Happy Earth Day to You

Graphic from t-shirt I found/bought at Goodwill yesterday

THINK GLOBALLY: Today is Earth Day. The 41st Earth Day, to be exact. I had really Good and Big Intentions about all the Green Things we were going to do today. For instance, I thought we'd walk to the store to get the makings for CJ's (belated) birthday cake. But ...

By dawn's early light I felt like crap (the winter of my discontent/disease continues). And so, we drove to the store and got our groceries in a plastic bag (adding injury to insult), making me feel like quite the loser. :/

Here's a photo of Bee after she helped clean the beaters. I think some of it actually went in her mouth. ...

I did manage to muster the strength to cue up an earth-friendly type BrainPOP video for the kids, which they enjoyed. And Annabelle enjoyed playing some Earth-Day-ish games on McWorld (I know, also horrible).

Though we didn't plant a tree, we did manage to get some cilantro we'd started from seeds into the soil. That counts for something, right?!I had to outfit the kids with safety goggles because they kept throwing dirt up into their eyes. (Gardening is dangerous!)

Though I mostly wanted to go back to bed, we did venture out this afternoon. We met the kids' BFF from yoga class at the award winning Cal Anderson Park. That spot has to be about the busiest per-square-foot park in the city. The sports fields were teeming with soccer, Frisbee, kickball and baseball players. Grassy spots were dotted with Seattle University students, homeless people, and people who work nearby, and the playground was full of kiddos and their parent/guardians.

Unfortunately, Annabelle kept hurting herself at the park - running into things, etc. I think she was punchy from last night, when we were up late fetching Christian from the airport. When she wasn't hurting herself, Annabelle had fun being "Super Bee" on the swings, and scampering near the fountain and reflecting pool. CJ had all the fun with none of the bumps and bruises. ;)

MAD WORLD: Happy to report CJ has two new non-video game related obsessions. One is the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" book series. We are quite happy to fuel this fire, as I love to see him curled up with a 200-page book. He's finished two of them so far, and we have a third one on order.

His other obsession is MAD Magazine. He discovered it via MAD TV shorts on the Cartoon Network, and he's been keenly interested in getting his hands on hard copies ever since. I have a couple of vintage issues (including one that has a spoof of "Jaws") that he's read, but today I bought him his first brand spankin' new one. He was thrilled. He has read it from cover to cover. Spy vs. Spy is his favorite part. I don't think he understood many parts of the magazine (for instance, he was asking me about Charlie Sheen's gold teeth), but that's OK. MAD Magazine was my favorite as a kid, and I'm sure there was a lot that went over my head back then, too. (Heck, there's no doubt still a lot that goes over my head.)

CJ must have asked me a dozen times today if he could subscribe to MAD. So, I guess we'll have to do that as part of our arts and literature budget. :)

Centered

DIG IN: This morning we finally repotted some of the chives that have overgrown their egg carton starts. I'll probably just keep them in those tiny pots in a window garden for the weeks/months to come.

CJ had a getting to know you session with his new microscope. He examined a ready made slide of a honey bee wing.
OVER THE HILL: Around midday, we headed into Magnolia, where I had to sheepishly ask for a replacement library card (thank god I didn't get the mean librarian). This is the second time I've lost my library card. I think that officially makes me a loser.

We found a stack of books to bring home, of course.

After, we headed to Magnolia Park - a shady strip above Puget Sound. We don't go there a whole lot as there's not much there, other than picnic tables, a smallish swingset and a fantastic view, but those are good enough reasons to go.
Plus, there's a good sized grassy slope there. I encouraged the kids to roll down it. Annabelle got going pretty good. CJ was tentative, so he didn't get up as much speed. They also found sticks, which became ray guns.

BORN TO BE WILD: Late afternoon, as part of our ongoing "staycation" fun, I decided to take the kids to a movie. My first thought was "Hop," an animated story about a rabbit. It's been heavily advertised and the kids have asked to see it. However, I thought to check reviews online and they were pretty brutal, so I thought about "Rio," another animated feature film, but the reviews on that weren't stellar either, and frankly, going to a movie is EXPENSIVE these days. I'm not going to drop $30 to see crap.

