The Weatherman

So, my bad service day continued…I had very poor karma yesterday.  We dropped the boys off at daycare at 3:15pm and then Steph and I headed out for some dinnerware shopping - since we are remodeling the kitchen, we also decided to replace our dinnerware.  We really had no luck finding what we needed (Pottery Barn has the closest match).

After our shopping we headed downtown and had drinks at Cellars Restaurant - very nice bar with a very friendly bartender.  We spent about 90 minutes there and had a very enjoyable time.  Next we went over to Brasa to meet up with some friends for dinner.  We had a drink in the bar and then sat down at our table.  The restaurant was not very crowded, relatively quiet, but there was music playing throughout.  The table to my left had a young, quiet couple - never saw them talk to each other - so either fighting, eavesdropping or both.

Anyway, we haven’t spent much time recently with John and Kim (who have similar aged kids to Nate and Zach) so we had lots of catching up to do.  Being parents, we naturally talked about our kids quite a bit and their antics and funny stories.  Eventually, Steph and I were going through our Where’s The Poop story (see further down in blog) and I was in the middle of describing how I found Zach standing upstairs naked with a poopy diaper in one hand - when the guy in the table next to me interrupted the story.  He explained, in so many words, that our discussion was repulsive and inappropriate since he was trying to eat his dinner.  He explained that us talking about poop while he was eating was not acceptable and asked that we change the subject.

Ouch!  Flashback to my comment earlier - he and his significant other were quiet - either fighting, eavesdropping, or both.  I think we know the answer…clearly it was both.  Unfortunately, I was speechless…I couldn’t finish the story since I didn’t know how without using the word poop.  Maybe, if I said ’shit’ that would have made it alright.

So we continue along our merry way with different conversation (not about poop)…the whole time we kept dropping unapproving glances their way.  Anyway, they finally left and went into the bar area.  Now for the other shoe to drop.

The hostess, in a not so professional tone, stopped by our table to explain that our conversation was inappropriate and multiple tables had complained.  WHAT!  Multiple tables!  We were asked to quiet down and change the subject.  Also, you could tell she did not personally approve of the topic - which was mostly about our kids…not necessarily about poop.  Once the shock and absurdity wore off, we felt kind of proud.  It’s been awhile since we’ve annoyed such a large group at a restaurant (think back to nights at Spat’s in Berkeley during Steph’s law school days).  Since the hostess was absolutely rude about it, we felt challenged to push the limit.

Actually, we basically ended up talking about which tables could have possibly been annoyed by us.  BTW, there was a couple behind us with a screaming kid who was much louder (definitely making it tough for us to hear each other)…I wonder if they got shooshed?   Supposedly, a couple had sat at the table to my right (never saw them sit there - neither did Kim) and they eventually moved away…so I assumed they complained.

Shoe number 3 is about to drop.  Next the manager comes over to talk to us.  Un-F*ck-ing believable…I swear we were not loud and at this point all we were discussing was how crappy this place was.  The manager was much more professional, explaining that some patrons were complaining about conversation and how loud we were.  We asked that she reseat us in a more appropriate place…even the bar area would be fine.  She agreed to reseat us after we finished our appertizers which had just arrived.

We completed our appertizers and they moved us into the completely empty bar area…yes, a nice restaurant in belltown has a completely empty bar at 9pm on Saturday night…that should tell you something about this place!  We asked if we could be loud and obnoxious and they said ‘yes’…we had clearance to discuss poop all we wanted in the bar area.  The irritated hostess stopped by to see how we were doing.  So we asked who complained…she said 4 different tables filed complaints and she was personally offended.  Oh My God!  Amazing.  All this because we told some kid stories in normal voices and they contained the word poop.

Anyway, we finished off our meal, dessert, and coffee in the bar area.  I do want to point out that our server was awesome!  She never complained, she was always professional, always had a smile, and eventually shared her kid’s poop story with us.  She got a good tip.

It goes without saying that we will never go back to Brasa again.  If you can’t have normal conversation in a normal volume level - than what’s the point…unless you are fighting and/or eavesdropping.  We definitely give this place a thumbs down on service and atmosphere.  Food was hit and miss.  Some plates were very good, like the Paella, others like the pappardelle were not very inspiring - in fact, John didn’t finish it.

