Do the Pony

MY LITTLE CUPCAKES: Today we hauled several pounds of sugar down West Seattle way, to the community center where the kids take a couple of classes on Fridays. 

The My Little Pony cupcakes were a hit. As soon as he spotted them, one boy started humming the "My Little Pony" theme and the boy right behind him had on the same MLP shirt CJ has. Who knew Bronies (male MLP fans) were so well represented in the group? :)

This morning, CJ created a new bizarre Scratch animation, and Annabelle enjoyed her Bollywood class. The kids showed us their new routine at the end and we learned that they might have a public performance in a couple of weeks. Fun!

THOSE LINCOLN BOYS: On the way to West Seattle, the kids took turns reading pages aloud from the picture book "Mr. Lincoln's Boys"  by Stanton Rabin.

It was published on the anniversary of Lincoln's 200th birthday. Based on true events, it told the story of  Lincoln's youngest sons, Tad and Willie. They were creative kids who got into their fair share of mild trouble, but it sounds like their father was understanding and encouraging of their adventurous spirits.. 

It was a nice peek into the private life of Lincoln and his family, written in an engaging style with lovely illustrations by Bagram Ibatoulline.

BOOKISH: On our lunch break, we hit a new-to-us library, the Southwest branch of Seattle Public Libraries. Nice space, and close to the kids' Friday classes. We'll be spending more time there, to be sure. 

The kids immediately honed in on the "baby" puzzles in the kids' section. They both enjoyed playing with one they had as preschoolers. 

While there, we picked up a stack of books, of course, including "BURIED ALIVE!" a book about the 33 Chilean miners trapped for 69 days. 

Both of the kids remembered watching footage of the miners' rescue two years ago this week. We recalled how they were rescued and how people from all over the world were watching. It was also a multi-national rescue effort, and I reminded the kids how NASA even played a role, counseling people working with the buried miners on how to survive in tight quarters with limited rations for an extended period of time. NASA also gave advice about how to re-acclimate the men once they were brought to the surface, and helped give design ideas for the capsule that was used to rescue the miners. 

TOUR A DRAGON: Today SpaceX emailed me (and a whole lot of other people, no doubt) a link to a panorama of the inside of the Dragon capsule. They said now we Earth bound folks can see what the astronauts and cosmonauts on the ISS saw when they opened the capsule last week. 

It looks so shiny and new! View it here: http://www.spacex.com/panorama/

Eight is Great

ROUND AND ROUND: Today Annabelle's 8. A nice, round number, isn't it?

To celebrate, we FINALLY went on a ride on the The Great Wheel. 

It was built in less than a year, financed by Seattle businessman Hal Griffith. At 175 feet tall, it's the largest observation wheel on the West Coast.

Our ride was in gondola #2 of 42. The wheel can hold up to 300 passengers at any time. 

It was a smooth, quiet ride. The biggest surprise for all of us was after we crested the top on the first go 'round and we suddenly found ourselves jutting 40-feet out over the end of the pier and hovering over Puget Sound. Since the gondolas are almost entirely glass, you're really right out there. Annabelle was a little disconcerted. 

We had a nice view of the stadiums and Mt. Rainier to the south.

And, of course, to the north was the iconic Space Needle. The Seattle Aquarium is in the green building in the foreground.

TASTE THE RAINBOW: The first four hours of my day were spent making rainbow colored cupcakes from scratch. Normally whipping up some cupcakes 'taint no big deal, but making each one six different layers of color took about, oh, three times as long as regular cupcakes. 

Oh well, Annabelle's birthday only comes once a year. We also spent time icing them and, in keeping with her "My Little Pony" wish, applying "cutie marks," as well as crafting a few ponies out of fondant. 

Have I mentioned I'm glad her birthday is only once a year? ;)

DIFFERENT PARTY: While the number one party on our hit parade today was Annabelle's birthday, political parties were also on our minds. 

CJ, especially, has been asking about politics and parties - especially after watching Tuesday night's debate. For instance, last night he asked if there is such a thing as a right wing Democrat. Christian and I looked at each other, pondered it and then said, "No."

Today, we watched BrainPOP's featured (free!) movie about political parties. 

I thought it did a nice job of detailing the history of the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as delineating major party positions today.

One of the many things the kids learned is that Lincoln was the first Republican president ever. 

I can't help but wonder if our Republican and Democrat forefathers came back if they'd be surprised. It seems today's versions of the parties have flipped in some respects. 

After the BrainPOP movie, CJ still had some unanswered questions, including why a donkey signifies the Democrat party and an elephant the Republican. Turns out the donkey came about in 1828, when Andrew Jackson's opponents called him a jackass. Jackson decided to embrace the mule as his mascot, and the donkey was born. 

The elephant dates back to 1874, and a political cartoon drawn by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly. A  donkey (representing the Democrats) was dressed in lion skin and scaring the animals in the forest. The elephant had the words "The Republican Vote" on it. 

