Pacific Science Center

Ah, the Pacific Science Center. Where do I even begin? Giant Caterpillars...

Giant guitars...
...and so much more. I don't think we knew what we were getting ourselves into when we walked through the gates. There's so much to explore that we will have to go back to see it all. But here's a brief run down of what we did see:

Mechanical dinosaurs: Silas was a bit spooked at first, but then warmed up to them. He wasn't afraid to get close to the ones that were listed as plant eaters. The meat eaters, on the other hand, he eyed with suspicion, and kept a ready-to-run stance, just in case.

Space exhibit: Planets, a "holographic" orb, outer space exploration, etc. They have observatory shows as well, but as much as I wanted to, we didn't partake...next time!

Insects: (including our giant caterpillar friend). Lots of different exhibits. A giant mechanical fly, live hissing cockroaches that you can pet (Silas declined, as did I), examples of six different food items made with insects (scrambled eggs with bee larvae anyone?). And also:

The butterfly room:
They must like orange, because Silas was very popular.

And so were bananas:
Backhoe: fun times for boys of all ages.
Also, a scale model of the Puget Sound, naked mole rats, physics exhibits, human body science exhibits (flexibility, sght, endurance, etc.). And more. We didn't even get to the downstairs area, the special exhibit, or the laser show. We did, however, make it to an imax film, and this is monumental, because Silas had never been to a movie in a theater before. We've held back, partly because he's usually only allowed to watch one video per week and we weren't sure how he'd react to the stimulation, etc. And partly, because, we figured, what's the rush when you're not sure if you're kid is going to freak out or decide to talk loudly through the whole thing. But the movie came with our City Pass, and we thought we'd give it a try. So, Silas' first movie was....drum role please....

BUGS -- A 40 minute nature film narrated by Judy Dench. On a ginormous imax screen.

Not a traditional choice for a first movie experience, but he loved it. He sat on the edge of his seat and politely whispered questions to me, when they came up. And he didn't even get upset at the end of the film when one of the "protagonists" (praying mantis) ate the "female lead" (butterfly). So, perhaps there will be other movies in his future.

That sums up the Pacific Science Center experience. We have one more City Pass to use before the end of the month. The zoo it is!

Argosy Tour

On the same day that we went to the aquarium, we also headed out on a 1 hour harbor tour on an Argosy boat, the Lady Mary.

Since we take the ferry across the Sound whenever we want to go to Seattle, we would never have thought to go on this tour. But I'm glad we had our passes because it was really quite fun. We got up and personal with some California sea lions:
And we went all the way into the port of Seattle, where we got to see a container ship being unloaded with gigantic robotic cranes.

And hey, did you know we import things all thew way from... China?
The Coast Guard icebreakers were admittedly pretty awesome.

You can't beat the skyline.
Last weekend, we went to the Pacific Science Center. The City Pass fun continues, so stay tuned!

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.

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.

Tall buildings and flannel shirts

Yesterday it became blatently obvious that we have not exposed Silas to the city enough. We went over to Seattle to attend a friend's party. It's been ages since both Silas and I went over. As we were driving through the city streets, lit up by Christmas lights, Silas appeared in awe.

"Look at all of the tall buildings. Look at that (a row of trees sparkling with Christmas cheer). It's BEAUTIFUL! Look at all of this stuff. I LOVE the city."

And then finally, came this statement: "There's more than just trees here!"

You would think we were raising him on a homestead half a day's carriage ride from the nearest town. But still, we could bring him to the city a bit more often. It would do us all some good. We promised to go back during the holiday break to Winterfest at City Center (that's the space needle, for all of you non-Washingtonians).

This morning, he was still talking about his trip to the "big" city. "The tall building all look like flannel shirts" he told me. Considering the city in question, this seems pretty fitting.

Before Grandma G headed home, we...

...Went to yet another cafe on the island.

...Gave Grandma G some pointers on the computer (apparently, Silas got a lesson too).

...Took the ferryboat over to Seattle, and...

...Went to the Seattle Aquarium! We all agreed that the Giant Pacific octopus, whose name is Olive Oil (Popeye was already released), was one of the highlights. When we asked Silas later in the day what his favorite thing at the aquarium was, he answered "The burrito!" Apparently, lunch made quite an impression on him.
It was a beautiful day! Here we are enjoying the waterfront from the Aquarium's observation deck (that's Bainbridge Island way in the distance).

Later that afternoon, we dropped Grandma G off at the train station and said our goodbyes.

We miss you, Grandma!

The 4th

On the 4th of July, we went to Seattle with Patrick to visit friends (Hi M, A, & I). I forgot to put my memory card back in my camera, so I couldn't take many pictures. I have just a couple for you:We had a good old-fashioned meatless barbecue :) Yum! Silas helped us cook. After eating, we headed out to a park:
Silas met a new friend, played in the sand, and rode this whirly ride. Note that Drew is riding with him instead of me. I call this the "Flashback-to-Morning Sickness-Ride." I was more than happy to watch from the sidelines, though even watching them spin did trigger a wee bit of motion sickness. Silas seemed to love it.

We had a great day in Seattle, and were home in time to see Mr. Bear off to bed at his usual time. No fireworks for him (recall his fear of sudden loud noises). I was very thankful that he slept through them.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low key, keeping in mind that our sole car was out of commission. In fact, Drew is at the dealership now getting it fixed. Let's hope it doesn't take too long!

Art Museum, etc.

What have we been up to this past weekend? Well, we hung out as a family quite a bit, did the usual: eat, play with the baby, do laundry, sleep, repeat. On Sunday, we had a big outing. We took Silas to the Seattle Art Museum. While mom and dad tend to prefer the more abstract pieces, Silas gravitated towards the more representative images. He particularly liked a horsy sculpture and an Egyptian cat head. He also enjoyed bouncing up and down and vocalizing about how much fun he was having. We look forward to bringing Silas back to the art museum in the years to come.

Silas got to try out the new hat mom whipped up for him on Sunday as well. Mom has lost track of how many hats she's made for him (around 7 maybe?) and she's going to make yet another one this week to match a sweater she finished over the summer. Well, you can never have too many hand-made hats, especially if you're a baby with a fast growing noggin!

Also included in this assortment of images: a picture of Si
wearing, yes you guessed it, another one of mom's creations. Mom's got more images of this sweater on Flickr, Ravelry, and soon she'll post more on her knitbook blog, in case you're interested. And, in case you are reading this from WI and you'd like to see Silas wearing this sweater in person, never fear: we'll be packing this one for the trip, for sure.

Olympic Sculpture Park

On Labor Day, we took the Ferry over to Seattle to check out the new Olympic Sculpture Park--well worth the trek. They've done a beautiful job restoring a former industrial site into a beautiful park. It truly is a "green park," meaning everything is managed organically, without pesticides, plus they take measures to reduce runoff, they've restored the shoreline, etc. Even the plastic used in the cafe is compostable. We hope the art museum continues to add to its collection of sculpture at this park. Silas hopes that next time we go back there, there will be just as many dogs for him to watch (Seattlites love their dogs!).

Much more from the Bryant visit

Here we are, waiting to catch the ferry back to Bainbridge Island last Sunday, after visiting the Seattle Aquarium. Silas and his cousins really enjoyed each other. More to come. Stay tuned...