Alien Invasion

ALIEN AUTOPSY: A couple of weeks ago Christian and the kids scored a brand new Roswell Alien model kit at a garage sale for just $5. (HUGE score - we've seen the same kit at Archie McPhee's for upwards of $30, I do believe.)

This afternoon, we opened it up and took on the project. We had quite a pile of 'bones' and 'organs' on our workstation.

First, we pieced together the skeleton per directions. It was a bit tedious, tricky, and we wound up with super glue-covered fingertips. 

Then, it was time to place the bones, brain and more in the exoskeleton.

Getting all his (or her) parts to stay in their proper place and get that puppy sealed up was not easy. We may have said a few bad words.  However, we were triumphant in the end!

Alien done, I asked the kids to each write a short story about how the alien came to wind up in our house in Magnolia. The alien kept a watchful eye on them as they did so.

Here are the stories, CJ's first, and then Annabelle's. ...

My Story About Tesla 
   Tesla is an Alien that wound up here in Seattle, Washington. Tesla came from Mars, and is oddly small.
   Tesla's story starts back on Mars. At Mars, Tesla had a UFO, and with a telescope, he spotted the gas giant called Jupiter. He then proceeded to head there, not knowing what dangers were there. As he headed there, he noticed the spot on the Southeast of the planet, which he DID NOT know was a hurricane.
   At Jupiter, Tesla's UFO accidentally flew in the hurricane, making Tesla lose control. The hurricane at that moment was stronger than ever, and it threw Tesla's now unfueled and out-of-control UFO towards Puget Sound, on Earth.
   Back at Puget Sound, none of the electronics in Tesla's UFO were working, and it was drifting in the water. about 72 hours later after a lot of rationing, the UFO washed up on shore, and a local fisherman found the UFO, occupied with Tesla. Then, he wandered in to Magnolia, Seattle, King County, Washington, to our house.
   That is the story of Tesla.

Charles the Alien
   Once upon a time, there was an alien named Charles, who lived on Mars. One day, he decided to fly around the solar system and explore. When he strayed too close to Earth, he started being pulled in by the gravity field. He was rocketing at the speed of a meteor, but luckily was able to eject the parachute before he crashed.
   Once on Earth, he discovered he had landed in Seattle, Washington. He walked around and saw many things, including dogs, cats, cars, and birds! He came to a house labeled 2846 and decided to go inside. There he met us, and we decided to keep him as a "pet".
   Now Charles is as happy as ever, and always likes to play with our dogs, Kirby and Laika. He also likes to draw with me and play games with CJ. He's always nice and will help you anytime you need it.

BIG BABY: My Facebook feed this morning let me know that there's a) a new baby giraffe at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo, and b) it has a webcam - sweet!  You can see it here:  http://zoo.org/giraffecam#.Ug47npLqmvN

The best times to watch are early morning and late afternoon.  The cam has night vision, so you can check on the baby and its mom Olivia in the evening and overnight, too. 

The giraffe was born on August 6, and it's already over 6 feet tall. If you're interested in seeing what a giraffe being born looks like, check out this video the zoo posted to YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MLv2KPA_jg#action=share

I gotta say, the little guy looks pretty clumsy trying to stand for the first time, but hey, he was only 90 minutes old!

BOUNTY: We made a point to get up to the top of the lot to check out our garden this morning, and it was a good thing we did. We had a bunch of tomatoes that needed a pickin'.

They are so delicious! I love watching CJ and Annabelle pop 'em in like candy. Up until this year, neither of them would eat tomatoes, but they have discovered that garden-fresh tomatoes are like nature's candy.

We were glad to see many bees buzzing around our garden, doing their work. We appreciate their efforts! There was a party in this pumpkin blossom!

You can only see two bees in the photo, but there are actually three of them.

DOCUMENTARY:  Rick stopped by this afternoon and CJ started peppering him with questions about North Korea. Rick didn't have all the answers CJ was seeking, but he did point him in the direction of a National Geographic documentary, "Inside North Korea." 

CJ watched the entire thing (about 50 minutes). He was a little disappointed it wasn't up-to-the-minute current (the now deceased Kim Johg Il was still the dictator in the documentary). 

I respect the North Korean people, but I don't like their politics," he informed. 

If you are so inclined, National Geographic has posted the documentary on its YouTube channel: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxLBywKrTf4

Long, Rocking Night

O WHAT A NIGHT:  Wednesday afternoon and evening brought a musical adventure for us - heading down to Auburn, Wa., to the White River Amphitheatre to see Train, with Gavin DeGraw and The Script.

