Triple Play Saturday

FISH FEST:  This weekend was busy, Busy, BUSY! Saturday alone we had three events to attend. First up was the Fishermen's Fall Festival. It's at the working boat marina at the north end of our hill. 

We've gone every year for the 10 years we've lived here. The biggest attraction is always the temporary pool/pond, where the kids love catching a live trout.

We made our way toward the trout pond, passing a couple dozen fishing industry related stands.

This unfortunate sign was one of the first things we spied.

Of course, maybe there is a SNIGNAL flag. I don't pretend to know all about maritime flags, that's for sure. 

There are also arts and crafts booths. The kids were each pleased with the balloon art they received. 

And they always enjoy painting a flying disk in the spin art booth.

We finally made our way to where the trout pond was ... er ... or wasn't. NO trout this year. (Insert sad saxophone music here.)

And so, the kids had to settle for catching laminated fish with a stick, some string and a magnet. Not exactly as thrilling.

TOY TIME: Our second stop was the Museum of History, Advertising and Industry, or MOHAI, as it's more commonly known. 

We always enjoy browsing their permanent exhibits about the history of business and industry in and around Seattle, but a main draw for this particular visit was to check out their special presentation, "Toys of the '50s, '60s and '70s." Developed by the Minnesota History Center, the exhibit chronicles the rich contemporary cultural history of toys post World War II to the groovy, pop art times of the Seventies. MOHAI is the only place on the West Coast for the exhibit to be seen.

I would have loved to have this ballistic missile!

Or any space-related toys. I remember my friend Mark having this GI Joe.

And I definitely remember playing with something similar to these disc-shooting phasers back in he day. 

Of course, Colorforms had to be represented in the collection. Low tech indeed, but boy we had hours of fun with these. 

 Frankly, I thought Evel Knievel was even cooler than Batman.

Check out this cool chemistry lab, with glass blowing, crime detection and chromatography components!

 And I remember these things. We didn't own one, but I remember being around one - and the (noxious) smell!

Robots have been inspiring imaginations for decades now. 

 Especially ones that beat other robots up. ;)

It's hard to get any more classic than the Slinky!

 And laugh all you want, but I loved my Pet Rock. I remember the day I got it, at JC Penney.

Long before GameBoy or other fancy portable gaming systems, these handheld games were what we had to play when it came to video games. Just little moving dashes (in one color) on a tiny screen, I spent HOURS and HOURS on this football game and loved it. 

The exhibit even had a section on dangerous toys. Naturally, Yard Jarts were front and center. Fortunately, they never came close to injuring me or any of my friends. Frankly, I thought they were plenty safe, as long as you paying attention to where and when and how you were using them. 

And ah, the Clackers. So. Much. Fun. And Pain. They made this cool, obnoxious knocking sound when you got them flinging back and forth just right. But when you missed - OUCH! Poor knuckles. Or maybe your face, ha ha!

We also had fun leaving MOHAI. With a heads up from Kennedy, we learned about a (Pokemon GO) Dragonite in the area, and we captured it - as well as a Slowbro! - on the way back to our car.

WOW, INDEED: Our third stop for the day was EMP Museum. We've been there many times before, but the main attraction on Saturday was the World of WearableArt™ (WOW) special exhibit.

We learned that WOW is New Zealand’s largest arts show. The annual event creates a new theatrical world in which incredible garments are constructed. Over 50,000 show-goers attend annually from around the world.

The exhibit at EMP is WOW's North American premiere. It features 32 award-winning garments showcasing the best of the the show's permanent collection.

This Gothic structure dress was a show stopper.

 This dress had a pumkinesque quality to it. Strikes me there'd be no sitting down in this dress.

 My horrible photo doesn't do this costume justice. The details were amazing. 

 There were even a couple of outfits made from wood products. 

 This black and white oufit was dramatic.

Hat tip to the Smithsonian for allowing tens of thousands of people to visit museums all across the country for free on Saturday as part of their annual Museum Day Live program.