So Sunny

BRIGHT START: This is how I found CJ this morning at his computer. We had lovely, full sunshine right from the start today, and it was apparently more than the blue eyed Seattleite could handle. Too funny.

MARCH FORTH: Because it was so sunny, we got a nice long walk in this a.m.

We decided to head down toward the waterfront, but instead of our usual haunts, we parked near the east end of the Magnolia/Garfield bridge, and then walked a path along the east shore of Elliott Bay.

It was a little hazy out, but still gorgeous, with water nearly as smooth as glass. 

We made our way to Centennial Park, where there's an 80-foot long fishing pier - but no fishermen today. 

We have big plans to get rods and fish from those piers in the near future.

We made many stops along our way today, including pondering this wood for a moment. To me, it looked like someone sitting down on the bank. 

The Terminal 86 grain processing facility features prominently along the waterfront we visited.

Operated by Louis Dreyfus, the facility includes 16 acres and a 3.99-million-bushel grain elevator. In all, there are 68 130-foot high silos on site. Each is 28 feet in diameter, holding 54,000 bushels. 

Normally, we stay on the waterfront trail, but near the grain silos, I spotted a sign pointing toward the "Helix Bridge." We've driven by it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Today, we finally walked across it.

The bridge was built by private funds from the Amgen corporation, a science and biotech firm, 
which has a huge campus at its west end. The bridge spans busy railroad tracks between Amgen and 15th Avenue, a main north-south thoroughfare in the area, and likely where Amgen employees who are mass transit riders catch their bus.

So now we can cross 'crossing the Helix bridge' off our 'to do' list!

During our morning walk, the kids and I stumbled upon an out of the way, tiny parking lot that would be a great jump off point for future walks. This evening, we took Christian there to show him (as it's hard to explain how to get there). So we got a two-fer on the waterfront today!

MATH AND MORE: We spent an hour plus on the roof(deck) today. The kids worked on math, and I scrubbed the deck of its winter coat of algae.

LIBRARY: The kids read an issue of "Time for Kids" this afternoon. Its cover story was "Reinventing the Library," which covered public libraries moving toward electronic books and other tech innovations. They completed some worksheets corresponding to the story, and one question asked what kind of unique space they'd put in a library they ran. Annabelle wrote, "An art studio, where everyone could make their own book illustrations." 

CJ said, "I would make an area dedicated to political books." 

LEAPIN' ROCKET!: Today NASA's hopping rocket passed another test with flying colors!

PHOTO: NASA
Today's test was "Free Flight 9," at Kennedy Space Center. It was Morpheus' highest flight to date. The vehicle soared to 581 feet, higher than the Washington Monument. It was also its fastest flight (30 MPH vertically and horizontally), and its furthest flight to date, 837 feet. Check it out here: http://youtu.be/GWx8SgmAZNA
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