Seattle Center ...our extended yard...

We love playing in the fountain! Simone in blue, me in red.

On a hot day, this fountain is our favorite.  We yell our hearts out at first trying not to get wet and then once drenched, we squeal with delight as we up the ante and try to tag the dome.  Afterwards we enjoy the hot stone benches and summer sun.  

More water to play with at the Science Museum.  

Every now and then we have waited outside for the Science Museum to open and then found ourselves some of the last folks to be ushered out at the end of the day. We actually find that much to do there.  (Of course we also clock hours at the Children's Museum, EMP and the two fountains.)  

There is a proposal for a Chihuly Museum at Seattle Center and we would LOVE that!

There are a lot of buttons to push and just like the amazing guides at the Seattle Aquarium, there are these great scientists who hang out at the Science Museum and tell stories to Naomi (and everyone else) about the exhibits.

Kinesthetic fun.

It is easy to enter but tricky to leave the hay-bale maze outside the fun house.

Naomi, "Mom, I'm a bad guy with a shooter thing charging through the forest on my super big horse." 

Where does she get this stuff?  This is at the Bamboo forest near EMP.

If you look closely you will see Naomi and her new friend on the far right hanging out talking and to the left of them is Simone directing an ad hoc performance on the great whale outside of Key Arena. 

Baby Pia

Enjoy

wing span

Lorraine Monick invited Naomi and I over to her house for a fun blue angels party.  

The show was impressive.  

They felt close. 

Naomi is checking out the toy planes as much as the real ones.

Naomi playing with Logan. 

Defense spending for the year of 2010 is between $880 billion and $1.03 trillion and as I enjoy the powerful planes cavorting skillfully over head, I make a mental list of the achievements we would accomplish if we diverted those dollars.  ALL of them!  Cancer and every other major disease would be cured, education would be reining (and raining) down in every conceivable form as surely it would be free.  PhDs would be commonplace.  Energy would not be an issue and the abundance of inexpensive power would surely make a massive dent in global poverty and health.  Climate change would be faced properly.  The arts would florish.  We'd switch the recession for a boom overnight.  I'm not nervous about America being vulnerable.  The thing I am nervous about is the massive waste of this capital.  Look at the size of these numbers.  In 2011 the budget will be between $1.003 and $1.223 trillion. Our defense spending is almost as much as the rest of the world combined and more than nine times greater than the military budget of China.  Of course I know that this isn't going to happen, but the war sounds varoom-ing above me took me down this dreamy hopeful path with such an intensity. 

Then the stunt plane arrived and delivered heart stopping death defying downward spirals.  Each time I was sure the pilot was going to crash.  I imagined a poof of smoke and big flame of fire.  

The stunt plane somehow made it.  I am less sure that our nation will.  

rock n roll camp

Naomi and I logged serious hours at Seattle Center this week as Simone was in rock n roll camp at the Pacific Science Center and Experience Music Project.

Naomi running through the spears of bamboo.  (I like how this picture makes me lean right just a bit.)

Naomi laid on the lobby floor and looked up at the ceiling of EMP at one point.  

She was hitting a boneless kind of tired only 3 years old get, 

BUT... she also liked the view.   Me too.

The museum is visually bombarding.  Massive multi-media screens floating high and low,
tucked unexpectedly in a cornice or filling a massive wall.  It is exciting.  The Rec
Room (above) had a band practicing in it.  Naomi and I watched for a bit and then
stepped outside into the hot blazing sun which suddenly felt very still.

The fuchsia surface rolling into the cerulean blue folds is something!

Earlier today we saw the blue angels and here Naomi is being a plane.

 Naomi running and dancing as she waits for Simone to come out of camp.  

Simone is here!  She looks so grown up to me.  Do anything new today?  

"Yes!  My group made a you tube video!  Wait till you see it!"  

Deluged in Seattle

The fountain delivering its cold deluge on a sweltering day.

Look how empty the dome park is today.  Naomi nearly has the place to herself!

Just a few takers at first.  Many sitting on the ledge enjoying the fabulous Seattle Symphony music.

But not for long. The scene ramped up.  Naomi is on the left with the big pink ball. 

We've been coming here nearly every day this week. It starts like this. We pretend we just need to quickly clean the peanut butter off our fingers and then get utterly caught up in the exhilarating game of running back and forth to touch the cold wet metal of the giant dome and then backing away from the spray.  One never knows when the giant fountain will amp up.  Getting soaked by it is such a thrill.

A Garage Sale detour enroute to the Reptile Zoo

Naomi was up quite late and so this morning Simone, Naomi and I (family meeting) decided to take a road trip.  Naomi could get some zz's,  Simone could put some time into her workbooks and we could all check out the reptile zoo about an hour north of Seattle.  On our way though Monroe, we stopped for gas and noticed this sign.  

Simone made a new friend.

...and found some additions to our vast family game collection.  

I am thrilled to discover a bike for $30 and a kid's trail-along one-wheeler for $35.  

We heard some whinnies and followed them.

Ah here is the happy gelding.  We shared some of our lunch apples and then got back on the road.

Quite the unusual zoo.  The 10 deadliest snakes in the world were inside.

The turtle on the right gave birth to the turtles below. They hatched about two weeks ago. 

We wanted to take two home but they cost $140 each.  

There was a beautiful Iguana for free as well as a couple chameleons.  Alas, I opted to do another family meeting.  Simone and Naomi talked about it and agreed that they need think the idea of an adoption through and come back another time.  I asked what led to that decision and Simone said, "I don't want to clean up the Iguana poop and Naomi is too little to do it. Maybe when she is bigger we can get one."

On the way home we stopped for a snack at Novelty Hill.  
The winery has lovely spaces to play in and good food.

Then we stopped at Chateau San Michelle to see the peacocks. Alas the birds were at the Vet.  We found a good looking tree to climb and we left covered with little splinters. 

When we got home David and the girls tried out the new trail-along!  Awesome!

Naomi is in the yellow side-car...and Simone is singing "Hey Sister Wister."  
Her own made up song to the tune of Hey Sister.  

Occidental Market

On Saturdays there is a market in Occidental Square so we biked over with our paints and a few toys and set up camp.  I had a delicious bowl of posole from Gran Central.  The girls are painting letters.  In the background there is a hoola hoop performer, a rock band on the stage and a unicycle rider.

Simone and Naomi play chess with David.  

A treasure hunt team stops by.  Seafair has a citywide treasure hunt today.  I had a great time talking with these two about their adventure through the city.  What a rush.  Definitely want to do this next year!

Simone wants to have a stand here next week. We'll have to figure out what she could sell.  Lemonade and cookies just would not work as the Parfait and Dessert food vans already have those covered!  Simone decides that she could sell plants or colorful kids t-shirt prayer flags. 

The girls had enough change to get a marshmallow covered with dark chocolate on a stick.  

Then to the wooden boat museum.

Looking out at the dock from upstairs in the little museum.

Simone wants to take this bicycle boat out. 

Fun.

The beautiful hull forms, the little wood structures, the old coal stacks on the fishing vessels...and buzzing about on the wharf with Simone...made for a fun afternoon stop.  Now I need to get into sneakers for the Seafair 8K run.  I can't wait! 

Ballard Commons

No boarders were in the skate park so Simone used it as a slide and had a great time.  Climbing out is not easy. She had to take a running jump to catch the lip of the bowl and then she had to pull her body out. 

whoo hooo!  Naomi is having a blast exploring what she can do with her bike.