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.

Christmas, staring Silas

I thought I'd better get these posted... Above and below: bright-eyed and ready to go! Silas waited patiently for Drew to go let the neighbor's dog out before opening his presents. In order to deal with the suspense, we opened Olive's present, a bouncy ball, which Silas is about to throw in this picture:
And we must not forget the stockings! I am going to have to reinforce the yarn loop on his stocking. Sticking an orange at the bottom each year is taking it's tole.
We played with Busytown all morning (and the next day, and today). Santa made a good choice! (note the lower part of the tree is short on decorations. You can thank the cat for that.)
These next pictures are for Grandma G in particular. This is the new outfit she sent, and yes, Grandma, those are the space-themed rain boots you got for him for Christmas. He loves them!
Lumberjack. All that's missing is the axe:
I hope everyone had a holiday as lovely as ours. On Sunday, we had an open house, which brought just under 30 friends and neighbors through our doorway.

I think I'm ready to swear off sugar for a long, long while.

Eve

The picture above was taken just before Silas headed off to bed. He was a wee bit wound up tonight. I can't imagine why... (p.s. You win a bonus point if you can spot our cat in the photo)

And, our offerings to Santa. Silas selected herbal tea as the beverage this year and decided fruit would be a proper addition to the standard cookies and carrot sticks:
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Silas' festive tour and music box

Happy Holidays!

First school picture

Since Drew is a photographer and niether of us are big fans of studio photos, we've never had the inclination to take Silas to be photographed professionally. But, now that he's in preschool, the era of school photos has officially begun. So, now that the grandparents and aunts and uncles have received their print copies in the mail, I thought I'd share his very first school photo on the blog. :)

We made a gingerbread house

This was not only Silas' first gingerbread house, but also the first for Drew and I. Neither of us can remember making one (our parents can correct us if we're wrong). Silas' method for decorating the gingerbread house was to fill every available space with candy.
I told him this wasn't the kind of candy you can actually eat, and he bought it. So, just about every piece we could fit on went on.
And Silas, making one of his characteristic goofy faces in front of our tree:
One more week!

Dear Santa

I dictated a letter to Santa today on Silas' behalf. I thought I might have to coach him a bit on what to say, but apparently, he's got this letter to Santa thing all figured out. Here are his exact words:

Dear Santa,

I want an orange and a BusyTown. I have been a very good boy. I will give you something. I will give you a glass of milk and some cookies and a muffin. And a big clock. I will send you some decorations for your tree. I will give you candy to decorate a gingerbread house. I will give you some tofu.

I love you!

Silas

Crossing Santa off of our list

We went to Clear Creek Nursery this weekend so that Silas could see Santa. I don't know what I was thinking. He did enjoy seeing several of Santa's reindeer.

And the curious camel:
He looks so happy, so excited...
But this was as close as we could get to Santa:
See that grin? That's the thankful-to-be-nowhere-near-the-real-Santa-smile. We got all the way to the front of the line before it became perfectly obvious that Silas wasn't going anywhere near Santa, who was accompanied by Mrs. Claus, an elf, and a reindeer.

I don't know why I thought this was something he would enjoy. He LOVES Santa, or more correctly, the idea of Santa. He can't wait for Santa to come. I thought maybe, just maybe... But he doesn't want to sit on his lap or be anywhere near him. Or talk to him. Or make eye contact. Or eat Mrs. Claus' cookies. Or have story-time with him (he's been very specific on this point).

It's not worth it, especially if it's just to get a picture. Next year, we will write a letter.