Mariners and More

MARINERS AND MORE: Monday we had the pleasure of attending the Seattle Mariners game on a sunny summer evening. We had great seats (just 13 rows from the field) for a great price (thanks to a season ticketholder trying to unload them as he was unexpectedly stuck back East due to Irene).

One of the reasons I wanted to go to last night's game is because the festivities included a tribute to Japanese culture. As part of the program, before the game a large Japanese drumming group took the field and performed. I like the photo below. It looks like Joel Piñero is challenging the dragon to come fight him!
Out on the center field concourse, there were a couple of tables - one was a display about Japanese baseball. The other was hosted by some local Japanese library. There were women helping people fold origami hats out of Japanese newspapers, which thrilled Annabelle.Here she is modeling it today.

Meanwhile, CJ chatted up a Japanese woman who had some old VHS tapes the library was giving away for a donation. CJ was enthralled by them - they were Japanese versions of cartoons he's familiar with. He finally selected a Pokemon video, but was very concerned that it might not work in his VHS. He started quizzing the woman about the potential differences between the circuitry of the US and Japanese VHS players. You should have seen the look on her face. Priceless.
At one point late in the game, the Angels pitcher gave an intentional walk to a Mariners batter. Annabelle drew this - a chicken pitching! Too funny! Here are a couple of action shots from the game ... AND ANOTHER: I found another big ugly scary spider in our sink today. Where the hell are these things coming from and why won't they leave me alone?

I captured it in a glass and Christian led the research team trying to figure out what kind of spider it is. Naturally, a fear is it might be a hobo spider, and while it certainly has some of the hobo characteristics, we can't say definitively that it is or isn't one. It seems more likely to be a giant house spider.LAST CLASS: Today marked a sad milestone - it was Annabelle's last ballet class with her beloved instructor, who is retiring. Bee made the teacher a card today. And she thoroughly enjoyed the class, of course.
Tomorrow Annabelle has a 90 minute dance camp with the teacher and then it's over. We're very happy for the woman who is retiring, but we're very sad to lose her. She is a fantastic teacher.

Ups and Downs

GOING UP: This weekend we had an opportunity to learn even more about space elevators. This time, our continuing education took place under the arches of the Pacific Science Center and our teacher was Michael Laine, founder of LiftPort, a Washington-state based company working on creating cheap, reliable, and safe access to space, with their focus being on the construction of a space elevator that rides up and down a ribbon made of super-strong carbon nanotubes.

We got to see a demonstration of an elevator model climb a strap tethered to the arches of Pacific Science Center. The Space Needle and its golden elevator were the perfect backdrop for the demonstration! I was getting ready to take a photo of the kids and our fellow space enthusiasts' signature poster. When Laine saw the poster and I explained its genesis and travels, he wanted in on the shot, which made it even more special! :)

FIGHT CRIME! PLAY MORE VIDEO GAMES!: I spied a story on Yahoo! this weekend that reported research from the Centre for European Economic Research, Baylor University and the University of Texas at Arlington shows video games reduce the number of criminal incidents by keeping potential assailants, thieves and other potential bad guys and girls occupied. Interesting.ALL FALL DOWN: While at the Science Center for the space elevator demo, the kids asked if we could pop into the "Goosebumps" exhibit. There was an attraction there - a booth simulating a free fall - that we didn't visit last time because the line was so darn long. I figured on a Sunday just before noon, the place might not be as busy, and boy was I right. No waiting whatsoever!

Without hesitation, CJ stepped up to be strapped on a padded board and then with the flip of a switch, he went from vertical to horizontal quite quickly. He let out a little peep, which you can hear here ...
Christian gave it a go, too, but Bee and I both took a pass.

TAKING FLIGHT: I also came across a story this weekend about paper airplane designs. I like doing planes with the kids because it means that a) they have to listen and follow directions carefully and b) we get to talk about principles of flight/physics.

Today we tackled a design that Floridian Ken Blackburn supposedly used to set the world record for paper-airplane flight time (27.6 seconds in the air) back in 1998.

Though the three of us all followed the same directions, our planes turned out pretty differently. We took them out to the alley to do some test flights.

