White Christmas
The snow is still with us, so we had a proper white Christmas,
complete with some fun in the snow.
The beer cooler was superb.
Ice & Snow
Icicles
(sign of a poorly insulated roof I think)
Hoop
(it's hard to bounce the ball in 12'' of snow)
Snowballs!
The boys made some small snowballs in the garden yesterday...
...it was hard work, but mum appeared just in time with some refreshments.
More big snow
A post-sledging trek through the snow to a long starbucks line (we should have gone over the road to the organic coffee shack :-( )
This was our street before the deep stuff came!
Big Snow
After the small snow came the big snow
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Finn at Five
Finn is now officially five, having been "nearly five" since about June.
I think he knows something I don't...
Christmas Tree Team
Tree from Noel's at Cottage Lake, decorated by the gang in the picture
(including the shy one hiding in the reflection)
I had nothing to do with it, except dragging 8ft of fir from car to garage to family room
This year we also appear to have started a new Christmas tradition (can it be a tradition if this is the start?): yup, tree jumping. I can see that this one may end in tears.
Small Snow
We got back to a certain amount of snow. Fun fun fun.
Apparently, this is what's known as 'trace'.
Big Trip: Wrap Up
End of the Big Trip. "The Firm" reconvened at Heathrow T5 for a final farewell, fortunately news reports of an ensuing chaos were significantly exaggerated, and T5 continued to function normally.
Finn's return trip was also enhanced by the custom headphone adapter, cunningly crafted from BA socks. Nice.
Big Side Trip: food
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Big Side Trip: Genève
A little side trip from the big trip to Genève for some work-stuff.
Decent view from the hotel...
...including some kind of student party. Something to do with history, the French and large pots of chocolate, apparently.
Genève is at the end of Lake Geneva , where the lake flows into the Rhône River ...
...and all the trees have bells on.
Unfortunately, I didn't get up into the Alps , although the view from 5,000 feet on the early morning flight out was pretty impressive.
Big Trip: A Wallingford walk with granny
An early morning walk along the Thames and around Wallingford Castle
with Granny and the boys.
Nice boots Finn.
Wallingford council don't like dog walkers, but apparently dogs on their own are perfectly fine.
Big Trip: Hainault Forest
A winter walk in Hainault Forest
with granddad, nana and the boys
and views across London as the evening drew in.
A quick clean up
and then drinks and
a relax at the Camelot.
I do miss English pubs.
Big Trip: Night out in London Towne
11 years. Awesome. Thanks Beautiful.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Big Trip: Frinton-on-Sea
Early start (at least early if you're all jet lagged and used to sleeping in until 12) with breakfast on platform 3 at Romford station
I didn't get a good pic of gran (far too stern!) so instead, check out this much better one from last April's visit.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Big trip: wii
Uncle Paul was the hero with wii games...
...concentration was key...
...and the crowd were riveted. Literally.
No damage to report, although Dad had a near miss with the chandelier. Opps.
Bottle Beach Walk
Along the north bank of the Thames, downstream from Tilbury , is where London's rubbish ended up. Just past the power station is Bottle Beach, where the remains of a (Victorian?) dump are exposed by the river. Bottles, glass and china survives, but most of everything else has decomposed. Even the metal has rusted away.
The 'water tower' was an early radar station, and according to to font of all knowledge was, until recently, still marked as a water tower on maps.
A proper walk, even if it was across crushed and broken glass :-)
Big trip: getting there
Car to SeaTac (thank you Dawn!)
A spot of pre-boarding grub
Movies on the flight
and a morning coffee at Heathrow (thanks Les!).
Winter Games
Can you guess what we’re doing?
Yup, that’s right, trying out Fay’s throw bean bags at Star Wars characters painted on a big box game. Preparation for little-F’s birthday extravaganza.
As usual, little-H won. Not that he’s competitive or anything…
The Star Wars Boys
Star Wars is becoming very serious stuff as
Clone Trooper & Anakin say "no" to an early night.
