Scott and Melissa

We are having a great time with Scott and Melissa! We did the obligatory photo op at the impressive Multnomah Falls (in the Columbia River Gorge), then continued the drive east to Rowena Crest, in a completely different climate. In Portland and at the falls we'd been under a cloudy sky and some rain, but a few dozen miles upriver it was sunny and dry. The wildflowers were in glorious bloom and the wind was howling -- my hat was continually in danger of blowing off my head, never to be seen again. After a picnic lunch on the bluffs, we headed back to town, enjoyed a brief respite at home, and then headed to the Barley Mill pub for a dinner with Mom.

Easter Eggs!

The girls dyed Easter eggs this morning (after Minecraft time, if course). Then Elizabeth set up an egg hunt for Suzanne. They've got a party and egg hunt this afternoon. Tomorrow: more celebration, including dinner with Grandma.

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Seattle, Part Two

We had a great time in Seattle. After a mellow first night, with a walk to a great Mexican restaurant and a browse of a nearby bookstore, we picked up the pace on Sunday. We headed out before noon to the Olympic Sculpture Park, which oddly had signs up asking visitors not to touch the sculptures. It was so tempting! And most of the sculptures were sturdy affairs of welded steel, cast bronze, and the like. We couldn't understand it, and every one of us touched the steel sculptures when we were walking amongst them. We speculated that the feeling of getting away with something that came with touching the sculptures was in fact part of the artist's vision for the work, and that the signs forbidding touching were just part of the installation.

From the sculpture park we went on a long walk up the waterfront to Pike's Place Market. It was a mile in the rain, ending with a relief of a trip up a public elevator (Seattle is steep and hilly!). The girls performed spectacularly as urban hikers, their spirits bouyed by the eight dollars cash Elizabeth had, and their faith that the market contained a candy shop.

After the Market (which was absolutely mobbed -- and don't worry, the girls got candy, and lots of it, in a tiny shop the size of a walk-in closet, with a quirky proprietor), we found a place for lunch, then made the long walk back to the car. Again, the girls were as intrepid and indefatiguable as the Corps of Discovery, fueling themselves with gummy worms and sour patch kids.

We spent the evening at Anson and Alder's apartment at The Dolphin (fun fact: they've lived there for 18 years), returning to our rented house (more on that in the next post) in time enough to get the kids to bed only moderately late. It was a rich and exhausting day.

Not a great picture, but a document of how spectacular Seattle is, and how good our view was from the neighborhood where we rented the house. This intersection was at the end of our block. Seattle is a city surrounded by water and ringed by mountains. I don't think in all the years I've visited there, that I've been struck so much by the natural beauty of the area.

That tree is made of steel. At the sculpture garden.

We were told not to touch them! They're steel plate like the hull of ship. Sorry I keep going on about that.

Suzanne and Barb on the walk from the sculpture park to Pike's Place. Given that Suzanne is the same length as one of Anson's legs, she did a great job keeping up.

Alder by Elizabeth. At lunch, Elizabeth got a hold of my camera and took fifty pictures, including lengthy photographic studies of the carpet and the underside of the table. I like this one, though.

Elizabeth took this one, too. She was trying to show how steep this hill was, but didn't feel that the photograph captured it. I agree. That hill was steep!

Anson dropped by on our last morning (this morning, at the time of writing) and hung out with us for a few hours before going off to work. Elizabeth grabbed the camera and snapped this picture.

Seattle, Day One

The last time Suzanne was in Seattle, she was safely coddled in Barb's tummy. That's how long it has been since we've traveled north to see our good friends Anson and Alder. (Suzanne, for those not counting, is now five.) So today we packed up the Volvo and headed north. It was a flawless day -- dry and sunny and temperate. Traffic wasn't too bad. We arrived at our rental (our first AirBnB), met the landlord, saw the place. It's great! For the price of a hotel room (OK, maybe a little more than the price of a hotel room), we get this guy's two bedroom daylight basement apartment with kitchenette and nice garden in a super nice neighborhoood (I'm worried right now that our '99 Volvo is leaking oil on the otherwise flawless concrete street). It's got a piano. It's got a 55" plasma TV with one of those universal remotes that shares more DNA with a smartphone than with the cable TV channel changers of my youth. It's got a thing that looks like a wine bottle, but is actually a container for wine accessories.

After we got settled, we connected with Anson and Alder and then walked to a restaurant that is purportedly the best Mexican food in Seattle. I haven't done a comprehensive survey of Mexican restaurants in Seattle, but after eating there I can confidently say, "It was good!"

Then on the walk home (and these walks were kinda long -- Anson is a walker) we decided to spend a little time at the very cool playground at the park near their apartment building. So instead of brushing their teeth at eight o'clock, the girls were hanging on for dear life as they zoomed down a zip line illuminated only by the dim glow of some municipal lamps.

It was a great day.

At the highway rest stop on our journey north, the girls couldn't resist climbing this wall.

On our walk to the restaurant, I got the feeling that Seattle is a much bigger, more urban city than Portland. Maybe I'm wrong, but on the other hand: look! grafitti!

Anson and Elizabeth on the way to the restaurant. Just a guess, but Elizabeth is probably bending Anson's ear on the subject of Harry Potter.

At the restaurant, the girls very much enjoyed their virgin strawberry margaritas.

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Suzanne in the urban playground.

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Run for the Arts

Elizabeth ran 2.25 miles today in an annual event called Run for the Arts. I'm impressed!

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Birthday Party

Making a wish.

Lily's gift to Elizabeth included a very funny, clever puppet show about Harry Potter that had been uploaded to YouTube. Here are the children watching the video. Look at Elizabeth's face. Obviously, Lily chose a great gift.

Elizabeth showing off the beautiful necklace she got from Uncle Scott. Suzanne is either asleep or drunk on chocolate.

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Preparing for the Party

At King's Cross, the witches wait for the Hogwart's Express.

Our bedroom, transformed into the Gryffindor common room. (Use your imagination!)

Elizabeth drew this house elf herself, based on a tracing of Suzanne's actual body (because Elizabeth thinks Suzanne is the size of a house elf). It was for a game of Pin the Sock on Dobby (aka Free Dobby), which everyone had fun with but, unfortunately, Elizabeth and Suzanne won. It was kind of embarassing to hand the two door prizes to our own kids ... maybe we could have handled it better. Elizabeth also handily won the Guess the Number of Jellybeans in the Jar Challenge, but we awarded the prize to the first runner up, who wasn't a member of the family.

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