First, we made some throws to see whose plane could travel the farthest distance. Then we did some flights to see whose plane had the longest duration/hang time. We talked about why CJ's stubbly plane wasn't flying as far or long as the others.And we also did an experiment where each pilot flew each plane, so we could take into account each person's different throwing styles and how that impacted each planes' flight.
image credit: NASA
SWEET SIXTEEN: Astronaut Ron Garan, on board the International Space Station took this photo on Saturday. It was just one of sixteen sunrises the ISS astronauts see each day. This one was spotted while they were on a path between Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina.

TO THE SAFE: This morning I got a wild hair and typed the words "Mariners tonight" into Craigslist to see what kind of tickets popped up. One of the hits was for four $50 apiece seats just 13 rows off the field - for only $15 each. Yes, please. We bought them from a season ticket holding U of W astronomy professor who is stuck on the East Coast due to Irene.

Finally Friday

MEASURING UP: For whatever reason, before 7 this morning, CJ needed to know how many miles it is around the Earth. OK, let's find out.

As one source, we turned to a nice article on Universe Today. There, we learned that the circumference of the Earth is 24,901.5 miles (or 40,075 km) at the equator, and that if we were to drive nonstop for 24 hours a day at 100 km an hour, it would take us 17 days to circumnavigate the globe. It would take slightly less time if we were traveling around the globe from pole to pole, as the Earth's circumference isn't quite as great in that direction.

POSTER: Hanging next to our front door is a poster that once hung in Christian's grandparents' house. It depicts a couple dozen men (and one woman) who ruled Denmark, starting with Gorm the Old in 936 and up to Frederik IX who ascended to the throne in 1947. Several of the kings on the poster are named Christian and so CJ (Christian John) is just certain that he is the descendant of these noblemen. Along with that "fact," CJ figures that the Danish throne will someday his to occupy. And he's already making plans for this eventuality.
CJ plans on having "the best sword out of every king of Denmark, even the ones that are not on the poster. I'll find the best one and I'll change the metal to golden." He also plans on having a suit of armor like Christian the IIIs, and has decided he will wear what he's dubbed "the unworn crown" at the bottom of the text on the poster.

Because of his fascination with the poster, we've been learning about Danish history, nobility, and pillaging (the eldest of Gorm the Old's sons was killed while raiding and pillaging in Dublin, Ireland). In case you were wondering, CJ will issue an anti-pillaging proclamation when he assumes the throne.

SUNNY STROLL: We went for a short walk this a.m., which gave us a chance to check on the blackberries in the alley (coming along nicely, thankyouverymuch). And we went down to the mailbox to get rid of a sizable stack of envelopes filled with ticket to the Puyallup Fair. Once again this year I volunteered to be the Seattle Homeschool Group's contact/order taker, placer and filler for the Puyallup Fair's Educational Ticket Program. Based on my experience this year, I think it may be my last year in that role. I'm so glad to have these orders/envelopes out of my house now.NICE NEIGHBOR: On our way back from the mailbox, our neighbor to the north offered the kids some LEGO-like building blocks leftover from their Burning Man LEGO-like truck project. The kids were happy to have them, of course. PAIR OF PLAYDATES: This morning the kids had a friend over to play for a couple of hours and then around 3 this afternoon we went to their house (on the other side of Magnolia) and the kids enjoyed swimming in their nice big in ground pool. It was a fun day - the three kids all got along well and had a good time.

LEFTOVERS: Didn't get around to posting this short video last night. It's of a great fountain at about 4th and Pine. We encountered it between our bus stop and GameWorks yesterday afternoon.

Seems like it was a long week. I'm beat. See y'all Monday.

Party On

FIRST THINGS FIRST: The kids started the day with some self directed independent reading on the couch. I love it when they do that. :)

DEEP CLEAN: We spent about 2 hours putting the house back together this a.m. Amazing how badly things slide when we're working on a pinata and a custom cake.

DOWNTOWN: This afternoon's festivities involved continuing to celebrate Kennedy's birthday. Where better to do that than GameWorks?!

Since we were meeting Christian there after he got off work, the kids and I decided to bus it down and ride home with him to avoid paying the ridiculous $4 a hour for a parking spot down there. We caught the bus a half block from our house and rode it to Pike Place Market. Then we walked four blocks east and one block south and voila! we weere ready to have a grand ol' time at Gameworks!GAME ON: Thankfully, several weeks back I had bought four all day pass game cards for GameWorks via Groupon. We cashed those in today and CeeJ, Bee, Rick, Kennedy and Ken's GF played and played and played some more. It was so much fun!

