Slide 'n' Splash

SLIDE STAND OFF: I had to go to Group Health today for a physical therapy appointment. (It's hoped that the PT will somehow spontaneously and/or miraculously heal my degenerated, arthritic, bone-spur sporting and generally hosed left hip. But I digress.) The highlight of any Group Health Capitol Hill visit is the humongo slide out front. 


There was a group of three siblings there at the same time as CeeJ and Bee and at one point all 5 of them were on top of the slide. The oldest girl in the other group told CJ and Annabelle that they could go ahead of  her and her siblings. Annabelle said something like, 'That wouldn't be fair, you were here first," and the girl explained her mom was going to take a picture and wasn't quite ready. Annabelle replied that it was OK, she and CJ were happy to wait, but the girl insisted they go ahead.


At that, the kids' mother turned to me and said, "Wow, listen to them, being so polite. We should be really proud of ourselves. We've done a good job teaching them manners." LOL.


Another highlight of a trip to Capitol Hill is that we get to view the Space Needle from the east - a lovely vantage point, as it's back-dropped by the Olympic mountains and Puget Sound. 

LA FUSEE: This afternoon (2:36, to be exact), we watched an Arianne 5 rocket launch from the Guina Space Center, Kourou French Guiana, a space port bordering the Amazon rain forest and not too far from the equator. On board it had an EchoStar 17 broadband Internet satellite and Europe's MSG -3 weather observatory. 

PHOTO: ESA 

I believe this is the third launch we've watched from there, and it's always interesting to hear the countdown and mission control chatting in French. The launch went off without a hitch and the satellites are both in orbit.


ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!!? We had some library books due today, so this afternoon we had to do some book wrangling. One title (some Garfield cartoon book) eluded us, so I wound up having to dig into the depths of the kids' bookshelf. 


As I'm shuffling books looking for Garfield, my hands wrap around this . ... 


WTH?!?!?

Talk about "holding" your page. Egad. 

Needles to say, we had a Serious Talk about what's a proper bookmark - and what ISN'T.

Oh, and I did find the Garfield book.

INTO THE SWIM: This evening, since the day's temp finally topped 73 degrees F, Christian took the kids to the neighborhood swimming pool for the first time this season. 

HIT PARADE: Lisa Loeb's "Silly Sing-Alongs" is still in heavy rotation on our car's sound system. Here, CJ and Annabelle perform one of their faves, from the CD, "Fried Ham."