The Weatherman

I hooked up with some work friend (Tom and Ron) for a 2 hour kayak outing this morning on Elliott Bay. We met at Alki at around 5:15am and we were on the water by 5:30am. We paddled around Duwamish Head past Seacrest Marina and Salty’s and came back around some barges. We didn’t see any seals or sea lions but we got up close to a few barges and otherwise had a great morning.

This was the second time I took out the inflatable kayak. Tom has an Eddyline and Ron has a Perception - so I was definitely the slow one in the group. So what do I think of the new inflatable?

• Easy to transport and setup. I’m ready to be in the water in about 15 minutes - not bad.
• Very, very stable. This has to be the most stable kayak I’ve ever paddled.
• Fairly comfortable, however it is a little tight in the foot well.
• Not quick but definitely not a slow poke either. I didn’t cause too much angst amoung my fellow paddlers. In fact, I think they enjoyed the breaks they got as I caught up.
• This time I didn’t pack it back into the bag afterwards. Instead I washed the kayak off at home and it’s on our front deck drying off. I need to keep it from smelling (thanks for the tip Jeff).
• I need to get a few things: paddle leash, bilge pump, paddle float, rope, better footwear, and some other clothing.

And for some photos…

Sunrise looking out toward the Space Needle.

Not lager?!?

Tom taking photos and trying not to fall over.

Ron heading for the mountains.

Update:  Picture of Ron and Paul taken by Tom…

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.

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.

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.

Barry Zito has really turned into a stinker for the Giants. Last year he had a very subpar year but at least he showed signs of the old Barry Zito. Now he just plain stinks. Today, the Giants lost 10 to 1 to the Cincinnati Reds.

Zito gave up 6 runs in the first inning. Here is his linescore for the 3 innings he did pitch:

What a Bust! Time to think about benching him so he doesn’t keep bleeding off wins.

On a good note, Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez are solid.  These guys are throwings strikeouts and keeping games close.  Which gets to the next issue - we have little hitting.

The electrician arrived today and spent from 9:30am to around 3:00pm running the 220 line and getting our spa hooked up.  Right now it’s about 82 degrees - it started off at 52 degrees - so it’s warming up quickly.  We’re hoping it will be up to 100 by 10pm tonight.

All the chemicals have been added so there is not much to do but wait.

We had snow fall on Friday, Saturday, and today. Never enough fell to stick but yesterday it snowed for about an hour. This morning, while it technically snowed, it was light and only lasted for 15 minutes.

Now on to the new coffee maker. I’ve been pondering getting a single cup coffee maker but wasn’t sure which one. I decided on the Breville BKC600XL Single Cup Coffee Brewer

It brews using K-Cups and it also supplies a K-Cup for your own ground coffee. So far, the results are great. The coffee is good and the coffee maker is extremely easy to use.

Our Sundance Spa was delivered yesterday during our snowy, wet afternoon. Now we just need the electrician on Wednesday and it should be usable by Thursday!  BTW we got a Sundance Altamar

Yikes!!!  It’s coming true.  While sitting in a conference room at work from 3 to 4pm - I spent most of the time watching snow fall off and on during the meeting.  I just looked outside at home (7:30pm) and it’s snowing.  The temp has gone from 40 degrees to 36 degrees in about 15 minutes.

I checked out the NWS site and they claim that Snohomish county has received upwards of 5 inches.  Wow!  Tonight and tomorrow could be interesting.

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!

Yep…It is currently 35 degrees and snowing…it’s even sticking to the ground.

What bizarre weather we are getting.  It has definitely been colder than normal but snow is rare around March 1st let alone this close to April - amazing.

Anywho, I don’t expect it to last long but I am enjoying our late season cold weather surge.

Yep, all South Park episodes are now online for free!

http://www.southparkstudios.com/

Here is the latest movie - Zach looking for Easter eggs!

…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. 

You can’t make this stuff up…unbelievable:

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/03/video-f-16-bomb.html

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.