what the second level looked like.

Repeating history, we hit the fountain again after the show.

BACK TO REALITY: Today, we didn't leave the house at all. We had to pay the price for playing all weekend, so Christian and I were busy doing things like pulling weeds, building and painting stair railings, sprucing up a screen door and installing trim on the siding. When she heard we'd be doing some sanding, Annabelle asked to help, noting, "I learned all about sandpaper in my science class!" We also thinned our burgeoning lettuce garden - moving about half of it to another raised bed. We mixed in the Safeco Field soil ... I wonder if our garden will grow peanuts and Cracker Jacks! I am happy to report that this afternoon CJ came up to me and asked if he could try some of our lettuce that's growing. That request was met with an enthusiastic "YES!!!"
He plucked off and chewed a couple of the tiny leaves, and about five minutes later he came back and said, "That was so good, can I have some more?" Let's hope this is part of a new, veggie loving trend!

We did also do some good old fashioned school work today, including a longish math assignment. Neither one of the kids found it particularly challenging, as you can tell by Annabelle's editorializing doodles ..