The Weatherman

Yesterday was Zachary Anthony Arthur’s 3rd birthday. And what a birthday. The day started out opening presents and playing with new toys - oh boy. Dad and Zacher went grocery shopping in the morning, then things quieted down until 3pm.

Steph did all the planning and preparations for Zacher’s 3rd birthday which included a 15′ by 15′ bounce house set up in our backyard. He also had a chocolate Thomas the Train cake and decorations.

Zach was a little apprehensive at first to get in the bounce house but he warmed up to it pretty quick. We ended up having most of the PEPS kids and some daycare kids over for the party which went very well. No injuries and no arguining - not bad for 2 to 3 hours with a bunch of 3 year olds. Nate was mellow as usual. He sat on the blanket in the grass while he took in the whole scene. BTW, it was a beautiful day with a high of 89 that occurred during the party. Fortunately the back of our yard has some good shade.

Pre party pic of the bounce house in our backyard.

Crazy toddlers in the bounce house.

A very happy birthday boy.

Sitting in the shade.

Update: Here is the movie from Zach’s 3rd Birthday.

Check out this movie of the PEPS kids at our house - what a crazy bunch of guys!

Yesterday was definitely a mellow day. I had given Steph her Mother’s Day gift on Friday afternoon (a Macbook Air) so there was no gift giving yesterday. But I did make pancakes and bacon/egg/cheese breakfast sandwiches. We spent the afternoon with Dominic, Heidi and Sasha watching the boys play with toys and puzzles.

Both our boys are doing well. They both have gotten over their mild diarrhea and seem to be doing fine. Nate is really moving around the house on his hands and knees. Now we really need to watch him.

One interesting observation this morning…there was a very minor traffic accident in front of our house this morning. I missed the collision…but to give you an idea of how minor - I couldn’t see any damage from our house. So why is this interesting? One car stayed in the middle of the street while the drivers shared information. The car was fine - I’m not sure why this guy didn’t pull over. So during the 10 minutes they two people shared info, other drivers had to find an alternate route.

As I said, this was really minor, however, the woman (the one who was presumably hit) was visibly distraught. She looked fine so I can only guess she was all worked up about having her little red 350Z dinged…nice car so it can be understandable. She immediately got on the phone and within 5 minutes some guy (presumably a significant other) showed up to help her verify that she has all the necessary info.

So everyone parts ways…however the significant other drives the little Z away while the women takes the pickup. Was she that shaken up over a very, very minor accident? Was she so distraught over having a blemish on her Z she couldn’t drive it?

Ok, Paul, what’s the point? Every time you get in a car, you are at risk at being in an accident. It doesn’t matter how careful you drive, how old or new your car is, or how safe you are. So, when you get in a minor accident, be thankful it’s a minor accident and get over the blemish! Also, you should be happy it wasn’t a hit and run! Steph’s car got nailed (all minor) 3 times in less than a year - all hit and runs. What a nuisance.

From my Mother In Law (whose is very smart):

The woman drove away in the pickup because the significant other made some snotty remark about women drivers and how she was never going to be allowed to drive his precious car again.

I was able to take the kayak out for an hour today. I must say - I am impressed. Inflating and deflating the Advanced Elements AF Expedition is not a huge deal. In the water the kayak is very stable, tracks well, and overall is a pleasure to paddle. The biggest downside is carrying the 42 lb bag plus your gear to your paddle spot. That is no fun! I plan on getting some wheels - I’ll inflate it at the car and tow it by hand to my launch spot.

The obligatory photo with my kayak bow in the photo.

Looking into Lincoln Park.

This was also the 3rd Birthday Party for the PEPS kids. We reserved a shelter at Lincoln Park with some tables. Steph, Zach, Nate, and I were the first to arrive at 3:30pm. We played on the slide swing, ran around, kick the soccer ball, threw rocks in the water, and played frisbee. Zach was a good little boy except when he was trying to get at the cupcakes. It turns out he really likes frisbee. I guess I shouldn’t call it frisbee since it was one of those flying rings that you can launch a mile. Anyway, the party was fun - we had salads, chips, and sandwiched…and of course cupcakes. We also did a gift exchange - Zach has a huge supply of playdough!

The PEPS boys lined up eating the cupcakes.

Oooommmm…Sugar.

And a movie… PEPS 3rd Birthday Movie.

As for getting whacked. I was standing around minding my own business chatting with Sasha. Heidi - that world class frisbee player, decided to throw it at her husband…only to miss very badly and nail me in the nose…that flying ring is pretty damn painful. Oh well, no blood. I forgive you Heidi. Unfortunately you cannot take revenge on these kind of acts - especially against a pregnant person.

I have another movie - it’s really 3 movies in one.  The first third is of Zach playing soccer, the next third is Nate as he first started to crawl, and the last third is Nate crawling like a champ.

