The Weatherman

We spent this last weekend down in Eugene with Jan and Mike.  It was a terrific weekend and the boys were awesome!  We left Friday evening just before 7pm…yep, 7pm.  Basically I wanted to wait until traffic died off so we could sail through Tacoma and Olympia.  While we didn’t sail through Fort Lewis area, traffic was much more bearable then it would have been had we left at 3pm or 4pm.  We drove straight thru to Eugene – yes, we actually drove nonstop for 4.5 hours with a 2 year old and an 8 month old.  Pretty Impressive.  Nate slept for 90% of the trip and Zach spent time looking out the window, sleeping, and watching a movie.

We started Saturday off by going to Bounce Gymnastics – a padded gymnastics studio that is open for 90 minutes for kids 6 and under.  Just imagine Zach jumping up and down on trampolines for 30 minutes straight.  We followed that up with Mike’s favorite part of the weekend – a trip to Chuck E Cheese.  We couldn’t hold Mike back…it was the highlight of the weekend for him.  Zach was good if you didn’t try to control him!

Then we came home and crashed.  I got caught up on all of my violent movie watching.  First we watched No Country for Old Men, followed by a 2 movies series by Quentin Tarantino – Planet Terror and Death Proof.  I must admit these were pretty cool and funny movies – but if you don’t like over the top violence these are not the movies for you.

This morning we took the boys to Skinner Butte Park and Zach spent his time on the slide and Nate split his time between the stroller and swing.  We left Eugene after the boys ate lunch (around 12:15) and we got home around 5:15 (1 stop).  We saw a nasty accident caused by the freakish snow we’ve been getting up here.  Based on what I read on the blogs, it looked like it snowed some more on Saturday in West Seattle.  It snowed in Eugene Friday night and parts of Saturday…not much really sticking.

On the running front, I have run 60 miles in March…my new monthly record.  My previous record was only 50 miles in one month.  I also saw an Orca pod about 50 yards offshore at Lincoln Park this evening…pretty cool way to end the weekend before heading back to work.  And now for some photos.

Hangin at Bounce Gymnastics

Mike, in the zone, at Chuck E Cheese

Goin down the really big slide.

Mom making sure Zach doesn’t go swimming.

Spring!

…Big Red Car…Yes, we saw the Wiggles on Friday night. Nate stayed with a baby sitter and we took Zach to his first concert at the Tacoma Dome. The performance lasted about an hour and 20 minutes and Zach loved it. He was definitely into the songs he knew but was not overly enthusiastic about the other songs.

When the Wiggles performed a familiar song, Zach would sing, dance, wiggle, and do everything he is supposed to do. As for mom and dad, we loved seeing Zach jumping around. As we walked out of the Tacoma Dome after the show, Zach was continually saying ‘Bye Wiggles’ or ‘Bye Wags the Down’ or ‘Bye Henry the Octopus’ for the better part of 5 minutes.

Yesterday was a beautiful Seattle spring day. We had our concrete poured for our spa – so the area is ready for the tub. We took the boys out to a friends place in Sammamish whose neighbors have miniature horses, sheep, baby lambs, chicks, ducks, and a dog! Zach loved it. He got to run around in the large open spaces, feed the animals, and pet the animals. The sheep were bahhing, the lambs were bahhing, the chicks were chirping, and the ducks were quacking – the animals obviously loved the nice spring day as well.

I picked up my next pair of running shoes yesterday.  I still believe that Road Runner Sports is one of the best places to buy shoes.  They have a pad that you walk on to register your pressure points and they video record you running on a treadmill – both of which help put in the correct shoe.  I put 319.27 miles on my last pair of Brooks Adrenaline ASR 4.  Yesterday I bought Brooks Infiniti – I did my 4.6 mile run today and they seem solid.

Today is a typical Seattle rainy spring day. Oh well, good day to do blogging, photos, videos, and reading. Oh, Happy Easter. We did do an easter egg hunt with Zach this morning – he had a blast. Actually, Zach has been in an awesome mood all day…now he’s napping.

Ducks on Pine Lake.

Nate studying the birds on the lake.

Happy Zach! It’s tough to get a smiling photo where Zach is looking at the camera – he moves to quick.

Checking out Pine Lake.

Feeding the sheep.

We’ve been up here almost 2 years and we had yet to spend any time in Tacoma.  So yesterday we took a drive down to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium on the northern point of Tacoma.  The grounds at the zoo are beautiful – they’ve done an excellent job at making it feel like a natural park.  Many of the plants and trees are labeled so you know what type of species it is.  It is a unique place since it has both zoo animals (ie, elephants, tigers, wolves, etc) and an aquarium with sharks, seahorses, beluga whales, and walruses.

Fortunately it is not very big so it makes it easy when you are lugging a couple of kids with you.  Oh wait, this is for them, but we are still lugging them.  We were only there about 90 minutes – we had to go get lunch since we got a late start.  We doubled back on North Ruskin Way and ate at Ram Brewery along Commencement Bay.

After lunch we shot up to the Point Defiance ferry dock but it was still over an hour from leaving.  So we drove across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (first time on it – famous for falling down in a windstorm in the mid 20th century), up the Kitsap peninsula and took the Southworth/Vashon ferry back home – this one drops off about a mile from home.

This morning I took Zach down to Seacrest Park so he could ride his trike.  We also spent some time on the small pier there and had breakfast at Skylarks.  Here are a few photos.

Zach loved the peacocks.  Sophie would be jealous.

Yeah, I’m a little freaked watching these guys after what happened at the SF Zoo.  They seem so peaceful and cute.

Looking east toward West Seattle from Vashon Island ferry.

Nate’s first ferry ride.  What a ham!

Zach doesn’t like photos – so just getting this pose was lucky.  He was actually having fun…really.

A little late…well, we were sick, busy, and unable to get photos up.

Boeing DreamLifter taking off.  This beast is used to fly 787 fuselage pieces to Everett where they are assembling the 787.

A WWII Corsair at the Museum of Flight (handheld with canon 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens).

Zach and Auntie Jan at the zoo.

I really do like to swing.  But this was my first time so I’m a little freaked out.

Dad taking photos from the top of Crystal Ski Area.

Some giraffes at the zoo.