This morning Zach (my 3 year old) and I went down to a local West Seattle restaurant at 9am for breakfast. The place was relatively empty and we took a seat next to the window.

We got our menus and I noticed that the kids menu didn’t have much in the way of breakfast food…and no where was there listed any fruit. Ok, so not overly friendly for my kids. Anyway, I digress. I ordered Zach PB&J sandwiches (they cut them up into slices) and I ordered french toast with a side of bacon and coffee. BTW, they had no crayons (rare to not have crayons at a restaurant that seems to be for families)…they didn’t have children friendly cups either but our waitress improvised and provided apple juice in a coffee-to-go cup.

After ordering one other gentleman showed up and was seated near us and he eventually ordered. After no more than 10 minutes, Zach received his PB&J. I continued to wait for mine. BTW, I never asked to bring Zach’s food early. 5 minutes went by and the gentleman who showed up after we ordered received his meal. After another 5 minutes (10 minutes since Zach received his food) Zach was finishing up his meal and getting ancy and I had yet to receive my food.

I called over the waitress and asked for my food to go and explained that she gave us Zach’s food much too soon. Now that he has finished, I won’t be able to peacefully eat my food with him running around. She proceeded to get my food to go and check…albeit at a leisurely pace. She comped my french toast (which wasn’t very good to begin with - not sure the batter was completely cooked). We left and returned home where I ate my breakfast.

Well, not really. Tomorrow will be 7 seconds shorter than today…not much in the grand scheme of things. But summer is here which means the days get warmer but the nights do get shorter. You can find all of the details on Weather Underground:

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=98126

Here in West Seattle, I can definitely see Nautical Twilight. The rise is at 3:35am and the set is at 10:47am…not much darnness - about 5 hours worth. I love it. We’ve been sleeping with the blinds open so I can see our daylight start. This has been a little rough this week with the full moon glaring at us all night.

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 finally got my next kayak.  For those who don’t recall, I owned a sit on top kayak (Ocean Kayak Scrambler) when we lived in Ventura.  Since moving to Seattle, I’ve been anxious to pick up my next kayak.  Ideally I wanted the Eddyline Fathom - but at $2600 and having little storage space it wasn’t practical.

I opted for the Advanced Elements AdvancedFrame Expedition inflatable kayak.  This is a 13′ inflatable kayak - it is 32″ wide and 42 lbs.  It fits in a duffle bag for easy storage and transport.  I just pumped it up in our house in about 10 minutes - pretty quick considering it was my first time.  Hopefully we’ll get some decent weather tomorrow and I’ll be able to take it out on Lake Washington.

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.

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.

Yesterday morning I felt Nate’s first tooth arriving.  A little razor-like thingy poking through his lower gum.  Good for Nate.

Last night, yes, last night, we drove up to Snoqualmie Pass and went tubing with some friends.  I know, how stupid can we be.  Taking a 2 year old and a  6 month old for some nighttime tubing.  Well, it was a short trip at the tubing center.  Zach and I went down first.  All was going well until we go to the bottom and the tube flipped over and I plowed Zach’s face into the snow.  He got over the scary shock quickly but I believe he was cold after this.  We rode the rope tow up and then mommy played with Zach in the snow.  I sat with Nate.

One of friends watched Zach while Steph went down a run.  I took Nate back to the car since he was getting cold.  It was 34 F outside and snowing after all.  So we hung out in the fan with the heat blazing and I put a movie on.  Zach and Steph returned and we got cozy in the car for a bit.  I took some (crappy) pictures and then we came home.

Today we are trying to get errands and cleaning done since I’m heading to Dublin tomorrow.

Nighttime shot of mountains from tubing center.  I realized that when it is dark, I can’t focus.  Hence, the blur.

Part of the ski area next to the tubing center.

Zach was all wound up today…playing all morning, having lunch, and continuing into the afternoon with no sign of slowing down.  He completely skipped his nap - never even came close to sleeping.  Around 3pm he and I went to Target to pick up some things.  He was walking quickly to get into the store - his usual pace.  I placed in the cart and began shopping.  He was being very good and pointing at things he saw.  We were moving up and down the aisles grabbing what we needed.  After about 10 minutes I looked down and Zach was falling over in the shopping cart seat.  He fell asleep…at least until his head fell over, then he would wake up.  He proceeded to this throughout the store, through checkout and out to the car.  Once we got home he was good.