We (all four kids and I) picked Christian up at work at 4:30 and then it was I-5 southbound to Auburn. We did well south Seattle past Federal Way, but Auburn is notorious for horrific rush hours, and last night it lived up to its reputation. Too many cars, not enough roads.  We snaked our way through town and found an OK (marginally) place to have dinner, Oddfellas. Afterward, we took off and encountered even worse traffic.

We arrived partway through Gavin DeGraw's set, which didn't break any of our hearts, fortunately. We did get to hear his uptempo hits, "I Don't Wanna Be" and "Best I Ever Had."

Up next was The Script. I'd never heard much of their music until yesterday, when the kids and I had a cram session, in prep for the concert. Good, solid pop music, and having watched a couple of videos of them live in concert, I thought we'd be in for a treat. We were. A bunch of hard-working Irishmen on their last night on this tour, they put on a show.  The band was tight, professional, personable and fun-loving. Of course, they had me even before "Hello," because they opened their set by playing Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot" playing on the video screens. :)  Then they launched into a rollicking 10-song set which concluded with their biggest hit, "Hall of Fame," definitely a stadium anthem type song. Great fun, and glad we got to see them. We're fans now. :)

Annabelle doodled on her Magnadoodle during the show. I loved this DJ she drew.

She told me she wanted to do a version of it on her computer the next day, and that she did. ...

So cute!!!

Train came on a little after 9:30 p.m. and played a non-stop 90-minute set. 

During the second or so song, Train's lead singer Pat Monahan took cell phones handed to him by audience members and took a photo of himself with the phone owner behind him - while singing. He probably took a dozen shots, all without missing a beat! He obviously knows his way around various makes and models of cell phones.

During the very pretty "Marry Me," Monahan came out into the crowd. Far out - like right to the front row of the 200 section, where we were.  In between me  and the woman in the checkered shirt was Annabelle. She reached out far enough to get a handshake from him, as did CJ, who was just to my left. They were both pretty tickled. "I'm never washing this hand again!" CJ declared.

Here's a somewhat shaky (but otherwise pretty decent) video (someone else took) of Train performing "Drops of Jupiter" at the White River Amphitheatre last night: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSpx762XuEk


Overall, the show was wonderful - even magical, in parts. It was so good, in fact, that for most of it I was able to forget what a sh*thole the White River Amphitheatre is. Where to begin? ...

When you ask someone who has been there for advice regarding attending a concert at White River, their response is fast and emphatic: "Don't go!"

One Yelp reviewer summed it up like this: "I might go back. If the reunited Beatles played with the reunited Led Zeppelin." Having lived it for myself now, I'd have to agree.

On the way to the show, horrific bottlenecks of traffic getting there that made 3 miles feel like 70. As previously stated, we missed most of the first band. It also stunk that the venue's sound system was thin and weak for the upper registers (a shame, since that's where Train's Pat Monahan really shines). And how 'bout those video screens with the resolution of an early 1990s home projection TV? And while I can't blame the venue for it, the passel of drunk, non-stop babbling women in the row behind us didn't help the ambiance. Neither did the lovely smell of cow pasture wafting in during Train's set. Afterward, there was the 45 minutes to move 2 car lengths in the parking lot, despite paying $28 for a "VIP" parking upgrade to avoid just that, because some clueless temp workers are issued reflective vests but are given zero training about how to assist rather than impede traffic flow.

All that said, I'm glad we went. But we're never going back.

The kids were slightly less critical. ... 

The Concert Last Night: A Review by CJ Kisky:
   The concert last night was a pretty good one. I thought it was pretty cool, (three artists performed: Gavin McGraw, The Script, and Train) especially because they were all artists that I liked (excluding Gavin).
   At the concert, I noticed that it was slightly larger than Safeco Field (editor's note - this is wrong, it has a capacity of 20,000), which, I guess, may be a good choice if you want to host a concert. Anyway, The music the bands played was great, and I think it's unfortunate that it was The Script's last night on tour. :"-(
Also, what I want to say is I pulled off a lot of dance moves there, and I noticed that a lot of people looking at me. I bet that I am already viral on Facebook, I just can't find myself on there because there could be a whole bunch of names for me (like "random dancing spazzy kid," and "Mr. Hornet in his pants.").
   Anyway, I want to say that the concert, overall, was great.

Annabelle's take ...
   The concert was very good last night, and it featured Gavin DeGraw, The Script, and Train. We heard a little of Gavin, but we were a bit late because of traffic, so we only heard 1 or 2 Gavin DeGraw songs. The Script was wonderful, and by the time Train came on, I was already 3/4ths deaf.
   Train was absolutely FABULOUS, and they played some songs you may be familiar with, such as: Save Me San Francisco, Hey Soul Sister, and many more. They also played Ceiling Can't Hold us, Macklemore's newest golden record! Even though it went on after midnight (I was staying awake on Diet Coke), I think it was very worthwhile.
   Overall, I would give the concert 10/10!

