Aquarium time

In our continuing mission to use all of our Seattle City passes before they expire next month, we took Silas to the Seattle Aquarium on MLK Day.

They have both sea otters and river otters (below). The river otters were a hit, in particular. We spent a long time watching them swim and play.
But the absolute favorites were the various sea anemones in the touch tanks. I lost track of how many times Silas requested that we go back to them so that he could gently run his finger through their soft, sticky tentacles.
This truly is a wonderful aquarium. It's no Sea World (which is fine by me). It's goal isn't to train whales to jump through hoops to amuse spectators. While it is wonderfully fun for the kids, it's mission is one of education, conservation, and research. For instance, they are doing a seafood watch program right now, in order to inform the public about sustainability and seafood consumption.
There are tropical tanks featuring the sort of Nemo fish you would expect to see. But most of the aquarium is dedicated to animals that can be found right in the Puget Sound and off the Washington coast.
One particularly massive tank features a scuba diver who discusses the ecosystem of the tank she is swimming in. Silas was a bit freaked out by the enormity of the tank and wouldn't get too close to it. But it made it's mark on him. Since that outing, he frequently pretends to be a scuba diver, slowly swimming through the house.

The aquarium wasn't the only fun to be had on MLK day. I will post pictures from our other adventure as soon as Motivation finds its way back to me again.

Rocket jam and cat cam

I love my new glow-in-the-dark rocket pajamas. Thanks Grandma and Papa!

The only way for the cats to be (nearly) in contact without a growling, brawling, hissing, swatting cat fight:
I won't say that no progress has been made in their relationship but it's been extremely slow going.

I've got some pictures to post from an outing in Seattle last week. Till then, cheers!

Direct from Wisconsin...

My dearest friend, Jessi, came to visit us last week, with a husband, a three year old (just 3 days apart in age from Silas) and a 5 month old! That's what I call adventurous! The camera was aimed mainly at the offspring. The boys played so well together and seemed to have fun sharing a room.
We showed them our town, and took them around the island we used to live on. We couldn't miss a trip to Seattle:
Friends, generation 2:
On the ferry:
Hey it looks like your mama knits you sweaters too!
Yup.
The youngest member of the family. Bright-eyed and photogenic at 5 am.
I can only wish the visit could have been longer. Well, perhaps it would also have been nice if the fairy-godmother could have whisked our families off for about 5 hours so that Jessi and I could knit and chat some more :)

It's 5 am in this picture, we've barely gotten any sleep, I have a stomach virus and Jessi has bronchitis, so we are not exactly glamor girls. But I had to post this. Here we are: friends for almost 20 years:
Can't wait to see you in Wisconsin this spring, Jaaayyyy!

EMP/SFM

EMP art

Pictures from the Experience Music Project / Science Fiction Museum...

First, the sci-fi. Silas didn't know what to make of the robots, and kept complaining that it was too dark. While some of it interested him, I think the problem was that he lacks the reference points the Drew and I have. He has no idea who E.T. is, for instance. Everything he saw was new and a bit perplexing. Why did we care about shirts, for instance (that would be Captain Kirk's yellow v-neck, that's why).
I, on the other hand, am a sci-fi fan, and ate all of this up, especially the Battlestar Galactica exhibit. I couldn't resist letting Drew take my picture in front of Apollo's ship (it was rather dark and we couldn't use flash, so this is as good a shot as we could get):
The part of the museum that Silas (literally) grooved to best was the music lab, where you can play instruments in a sound booth. Here he is, rocking out:
We didn't use this feature, but for beginners, the computer will run through a tutorial and will teach a few cords (same for the keyboard sound booths).
Finally, we hit the Jimmy Hendrix room, where Silas got to listen to a few tunes.
Silas was ready to "go back out into the big city" at that point, and we pretty much rushed through the history of music in Seattle through the 80's and grunge era. Another time, perhaps.

We caught the monorail and headed back to the ferry.

The Olympic Mountains showed us the way home.

It had to be done

Look ma, I've got a Space Needle growing out of my head!

In the 7+ years we've lived here, we've never once visited the Space Needle. This was a landmark that Silas certainly noticed and took interest in when we were in Seattle recently. So, when Silas' Uncle Jeff and Aunt Amy gave us the very generous gift of Seattle City Passes for Christmas, we were happy to make the Space Needle our first stop.
Thankfully, the weather obliged and we had a brilliantly clear day in which to view the city, Puget Sound, the Cascade mountains to the east, and the Olympics to the west.

Looking west, over the Sound and towards home, with the Olympic Mountain range beyond:


Elliott bay, featuring the ferryboat we take when we venture to Seattle:
And our lovely Mt. Rainier was its usual magical self.
We also went to the EMP/SFM that day. I will post some pictures from there soon.