Wanderers

SIGHTSEEING: We had some errands to run this afternoon, which included visiting the kids' former headquarters for a couple of weekly classes they took in Shoreline. There, Annabelle was finally able to pick up her last clay arts project, a pony, of course. She named it Spaghetti, because of its mane.

We also swung by Shoreline's King County Library location, and then took the scenic route to Mukilteo, driving along the waterfront for a good portion of the journey.

At one point, we stopped at a little park on a steep hillside, Haines Wharf Park, in Edmonds. We'd been there once before, more than a couple of years ago. It's easy to remember, because just off the shore are the remains of an old cannery.

Annabelle looked for pirate ships or anything of interest out there floating or flying around.

At the street level, this park has a really cool steel sign that shows you the names and elevations of peaks in the distance (the silver strip in the photo below). That layer of clouds was hiding much of the Olympic Mountain Range from us today, but it was still a lovely vista.  

Once we got up to Mukilteo, the kids played for a few minutes in their lovely waterfront park.

Below, Annabelle was spinning like crazy as a ferry passed in the background.

CJ was behind me on the swings. That's usually his favorite spot at a park these days.

It was so pretty out, I was kicking myself for not having a real camera with me. All of the above are crappy cell phone shots. :/

After the park, the kids enjoyed a fudge pop while sitting on the balcony at G&G's. They had a view of sparkling Puget Sound, while the Mariners played a spring training game on television within earshot. Talk about a pleasant afternoon.

GOLDEN SPACEWALK: Today marks the 50th anniversary of cosmonaut Alexey Leonov being the first human to conduct an extra vehicular activity - better known as a spacewalk. The photo on the right below was taken when Leonov, then 30, was outside of his capsule.

His space walking story was an amazing one, and in September of 2012, we had the absolute pleasure of hearing him tell it firsthand at a Museum of Flight event. What an experience that was! Here's a photo I took of him on that fantastic day. 


Leonov darn near didn't make it back from his spacewalk alive. Here's what I wrote after he shared that story with us in 2012:

He shared a harrowing account about his spacewalk during Voskhod 2, the first human to perform an extra vehicular activity (EVA).  He was damn near killed in a number of ways during the event. First, when he exited the vehicle the pressure inside his suit caused it to expand so dramatically that his hands and feet came out of the gloves and boots. He had to manually let air out via a hose (definitely NOT standard operating procedure) and then when he made his way back to his ship, his suit was still too big and he couldn't get back in. He struggled mightily, and said he was sweating so profusely he was blind. He finally miraculously made it back. 

CRAFTY: A couple of days ago, Annabelle had a Fred Meyer gift card burning a hole in her wallet. So, we went to the store and her first stop was the toy aisle.  I could tell there was nothing there that really captured her fancy, so I suggested she head to the arts and crafts aisle. 

There, within seconds, she spied a tub full of colorful beads, which are really tiny plastic tubes.

The beads can be arranged in patterns, and then you apply a warm iron and fuse them together.

When all is said and done, they look a little something like this. 

The one on the left is the head of Apple Jack, a pony from the My Little Pony franchise. Apple Jack wears a cowboy hat.  She's been having a lot of fun with the kit, $7.99 well spent in her mind. 

BEFORE I FORGET:  Here's a photo of the kids' daffodils, planted from bulbs last fall, blooming in all their glory. 

We planted some more of CJ's Trinidad Moruga scorpion pepper seeds today, too. Hopefully there's a lot of heat in our future!

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