Soccer and Crawling Movie.

Steph got back tonight from her conference at Whistler.  Yeah, the rest of us were going to attempt to go but it didn’t work out.  That’s fine - I get plenty of good trips so it was time for Steph to go somewhere I’ve been itching to visit. Did she ski?  No.  Did she hike?  No.  Oh well, maybe she’ll have fun next time. 

Zach got some new jammies…you be the judge.

And Zach mounting the table…

And now for Nate eating some biscuit…

Now that’s a messy face.

We had a good weekend.  Auntie Jan and Uncle Mike came up from Eugene for the weekend…plus, Grandma visited from Cupertino.  This was visitor overload for Zacher as he had someone to play with every minute he was awake.

For adult fun, we got a babysitter on Saturday night and we went to Jak’s Grill for dinner.  This place serves up a real good steak.  I had the Jak’s Filet which was great as usual.  Mike had the Cowboy Ribeye - I’m guessing he’s still full.

The only damper on the weekend were some illnesses going through our household.  Nate and Zach each had colds while dad had some unknown body aches.  The best theory right now is a viral infection that affected my muscles and that lead to pleurisy.  I had pretty uncomfortable chest pain on Monday - the doctor ruled out anything serious after doing some tests, and this lead her to believe it is pleurisy.  I felt much better today after sucking down prescription-amounts of Aleve.  Hopefully this will allow the irritation to mend and I’ll be better by the weekend.

Steph goes away to a conference tomorrow so dad is in charge until she gets back on Friday.  This could be interesting!  Zach has been hit and miss lately - you know, that I’m almost 3 and know everything phase.  One thing is for certain - when he sleeps the whole night in his bed, he is definitely a better kid the next day.  Once he starts climbing in our bed during the night, then he turns into evil child the next day.  Yes, we are doing our best to keep him in his bed.  But, he can sneak in our bed without me even knowing.

I spent Wednesday through Saturday in Boston on business. Ok, Wednesday was spent flying to Boston, Thursday I was in meetings, Friday was for messing around, and I flew home Saturday morning. I’m definitely happy I took a day to tour around downtown Boston - there is plenty to see.

Let’s start with Thursday, and I don’t mean the work part. We were taken to Fenway Park to watch the Boston Red Sox take on the Detroit Tigers. Wow, what an experience. I just loved the ballpark. In addition it was an absolutely beautiful evening. I did take a stroll around the stadium to check out the place - it has definitely aged well. And for those who don’t know about ‘Sweet Caroline’ - read all about it here. For the record, I had no idea this occurred - so I was pretty amazed.

On Friday we walked from our Hotel north through Boston Common, and then took a stroll through the Massachusetts State House. After the capitol we got some grub at Dunkin Donuts (very popular in Boston) and toured through a graveyard where Sam Adams, John Hancock, and Paul Revere are buried. BTW, graveyards show everywhere around the city. We then continued along the Freedom Trail toward the Old South Meeting House and Old State House. We then cruised through Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, and then past Paul Revere’s house. After that we walked to the Old North Church (went inside) and finally across the Charles River over to the USS Constitution.

We finished it off with food over at the Union Oyster House - the oldest, continuously running restaurant in the US. If you are ever there, we ate in the booth next to the booth where JFK used to eat. After lunch we cruised through beautiful Beacon Hill, past Cheers, and down Newbury Street. We finished off our afternoon with drinks at the top of the Prudential Tower.

I took an early flight home on Saturday morning, and luckily I did that. Saturday was absolutely beautiful in Seattle. We had a high of 80 at our house. We took the boys to the park for a few hours where Zach played on the slide and threw rocks into the water. The good weather was short lived - back to showers on Sunday and today we never even got to 50 degrees. We had rain, thunder, and cool air. Right now it is 39 degrees outside - pretty chilly for April.

I scheduled our hot tub delivery for Saturday. I spent yesterday clearing the bushes/trees that are in the way of the delivery. Now I’m trying to schedule the electrician to hook it up. We also have many birthdays coming up in April and May - including Zach’s party.

That’s all for now…pictures are getting uploaded, I’ll link them in soon.

View from my seat.

Graveyard with Sam Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock.

Inside Faneuil Hall

Brownstones in Beacon Hill.

View from Prudential Tower looking at the John Hancock Tower, I-90, and Logan Airport.

Nate at the park.

Zach navigating the slide.

Zach and Dominic holding hands at the park.

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 ordered our Sundance Spa today - the Altamar.  It should arrive in 4 to 5 weeks.  Now we just need to figure out how to get it in the yard!  The spa company will send out the delivery company ahead of time to figure out how to get the spa into the yard.

