Needled

GOING UP: This afternoon, we headed to Seattle Center to continue our holiday tradition of visiting the greatest Santa in the galaxy, Space Needle Santa!

It was a busy place today, and we had to wait in line for about a half hour before getting on an elevator to ride up to the observation deck.

While waiting, we checked out graphics along the way. I rather liked all of the rocket references in relation to the building of the Space Needle.

Oh, and here's a hot of the outside. The Needle is looking different these days, while undergoing a MAJOR renovation. More on that later. 

Christian beat us to the Needle and headed up before us. He texted us an update that there was no Santa to be found on the Observation Deck. Wait ... what?! No Santa!?

He said he was told Santa was on the lower level. 

Since we were still on the lower level, I asked a customer service rep where we could find Santa. She told me that Santa had some trouble in the workshop today and wasn't on site. 

Hold it ... what?! NO SANTA?! You've got to be kidding.

Sure enough, we spied his empty sleigh just beyond the elevators. 

How sad.

I told her we would not be there today if we knew there was no Santa. She said we could come back tomorrow for Santa photos. Yeah, easier said than done. 

Have I mentioned it's $22 apiece for entrance to the Space Needle? Ouch.

Since the money was already spent and we were steps from the elevator, of course we went up.

It's so different up top right now. Plywood and exposed beams everywhere, multiple sections shut off ... it's clearly a construction zone. 

We got a table on the south side and enjoyed a view of downtown. And a view of a woman who spent 20 minutes taking god knows how many selfies from who knows how many angles. I get catching a shot of yourself with that awesome view behind you but EGAD, she and her selfie stick went on and on and on (blocking traffic all the while, by the way). It was narcissism on parade. How about you turn around and actually look at the view instead of yourself and a tiny version of it on your phone?

 Our visit coincided with sunset (4:20 today, in case you're wondering). Oh, so early!

 Downtown, the stadium district and our mountain were looking lovely.

There are so many new buildings in South Lake Union since our last Space Needle visit, last December.

We couldn't see anything on the north side of the Needle, as it was blocked off by plywood and more. 

Holiday Highlights

SILVER BELLS: City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style. ...

Today was our 'let's do downtown Seattle' holiday experience. First stop: The 'gingerbread village.'

In years past, it has been at the Sheraton, and has been absolutely magical.

This year it was not at the Sheraton, and, frankly, I found it considerably less magical for many reasons. One, it was awkwardly spread out in the lobby of an awkward small mall-like space. The lighting was terrible, the acoustics awful, and the flow was really bad. Basically, not even close to being the experience that it was in the Sheraton. Also, there didn't seem to be nearly as many entries this year. Over all, super disappointing, to me.

The works that were on display were fanciful and fun to look at. The one below celebrated old Seattle.

Loved the buildings on piers and a sailing ship was well done.

This colorful creation featured the city's seafront. The Great Wheel actually spun, and we loved the octopus!

Obviously, this construct was a celebration of Ivar's, a Seattle seafood icon. 

 The kids, next to a display denoting the number of gummies in the show.

This one featured the landmark Smith Tower prominently up above. Down below, it told the story of underground Seattle and the Great Seattle Fire of 1889.

 The entry below was about the future of Seattle. Not the Bertha tunnel under the city.

A close up of one section of the display shows Berta's boring head broken off, and gold coins, representing the money spent on the project, dangle.

Here's what CJ had to say about the gingerbread display. ...

Every year since 1992, the JDRF Northwest Chapter has hosted the Gingerbread Village event at City Centre in downtown Seattle. The Gingerbread Village events feature (mostly) gingerbread structures and landscapes designed by youths with Type 1 diabetes. This year, the theme of the gingerbread structures seemed to be the future, evidenced by the presence of things like flying cars and signs marked "2080".

The structures in City Centre were at disparate locations within, located near the entrances/exits. In contrast to last year's event, there wasn't a particular "line" you had to walk through to see the structures. Around the floor of City Centre, there were various persons in safety jackets and elf hats, handing out free candy canes. The candy canes were delicious.