Until dinner time.  He was playing actively from when we returned from Target until about 5:30 when he was continually bugging us for dinner.  We sat him down at 5:30 with some food (about an hour earlier than normal).  After about 10 minutes I heard Steph ask him if he was OK…I glanced over and he was rubbing his eyes.  Then all of the sudden they closed and he started to fall over.  A quick yell and he woke up.  We quickly got him to bed and he was asleep by 6pm.  This is what happens when you don’t nap.

The rest of the weekend was mellow.  Steph and Nate went to Costco yesterday morning while I took Zach downtown for some shopping.  We cruised around Pike’s Market, up to Nordstrom and Park Place, and down Pike back to the car.  We ended our morning with breakfast at Skylark - yummy.  Zach slept for over 3 hours after this adventure…I definitely tired him out.

Today I went to McClendon’s Hardware and picked up a new furnace filter, rat poison, and a rat zapper.  First, I’ve been putting off using the rat poison, but the rat guy I used has been neglecting us - and I really don’t want to spend another grand on someone else.  I also picked up this rat zapper.  It’s a long box with bait at end.  When the rat goes for the bat they get electrocuted.  Fried Rat!

Work last week was busy but things are finally winding down.  Now I can catch up on all the things I didn’t get done over the last 3 to 4 weeks.  No pictures or movies tonight.

This was the weekend to get into the Christmas spirit.  I don’t mean the decorating and all that - we already did that last weekend.  I’m referring to getting and visiting with Santa, watching the Christmas Ship, and getting drunk at Jak’s.  Yes, the latter is part of the Christmas spirit.

Lin is up for the weekend visiting with here grandkids.  Yesterday we went and visited with Santa at Westwood Village.  It’s an outdoor mall and Santa sits in his little Santa hut while all the kids and parents line up outside.  We ended up waiting close to 45 minutes before Zach and Nate got to see Santa.  During that time, Nate hung out quietly in his stroller while Zach ran around - the whole time.  Not a problem since Zach was a very good boy.  There were some Christmas carolers serenading the crowd and Zach loved that - he stopped and listened the whole time.

So how did the Santa thing go?  If you remember last year, Zach had nothing to do with Santa.  Same thing this year.  He didn’t cry but he didn’t dare go sit on that jolly man’s lap either.  I barely got him to sit on my lap.  Nate more than obliged and sat on Santa’s lap.  Anyway, we took a family picture and headed home for naps.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the toy store so grandma could spoil her boys.  Zach loved it in there…all these toys.  That made it tough to leave, but we got him out kicking and screaming.  Then we went down to Seacrest Marina and watched the Christmas Ship - a dinner cruise ship decked in lights that blasts loud Christmas music at us folks hanging out on the beach.  Oh, and they setup a bonfire.  It’s a 20 minute show that was very enjoyable…just cold.  It started at 5:15pm and the temp was around 34.

We dropped off grandma and the boys and Steph and I went to Jak’s Grill in West Seattle.  You can’t make reservations here so you end up waiting for 75 to 90 minutes.  Which is fine by us - we just sit in the bar and drink.  They make excellent, and very large, drinks.  2 Manhattans for me and 1 cosmo and 1 lemon drop for Steph - and we were done.  We barely made it to our table.  We ordered up our food - Steph got a shrimp dish and I got the $40 Jak’s special Filet Mignon (YUMMMMY).  We ordered up a pricey bottle of wine (2004 Chimney Rock Cab)…then things went downhill.  Did I tell ya we were beyond tipsy.  We made it through the salad and a half bottle of wine and a little dinner.  That was it - we needed to get home.  Called a cab and that was the end of our dinner…overall it was a pleasant 3 hour dinner…mostly spent in the bar.

Here are some photos.

Nate waiting for Santa.

Zach got freaked out after his buddy almost (accidentally) pushed him in the creek.

A few minutes later and we were happy again.

Post Santa line-up.

Seattle skyline (to lazy to go into photoshop and straighten it)

And the Christmas Ship.