As CJ referenced in his review, he was a dancing machine for the second night/concert in a row. People in the stands around us were giving him high fives, and taking video of him on their cell phones. He had the security guards cracking up, and Rick and Kennedy pretending they weren't his brother (ha ha, just kidding). 

We've seen lots of live music this summer, but we're on a hiatus for about a month - until Wembley Stadium and Roger Waters performing The Wall! Can't wait!

Webb-y Wednesday

Caption: August 2013 James Webb Space Telescope mural image. Artist's impression.

Credit: Northrop Grumman

THE NEXT GENERATION:  This morning, thanks to an 'Image of the Day from NASA,' we got on a kick about the James Webb Space Telescope.  It's bigger, better and badder than the famous Hubble. ;)

A large space telescope, it's optimized for infrared wavelengths. NASA tells us that Webb will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe.  It will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own solar system.

The space telescope will have a large mirror (6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter) and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Since the mirror and sunshade won't fit into a rocket fully open, both will be folded and open once Webb is in outer space. After traveling a ways (1.5 million km from Earth!), Webb will be put into an orbit and get to work.

Here's a quick, slickly-produced primer on the amazing invention ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMRamEFAQU4


In this photo, courtesy of NASA (of course), a crane in a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland lowers a test mass simulator onto the Ambient Optical Assembly Stand.


In case you're wondering, the Webb telescope was named after James E. Webb, who ran the fledgling NASA from February 1961 to October 1968.

There's a ""Webb" cam, where you can watch what's going on with the telescope's construction.   It's not a streaming video feed, but still images of the right and left side of the cleanroom in Building 29 at Goddard Space Center.  The images are updated every minute.  The clean room is typically only occupied between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

The cam operators suggest viewers keep an eye out for the ISIM Structure, a large, black, "latticed" box which will hold Webb's science instruments. Test versions of several of the telescope's instruments are sometimes visible in the cleanroom.

The large structure taking up the right side of the clean room is the Ambient Optical Assembly Stand (AOAS), which will be used to assemble the mirrors and instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Presently, NASA is aiming toward a 2018 launch date for Webb. It's an international effort, with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and theCanadian Space Agency (CSA) partnering on the project.

ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER CONCERT:  Short post today because we're off to Auburn, WA, and the White River Amphitheater to see Gavin McGraw, The Script and Train (the latter being, by far, the biggest draw for us). Should be another interesting evening.  I'll leave you with this (seems especially appropriate since we saw Daryl Hall last night).

.

Concert Series

FIRST OF A TWO-FER:  We bought tickets to see Hall and Oates and Train this summer months and months ago. Turns out the two shows are on back to back nights.  Tonight, it was Hall and Oates.

The concert was at Marymoor, a 640-acre park in Redmond. Here's an aerial of just part of the park, you can't even see the amphitheater, it would be off the lower right corner, past the velodrome (yes, they have a sloped bike race track - that would be fun to watch some heats!).
 
Gates were at 4 p.m. and we were there a little before that, as were a few dozen other people who, I think, had been there perhaps considerably longer, because they seemed a little cranky and very worried about other people getting in front of them.

At one point, when the 'organizers' (I use the term loosely, it was the Keystone Kops) broke our line into four lines and we wound up even with the earlier comers, a woman ordered her poor husband to come stand in front of us. Whatever. I seriously thought it was funny.

Christian took initial exception to the line cutter, but I leaned in and pointed out to him, "It's not a problem. We can outrun ANY of these people." LOL.  And, we did.

We hatched and flawlessly executed our plan, and when they finally opened the gates, we had the best 'non seats' in the house.  Those chairs just beyond that plastic white chain cost more than $15 a head more than our 'seats.' So for hauling our own chairs in, we saved $60. Score!!

I don't have a long angle shot of the venue, but here's a lovely artist's rendition of it from 2002, before it was built.  It's not too far off. ;)

We had prepared well for our afternoon of waiting, waiting and more waiting. We had games, books, blankets, umbrellas for shade, lots of hydration and healthy snacks.

The show started a half hour late, around 6:30.

We heard: Out of Touch, Family Man, Say it Isn't So, Las Vegas Turnaround, She's Gone, Sara Smile, Maneater, I Can't Go for That (No Can Do), Rich Girl, You Make My Dreams (Come True), Kills on My List and Private Eyes and maybe one or two more I can't recall.

It was a short set, let me tell you. They had played less than an hour when it was 'thank you' and they left the stage. Christian and I looked at each other Gobsmacked. I mean, I knew, they weren't done but still, it felt like they just got started. They came out for two, two-song encores, but we were home back across the water in Seattle from Redmond and a post-concert traffic snarl by 8:24, and the show didn't start until 6:30.

