The Graduates

FLYING COLORS: Monday was a momentous one, as it marked the end of the kids' experience in private pilot ground school.

Unfortunately, Christian and I weren't there for it (we were winging back from Vegas, where we had been dog sitting). However, Kennedy was on hand, and took lots of photos for us, fortunately.

The kids had their final tests in the morning. At noon, they gathered in The Museum of Flight's Aviation Pavilion for a celebratory barbecue lunch.

After lunch, everyone made their way to the theater in the museum for the graduation ceremony.

There were 104 learners at the beginning of class. Not sure how many made it all the way through to the end, but this graphic shows they certainly did come from all over the state of Washington.

There was a short slideshow of ground school highlights. A familiar face showed up at one point.

CJ and Annabelle's 'home room' instructor was pilot Sara Baer. Their class was awarded their certificates first.

The kids worked super hard and learned so much in the three weeks of school. It felt weird not going there the past couple of days, as it had become such a big part of our weekday routine.

Following are a few photos CJ snapped during his ground school adventure. The one below is from The Museum of Flight's "control tower," overlooking the museum's front and Boeing Field to its east.

Below are empty flight simulators. The kids spent a fair amount of time in these machines, practicing principles of flight.

Below is not a simulator. It's the real thing, that "thing" being the controls of one of the jets n the museum's aviation pavilion. 

Some of the tools of the flight planning trade.

Pictured below is "Fat Albert," a short, kind of stocky jet Boeing made for NASA's Langley operation.

All in all, ground school was a ton of work for all involved, but it definitely was a worthwhile endeavor. The kids learned so much about aviation and the airline industry, they met lots of kids from all over, they learned valuable study habits, and they earned college credit, which is terrific.

It's a Wrap

FINA11Y:  Truth be told, Edgar Martinez is there reason Christian and I are in Las Vegas this weekend.

You see, months ago, when the 2019 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame inductees were announced, and Seattle Mariners' slugger Edgar Martinez was (finally!) on that list, eldest son Rick and his wife Rachel decided to go to Cooperstown, New York, for the induction ceremony.  That meant their Dobermans would need dog sitting, and I volunteered. 

Originally, it was going to be a whole family trip, with CJ and Annabelle along, but when those two got the opportunity to attend private pilot ground school, that plan changed. So Christian and I flew down here solo, leaving Kennedy to play Mr. Mom to the kids for a few days. 

Come Sunday morning, Rick and Rachel were in the crowd at Cooperstown, we were on their couch in Vegas, and Kennedy and the kids were at the Mariners' stadium, at a viewing party.

Sad but true fact: The Mariners are so terrible this year, the kids didn't really stick around for the actual game. They watched an inning or so before heading home to get more studying done.

STUDY HALL: Edgar excitement aside, most of the kids' weekend was spent studying for their final ground school exam, to be taken Monday morning. 

They studied upstairs, they studied downstairs. 

They studied at a school while Kennedy ran the track. 

They studied at a stadium and they studied lakeside.

They studied under the watchful eyes of Bexley.

They even studied via speaker phone, as I had ordered their same textbook to be shipped to Vegas so Christian and I could quiz the kids remotely. 

They're taking their test as I type this, and however it turns out, I do believe they studied as much and as well as they could. 

VIVA, LAS VEGAS: I know, I know, when you go to Vegas, you're "supposed" to play the slots, throw some dice, see some shows, all of that. Yeah, well, that's not how Christian and I experienced "Sin City." 

Instead, we did what we enjoy doing any ol' where - hit some thrift shops, hardware stories, and some local brew pubs.

One destination was an indoor "swap meet." We were actually pretty excited to go - neither one of us has been to a real live swap meet in years.

Yeah, well, that record still stands, unfortunately. The place bills itself 'Fantastk," - perhaps too tall an order to live up to. 

My goodness, it was just aisle after aisle of imported crap, much of it bedazzled with rhinestones and the like because we *are* in Vegas, after all. Not an antique treasure to be seen, that's for sure.

At least the building itself was a bit funky and worth checking out for our $1 admission fee.

Actual bargain-hunting wise, we much preferred the Savers (Value Village if you're from the Northwest) we hit a bit later.

Later that afternoon, we wound up at a Wisconsin bar north of town. 

It had decent Packers and Badgers collections, but the food and beer were nothing special, at least to this Seattleite's palate. 

We also hit a total of five hardware or home improvement stores on our trip, I do believe. This Home Depot is in the westward shadow of the famous Vegas Strip.

