Halloween-y

    Photo: NASA

BOO-TIFUL: Tis the season for pumpkin carving. Nice that NASA has us covered in that department. I mean, who wouldn't want to carve their very own James Webb Space Telescope-themed pumpkin? 

There are three different patterns you can choose from, with varying degrees of difficulty. Created by Leah Hustak, you can find them here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13416

Annabelle's participation in InkTober is coming to a close. Here are a couple of her most recent drawings. This one had a prompt of "ride." 

And this one was "bait."

CHECK YOURSELF: As part of CJ's psychology class this week, we learned about Project Implicit,  "a non-profit organization and international collaboration between researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition - thoughts and feelings outside of conscious awareness and control," per their website description. "The goal of the organization is to educate the public about hidden biases and to provide a 'virtual laboratory' for collecting data on the Internet," they explain. 

The site has a number of different assessments you can take to help identify your hidden biases. They include everything from religion to skin tone to weight to gender and more.  After taking the assessment, you receive a result, along with info about what that result means. 

I took a test on religion. It involved pressing one of two computer keys when words or symbols appeared on the screen. I was somewhat surprised at the results, and would really like to read more about their methodology and assessment models they before I became a believer in their validity. It is an interesting concept, and definitely worthwhile if there's scientific merit to it.

Airplanes and Airlocks

WINGING IT: Yesterday was a pretty big day, as Annabelle made her first solo flight as a passenger. Her destination: Las Vegas.

Her flight was set to leave about 3:30, so we went to the airport about 1:30. Before dropping her off, however, we oh-so-carefully packed, and went over basically every detail of what to expect at the airports and on the plane.

While I alternately circled the airport or waited in the cell phone waiting lot, Christian walked Annabelle to the TSA line, and watched as she made her way past the gate-keeping agent and through the baggage and person search portion. Then, Annabelle was off on her own to find her gate and get on the plane. 

We kept in contact via text while she hung out in the airport. I told her that, honestly, an airport is about the safest place to be in the Seattle area. There is an abundance of security, including tons of armed guards, people past the TSA check have been screened for weapons and such, and there are no deranged people living in the terminal, like there are all over the streets of Seattle. 

Her plane took off pretty much on time. We had fun tracking the flight thanks to the site FlightAware.

Right on time, I had a text from her when they were wheels down. She made her way through McCarran Airport in no time, and was safely with her biggest brother and his wife in short order.

Now, she's enjoying some sunshine, palm trees, and pair of adorable Doberman dogs for a few days.

MUSEUM OF FRIGHT:  One of the things that kept us busy this weekend was an event at The Museum of Flight. On Sunday, the attraction was also a "Museum of Fright," with Halloween-themed activities and exhibits. As part of his Museum Apprenticeship Program duties, CJ was in charge of the music and sound effects in the haunted house. The theme for the attraction was an abandoned moon base. 

It was super dark, but here are a couple of photos Christian captured.

Christian said there were a couple of good "jump scares" (creatures popping out at you) in the space. 

And here's a super short video. I believe it's entering the 'airlock.'

CJ chose to use Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music" as the soundtrack for the attraction. Electronic and dissonant, it seemed like a good fit for a haunted, deserted moon base. He added some screams and other sounds over Reed's instrumentation. It was a good call, and now he can add "Haunted House DJ" to his resume. ;)

So Much Stuff

FRIDAY NIGHT FUN: Apologies for the dearth of posts last week. It was, shall we say, a week. More like two weeks, fit into one, actually. CJ recently asked me "when's the next day we have that we won't be busy?" And by busy, he meant crazy busy, I'm sure. 

Following are a few highlights of what kept us so busy at the end of last week and on the weekend. 

The kids both attended "Fridays at the 5th" for the first time. We dropped them off downtown at 4, and I picked them up a bit after 11, so time wise, it was a pretty big deal. Not only did they get to see the play "Austen's Pride," they had dinner and some workshops, as well. I'll have Annabelle share a bit about the experience. 