Afterward, I told Christian I was glad that we were standing in line early enough to hear the sound check, so I felt like we got more of our money's worth.

Don't get me wrong, it was terrific. They sounded wonderful, and Daryl Hall has the best hair of any human being, perhaps ever. I told Christian Daryl Hall should donate his hair to science so they can study it and see what makes it so, well, fabulous.

The kids dug it and CJ was a dancing machine. To the point of being a spectacle. To the point of people taking videos of HIM rather than Hall and Oates.  There were two couples in the 'fancy' chairs who spent the better part of at least four songs turned around, backs to the stage/Hall & Oates, watching CJ dance instead.

I have no doubt his moves are plastered all over Facebook by now. One man came up to us during the concert to show us the video he'd taken of CJ (um, yeah, we know, we live with it/him, but thanks, LOL), and a few people said after the show how much they enjoyed his dancing. Go CJ. ;)
http://www.kingcounty.gov/recreation/parks/inventory/marymoor.aspx

Sporty

THE KID:  What a busy weekend we had.  Saturday was a day we'd been looking forward to since February or so, when they announced August 10 would be the game Ken Griffey Jr. was inducted into the Seattle Mariners Hall of Fame.  We were ready hours before the show. ...
                           
No doubt about it, without Junior, there would be no Safeco Field (a/k/a the Happiest Place in Seattle in our household). While we fell in love with him, Junior made Seattle fall in love with baseball.  In the raging age of cheaters, Junior was always a class act.  We loved how he entered at center field, across the turf painted with his number. ...

Junior's speech was vintage Junior. No script. No 'bullet points,' no agenda. It was just him speaking from the heart.  He spoke of his love of his teammates, and the game. The crux of the speech: "I may have sometimes been standoffish, I didn't mean to. I just wanted to play baseball. That's the only thing that mattered, playing and winning ballgames for this team. I want to thank all of you, and the Mariners organization, for letting me be part of something special. I just want to say thank you."

And that's why Seattle loves him so. The entire sell out crowd of 46,000 plus (the ONLY sell out crowd of the season) stood when he entered the field and didn't sit until the ceremony concluded, over an hour later.  The Mariners have posted his entire 24-minute (appropriately!) speech here: http://wapc.mlb.com/play?content_id=29610499&partnerId=as_sea_20130812_10700924#

I know there's no crying in baseball, but Junior's message was so heartfelt. There were so many poignant moments.  Perhaps the most touching was when he was talking about teammate Jay Buhner, whom he had almost nothing (initially) in common with.  However, standing before 46,000 plus people Saturday night, he said if anything every happened to him and his wife, Buhner is the man whom he'd want to raise his children. It had Buhner and countess others [not naming names] blubbering. ;)

Junior's speech ran long (not that anyone minded!) but the game was quick. No score into the sixth inning. 

Then the wheels feel off and the Ms ended up losing miserably. :/  Sorry, Junior.   But Junior had a message for the current, very young, Mariners team.  (Loved how they all flipped their lids in tribute to Jr!) Graphic from Seattle Mariners, of course ... 

During Jr's speech, one of CJ's teeth fell out.   Fortunately, he was the only one in our party of 6 to lose a tooth that night. :)

Also, it's worth noting the air was absolutely electric the night of Junior's induction.  I saw several flashes of lightning and the stormy skies made for some pretty colors. 

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?:  Just a few hours after getting home from the Griffey celebration, we refocused ourselves toward September, and the NFL.      

         

Rick had secured us Seahawks training camp tickets, which are surprisingly hard to get. They sell out ever single practice session way in advance, so we were lucky to have our spots. 

We had to drive to a shopping center in Renton to catch a shuttle to the practice facility, the Virginia Mason Athletic Center.   It's a pretty place, on the shores of Lake Washington. 

The kids and I were guessing what the black rectangular thing in the foreground of the photo was.  It looked like a trampoline, but turns out it's a 'ceiling' to keep the defensive players low when readying for plays.

DRY RUN: Monday morning we headed to Group Health for Christian's third rabies shot (since a wee small hours o' the morn encounter with a raccoon going after one of our dogs, not pleasant).  While he was in getting shot up, I walked the kids to Red Balloon, where they got to pick from a rainbow-plus of M&Ms.

From there, we drove north and checked out Marymoor Park, where we'll be tomorrow night for a Hall & Oats concert. We went to scope out the area where the concert will be (it looks really small - it will be interesting to see how the shoehorn us all in there), and we checked out some of the rest of  the park.  

Afterward, we stopped at Chuck's on 85th for a late lunch and some board game fun.  Today, Annabelle bested us at Robot Explorers (below) CJ had the lead in Dixit.