Catching Up

PROMENADE: Here's a 'leftover' from our whirlwind trip down to Clark County on Tuesday. The kids are on the north shore of the Columbia River, which forms the boundary between Oregon and Washington at this spot.

CRAFTY: Inspired by the book "The Secret of the Fortune Wookie," this morning the kids made little folded paper fortune tellers. Fun!

MISERABLE MATINEE:  Yesterday, we attended a Mariners' matinee with Rick and Grandma and Grandpa. Too bad horrible pitching by the Ms' starter made it a long afternoon. 

Erasmo Ramirez basically threw batting practice for the Texas Rangers. They had a 9-run lead after just four innings.

The Mariners' bats couldn't overcome that kind of a deficit, darn it.

The 'highlight' of the game was Ramirez finally getting pulled in the fourth inning.

We did take the time to go out and visit the new Lou Piniella display in the Mariners Hall of Fame.

Is it just me, or does this 3D plaque look more like Joe Torre than Lou Piniella?

HANG ON TIME: We came across a cool video today, showing us Seattle like we've never seen it before ... from Blue Angels' cockpits! Check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4D0yx4DvBk#t=16

RAINING BUCKETS:   I still don't see why me filming three of my four kids having ice water dumped over their heads can't count as *my* #ALSIceBucketChallenge (ha ha), but I'm a good sport, so since I was nominated - twice - I went ahead and took on water myself today. We did it with a twist, putting my cell phone in a Ziploc bag on top of my head, and Annabelle poured the water right on it. It was so cold, it took my breath away. It felt like it just kept coming and coming, but the video shows it was mere seconds.

As of Wednesday, August 27, he ALS Association had received $94.3 million in donations, compared to $2.7 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 27). These donations have come from existing donors and 2.1 million new donors. 

From the ALSA Web site, we learned that Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease) "is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks nerve cells and pathways in the brain and spinal cord.  When these cells die, voluntary muscle control and movement dies with them.  Patients in the later stages of the disease are totally paralyzed, yet in most cases, their minds remain sharp and alert.  Every day, an average of 15 people are newly diagnosed with ALS — more than 5,600 people per year. As many as 30,000 Americans may currently be affected by ALS. Annually, ALS is responsible for two deaths per 100,000 people."

It will be interesting to watch this story continue to unfold.  Let's hope this Ice Bucket Challenge phenomenon is a game changer for ALS victims, present and future.

STUNNING SHIP: We were headed home from dropping G&G off at the train station this morning, and drove along the Elliott Bay waterfront. Our eyes about popped out of our head when we saw a ship docked at Pier 66.

We couldn't make out the name on the hull, but we sure could see HUNDREDS of sailors standing at attention, an enormous Mexican flag flying in the wind, and mariachi music blaring. It was seriously AMAZING.

Later, I found a story in the Seattle PI about the Mexican navy tall ship, Cuauhtémoc.  The ship is on an instruction tour called "America 2014." A teaching vessel, cadets aboard Cuauhtémoc are trained in international waters before graduating as officials. 

The beauty was built in Spain in 1982 and it has sailed around the world for more than 30 years.  The Seattle PI has a photo gallery of Cuauhtémoc! You can see it here: http://goo.gl/3isPGM

We hope to head down there tomorrow to take our own photos and take a MUCH closer look.