We're packing up this afternoon. I will miss this view - the one I've had every morning upon waking up.  His (heavy!) head is on my stomach, by the way. Pretzel prefers a human pillow.

It will be weird not having to share my bed with a pair of 100 pound Dobermans tonight!

Notable

GOLDEN MOMENTS:  Every once in awhile, the kids' rigorous classroom learning lectures during private pilot ground school are interrupted with a fun field trip to the neighboring Museum of Flight. 

A couple of days ago, they got to visit the "Destination Moon" exhibit currently at the museum. It's an astounding collection of Apollo-era artifacts.

The cornerstone of the exhibit is the actual capsule that carried astronauts to the Moon during Apollo 11. As you've likely heard (due to extensive media coverage), that mission is celebrating its 50th anniversary right now. Saturday evening will mark the "one small step" moment.

It's super special to have the Apollo 11 command module Columbia here in Seattle. It's the firs time it has left the National Air and Space Museum since the museum opened to the public in 1976.


There are other treasures in the collection, as well.  

Check out some of Buzz Aldrin's lunar equipment! 

 And this is a briefcase like no other. It held moon rocks!

 I really rather love this particular signage from the exhibit. I'd never seen this angle on the iconic flag planting before.

 And this display made note of a Northwest connection. I'd not thought of the Columbia tie-in before. 

 And there was also this cool graphic, giving one an idea of just how enormous a Saturn V rocket, the one that lifted Apollo 11, was.

With the Apollo 11 anniversary, there have been so many stories from so many sources about people involved in the project. It took so many individuals to make that moon landing happen! 

Today, NPR posted a story about how a 10-year-old boy literally had a hand in the mission's success. Back in 1969, young Greg Force lived in Guam with his family, including his NASA-employed dad, Charles Force. The moonwalkers had made their triumphant trek, but on their way back, a problem arose: A bearing broke in the dish antenna that was used to track the capsule. That meant that NASA risked losing the ability to communicate with the capsule as it approached Earth.

Charles Force called home, and asked his son Greg to come to work, hoping the young boy's nimble arm would be able to squeeze down through the antenna's access hole and pack grease around the bearing. An announcement from NASA public affairs officer at the time noted his contribution, saying, "The bearing was replaced with the assistance of a 10-year-old boy named Greg Force who had arms small enough that he could work through a 2½ inch diameter hole to pack [the bearing]."

Pretty cool memory for a then 10-year-old, called into service to help the moon mission!

GOOD BOYS: My view at 6 this morning. 

Look closely. There are actually two Dobermans in this photo.

We got up with the big boys and sat out on the patio for nearly three hours, letting them party down while the temperature was still below 95 or so. 

Here and There

NORTH AND SOUTH: A bit of a departure in our normal routines this week. ... While CJ and Annabelle were  grinding through ground school in Seattle Wednesday morning, Christian and I were winging our way down to Las Vegas. 

While a trip to "Sin City" might be expected to be chock full o' gambling and glitz, our mission was to babysit a pair of delightful Dobermans, while their people (Rick and Rachel) head to Cooperstown to watch Edgar Martinez inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. 

While we're down south doing doggy duty, Kennedy is up north with the kids, making sure they're fed, getting them to school and staying on top of their study schedule. In addition, I had a copy of the ground school textbook sent to Vegas so that we could help the kids study via phone between now and Monday, when their final exam will be given.

Christian and I flew out on Wednesday morning, after dropping the kids off at school. We breezed through the TSA lines in no time, only to learn our flight had been delayed - twice. We'd have 3.5 hours plus to wait at the airport. Sigh. At one point during the wait, I texted Annabelle and told her she needed to hurry up and get her pilot's license because we were tired of waiting for our commercial flight.

We finally got on board our plane at about 12:30.  For the first time ever, we flew on Spirit Airlines, a budget carrier. Our bird was an Airbus A320.

The flight was fine, with only a minor bit of turbulence in spots. 

Stepping out into the 105-degree heat was a bit of a shake up after leaving showery Seattle with temperatures in the 60s. 

About the time we reached the Dobermans, CJ and Annabelle were getting out of school, and, for the first time ever, they had to take a taxi, just the two of them, home. The night before we'd arranged for the ride by calling the Seattle Yellow Cab service (unfortunately Uber and Lyft don't transport minors). A little nervous about the kids climbing into a car with a stranger, as a safety measure, we'd used a Google Maps feature that lets you track other Google users, so that we could watch (on a map) their trip home.

