3rd week of April

Vacation is feeling more like a reality
Our upcoming trip to Wyoming is feeling more like a reality.  I'll be leaving with the kids on June 15th and we'll spend time in Yellowstone and central Wyoming.  Dode will fly in to Billings on June 25th and join us until we drive home on the 4th of July.  We plan to spend some quality time in the Bighorn Mountains and exploring the region where Dode's ancestors settled in the 1800's.  This week I bought Dode's plane ticket to Billings and made our camping reservations for Yellowstone and a Wyoming State Park.

Multiple Dr. Appointments
Isaac has been trying to get over an ear infection for over a month.  This time, things look good inside his ear so he's finally ready to go and get a hearing test.  If everything is normal, we can set this episode behind us.  If his hearing isn't perfect, it's on to the Ear, Nose and Throat doctor.  I went in to the doctor and had the sore on my back looked at.  I'm now on antibiotics and if that doesn't take care of it, I get to get it excised.  Fun!

Anastaya and Mom day 2011
Thursday, Anastaya and I had our special day for 2011.  We went down the the museum district of Tacoma.  We parked in the free parking garage and took their free Link train to the museums. 

Our first stop was the Tacoma Art Museum to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit.  He might be considered a sentimental artist but I must be a sentimental girl because I love his paintings.  Some are funny, some touching, and sweet.  It was really neat to stand there before the real paintings.

We also looked at the museum's other collection.  They are doing a photography experience called "Mighty Tacoma" where you can have your photo taken.  They are collecting all the photos to make a big collage.  Here is ours.

After the museum, we went to have lunch across the street at a Gyro restaurant.  Anastaya still believes the restaurant in Marysville makes the best gyros.  She was not impressed with the mango bubble tea she got.  She thought the tapioca bubbles were disgusting. 

After lunch we went across the "Bridge of Glass".  It's a 500 foot pedestrian bridge over one of the freeways in Tacoma.  It contains over 2,000 glass sculptures from local glass artist Dale Chihuly.  I can't begin to imagine how much the art is worth. 

ceiling on part of the bridge

Venetian Wall on the bridge

After the bridge of glass, we wandered through the Washington State History Museum.  It was interesting to spend some time learning more about our state's history.

Anastaya's Hook
There was a hook that Anastaya liked to hang her backpack on when she got home from school.  It was in a public area and if too many things were hung on it, I couldn't access William's or Miriam's clothes.  She liked to hang her many purses and assorted bags on it as well as her school back pack.  I'd given her a limit of two bags but she kept forgetting and I was stuck enforcing the rule.  One day I quietly went in, removed six bags from the hook, and brought everything up to her room.  I then unscrewed the hook and put it away.  When she came home from school and saw the hook was gone, she was not happy.  She wanted to know when it was coming back.  I told her that the hook was causing problems for me and I took care of it.  I explained that I was tired of arguing about the hook and found a solution that worked for me.  In amazement she said, "Well, not having the hook doesn't work for ME, I don't want to have to take things to my room!"  I had to chuckle at the assumption that it's my job as a mom is to make sure things don't cause a problem for her.  I thought I'd come up with a pretty smart solution.  She wanted to know when it was going to be reinstalled and just couldn't (wouldn't) understand when I explained that the hook was gone forever. 

Isaac builds a hovercraft
Years ago when I was a cub scout leader, Dode built me a hovercraft for the cubs to play on at a pack meeting.  We were only able to use it there because...
1.  We lived in a farm house without a square foot of cement around it. 
2.  We used some else's shop vac which had a "blow" feature to provide the air required to propel it

Isaac found it in the garage and decided he wanted to get it going.  He used the hose from our shop vac and attached it to the leaf blower to provide the air boost.  He had a fun time playing around on the carport.  Luckily he doesn't care that the leaf blower is covering him with exhaust fumes, but I sure do when he comes inside!

Cousins play day
Saturday, Randy and Dode went out to Cascade Park (a campground owned by the church) to help with a service project.  Randy dropped four of his kids off to play at our house.  Everyone had a great time.  There was jeep riding, trampolining, fancy fingernail painting, motorbike rides, and lots of talking.

Miriam was sure to be careful while riding the jeep

We invited Seth and Ellie to come join in the fun. 

After a while, we took everyone to a park nearby. 

3/13-3/20

Miriam's birthday dinner
On Sunday, we celebrated Miriam's birthday with my mom and Greg.  My mom had taken Miriam overnight for the weekend to celebrate her birthday.  On Saturday night, they took Miriam to dinner at my mom's favorite restaurant.  Miriam REALLY liked the meatballs a la carte'.  She ended up eating 7 1/2 of them!  And, these aren't the tiny meatballs you get from Costco, they're each the size of a tennis ball.  Because they're so large, they come two at a time.  Which means, after the first set, my mom had to order three more sets!  Once everyone was done eating,  my mom asked Miriam if she'd like an ice cream sandwich.  "No thank you Boma, but can I have more meatballs?"  Miriam's dinner ended up costing more than either of the adults at the table!