We also locked our refi loan at 5 and 7/8 percent with no points.  Not too shabby (right now we are at 6 and 3/8 percent).  I would have liked to wait longer but we already signed the contract for the kitchen remodel - so we kind of need the money.

In more exciting news…Zach can count up to 20 by himself.  Nate says ‘dada’ all the time.  He never says ‘mama’ - sorry hun.  Zach turns 3 on May 17th - we are sending out birthday invitations for a party at our house - NO GIFTS PLEASE!!!  He is spoiled enough.   Oh, and we are going to see the Wiggles on Friday night - oh joy!  I can’t wait to buy that concert t-shirt and pound beers in the parking lot. 

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.

Steph and I (and this is mainly me) learned that drinking and bidding are not a good match. Unless of course you are the event sponsor - then you definitely want your bidders drunk.

Steph and I attended a fundraiser dinner with our friends on Saturday night at the Bell Conference Center on the waterfront in Seattle. The dinner and auction was put on by the Northwest Epilepsy Foundation. Steph and I weren’t driving so we got busy drinking from the moment we got there.

We spent about 30 minutes scoping out the items in the silent auction bidding on only a few them. I ended up winning a hammock (actually, Sasha was going to win this but I stole the final bid from him - then I gave to him as an early birthday gift). We also won a tour of the KING 5 news studio and a one night stay at the Eagles Crest Inn in Redmond, OR. During the live auction (I think - I was starting to get pretty drunk) we won a ride along with the Seattle Harbor Patrol (very cool - probably my favorite pickup).

This was all small potatoes compared to the final item we won in the live auction. One particular item included a one night’s stay at the Sheraton in Seattle, dinner for 4 at the Dahlia Lounge, and a show at the Paramount Theater. The package was valued at $750 so I figure I was safe with my $650 bid - safe meaning that I probably wouldn’t win but I was doing my job to drive the cost up. Well, we won.

Overall we had a wonderful evening…plus all of the money is for a great cause. Now to schedule that harbor patrol ride along!

Ironically, we spent a lot more Saturday morning - we bought a new kitchen. Yep, we slapped down a deposit on our new kitchen which will include new cabinets (white beadboard, look here for sample), quartz countertops, slate laminate flooring, and new appliances (stainless steel) to be picked out. We signed up for this kitchen with Kitchen Plus. They were by far the best that we spoke with - they have been very helpful pointing out ideas and things to watch out for. We spent 2 hours at their showroom picking things out. Anyway, we are excited. I spent Friday working out the details on a cash-out refi so we actually have money for this (and some other household projects). The kitchen is slated to be done in July. Stay tuned.

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.

Yikes! I probably shouldn’t put videos like this up!

Zach hanging with Auntie Jan and Uncle Mike.

I participated in my first ever caucus yesterday.  A nearby high school was host to several caucuses for different precints.  I would guess that there were probably around 300 people there in total - 45 from my precint.

When you sign in at the caucus you write in your pick for President.  Then anyone can stand up and give a one minute speech on why they select their candidate.  After that we all sat around discussing our candidates, basically trying to persuade the other side to switch.  My table successfully moved an ‘undecided’ to Clinton.

Overall, Obama received 3 of our 5 delagates and Clinton received the other two.  The state of Washington heavily favored Obama.  Now for some goofiness.  We had our caucus and the number of delegates for each candidate have been picked, but our state also has a seemingly meaningless primary.  On February 19th we vote for our candidate but in the case of Democrats, it has bearing on the delegates allocated to the candidates.  Yes, we hold a primary for no apparent reason.

Otherwise a quiet weekend.  I’ve been under the weather (food poisoning) so I’ve had to lay low.  Zach and Nate have been doing very well.  Steph was busy this past week at work.

Go Patriots!!!

I need to catch on the blog - I’m a little behind.  Last weekend Nate and I flew down to San Francisco to attend my grandparents 65th wedding anniversary.  It was amazing - 50+ people showed up.  Everyone had a wonderful time and Nate was a perfect 6 month old - getting handed off to everyone.  Here is a picture during dinner…

Previously I spoke about the cool full moon we had.  Here is a shot I took that morning as it was setting over the Olympics and the sun was getting to rise.

The weather has been cool but not much in the way of snow.  We had a dusting last monday when many areas outside of Seattle had 3 to 6 inches.  We had a few flakes this morning (and I do mean only a few).

The boys have been really good.  I took Nate and Zach to Babies-r-us and picked up one more booster seat for Zach.  We also went to Lowes and then to Skylark for breakfast.  Last night we all went to the brew pub for dinner.  At dinner after the waitress put Zach’s plate in front of him, he said ‘thank you’ - an unsolicited thank you!  Wow - he’s growing up quick.  He’s also starting to count past ten, doing better with his ABCs and recognizes his name when written.