The taxi arrived at 3:30 sharp to pick them up, which was great. We watched their progress via Google Maps, and what wasn't as great was the route the taxi driver took to get them home. Talk about circuitous. It was pretty darn obvious that the driver was trying to stretch it out to jack the fare. 

That said, they did arrive home in one (well, two) pieces, so that's $20 well spent. 

AROUND THE GROUNDS:  The summer months continue to produce some stunners around the MPA grounds. We just love this (thistle, I think) plant that pops up every July. It comes up from seemingly nothing, and grows to a height of 6-feet plus. 

There are definitely more blossoms this summer than there have been the past two Julys we've spent in our current location. 

Meanwhile, inside, we continue to enjoy the company of a couple of extra critters this summer: Stevie the gecko and Bexley the friendly feline.

And now for Mr. Meow Meow. ... 

I suppose it's only fair to give at least one of the long-term resident pets a shout out. Here's Laika, eagerly awaiting the kids' emergence from Aviation High School.  

Queen and Green

THEY WILL ROCK YOU: Friday night, as soon as we picked the kids up from Ground School, we pointed the Honda southbound, destination Tacoma Dome.

This is the third time that we've seen Queen + Adam Lambert in the past couple of years. (I can't help but note that now I've seen Queen with Adam more times than I did with original frontman Freddie Mercury [sadly, just twice].)

My photo below is not great, but it's a part of the show where Dr. Brian May sings "Love of My Life," and concert footage of Freddie is projected on a screen. Always very touching. 

Less touching and totally annoying were this awful duo seated in front of us for more than half of the show.

The guy was profusely sweating the whole time. Definitely not 'just' drunk. And he fancied himself a videographer, his phone out nearly constantly 'filming' the show. Problem was, he never did hit the record button. He'd be zooming in and working the angles ... but never once hit the button to actually record the show. Obviously, he was too impaired to realize he wasn't recording - even after Christian pointed it out to him!

And sweaty video guy was LOUD. Fortunately, he was in front of me, not behind, but the people in front of him finally couldn't take it any more and mentioned they didn't come to Queen to listen to him scream. The woman with him challenged the guy to a fight. Isn't she lovely, standing up for her man that way? (I should mention that the guy she wanted to fight was 500+ pounds, I kid you not.)

Sweaty Loud Guy eventually went and stood in the aisle to film, blocking my view, CJ's view, etc. I had had enough.  Christian pointed him out to security and asked if people are supposed to block the aisles. Of course, the answer to that is no, so the nice young security woman went and politely ask him to move back to his seat. Naturally, Sweaty Guy was a jerk about it, and was TOTALLY belligerent, yelling at her. 

And then it got worse. A few minutes later, Skanky girlfriend went over to CJ and draped herself over him and starts chatting him up. I immediately motioned to security behind me and said, "Why is this woman sexually harassing my minor child?"  

That got their attention. I also warned security that  based on my observations, these people were definitely not "just" really drunk, they were clearly on something(s) else. Within minutes, security marshaled a small army, surrounded the lovely couple and told them they were being removed. 

I guess in one respect we were lucky in that we were in the top row of the lower bowl and there was security behind us all the time. It could have turned out much differently.

So, once the jerks were gone, the last part of the concert was super enjoyable.

BLOCK HEADS: Saturday afternoon was our neighborhood's annual block party. For the occasion we made a couple kinds of deviled eggs (an "all American" bacon and cheese, as well as a Japanese inspired daikon and furikaka.

Naturally, some cookies were also on the bill. I decided to go with a local theme. I made apples (Washington is the apple capital!), some SKY 'bumperstickers' (our neighborhood is Skyway), some evergreen Washington states, the obligatory Space Needles and even a few salmon, like the ones they throw around at Pike Place Market.

I really liked the speckling technique that Annabelle used when decorating the fish. It made them look very authentic.

GARDEN GROWS: I thought it time to put in a little update about our growings on around MPA.

We're happy to report the spaghetti squash that we started from seeds is now a network of enormous vines sprawling alongside our clover lawn.

Little squash can be spied underneath the big leaves.  I like the one below - the squash blossom atop it looks like a bouffant hairdo!

Tomatoes are coming on, albeit slowly. We haven't had a ton of sun so far this summer. 

 I'm hopeful that we'll have a sunny August to push these guys toward red.