FALSE ALARM: I hopped on Facebook this morning at about 10:17 and the first thing I saw was a status update from the Seattle Times letting me know at that 10:18 there would be the Biggest Earthquake Drill EVER.  ZOMG! Why did no one tell us before?!?!? "Earthquake!" I screamed at the kids. 

Once the panic and pandemonium passed, I'd say the lack of warning served us well. It was a real world experience and one they won't forget soon, likely.

And after the freak out, we had a teachable moment where we reviewed what a person should do in an earthquake - such as hunkering down in a doorway. 

EAT UP: Exciting news from the Red Planet. Curiosity has taken its first 'bites' of Martian soil!

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In the photo above, you can see three 'bite' marks into the surface. Each of the three 'bites' are about 2 inches wide. Of the three scoops, the middle one is the very first. 

What's super cool is the scoops collected were taken on board MSL and are being analyzed by the mobile science laboratory.

Hope the foreign matter doesn't give MSL indigestion. ;)

Silly Stuff

ON THE NOSE: Science class was interesting today. The kids were tasked with creating something using carbon printing.

Annabelle made artwork doodles out of her fingerprints. CJ spent most of the hour writing rules for a memory game that involved matching fingerprints.

Toward the end of the class they both wound up making nose prints. 

Not sure those would be admissible evidence in court. 

Oh, and in case you're wondering about the hats, it was Crazy Hat Day at school, so Bee wore her sparkly pink cowboy hat, while CJ donned his rainbow fedora.

WHIPPED UP:  There was a bake sale at the kids' Shoreline school today to benefit one of the families. Truth be told, I wasn't going to participate (other than buying something), but since I couldn't sleep this morning, I figured I might as well get up and whip something out. 

I decided on LEGO head cookies because many of the students there take LEGO classes, and I knew I could get them done in a morning. So I made a couple dozen of them. They weren't my best work (largely because I had to rush through the process), but the kids loved them nonetheless. I think they sold out in under 5 minutes. 

Now, it's time for some serious baking. Annabelle has requested My Little Pony inspired cupcakes for her birthday, so I've already started working on those. Stay tuned. 

TWISTED TALE: This morning as a writing activity, I asked the kids to write a fairy tale that was inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk. I told them that since we have soooooooo many tomatoes, I wanted their story to involve someone and a tomato plant, vine or garden.

Here's what Annabelle came up with. ...

Once upon a time there was  a boy named Ralph. Ralph liked tomatoes. One day, Ralph went out to town with his father's hen to sell the eggs she had laid. Halfway to the market, he met an old woman who had some seeds in her wrinkly outstretched hand. Ralph asked what kind of seeds the old lady was holding, and she replied, "Tomato seeds."  The idea of a tomato garden made Ralph think "A tomato garden? Oh boy! I could grow my own tomatoes!" and he sold the hen for the seeds. When he reached the market, he sold the eggs and headed back home. When he got home and told his father and mother that he had sold the hen, they asked what he sold it for. He replied "Tomato seeds." His father was furious. "Listen here, Ralph" he said, "I know you like tomatoes, but you sold  a living thing for these tiny seeds?"

"Yes." Ralph replied, sadly. But Ralph then went over to the garden and planted the seeds. His mother and father had gone inside for lunch. The sun came out. Ralph watered the seeds and pop! Out came a tomato vine with ripe red tomatoes. Before Ralph could react, the vine grew right up into a cloud! Ralph clutched the packet of seeds in his hand. but just when he started picking a tomato, It grew to match the size of the vine! As he climbed up to the top of the tomato, seeds still in is hand, he noticed the other tomatoes had grown too! he hopped on leaves and tomatoes until he finally reached the top. At the top he saw a tiny hut in the middle of the cloud.

As he stepped closer, he noticed it was a straw hut. He saw that the windows were twigs and and sticks. He stopped in front of the door and knocked on the wooden knocker. The door slowly opened. He saw a small goblin at the foot of the door smiling up at him. The goblin opened the door and said "Come in! I don't get many visitors up here in the clouds... I'm guessing you bought the magic tomato seeds?" Ralph nodded a little. "I didn't know they were magic!" he said. He had lunch with the goblin, headed back down home, and let his beanstalk grow more so the goblin would get more visitors.

           THE END

CJ's story is a bit briefer. ...

Once upon a time, there was a person named Bob. Bob was a gardener. He liked gardening many plants, especially tomatoes. The reason he liked gardening tomatoes is because they were juicy. One day, he saw a HIMALAYAN pack of tomatoes, but they were 1000.99 dollars. So, he sold his family llama to be able to afford it.

When he planted the HIMALAYAN pack of tomatoes, Bob saw a tomato vine rising up into the sky. After it rose, Bob climbed up onto it. By the time he got to the top, 6 hours had passed, but it was worth it to see the beautiful castle.

Bob was amazed by it. He never saw the fresh, clean, Himalayan waterfall in the middle of the castle. But then, something bad happened. A giant appeared, and it said: "GET OUT OF HERE OR I WILL KILL YOU!" Bob ran for his life, and he made it out with a golden tomato.

Bob got down safely, and after he sold the golden tomato, he became a multizillionaire. He claimed on a news live cast that he lived a good life being a multizillionaire.

