Rewind Time

ON THE WATERFRONT:  We're playing catch up from Friday, when we took a noontime trip down to the Alaskan Way seawall to meet a friend I met at the Mars Science Laboratory NASA Tweet up.

It's still summer, so despite the waterfront being in complete construction disarray, there were hordes of people milling about. 

Away from the crowds, we found a 'Points of Interest' sign, and the kids took turns identifying places on the horizon. Right above CJ's pointed finger is Terminal 91, with the cruise ships at the base of our peninsula/hill, Magnolia.

We walked around with the tourists, checking out waterfront piers and standing under the Great Wheel, wishing we were going for a ride. 

We took note of an anchor on display, and moved in for a closer look at the plaque attached.

Turns out it had to do with the opening of trade with the Eastern world back in the late 1800s.

We also took some time out to check out the construction along the new (and very expensive and over budget) seawall project.

Of course, we had to take time out and ogle the stadiums, to the south. So many good (and bad) times there ... 

Imagine our surprise and delight to find out Friday afternoon along the waterfront was part of the city's official "Out to Lunch" concert series. 

There was a decent crowd on hand to listen (and dance!) to the reggae beat of Clinton Fearon and the Boogie Brown Band.

If you're down on the waterfront, you pretty much *have* to visit Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. According to a 1927 story in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, “Everything in the world is there, sardined into Ye Olde Curiosity Shop... It’s the world boiled down.”

CJ's favorite attraction was Laughing Jolly Jack, a rather creepy animatronic oddity. 

If one Googles Laughing Jolly Jack, you get a sizeable number of 'hits,' and they reach far beyond Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Apparently he is a 'thing,' and there are many versions all the world over. We saw one at auction that said it was "based on the 1950's Bolland pattern," but I couldn't find anything else about a Jolly Jack and Bolland. ... 

Curious. we poked around the Internet a bit more. We learned of a Jolly Jack who was a miner in British Columbia, and supposedly a former Navy man. We don't know if that's a connection or not. 

Regardless, Annabelle felt compelled to draw our dog Laika as a Jolly Jack. 

Clearly, we need to do more Jolly Jack research.

MONDAY: We spent a "good" chunk of our Labor Day watching the Seattle Mariners play terrible baseball. 

We didn't quite have Safeco Field to ourselves, but I can't remember seeing a smaller crowd than yesterday afternoon. Guess that's what happens when you continue to trot a bad product out onto the diamond day after day.

For fun, the kids walked around the stadium through the aisles, unimpeded. 

The field was gorgeous on Monday. I think our recent rains have helped. Too bad the Mariners had to sully it by playing such horrible baseball. 

Sigh. 

There's always next year.