Austen's Pride is a musical based on the creation and story of Jane Austen’s famous novel, “Pride and Prejudice.” The musical tells not only the story of the book, but also of Austen’s real life experiences that shaped her views on romance stories and happy endings.

My brother and I were lucky enough to have a workshop at the 5th Avenue Theatre before their show, where we were taught a verse from one of the songs and choreography to go with from the actress that played Jane Bennet, Manna Nichols. She showed us how to partner dance like the actors and actresses on stage would be doing minutes later. 

We also had a small presentation detailing some important things about Pride and Prejudice before the show began. For example, when the book was first published it was so unusual for a woman to be popular in the writing world that Austen’s books were attributed as being written by “a Lady.” Despite writing about love and marriage quite a bit, she never got married herself and lived solely on her own earnings.

The musical did a wonderful job at clearly condensing the story of the novel into the time allotted without losing too many major details or plot points. The actors and actresses were amazing singers and despite being told at the Q&A afterward that there were a few mistakes in blocking, I wasn’t able to notice any of them during the show proper. While the show’s run is now over, it was a wonderful musical and I’d definitely like to attend another workshop at the theater and see these actors again! 

We're hoping we can sign the kids up for future Fridays at the 5th.

SPRINKLE PLENTY: One of the tasks that kept us extra busy last week was finishing a big cake for a big to do. Birthday Dreams, a non profit that provides birthday parties for homeless children, had their biggest fund raiser of the year Saturday night, and they asked Annabelle to bake a cake for the occasion. 

She was asked for something that incorporated their logo, something fun, something elegant, a tiered cake ... We talked about various ways to pull that off and wound up going with a mocktail theme for taste. The first tier was five layers, a lime margarita cake with a salty sweet filling. 

We decided to ice the tier and then encrust the whole thing in blue, green, white and silver sprinkles. We made a mix to fill that bill. 

To figure out how to get all the sprinkles on the cake, we turned to the Internet. Many people pick up the cake and roll it in the sprinkles. We weren't comfortable doing that, though. So we came up with our own way, and got better at it as we went along. 

The top layer is strawberry daiquiri with fresh strawberry filing and rum icing. 
She made the edible balloons out of gelatin. They're so pretty!

TEEN SCENE: Saturday night, Annabelle, Kennedy and I had an obligation in the U District. It's the fourth Saturday, so that means a Teen Feed dinner service for us.

It was the Saturday before Halloween, so we felt compelled to embrace a spooky menu. Here's a small version of the menu poster we had as diners filed in.

As always, they were *so* hungry. It's a daunting task feeding them. We can only physically bring so much food - a finite amount. When a whole bunch of them ask if they have have four or five hot dogs, it puts us in a hard spot. You don't want to say no, but what about the other diners following them during our hour service. Should someone only get one or none because the first 20 people got 5 apiece? ... I've been thinking a lot about how to manage that and need to consult with the Teen Feed powers that be.

Anyway, that issue aside, it was a super fun service. The kids loved having Halloweenies as the entree. 

And they actually ate healthy, because the Clementines and Boo-nanas were so darn cute!!

Annabelle and I even dyed cream cheese yellow and black and some volunteer kids there decorated Ritz Crackers. 

Kennedy showed up in a full on pumpkin suit (blazer and slacks), and brought *the best* maple baked beans.

All in all, a busy and good night.

GLAMOUR SHOTS:  Fall's my favorite season, and these photos below are proof positive.

Here's a view form the (dirty, sorry) window above our stairs on Sunday morning, around 9 a.m. 

And here's a shot from the deck. 

Clouds filled the valley (goodbye Kent, Renton and Tukwila), and it was like there was nothing but us and the mountain. Just gorgeous!

INSIDE THE LINES: Thursday afternoon we made a whirlwind trip up to Mukilteo to celebrate birthdays (mine and Annabelle's) and have a nice lunch G&G R.

Annabelle spied some coloring sheets on the counter and couldn't help herself.