Soooo, my thoughts turned to the IMAX theater at the Pacific Science Center. I knew "Born to Be Wild," a 3-D documentary, is showing there and it's gotten great reviews. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, per its Web site, the movie "is an inspiring story of love, dedication and the remarkable bond between humans and animals. This film documents orphaned orangutans and elephants and the extraordinary people who rescue and raise them—saving endangered species one life at a time."

Boy, did we make the right choice. What a great movie. The 3-D was phenomenal. It was like we were in the jungles of Borneo and Kenya. I swear I could practically feel the humidity. ;)

BTW, did you know 'orangutan' means 'person of the forest'? I didn't, until today.

NATURALLY: Since we had to go to Seattle Center, we did our fair share of gawking. Will I ever get tired of staring at the Space Needle? I really don't think so.

Today was kind of a special day to be at Seattle Center, as it was 49 years ago today the Seattle World's Fair opened to the public.
On the way to the theater, we stopped by a courtyard where some native wood carvers were working on the John T. Williams memorial totem pole. Apparently it's the first pole that has been carved in Seattle in 70 years. Too bad the circumstances surrounding the project are so horrible - a Seattle cop gunning down Mr. Williams, a chronic inebriate with a long arrest record, in broad daylight despite no compelling reason (watch the video and decide for yourself).

We also checked out the EMP glowing in the cloud filtered sunlight.
We ended our field trip with some cheap eats at nearby McMenamins.
And just a little past bedtime (10 p.m.) we'll be out the door to pick Christian up at the airport. Bet he'll be even more tired than we are.

Happy Birthday to CeeJ

TOP O' THE MORNING: Always an early riser, CJ was even more amped than usual this a.m., knowing it was his 8th birthday.

He started his day by opening a package from Grandma and Grandpa. Inside was a beautiful microscope and more - cool!
In what has become a CJ birthday tradition, we started our day by heading to Top Pot Donuts. We were there by about 7:30.

CJ ordered a chocolate bar, and Annabelle had an apple fritter that was about the size of her head.
Fittingly, she read a book about donuts ("Arnie the Donut") while enjoying breakfast.

Afterward, since we were so close, we popped over to Kerry Park. We did the obligatory pose-with-the-needle shot. A couple of satellite trucks were raising their dishes - there's always some 'live from Seattle' crew up at that park. The kids also played at the playground for a few minutes, but it was so frigid, we cut it short.


OUT TO THE BALL GAME: Just before noon we headed for Safeco Field to watch the Mariners loser, er, play.

Approaching the stadium, we got a good look at the new signs along First Avenue South. Because the crowd was so light, I took the kids to the area behind home plate were the Mariners Hall of Fame is. There, they got to see the innards of a baseball up close.
The also checked out the size and weight of bats that Mariners' greats like Griffey and Edgar used. And they had fun posing on the outfield wall mock up.

Eventually, we found our way to our seats, up on the 300 level along the first base line.A nice view, unless you're frickin' freezin' ;) (have I mentioned it was in the 40s F today?) . In the fifth inning, we headed down to "The 'Pen" to get warm in the living room, complete with couches and a fireplace. In the sixth inning we headed to the Moose Den to meet the man, er, Moose, himself. We were the first and only ones in line, which is sad.
After the game, we headed for the waterfront. We hit the Seattle Waterfront Arcade at Pier 57.

The kids started off by riding the merry-go-round there.They played a dozen plus games, too, including a cool underwater adventure.From there it was to Pier 55 and Red Robin for an early dinner. We had a great window seat - we could practically reach out and touch the ship docked nearby!
The kids were most pleased with the fabulous prizes they earned at the arcade. They played with them all the way up until bedtime. ...