We had our first large wind storm today.  The barometric pressure at our house got down to 29.33″ - not too shabby.  I went down to Alki with Zach at around 5pm to check out the wind and waves.  There was a guy down there with an anemometer recording sustained winds of 35 to 40 mph with gusts as high as 55.  On the radio we heard that Alki Point recorded a gust of 66 mph - Wow!

Zach had a good time in the wind and others got a good laugh watching walk around.

The many faces of Zach in the windstorm

And some shots of the waves

We lost power for about 90 minutes.  Definitely not as bad as the December 2006 windstorm, but this one did have a pretty decent punch.  From a rain standpoint there wasn’t much, just under .20″.  The storm front seemed to get blown apart so rain wasn’t a big part this time.  Unlike last December where the wind was preceded with some of the heaviest rain we’ve seen up here.

This morning we had a low cloud cover but had a view of the snow covered Olympics which were free of clouds.

If you click the image you can choose to see it with higher resolution.

Ok, it isn’t what you think.  Zach is in this phase with putting his hands down his pants.  Actually, I guess it’s common at this age since some of his buddies are doing the same thing.  Not a big deal…unless he’s pooped in his pants.  Yep, this happened yesterday.  Steph asked Zach if he had poops and he said “Yes.”  So, Steph said “Let’s go get fresh pants.”  As she began to walk away, Zach stuffed his hands down his pants and pulled out some poop. Lovely!  She was able to get him before he painted the walls, floors, and furniture with his poop.  So, disaster averted this time.

This morning we drove over to the Ballard Locks to check out the boats and the Salmon spawning.  The entrance to the fish ladder was loaded with Chinook salmon - we were able to get a close up view looking through the ladder windows.  What big fish they are!

Nate sleeping in Grandma’s arms.

Zach and mom looking at the boats.  Yes, I goofed around the brightness, saturation, and contrast.  I think it turned out pretty cool.

Zach watching the boats.

Nate not so much into the boats.

Looking down at the bottom of a drained lock.  The tide was very low and this was the lowest I’ve ever seen it at the locks.

For the first time in probably 3 years I picked up a new pair of running shoes.  To be fair I bought 2 sets of my last pair.  Why?  Here is that story.

Many years ago (ie back in the 90s) I would only run in Nike since we had a Nike outlet near us.  The big problem with Nike was that they were made for narrow feet.  So everytime, and I mean everytime, I ran on any type of surface I would roll on my ankle.  One time I finally sprained it which kept me off of it for a week.

So I left the Nike camp and found the New Balance 803 (all terrain shoe).  I was in love.  This shoe was amazing - by far the best thing since sliced bread.  I wore these shoes out (I know - I need to buy new running shoes long before I wear them out).  So I went out to buy another pair, but New Balance had moved on to the 804.  So I picked up a pair of 804s…NOT THE SAME!  I was very disappointed.  I even tried the 805s when they came out and again was very disappointed.  I was frustrated that so much could change to the next model.

So I moved on.  I found the ASICS Eagle Trail Running III and fell in love again.  These were very similar (at least to me) to my old 803s.  They had very good support, comfortable, and they didn’t feel too shallow.  So I bought a second pair.  I didn’t want to miss a good thing.  I’ve would alternate between the two pairs for my running which actually worked out well.

Tonight I headed to Road Runner Sports in Kent.  I tried the latest ASICs - they had two trail running pairs. They had the 2120 and the Trail Sensor.  I found the 2120 to be the best fit of the two - very light and comfortable.  I also tried on the latest Addidas - the salesperson was going to let me buy those - he could tell they didn’t fit right.  He was right - I didn’t like them.  I finally tried a pair of Brooks Adrenaline ASR 4.  And a new friendship was born…these had that good ole feelin’.  They fit my feet perfectly with no odd pressure points or strains.

I haven’t been posting my runs on the site but I’ve definitely picked things up since Nate was born.  Although, before Nate arrived I was spending much of my extra time getting things ready for Nate so I only got 2 runs in per week at about 2 to 2.5 miles with some hills.  Now I’ve been doing my 3.6+ mile run (with a 500 ft elev loss and gain) 3 to 4 times per week.  I hope to keep this going - it’s easy to do this in the summer here since it stays light late…I’m able to go running at 8:30pm like I did last night.  Just need to make sure I eat a small dinner (something I didn’t do tonight).

