Game Time

AIRTIME: The photo above looks like a Fourth of July, but it's actually an in motion graphic of live flights over the United States (and then some!) this morning around 10:45 Pacific time. It's from a screen at The Museum of Flight.  We were there dropping off a photo of mine that will be on display as part of their "Spirit of Flight" exhibition for six months or so. I can't wait to see it hanging in their gallery.

As always, our visit to the Museum was a good one, and we saw new things. For instance, today, we got to explore their glass-sided elevators (as I'm still a bit hobbled). And we really enjoyed our time spent up in their control tower. We saw helicopters and planes take off and listened to chatter from the Boeing Field control tower.

Out one window we had a lovely view of a row of American flags.

Just outside the control tower, Annabelle listened up on important info about becoming a pilot. I wonder how long before she'll be asking to enroll in flight school ...

In the meantime, Bee and CeeJ make fine stand ins for hot air baloon pioneers.

Inside the kids' area of the museum, they played around with the important flight principles yaw and roll.

And they read up on how to fuel a rocket, and how jet engines work.

BLOCKBUSTER: Tonight, we got an email which we've been looking forward to for months. It read,

"Great news! LEGO has begun shipping us the LEGO Minecraft Micro World playsets that you pre-ordered. We will begin shipping orders the week of June 10th in the order that they were received.

We know that you are anxious to get your hands on these (as are we!). Rest assured that we will ship this product out the instant that we receive stock from LEGO.

Happy building :)"

Altogether now: w00t!

GAMERS PARADISE: This afternoon brought an event that has been on our calendar in BOLD LETTERS for a long time. It's the annual Northwest Pinball and Arcade show.

It's a wonderful weekend - so many games, it's a sensory overload!

According to the event's Web site, the show draws between 2,500-3,000 attendees. It began as a small annual event held by Washington pinball collectors, but in 2008 became regional convention featuring hundreds of pinball machines, plus arcade games and electro-mechanical games. There's also a full slate of speakers, plus vendors and tournaments.

For the first part of the afternoon, CJ and Annabelle were shepherded over by their brother Kennedy, who has been know to play a game or two in his time. Later, Christian arrived and joined the revelry. Good times were had by all.

That's my girl. ;)

And here is a pair of pinball wizards.

BEING ELMO: In the not too distant past, our morning were filled with Sesame Street. I love that show. It's been a part of my life since it debuted in 1969, and Jim Henson is one of my heroes. 

These days, we don't watch Sesame Street. Now, the kids prefer the sarcasm and wackiness of SpongeBob and the drama (?) of Pokemon, but I have no doubt that they, like me, will forever have a soft spot for Sesame Street in their hearts. In that vein, this morning  our "cartoon" was "Being Elmo," a wonderful documentary about Kevin Clash, the man who made Elmo come to life.

It's the incredible tale of a child with an affinity for puppets that grows from a hobby to a vocation. The documentary follows Clash, an African American, from his boyhood days in Baltimore up through his teens as he pursues his puppeteering dreams. As we watched, I couldn't help but compare his path to those of Olympic athletes. The talent, the passion, the hours, the successes, the stalls - it was an amazing journey.

I would heartily recommend this movie to anyone of any age.

I LEAVE YOU WITH THIS: All over the Internet tonight, I saw links to a "mash up" featuring Fred "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" Rogers.

I found the auto tune thing a bit off putting, but I have to admit, overall it's nice to see Mr. Rogers again. It's been a long time since he's been in the neighborhood.