           The End. 

So at least everyone lived happily ever after, eh?

Towering

ON A CLEAR DAY: To our delight, today dawned with surprise blue skies - bonus! So, we spent the first part of the day working on the house, finishing the siding (hooray!) while the kids rode bikes and scooters in the alley. Above, is one of hundreds of apples that hang over our heads as we work and play out there. They rain down, and sometimes I think we should all be wearing helmets. 

This afternoon, we decided to take a field trip (and use a Groupon before it expired) to Columbia Center, the tallest building in the state. Formerly the Bank of America Tower at 932 feet, it's the tallest building in Seattle and the fourth tallest building west of the Mississippi, by a tape measure from ground to rooftop. But, since the building has seven stories of varied uses BELOW ground, it's actually the 'tallest' building west of the Mississippi. 

Built in 1983-84, it opened in '85. There's an observation deck on the 73rd floor. We spent about an hour up there this afternoon, drinking in the local sights. 

Here, we looked toward our neighborhood's peninsula, Magnolia. Pretty! :)

Here's a view to the south, of West Seattle and the sound. We saw lots of ferries and activity at the Port of Seattle.

 Here's a sort of closeup of the Space Needle, still looking fabulous at 50 years old, and sporting Galaxy Gold on top. If you look in the far distance, you can see the railroad bridge by Ballard Locks is open for a boat. 

And here's the Space Needle and Seattle Center with Queen Anne Hill to its right. You can see old Queen Anne High School in the far right of the photo, atop the hill by the towers.

To the south, we also had a great view of the stadiums. 

I also happily pointed out to the family where I expect the new Sonics stadium will be, hopefully sooner rather than later. 

I also couldn't help but point out good ol' Smith Tower, sporting a 12th Man flag for the 'Hawks might I note. Back in the day it was the tallest building in the city/state. Today, it looked rather puny. ;)

Looking to the east, one of the expanses of green we picked out was the Seattle Pacific field where we went to see the kids' cousin Torie play a few weeks back.

One thing I learned tonight in my research on Columbia Center - according to the 9/11 Commission report of June 16, 2004, the original plan for the attacks called for the hijacking of ten planes, to be crashed into targets including the "tallest buildings in California and Washington State. That would have included Columbia Center. 

AFTER PARTY: After the Columbia Center excitement, we decided to have a sit at the nearby Pike Brewery. It was a good decision. :)

The kids enjoyed excellent Pike pretzels, while we enjoyed excellent Pike beer. Imagine my delight to find out they had their Space Needle 50th anniversary IPA (on the right) on tap. (Kilt Lifter is on the left.)

HELMET CAM: Yes, we're *still* marveling over Fearless Felix's freefall on Sunday morning. Today, Red Bull posted this video featuring some helmet cam footage of the dive.Sweet!

Short Stuff

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME: This post will be short, as it's My Holiday, har har. ;) Forty seven years ago today I made my debut, on a Saturday morning in Las Vegas, Nevada. And tonight, I sit in Seattle, feeling my age. ;)

It wasn't all R&R for the birthday. The first half of the day Christian and I loaded the truck for a dump run and worked on siding/painting the house. Good times. ;) This afternoon, or attention turned inside and we did some furniture re-arranging to match the house's post-addition layout. Time well spent.

We had a fabulous dinner at one of our favorite places - Laredo's, a Tex Mex restaurant where we could enjoy great food while watching Monday Night Football and the National League Championship Series.

I got presents galore, including a pile o' geeky gifts from Christian. A new Star Wars umbrella, some Star Trek cookie cutters (can't wait to try those!). I got some spacey stuff too, including a cool Apollo-Soyuz pin from the former USSR, a 1965 Seattle PI with the front page about Ed White's spacewalk and a pretty glass plate with an Apollo mission theme. Lucky me!

CAPTIVATING: Our Number One event this weekend was watching Fearless Felix Baumgartner ride in a capsule lifted aloft by an enormous, helium-filled balloon to the 127,000 foot-plus mark.

I had set my alarm for 5 a.m., which was the targeted lift off time. However, it was delayed a couple of hours, which meant (mercifully) we got a bit more sleep.

Finally, the winds calmed enough to make the mission a go, and it took about two hours to ascend to that height from the launch site in Roswell, NM.

While the balloon trip, alone, was amazing and record breaking, what he did next was astounding. Felix jumped out of the damn thing.

 Photo courtesy of & © Red Bull Media House

He proceeded to scream down earthward, tumbling out of control for a scary-long time before somehow finally managing to stabilize. His way down was a LOT quicker than his way up, that's for sure!

It was SUCH a relief to see him land safely.

 Photo courtesy of & © Red Bull Media House

During free fall he broke the sound barrier. Felix did not, however, break the record for the longest free fall. That record is still held by 84-year old Joe Kittinger, who was Felix's capcom for Sunday's jump.

This video (courtesy of & © Red Bull Media House) gives you an idea of what went down, but it's nowhere near as exciting as it was watching it live.