Seattle

I know, I know.  Blah Blah Blah.  Another trip.   I am annoying myself because it seems as if many of my blog posts the past few months have been travelogues and due to my jealousy issues, I don't revel in hearing about the exotic or even road weary excursions of others.   In the midst of  euphorically intoxicating wanderlust moments, I have snorted at the idea of possibly forgetting any minute detail.  But alas, our family treks BB (Before Blogging) have indeed become a bit fuzzy. So, as irritating as it may be, I need to document our junkets due to the inconvenient truth that things are just not fitting quite as nicely as they once did in this aging brain of mine.

 It is almost impossible for me to turn down an opportunity to globe-trot and we have had quite a few of these opportunities lately.  This is absolutely the last trip I am taking for at least...... a month (except my daily guilt trips, of course).  Because while I am honing my escape artist skills, my day to day living credentials are growing a tad rusty.

Corey has to work in Seattle once every 6 months or so and he always invites us to cram ourselves in the hotel room along with him.  Working in a different environment with less than competent technical support, while we gleefully bounce from sight to sight, Corey handles the unfairness of it all in commendable fashion.   

In our many years living in Washington State, we have mistakenly neglected a well-known nugget of Bavarian charm nestled at the edge of the Cascades.  We happened to arrive in the center of the Maifest celebration and were thus merrily entertained by the many expressions of lederhosen, the beer steins hanging off of belt loops, the toe-tapping oompa music, and the gelato(I think that gelato is Italian, but anything goes with an accordion, right?)

Emmy lights up when there is anything remotely climbable 

Take a good look.  This is probably the first and last time that you will ever see Corey wielding a golf club. 

My one Mother's Day request was that we enjoy a hike of reasonable length without a single complaint

Ummm.  I guess I was asking too much

 It was still beautiful, even with the whining

The girls missed a week of school and I had to take a chunk of  fun from every activity by forcing them to read every fact plaque and then invoking joy-killing pop-quizzes to test their knowledge.  Our first field trip was the Seattle Zoo.

We have already forgotten much of what we read, but we won't soon forget having Australian Budgies perching on our wrists.

It was rather cold for much of the week.  We spent a few bone chilling minutes at Golden Gate Park.  On the positive side, it made for more elbow room.  On the negative side, even with all my recent traveling experience, I still manage to pack only one appropriate outfit for each of us.  I did a lot of hotel laundry.  

Top of the Space Needle

The main thing the kids remembered from this field trip was that it was not a good idea to broadcast the fake toppling of the Space Needle, even on April Fool's Day.  People FREAKED OUT.

We have now been to the Pacific Science Center 4 entire days and still haven't seen it all.  The highlight today was witnessing a butterfly emerge from it's cocoon.  Emmy lovingly purchased/adopted a Venus Fly Trap in the gift shop.  Since it eats flies and crickets, I am totally counting it as a pet.  

We got to the Aquarium just as it opened and were safe from the stampeding crowds of school children for about 26 minutes.  I could have watched Olive the Octopus all day, but I would certainly have been trampled.

I could only manage to watch Under the Sea 3D for about 2.6 minutes before the cheek tickling sensation that I was going to lose my lunch.   The kids loved it.  I removed my glasses and got a kick out of watching the audience members repeatedly attempting to pet the air.  

Nothing was more educational than the gum wall, located below the famous Fish Booth at Pike's Market.  I made sure it was a tactile experience by purchasing some orange Japanese gum, and for the first and last time in my life, telling my kids to chew their gum and stick it on the wall.

We spent our last morning at the Science Fiction and Music Experience Museum.  I tried to find something of remote interest in the Science Fiction Museum.  It was just not my thing.  And for the record, Emmy was bored out of her mind as well.  The Music Experience was impressive, although not all that kid friendly.  I think our main problem was that it was a beautiful day and we were ready to be outside.

We found an out of the way, less frequented, amazing beach park and made the most of our last afternoon. Unfortunately, Corey finished work a few hours early and we were too "out of the way" to pick him up in a timely manner.  He got to make the most out of his last afternoon waiting on the street corner.