If these shoes work out I’ll go ahead and pick up a second pair…no use stressin over whether this same pair will be around in 6 months to a year.  I also need to find some local fun runs - I enjoyed the times I did the bay to breakers so I need to find one or two up here to finish off the summer.  I’ll let you know what I find.

One more thing - I took Zach with me to the running store.  He was either running everywhere or playing with the giant exercise ball (the kind you lay on to stretch your back) - he loved that thing.  Anyway, the salesperson commented that he would be a runner…I told him he was practicing to be Forrest Gump.

I tried this out - pretty cool site. Here is the run I do from the highest point in Seattle to Lincoln Park (Coleman Pool) and back.

Not bad for a middle aged guy. Actually, I’ve felt good after this run and I’m definitely getting better at it. I noticed an improvement in my strength on my hike the other day.

WSB has an entry about toddler friendly coffee shops…Looks like Coffee to a Tea with Sugar is the big winner in the comments section.

We are pretty new (been here just over a year) and we’ve never heard of this place. Having a toddler and an infant - finding these locations is very important. Thanks to all of the WSB readers for the good tip.

We plan to try this out very soon.

Yes, we have rats…these would be of the roof rat variety.  We first noticed droppings around 1 to 2 months ago in our garage.  Then we started hearing scratching between our 1st and 2nd floors.  The droppings were small so I thought they were mice.  I setup a few mouse traps - BTW, these things are brutal on your fingers.

I did catch one rat - a small roof rat.  This kill occurred about a month ago, but I haven’t been diligent in keeping the traps set.  I finally started calling around to local pest control companies yesterday.  I called the biggies like Orkin (they just kept me on hold) and Terminix (only wanted to use poison).  I also called some local places but I ultimately settled on A Wildlife Pro.   This is a company operated by Sean Met, a trained nuisance wildlife control specialist.

I am very, very happy with my choice for this job.  Sean is very professional and I believe his technique to be the most effective.  He came to our house and inspected all possible entry points.  He found the point where the rats are getting into our garage and eventually into our house.  He installed some metal netting to block off access point and installed a one way door at the main point of entry.  He took the time to explain why he believed the location to be the main entry point and his work was very professional.  He finally setup numerous traps in our garage and attic.  BTW, as he pulled away from our house, one of the traps already caught a rat - I called him back to pick up the carcass and reset the trap.

As of this morning we tallied two more dead rats in the garage…I’m not sure what we have in the attic.  Anyway, Sean will return two more times over the next two weeks to pick up the carcasses and reset the traps.  Between that and blocking the entrances, we would have hopefully resolved our rat problem.

We have been listening to our scanner…sounds like a gang stabbing happened at Lincoln Park.  It appears they also have a suspect in custody.  This is also possibly tied to a stabbing on 16th.  Anyway, waiting to hear more details.

Anyone else know more?

Check out the details for the Night Out at our precinct web site. This is a great opportunity to meet your neighbors and work on preventing crime in your area. I know we’ve been hit by minor crime so I’m all for making things better.

Here is the blurb from the precinct web site:

It’s time for Night Out 2007! “Night Out” is designed to heighten crime prevention awareness, increase neighborhood support in anti-crime efforts, and unite our communities. It is a great chance to learn about crime prevention, while also celebrating your community and spending time with your neighbors.

While reading about this I noticed the blurb below it on our precinct web site:

Picnic at the Southwest Precinct is August 18,2007 from 1-4 pm!
All Southwest Precinct community members are invited to the 2300 SW Webster St. to enjoy a day of dancing, music, food, magic, balloons, raffles! Meet your local officers, SWAT and other specialty units and get a chance to take a precinct tour!

Sounds like good fun for the kids.

Steph is going out with the women to get her nails done tomorrow…so I’ll be watching Zacher during that time. Otherwise I need to raise the crib mattress, do some office work, some gardening, and continue to clean out garage. Nothing too exciting going on - oh well.

Steph inquired at West Seattle Blog about good take out places after Nathaniel shows up…here are the comments (a good showing I might add).

Zach playing on the slide at the park last weekend.

Took some photos from Duwamish Head looking back toward Seattle at sunset.

Seawall looking toward Alki at sunset.