Been Busy

STAYING AFLOAT: Apologies for the lack of a post yesterday. We here at MPA have been a touch busy. Yesterday it was 88 (!) degrees in Seattle, which is super hot for May 2. Lucky for us, we had reservations for a ride on an electric boat on and around Lake Union.

One of the first things we saw as Captain Christian piloted us out onto the lake was a woman on a stand up paddle board with her Boston terrier along for the ride. We all marveled that she managed to paddle along with her dog and use her smart phone all at the same time.  

Two of  the present-day constants in the South Lake Union skyline are the Space Needle and construction cranes.

We passed dozens and dozens of kayakers on the like. 

 And we got a good look at the Queen.

Our travels took us under three bridges, including the Ballard Bridge ...

 and the Fremont Bridge.

 Under the Fremont, we crossed paths with a long dragon boat crew paddling like crazy.

 Annabelle enjoyed the view ...

 as did Eric and Judy.

It was rather humid out.  In the photos below, you can see rain showers in the distance, likely over Bellevue.

Kennedy and CJ contemplated, with a ship from "Deadliest Catch" seasons past in the background.

We didn't get too close to steampunk looking Gasworks Park, as the guys at the Electric Boat company told us the water off shore there was very shallow - and that another Electric Boat customer they'd warned the day before apparently didn't believe them and did hundreds of dollars worth of damage to their rental.

 The clouds overhead sprinkled a few shimmery drops of rain on us.

All in all it was a lovely two hours of good company and great views in the heart of this pretty city.

APPRECIATIVE:  What has been keeping us busy for the past couple of days is getting ready to help host a teacher appreciate luncheon at the school CJ and Annabelle attend a few hours a week.

A few days ago, I hit upon a 'school cafeteria' theme, which, at first mention, might not sound too wonderful for a nice luncheon, but we had fun with it.

We used school lunch bags to make pretty (compostable) cutlery holders.

Those were tucked into one of many vintage lunch boxes we brought along as decorations.

We also had old school (ha ha) cafeteria trays for the teachers to use to go through the lunch line.

Their selections included multiple soups and salads parents brought in to share.

At the drink station, we had to have cartons of milk and juice pouches, of course. A few iced coffees were thrown in for good measure.

Fruity water was also available, and we used chalkboard tape to personalize little glass jars for them to use for drinking it.

Tables were decorated with flowers with school lunch thermoses for vases.

The dessert table included a lunchbox full of Smarties (regular and super sized!).

 And we made some cookies that looked like foods you'd find in a school lunch. 

Of course, we had music playing the background, all songs that had to do with school or learning in one way or another.

Apologies for the poor photos above - I was a little, um, busy, and forgot to bring my real camera, and these are from my new cell phone camera (which, apparently, is rather craptacular).

After we finished cleaning up, we had to head to another local school to return the green partitioned lunch trays to the kind cafeteria lady who loaned them to me. We took her a chalkboard jar full of flowers from the event as a thank you.