One of Miriam's favorite things to do when my mom and Greg come to dinner is to sing with Greg while strumming on an old broken guitar.  Greg brings his professional guitar and they have a jam session.  Miriam is not just a guitarist, she accompanies with vocals that she makes up on the spot.  There are lots of songs about things she loves.  Greg thought Miriam needed something better than a broken guitar so he built her a ukulele.  (Yes, you read that correctly, he built her a ukulele.)  It even came with a case to keep it safe in.  It was so cute, after she opened her presents, she grabbed her ukulele and headed upstairs.  We found her a while later, sitting on her new birthday bed strumming and singing. We keep calling her ukulele a guitar and she keeps correcting us and saying VIOLIN.  Apparently, she's familiar with the relative sizes of the difference instruments.

Out in the field

Dode uses the term "in the field" to refer to any time he is outside physically visiting an area he will be mapping.  This time, he was actually visiting a field.    The tribes have purchased a large field next to the Snohomish River where they are going to rip out the dike and flood it as an estuary.  Before they flood it, they (and the federal government) want to get measurements of how things were to start with.  We've been having so much rain lately that the ground was really wet.  Parts of the field are already flooded due to all the rain.  The water was deep enough in places that they'd be using a boat.  One thing Dode has found to be different when working for a government than his experience in the private industry is the amount of people it takes to do a project.  Two employees from the Department of Fish & Wildlife were coming with a boat and to tell Dode where to take measurements.  One employee from the tribes' Department of Natural Resources was there to supervise.  Dode was there to push a button on the instrument.

Dode knew he was going to be getting wet but didn't have any chest waders.  Apparently the Natural Resources people are very territorial about their waders so it looked like no one was willing to loan him a pair (Dode is casual friends with many of the Natural Resource employees and has gone out in the field with them many times)  At the last minute, he found out someone had quit and left their chest waders behind.  Dode was able to borrow them and while he was glad to not be wet, he didn't enjoy cramming his size 9 1/2 men's feet into waders designed for a size 6 ladies' foot.  After a while, he lost all feeling in his toes (literally).  By the end of the night as he was laying in bed they were still tingling.  (His boss has approved the purchase of a pair of waders that actually fit for future use.  Having waders is a huge step up from what he's ever had before.  He's done "center of stream" many times while working with Downing and Associates by walking down the center of a stream in his jeans and hiking boots on cold rainy days knowing it would just be six more hours of field work before he could go home and change.)

Dode had taken his work truck out to the site the day before and had noticed a very muddy area and thought to himself, better stay clear of that.  Well, the next day, his friends with the Federal Government drove right into it and only got 30 feet before being mired in the mud.  After spending almost an hour trying to get the truck out of the mud with the help of all the rocks and sticks they could gather, they walked a mile down the road to another vehicle and towed it out. 

I'd been telling the kids that Dad was going out in the field the next day.  They were casually interested.  Then, I mentioned that he'd get to be in a boat.  I thought that novelty would spur their interest.  Miriam turned to Dode with hands on hip to inquire,  "Dad, what kind of boat do you use in a field?" 

Good and stuck

Using the other truck to pull it out

the boat they were using

There were four men in the boat in order to do measurements in the field, sounds like government work doesn't it!  The job could have been completed with one person.  Dode's job consisted of being ready to push the button on the GPS when someone said, "Now."  Very technical!

Anastaya and Mom day
Each year, each of the kids gets a special day with mom and a different special day with dad.  We try to come up with activities the children will enjoy that will give us plenty of time to talk and enjoy each other's company.  Last year, Anastaya and I didn't get our day together.  The first time we scheduled it she ended up gettting sick, so we re-scheduled it, but she ended up going over to Randy and Lisa's to play with the cousins.  On Saturday, we finally got to have our 2010 special day.  We went down to West Seattle and did a street scramble.  You are given a map with most of the street names removed and several points marked on it.  You walk around to the marked locations (the competitive people run) and when you get there, you answer a question on an answer sheet to prove you were there.  (Example:  What is the address plaque made out of?)  You get points for each place you visit, with the points awarded based on how difficult it is to get there.  It is a timed event and the team with the most points at the end wins.  If you're interested, more information can be found here.  The day couldn't have been nicer. It's been raining here for weeks but it was sunny with no wind.


I thought she'd enjoy the scavenger hunt aspect of it.  She did, for about 10 minutes.  Then, we headed up a steep hill and for the next three hours, I heard pretty much non stop about her tired feet and sore legs.  I told her I was sorry and that I'd thought she would enjoy it.  She told me, "You are the one who enjoys exercise!"  Oops!  It took a lot of patience to keep responding to the complaining with positive comments but I somehow managed.  She made sure to ask if our next day together involved exercise and was happy to hear that it doesn't.  I guess I'll keep it a secret that her dad is planning to climb a small mountain with her this summer!  (He says, "It will make a man out of her!  Is that what we're going for?")

before the event, still smiling

It goes to show that you can't choose a perfect activity every time!  (When we got home, she told everyone that she'd had a great time, I guess she'd already forgotten how miserable she was.)  After we were done, we went to eat at a restaurant right next to the beach that was reviewed as having great Greek food.  Anastaya chose gyros, her favorite.  She gave them a thumbs up but decided that the Greek restaurant in Marysville is better.  I must have really tired her out because she fell asleep about five minutes after getting in the car after complaining about the traffic for four and a half minutes and didn't wake up until the car stopped in the driveway.

at least she got to eat her favorite lunch!