Finishing Touches

DEADLINE DAY: We had two projects to finish today. First, since it's Kennedy's birthday, we pretty much needed to get his cake done, wouldn't you say? The good news was I had the fondant Scrabble board and its pieces for the cake topper, but we still needed a cake to set it atop. A really big cake, because a Scrabble board isn't exactly small. So I ended up having to bake four half-sheet cakes, which stacked next to and on top of each other, were wide enough to accommodate the board.

It was funny, all day long the house smelled so good, the kids were constantly begging for food. I did let them serve as official taste testers a couple of times.GOOD TIMING: Coming back from a mid-morning butter and powdered sugar supply run, we noticed the sprinklers were on at the park by our house. You know what that means! Cake and pinata deadlines be damned - we needed to take advantage of the free sprinkler shower! CJ and Annabelle ran around between three huge sprinklers on two soccer fields for about 20 minutes. It was just the break we needed before getting back to work.

LEGO MANIACS: Mercifully, it was a warm, sunny day, which made painting our LEGO man a quicker process (less waiting between coats). First we painted his shirt black, then his head and hands yellow and we decided on red for his pants.

Once his body was painted, it was time for the detail work. I penciled his eyes and mouth on and then CJ preceded to critique it. "Let me tell you what you screwed up," he offered, cheerily.

We agreed that the mouth I'd sketched was too high on the face, so I drew another. It was better. I painted those (letting Annabelle fill in the eyes). Then it was time for me to paint some sort of Burning Man logo on the LEGO man's chest, since that is his final destination. I just went with something along the lines of the banner on Burning Man's Web site. I was really happy with how it turned out.

With the pinata done, it was back to the cake.

NOTE TO SELF: Don't ever make another Scrabble cake. So. Many. Details.

That said, we had a job to finish. The cakes got stacked and slathered in buttercream. I didn't feel like making more fondant, so I was planning to do a trick where you can use a Viva paper towel to smooth a crusting buttercream frosting so it looks like fondant. I've done it before and it works. But I had one problem - no Viva paper towels. And you really need those because they are very smooth - no texture to telegraph to the frosting. I really, REALLY didn't feel like going back to the store. So, I looked at my in-stock cheapest paper towels $ can buy and saw they had dots forming patterned circles all over them. I thought, hmm, I wonder if I could just emboss that onto the buttercream to make it look like a tablecloth. ... Turns out the answer is YES! Doesn't this (the blue 'tablecloth' under the board and game pieces) look festive!? ;)

BTW, in case you're wondering, the reason "FESTIVE" is in the 'on deck' position on the cake is because I remembered a couple of weeks ago Kennedy mentioned he'd played that word for his highest ever single word score in Scrabble.
DELIVERED: This evening, Annabelle and Christian delivered the pinata to the Burning Man bound neighbors. I wanted Annabelle to go with because she worked quite a bit on it, and she could explain it to them. ;)

When they returned to the house a few minutes later, Bee ran in jumping up and down and yelled, "They LOVED it!!!" She was very proud. :)

Apparently the gang said they were going to use it as their hood ornament, and after they beat it to a pulp, they'll torch it in the Burning Man tradition. ;)

Party Central

CUT AND STUFF: We started our day by carving into a papier mâché-d (is that a word?) pinata so we could fill it with with the fabulous Dollar Store treats we scored last night. Annabelle helped sort the items by size, so we could stuff them in the appropriate pinata parts (head, body or legs).

By Thursday, this pinata, a gift for a neighbor, will be making a long trek to Burning Man, the multi-day dance party in a Nevada desert. Given its destination, we filled it with sunscreen, lip balm, fluorescent foam visors, glow sticks, Pop Rocks type candy, single serving powdered drink mixes (to add to water), candy bracelets and necklaces, beaded necklaces, and, of course, some airplane size mini bottles of alcohol. It's going with a big flat bed truck that's covered in LEGO-like bricks, so we made it in the shape of a LEGO man. We base coated it today and will paint it off tomorrow, just in time for its southward trek.WORD OF THE DAY: After her ballet lesson today, Annabelle reported that she'd learned a new word/move - arabesque. She described it in the car and demonstrated it when we got home. I sure am bummed that her ballet teacher is retiring. She has just one lesson left with her. :(

SWEET VICTORY, YEAH!: On his lunch break today, Christian ripped down to Fry's in Renton and picked up what he believed to be the proper capacitors for the Sega Game Gear he and CJ are trying to resurrect. Tonight, after dinner, he and CJ got back to their task. They made short work of it. Within 15 minutes they were ready to give it a go. And ...Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It went from black screen to full living color!

