One of the buildings left over from the World's Fair in Seattle has been transformed into a science center. And since our family has some unwritten rule that we track down and conquer every. single. one. of these museums, we made this part of our Running Ragged In Seattle trip.
I took that afternoon "off," which means I sat in a dark hotel room not moving a muscle so that the Suz could get some sleep.
So the commentary on the following pictures is going to be next to nothing, or howshallwesayit, NIL.
Oh. I guess had more to tell you about the Space Needle.
Suz also enjoyed this particular outing. Course, she couldn't really look over the edge, so she was clueless about the whole "heights" thing.
As you might imagine, the elevator ride (up and down) was a real trip for her as well--and she shared all that excitement with everyone else in the small, cramped box that was flying up 40 million stories. Or something like that.
You see this smile on my face? It was because I WAS SAFE ON THE GROUND.
And here's a bonus shot just for the "cute" page--see, he's not always scowling for the camera.
We dedicated this trip to Seattle as the "touristy trappy trip." We wanted to make sure that we saw most of the biggies just to say we saw them.
The biggest of the biggies is, of course, the Space Needle. I mean, no movie scene depicting Seattle can go without a picture of this leftover remnant from the World's Fair of the 60s.
But even though the Space Needle hasn't changed much over the years, the entry fee sure has!
I think we paid $16 a person to go up an elevator. Oh, and down the elevator, too. So I guess when you calculate that in--well, sixteen dollars STILL SEEMS LIKE FOURTEEN TOO MANY.
Moving on.
We were in Seattle during July 4th weekend, so we were one of the 18 million people standing in line waiting for a turn. But we eventually moved forward (really?!)...
...and got a chance to stand in another line on the inside of the building, crowd in an elevator, bust to the top so we could feel like this:
Oh, Campers and I were the worst of us all. (Really?!) It was a hot day and neither one of us has a fondness for heights, heights, and did I mention--heights?
Meanwhile, the Suz made sure to enjoy the Space Needle from a very special spot...the floor:
Does it feel like this trip to Seattle lasted about two months? Yes? And you're wondering why it's taking so long to tell the story? Yes?
Well. It was just one weekend. Couple months ago, now.
We happened to be walking through the Seattle Center when I looked over to see this:
Unprompted geekness, folks. I laughed so hard and for so long that we drew attention to ourselves with all the commotion. Sorry, Campers. Add it to the therapy bill. (But HE was the one to yank his shorts up that high! HIS fault!)
And in news pertaining to the youngest child in the family...
I've noticed that with multiple kids, the third kid operates on the schedule of the older two. Oh, I remember the days that The Whole World Would Stop so that Baby Campers could take a nap. The Suz? We dragged her all over the city with barely a break to breathe. Fortunately, she's energetic enough to keep up with us all. But still. We did manage to wear her out (and ourselves at the same time).
On our exhausting walk back from the (closed) fish market, we went past the aquarium. Where the boys got a chance to do this:
(And that was it.)
Then we hiked our happy selves back to the monorail station, which just happened to be at a mall. That's what I like to call "City Planning," right there.
I was so worn out and hungry that some ice cream was in order.
And McDonald's had vanilla ice cream cones dipped in chocolate. And I suppose that's all lame and doesn't fall in the category of "living locally," but hey. It was awesome.
"Everyone" told us we needed to go see the Fish Market while we were in Seattle. "Everyone."
So we were "close by" our first night in the city and decided to walk there. I don't remember much about that walk other than it was 8000 degrees outside, and all three children wanted to hang from my limbs. It was a long walk. Much longer than we thought.
Anyway. Here are the girls after the walk to the market:
And after all the pretend! excitement! about a fish market...we got there and it had closed early. But the smell lingered around so it was sorta like experiencing the real thing. Sorta.
I think this picture captures just how I felt about the amount of energy I had just put out hiking to the world! famous! market!
Oh. But then there's this.
While I sat on a bench (near the water) with Campers and the Suz, Pa and the Zig got a second wind and went frolicking and photo-ing about. And I thought it was important to show you that justeverysooften that Zigster gets a wild hair and smiles for the camera.
(He's an extraordinarily content little boy by the way. He just rarely notifies his face.)
We interrupt the Seattle storytelling for some very important news:
The FedEx man has brought a piano. We love that FedEx company. First they brought us our daughter, 2.5 years back, and now this. Musical bliss.
It was my "birthday present." MY. PRESENT. That's the story I'm sticking to anyway. But I made Pa assemble the thing, complete with help:
And then we set the timer and let each kid have five minutes checking out the thing, all the while getting a sermon barked at them from behind.
It's what we parents do best.
Ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff ruff!!!
In this next pic, Suz is telling the world that "Ihts Ziggawee's toohrn. Den ihts MIE toohrn."
Part of the pack, that she is. Gotta be where the action and excitement are. Begging to be heard and to make sure she gets her fair share.
Speaking of deprivation, it has been nearly two years since we've had a piano in the house (or played one, for that matter). As many of you know, we had to leave our baby grand behind when we moved across the country in '07. Our intent has been to replace the piano "as soon as possible," but you know. Two years. That's not bad. When comparing that to world history, I suppose. But that's like 8 gatrillion in Musician Years. Mmm-hmmm.
So anyway. For the piano players in the crowd... We bought a digital piano, Yamaha (HELLO), with 88 full-size weighted keys. It has the standard piano sounds as well as 500+ others for the kids to choose from. We also purchased a kickin' set of headphones for the kids to wear, because we have both been through lessons and WE KNOW what kinds of sounds we'll be hearing in our near future.
Anyway. We love it. I can't believe we waited this long to get a piano--but the time is right for Campers (and the Zig) to start lessons so...
We had to get a piano for the kids' sake. And if *I* happen to rediscover a piece of my soul at the same time, well then so be it.
Back to the regularly scheduled Seattling soon. I promise.