One of the structures seemed to show a concept of Seattle's skyline circa 2080, judging by the presence of a Seahawk logo and a sign with the year "2080" on it. The gingerbread skyscrapers resembled typical depictions of "futuristic" skyscraper designs. Another structure seemed to show a giant Santa (with clothes not colored red), presumably not made of gingerbread (it would almost certainly crumble that way).

After the gingerbread show, we decided to hop over to the Fairmount Olympic Hotel to see their tree and the Teddy Bear Suite. 

The grand tree in their lobby was a beauty!

It's a local product, a placard informed.

Up on the second floor, we checked out the Teddy Bear Suite. The fireplace at the top of this blog post is from that attraction. 

The display is just a standard sized motel room, so not huge. But the little details are so great. I loved these 'grape' ornaments.

I'll let Annabelle tell you a bit about it. ...

The Teddy Bear Suite is an annual exhibition at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle. The suite is on the 2^nd floor and consists of 3 rooms, each filled with teddy bears and large ornaments. The 1^st room you walk into has a large Christmas tree and one of those 24-hour Yule Log channels on a TV. There are many bright lights which, although pretty, have a habit of shining directly into your eyes. A small room on the right of that is roped off, but pictures are allowed. The smaller room is lit dark purple, with a large mirror surrounded by stuffed toys. The final room in the suite has a large framed bed with an enormous pile of teddy bears on it. There are a few windows in the room tied with large feather boas and another TV across from the bed. The Teddy Bear Suite is the same every year, and there usually isn’t much wait. It’s pretty adorable, so if you’re in the area around December, make sure to stop by!

While traveling downtown we saw interesting sights, including the ground right next to this top heavy skyscraper being excavated.

We hope the building doesn't topple!

We also drove right by the Amazon biodomes. They're darn near complete. Workers looked to be putting plants inside when we drove by.

We also headed up north, to Swanson's Nursery, a north Ballard haunt of ours for years now.

Historically, they've had camels on display during December, but this year, Curley and Moe were nowhere to be found. 

 The resident reindeer were still around.

Then we had to go find the little red sleigh the kids have sat in for the past 10 Decembers. You can tell it was a tight fit this year. 

And next, we wandered over to where they have their annual model railroad display. But wait, what's this?!?!?!

Be still my Jedi heart, it had a Star War theme!!!!

I spotted the Ewoks right away.

And our beloved princess, or should I say General? - Leia 

 Chewie looked like he was having fun.

 Threepio hitched a ride on a camel!

 Jabba has something super special to put under the tree - Han in Carbonite!

 This little scene was tucked down low. Obviously a meeting of the Dark Side.

 The Jawas were looking to trade some junk.

 Rey and Kylo Ren were readying to square off for an epic battle.

 Luke found a furry friend.

 Oh no, an Imperial droid!

 Yoda had a nice little cabin.

 And he had time to give some light saber lessons.

 Sand Raiders were on site.

 And Stormtroopers charged through the forest.

 On a bridge, Obiwan and Darth Vader dueled.

All in all, what a wonderful surprise. It was definitely my favorite stop today!

Rebel, Rebel

THE WAIT IS OVER: Busy, busy week here at MPA. I won't attempt to recount it all here. Let's just concentrate on Thursday. Not just a normal Thursday, but one that involved us traveling south to help 44 third graders handcraft custom melting snowman cookies. That was the morning (and more on that later).

The afternoon? We headed north, to Pacific Science Center to get in line to see "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," the latest movie in the epic sci fi franchise.

We called ahead to ask about ingress details and were told we'd be sitting outside leading up until our 6 p.m. showing. We packed and dressed accordingly, and arrived at 2 p.m. ready to tough it out.

I was kind of surprised by the line that was already there, four hours ahead of the showtime.

The kids set up shop and started playing Mario Kart for Nintendo Switch right away.

Surprisingly and happily, around 3, we were allowed to line up inside the facility. So then, we spent the next 2.5 hours marking time and waiting with other Star Wars geeks. There are worse ways to spend a Thursday afternoon. 

There were eight in our party - CJ and Annabelle, their big bros Rick and Ken and their wives, and Christian and I. Happily, we were able to get great seats and enjoy the nearly three hour theater experience (including a special screening about the music of Star Wars, with composer and director John Williams). 

No spoilers here. I'm just going to say we can't wait to see the movie again. And again. 