CJ proceeded to play a series of games - many of them for the first time. So cool that they got the thing working again - for just a couple of dollars (capacitors are cheap!).

STACKS & STACKS OF LETTERS: Also in the home ec/craft hopper is our ongoing KENNEDY STOP READING HERE.........................................................................................................................

OK, he's gone, I hope.

We're making a Scrabble cake for Ken's bday.

Today, we made letters. Lots and lots of letter tiles. And we put those tiles on the edible Scrabble board we're still working on.
Hopefully it will be done tomorrow. In fact, it BETTER be, since that's Ken's bday and all!

DON'T WE WISH?: I keep forgetting to post that the other morning CJ woke up a few minutes before 6 a.m. and announced, "Wow. I feel like I've been asleep for two days!"

Must be nice.

In an email, I reported CJ's quote to Christian, who leaves for work about 5:45 a.m., and he replied, "Wow. I feel like I've been asleep for two hours!"

Summer's Zenith

SO THEY SAY: On the ad for the product, kids' voices sing, "Zoo Pals make eating fun!"

I would think the maker would probably appreciate this photo. Annabelle doesn't just eat off the plates, she wears them. Sometimes while eating. Needless to say, that slows the eating down.

ON THE INSIDE: Today, Christian and CJ finally sat down and cracked open the Sega Game Gear with an eye toward fixing it.
The units are notorious for having bad/leaking capacitors. Awhile back we happened upon a great YouTube video showing how to replace the bad capacitors.

Christian ordered the parts and today, CJ methodically removed all the bad capacitors and Christian soldered new ones in their places. The process took a couple of hours. Once they were done, it was time to power up the unit. "I'm going to cross my fingers," CJ said.And then (insert drumroll here) ... he turned it on.And it didn't work. :(

CJ took it pretty well. By now he's kind of a veteran of working with oldish electronics and he knows it can be sketchy.

Christian reviewed all their steps and he's pretty sure he's figured out the problem. He thinks two of the capacitors are the wrong type. So, he's got a parts list and it's back to the drawing board. Stay tuned. ...

MEANWHILE, IN THE KITCHEN: While the electronics project covered the dining table, the kitchen island was (partially) covered in fondant. KENNEDY IF YOU ARE READING STOP HERE. :)

We are working on a birthday cake for Kennedy, whose birthday is on August 24. He's a really good Scrabble player, so I thought we would make him a Scrabble cake. It seemed like such a great idea initially - before I was faced with drawing that playing board grid out of royal icing. And making 100 letter tiles, etcetera. The first step in making a wood grain fondant is twisting two different colored ropes together, then rolling that out and painting a bit on top of it. Tomorrow, we'll be writing on the tiles and lots of other detail work. Oh, and I suppose I should bake some cake to put it all atop.

WATERY WEEKEND: We had all sorts of fun this sunny weekend.

On Saturday, we spent some time on a beach at the foot of our hill. We watched cruise ships depart for Alaska. CJ and Annabelle pretended they were surfing. And we even got buzzed by a super rare "Flying Fortress" - the B-17!
On Sunday, we went down to Lake Union Park, about 6 minutes from our house, to the east. Our first order of business was taking advantage of the free Sunday sailboat cruises the Center for Wooden Boats offers.

We signed up for a 3 p.m. cruise on board the Admirable, a 1900 gillnetter salmon fishing boat that spent most of its early years in Alaska.

CJ and Annabelle each got a chance to operate the boat's tiller.
It was a lovely day on the lake - in fact, it was the hottest day of the year, 87 degrees.
After the sail, the kids spent nearly an hour enjoying the fountains in the park, spraying up from the sidewalk.After that, we walked over to the beach area.

Good times!