Speaking of bedtime, I've got to hit it, too. Apparently I'm coming down with a cold. :(

And They're Off

FINISHING TOUCHES: Job one today was making sure the kids put the the finishing touches on their books. They each had to do the cover for their books, which didn't take much time. Annabelle had to type and format all of her text, which took longer than I thought it would. Then we had to order 8x10 prints of each of their pages.

Interestingly (and coincidentally), they each wound up with 11 pages and 163 words. (We had to count the words for the PBS Kids Go book contest rules.)

I ordered a set of prints of each book from each Fred Meyer and Walgreens, not sure which ones would come out better (there is so much variance between places and their photo printing machines). Turns out Walgreens were much better color wise, so those are the ones we submitted. We kept the Fred Meyer set for our copy of the kids' books.

We brought the prints home and the kids each had to fill out official entry forms for the contest, and add stickers with page numbers to the back of each of their photos. Then we headed to Magnolia Post Office (one of my least favorite places on Earth) to mail the photos.

There is this one guy who works there that is beyond the pale. Everytime I'm in there it seems like it's a meltdown in progress of some kind, or something super socially awkward. Today, it was the latter. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out mailmen likely know LOTS about the people on their routes (who's late on bills, what their proclivities are based on magazine subscriptions and such). So today, while we and several other people were waiting, the Awkward, Angry Postman asked one of the post office box holders in line ahead of us, "So, what did you get a ticket for?" :0

The alleged law breaker was not exactly thrilled with that question in that setting. OMG, so, so awkward for everyone in that cramped post office lobby. Semi-amazingly, the Awkward, Angry Postman realized he had crossed a line and started stammering an awkward apology and saying that he asked only because he recently got a ticket and then he started railing against the system, the law, something about a Green Machine. ... Did I mention it was awkward?

The kids eventually got postage on their envelopes. Hopefully, they find their way to the right place (I always have my doubts when I mail anything from there).

Eventually I'll upload all the pages of their books and provide a link for those who are interested.

FUN AND GAMES: Once the work was out of the way, we were all about fun. It's the kids' spring break and though we aren't going anywhere, there's plenty of fun to be had here in Seattle!

We headed to yoga about 1.5 hours early so the kids could enjoy some quality time at Full Tilt.
The kids enjoyed some awesome ice cream and played pinball and arcade games. They spent a lot of time working together on Double Dragon.
They were very proud that, by working together, they reached Level 19. (I'm not sure how many levels the game has, but they gave it a good run!)

The Runaround

PROJECTING: There was no rest for MPA this weekend. The kids worked like dogs on their book projects. CJ spent hours and hours on Saturday on his book "Lolly Learns a Lesson." I loved it when he kept saying, "I want to put extra effort into it." :)

Sunday, attention turned to Annabelle's project - she's doing a story about a Gingerbread girl who flies a kite and goes airborne when a gust comes up.The project involved baking gingerbread cookies, making lots of fondant, crafting kites and taking pictures at various points around Seattle, and some Photoshopping - all stuff she's done lots of before. Tomorrow she just needs to add the text (which she's written already) and make a cover and she'll done.

CONSOLATION: This afternoon Rick brought over his old Nintendo 64 console and some games to loan long term to CeeJ and Bee. The kids (CJ especially) were jazzed about having another vintage system in the collection. I think CJ is determined to acquire every console ever made, and he's well on his way there. Someday he's going to have to open a museum or something.

HAPPY WEEK: CJ's Birthday is on Wednesday, and the festivities have already begun. In today's mail he received he received a nice card from Nonnie and Bops and an eBay gift card. He LOVES spending time treasure hunting on eBay, so he is thrilled!

For dinner tonight we did something out of the ordinary - we went to McDonald's. The kids were thrilled, they so rarely get to eat there.

The Ballard McDonald's has a big play park inside, so the kids got some exercise, too.

CJ really liked the McDonald Land map, and asked me to take a picture of it.

BOARD: This afternoon Annabelle invented a board game. She and CJ played for awhile. The rules sounded complicated. ;)