THE DROIDS YOU'RE LOOKING FOR: Hot on the heels of the newest Star Wars movie, Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc. shared a video today titled "How close are we to a Star Wars droid reality?"

The video features Paul G. Allen’s technical advisor Jeff Kramer speaking to the topic. Kramer is a Star Wars fan with an extensive background in robotics who talks about how Star Wars characters C-3P0, R2-D2 and BB-8 operate, and how some of their technological advances can be seen in present day robotics.
https://youtu.be/6eOlJT3zl1s


STAR WARS IN SPACE: I thought our seats for last night's premiere of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" were pretty great, until today, when NASA announced that crew members on board the International Space Station will be watching the movie. Watching "Star Wars" in space? Doesn't get much better than that!

The press release read, in part: 

So who is “The Last Jedi”? Is it Luke Skywalker? Is it Rey? Other theories? Crew members currently aboard the International Space Station won’t have to wait until they return to Earth to find out. Just as Disney did two years ago for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the company is sending Episode VIII to space for astronauts to watch in orbit.

Disney will uplink the film to the space station through mission control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Expedition 54 crew members, including NASA astronauts Joe Acaba, Mark Vande Hei, and soon Scott Tingle, look forward to watching the science fiction saga at their leisure while they’re living and working aboard the orbiting laboratory that will enable human and robotic exploration of galaxies far, far away.

Doing the Robot

FIRST FIRST LEGO LEAGUE: This weekend MPA was pretty much consumed with Annabelle's participation in First LEGO League.

She is fortunate to have had the opportunity via Amelia's Club at The Museum of Flight. Since September, she and a handful of girls her age have been meeting at the museum each Saturday.

This Saturday, she was there from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. getting ready for an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. competition at Ballard High School on Sunday.

It's actually a complicated, intricate process and we'll blog more extensively about it in days to come. 

For now, I can share that the team did really well in their competition. They met all of their goals on the robot run, and did well enough in the presentations to win the teamwork award for having done a great job in meeting the competition's core values.

By the way, I loved that the robotics competition tables had names like Lovelace and Hawking.

GRATUITOUS: Apologies for the short blog post. Here are some Mt. Rainier shots as a consolation. 

I love it when fog settles in the valley and the mountain rises out of the mist.

 And I'm not sure if this was a sunset or a sunrise, but it sure was pretty.

Scenes from the Home Front

HOMEY: It seems like we're always on the go, because, well, we're almost always on the go.

But sometimes we're home. And when we are, we are constantly visited by a trio of hummingbirds. The three buzz all over our yard and hang out at our feeder multiple times daily.  Their very not creative nicknames are Reddy (he has a blazing red head), Lazy (she sits when she eats. Always) and The Other One. This is actually a Other One photo. She happened to be sitting at the time.

HUNTING: Yesterday we went looking for a Christmas tree. We've had our beloved vintage aluminum one for years, but this first year in a new home made us want to get a real tree, too. One we could then plant, to be specific.

I saw an ad for living Christmas trees - and live reindeer - at Kent East Hill Nursery. So, the kids and I headed up there yesterday. We checked out the reindeer, Twinkle and . *** was enjoying taking on an upside down Christmas tree with his antlers.

We moseyed out to the live tree section. There was not a lot to choose from (maybe 20 or so), and man, were they expensive (to me, at least). Most were around a hundred bucks, some were considerably more. Yikes.

I started eyeing dead trees nearby, but those were half a hundred, with nothing but a carcass to show for it come January. 

I was about to say 'skip it' when I checked out one last tree. I saw the name "Korean" on its label and read it aloud, knowing CJ would be instantly sold. (He has a mild fascination with things Korean, ever since "Gangham Style" was popular, I think.)

And so, Abies Koreana "Hostmann's Silberlocke," a Korean fir, joined our family.

It's not big, but it's pretty, and holds many Star Trek, Star Wars and Elvis ornaments, so what's not to love?

Meanwhile, it has been clear for a few days, and the mountain has been putting on a show. I love it when fog settles in the valley. With the mountain rising in the distance, it looks like a misty dream world!

YESTERDAY ONCE MORE: There is an astounding website that recreates every compelling moment of the Apollo 17 mission. Check it out here: http://apollo17.org/