We also booked our plans for our summer vacation.  We are staying at a nice house at Lake Chelan from July 2nd to July 9th.  The house sits on 20 acres, has a fenced in pool and a hot tub.  Jan and Mike will be hanging with us for the week.  Can’t wait for that trip - it will be a blast.

Here is a picture of the boys hanging in our bed.

That is the weather here is Seattle.  Extremely clear…and wow, what a wonderful full moon.  It traversed the overnight sky like a summer sun.  At around 3am our area was lit up like it was noon.  This morning the moon lit up the Puget Sound like a setting sun - it was amazing.

And yes, it’s cold.  Lows of 25 at our house and highs only getting into the upper 30s.  Cold enough so that any water on the streets and sidewalks is not melting during the day.

BTW, my trip back from Dublin was uneventful - both flights were on time.  It was great seeing Steph, Zach, and Nate.  Zach was a little apprehensive about giving me hug though - probably a little pissed I left for so long.

After several beers last night I woke up in a haze this morning. Today we hit some closer sites. We spent about an hour at each of the following:

St Patricks Cathedral - your basic European cathedral. Very beautiful inside (and out if it wasn’t plastered with scaffolding) and amazing stained glass windows. It is setup with informative displays about the history of the church and Dublin.

Christ Church Cathedral - this is the oldest building in Dublin dating back to the 11th century. They provided an excellent pamphlet explaining everything you needed to know about the church. It contains a crypt which was probably one of the coolest areas we’ve seen.

Dublin Castle - very odd place. It’s a mish-mash of architectural styles and materials caused by fires in different parts requiring rebuilds. They did excavate a section around one of the original towers where the moat existed. You can still see the water flowing underground and the original outside of the tower - very cool.

That’s it! We are done. Very, very tired. Right now we are hanging out in the hotel lobby (needed a change of scenery from the room) doing the internet thing. I went ahead and converted a bunch of photos (from raw to jpg) and I am in the process of uploading some photos now so I can post on the blog - stay tuned (obviously the photos are showing up).

Back to being tired - haven’t had a good night sleep yet. I’ve been getting around to 5 to 6 hours per night - could it be the Guinness? Not sure but the hotel is quiet and comfortable so it is not a problem there. I feel it catching up with me now so I’ll probably sleep well tonight.

Street in Dublin - going to work.

Christ Church Cathedral

The River Liffey.

The Brazen Head.

Smitty the Cat (he killed mice and when he died the workers had him stuffed) at Jameson Distillery.

I forgot to mention that we did the tour at the original Jameson Distillery. Very lame tour. They miniature replicas of the equipment used in the process - it’s no longer a working distillery. It was basically an educational tour on how to make whiskey. The cool part came at the end - I was one of 6 people who volunteered for a whisky tasting (3 Irish, 1 Scotch, 1 American). Definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip considering I’m a huge fan of Irish whisky - not so much of Scotch or American whisky.

St Patrick’s Cathedral.

Crypt at Christ Church Cathedral.

Goofy colors on Dublin Castle!

Go here to see all of the Ireland photos.

We finally had some time yesterday to tour around Dublin (or Dooblin as the locals call it).  Here is a run down of some of the things we saw:

St Stephens Green - a park with an arch.

National Museum - this was broken up into two locations.  One location had displays on viking and midieval Ireland and the other is called Collins Barracks.  Yep, you guessed it - these are barracks.  The barracks had a very good exhibit on the military history of Ireland.

National Gallery - I had to go check out the Spanish art.  They had a good main gallery and a special exhibit of watercolors.

Book of Kells - an excellent exhibit explaining and showing off these books (books of the 4 gospels written in latin dating back to 800AD).  The location, at Trinity College, has a room called the Long Room with 200,000 of the oldest books owned by the college.  Sounds boring but it was quite amazing!

Walk down O Connell Street - widest street in Ireland.

Lunch at Romano Ristorante - homemade noodles.

We walked up to Kilmainham Gaol (a prison) but it had already closed.

Today we plan to visit St Patricks Cathedral, Christ Church, and Dublin Castle - all very close to where we are staying.

We also visited The Stag’s Head pub - old Irish pub with a respectable writeup in our guide books.  They had live Irish music.  We also stopped off at The Temple Bar - big tourist bar but kind have to go there.  They do not play traditional Irish music - rather they were playing pop 80s music.  Not the most enjoyable place.

The other night we went out with some work friends to Nash’s Pub located near the office.  A decent place - low key - just the way I like it.

I’m definitely ready to leave though…miss the family!  We tried to move our flight in a day from Sunday to Saturday, but our  airfare required a Saturday night stay otherwise we would have to pay over $1100 (which is more than our fare now).  Whatever!