What a Weekend

COMPANY: We had a visitor this weekend. A longtime friend (hi Glenn!) who came to Seattle to spend Labor Day weekend with us. He got here Saturday afternoon and CJ nd Annabelle were so happy to have a fresh audience to try their material on. :)

BUMBERSHOOT!; On Monday, we spent 10 glorious hours at Seattle Center for the Bumbershoot festival under sunny skies with the mercury at 80 degrees - perfect.

Our first stop was in Youngershoot headquarters. There, the kids completed some puzzles sponsored by Pacific Science Center.

The kids also explored an on-site garden (ours at home is better!) and Annabelle practiced hula hooping. She was surpringly good at it!

From the kids' zone we made our way to the center food court. There, the kids scored some lunch and we headed to the basement for a play, "When the Mountain Meets the Moon" presented by the Book-It Reperatory Theatre. The play is based on the Newberry award winning book by Grace Lin of the same name. It featured three hard working actors playing multiple parts. It was 45-minutes long and dialogue heavy, but the kids' attention was held, which is good. There are so many performances to choose from at Bumbershoot it's hard to know what to pick, but we were happy to spend an hour at this activity.

From there, we headed over to something completely different- a concert featuring Big Boi, founder of Outkast. I didn't notice other families with their children streaming in (the show most certainly wasn't on the "Youngershoot" schedule). But oh well, Christian and I have had many talks with the kids about word choice/language and what is appropriate when and where and what's not, and I was pretty sure having the kids see 15 minutes of the show wouldn't ruin their lives. Turns out I was right. The thumpin' bass was shaking our chests from the concourse. :) I will admit, I do love me some bass. When we got into the arena the smell of pot was, shall we say, evident and as we entered the arena, Big Boi was exhorting the Seattle crowd to get their "mother f*&%ing hands in the air!" Being the obedient children they are, CJ and Annabelle started fist pumping. :) Christian and I just laughed. The kids liked the bass and the light show and honestly, most of the words were undecipherable. We stayed for about 4 songs, but left, because we knew that beyond the smoke-filled arena, the sunny Labor Day skies were calling our names.

After Big Boi, the kids and I bounced between the great Seattle Center fountains while Christian and Friend (hi Glenn!) found a beer garden. After awhile, we all (including Rick & Ken) met up in the line at Key Arena for the Fitz & the Tantrums and Hall & Oates shows.

We had to stand in a cattle chute line for about 40 minutes before sprinting into Key Arena (ah, like the bad ol days - festival seating) for seats for the show. And once we'd secured seats, we had to wait over an hour for Fitz & Friends. Fortunately, I'd packed along magazines for the kids, and OMG, there was no shortage of people watching. Before we knew it, it was time for the show and oh, what a show it was. Fitz & the Tantrums is an AWESOME show band - high energy and embodies everything that was good (and that's not much) about '80s music. Definitely a cut above the rest. They're also rockin' soul - right in the pocket with Hall & Oates music.

The night's headliner was Hall & Oates and that was pure pleasure from start to finish. They played every single hit you could hope for and then some. To a man, they were as tight/skilled as any band I've ever seen live. For a flavor of our concert experience, I'd encourage you to watch Fitz & the Tantrums' appearance on Daryl Hall's "Live From Daryl's House." Good, good stuff! CJ & Annabelle enjoyed Fitz & the Tantrums big time. Unfortunately, CeeJ and Bee slept through most of H&O.

SUPER TUESDAY: Summer isn't going without a fight and after our company left today ('bye Glenn!), we knew we needed to get back out into the sun. We decided to head down to West Seattle for some fun in the sand and surf. From our spot on Alki Beach, we could look straight across Elliott Bay to where we usually hang out on a close to home beach trip. The kids had all kids of fun at the beach, checking out sea creatures (jellyfish to Dall's porpoises) and building sea forts using driftwood.