Apparently the rebel alliance only defeated the empire because the clone troopers did not have soles in their battle suits.
Although you know what they say about big feet, don't you Anakin...
Dogfood at home
F helped dad out with some dogfooding at the weekend.
Dogfood: to eat one's own dog food. Yum, it's tasty. Details on Wikipedia .
Hammock
Although it's cold and wet, with flood warnings for the Tolt river, if you wrap up warm you can still hang out in the garden.
imapc
Dad got the wrong size so it's now a play shirt cape thingy...
...or maybe I should just weather proof it and use it as a poncho.
Wet River Walk
A wet river walk (because it was chucking down, not because the river was wet) along the middle fork of the Snoqualmie River.
Just to prove it was wet, here's a pic with a bit of the river...
Autumn is here
The clocks went back and it's raining so everything is wet and dark, except when the sun glints through and then everything is golden.
Note to self: that's a whole lot of leaves to clear up.
Halloween
A parade at school followed by trick or treat with friends and then back home to see what something had done to the front porch. Oh my.
Evening Walk
Boys out for the night at a sleep over so time for a coffee at Tulley's and an evening stroll along the Sammamish River valley before a spot of dinner at Purple.
Beu-dee-full.
Final match
The saucers finished the season with 5 wins from 8 games , even the opposing spectators applauded! Fan-tastic team.
And, what better place for the after game party than Redmond's Flying Saucer Pizza .
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Please vote
Aunty H claimed that a previous pic of F looked like Aunty R
(evidence of the allegation is
here
).
So, we ask, does this little pic of “F the Chef” also look like an Aunty?
Please vote in the comments:
a) Yes, like Aunty H
b) Yes, like Aunty R
c) Yes, like Aunty J
d) All of the above, but only on a does-my-nose-look-big-in-this day
e) No, he looks nothing like a national broadcasting corporation
Thank you
Comments
Sorry, this poll has now closed. Ed.
The saucers are flying
Is the game not the result that matters.
But a good result is always a bonus...isn't it?
The "Flying Saucers", right now they're flying.
A be careful what you ask for moment
Saturday night, halfway through dinner with friends (sorry James, sorry Victoria), Fay *demands* the replacement of a piccy on the wall.
Apparently it, a casual family scene, made us all look "odd".
So, I went and replaced all three, and these were what she got.
Someone really did get in a twist...
Golden Evening
Dinner at Ray’s and then a stroll along Golden Gardens to watch the sun go down behind the Olympics, and to avoid the occasional basking shark in the sand.
F spent some time engaging in his interpretive sand dance routine
and posing for pics.
Welcome home poster for mum
Delayed by Hurricane Ike, mum finally made it back from Nicaragua.
We’re glad she’s home :-)
Water dancing at Rattlesnake Lake
A very hot day at Rattlesnake Lake quickly turned from sunny picnic to water splashing on the rocks.
Canoeing Lake Union Style
H in Union Bay with SR520
Kim and F watching jumpers from the university taking a dip
Abstract Yokohama
Inside the fastest elevator/lift in the world
A proper walk along Kaiko Promenade
Japanese road side
Mum's away
Mum's away, so treats for breakfast.
New friends have arrived too: meet sonic + starwars (hiding in the water plants)
Talapus Lake
With Mum in Nicaragua, what better way to spend the first day of Autumn than a little hike to Talapus Lake ?
The lake is in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness ...
...so you need one of these.
Aside: We also needed to renew our
NorthWest Forest Pass
— turns out Talapus was the first hike that the ranger in North Bend did when he was a kid...
On the way up there are some good rest spots alongside Talapus creek.
There's also muddy spots to avoid.
H is looking pleased with himself because he did a Matrix-style triple stumble around this particular patch, avoiding getting his knees, face and bum covered in the sticky stuff.
Not forgetting the skunk cabbage to pose by.
We found a quiet spot at the edge of the lake for our lunch: but dad forgot the swimmers so we stayed dry (just as well really)
On the way down F decided to do route finding by "taste" rather than by "sight"
wile H did impressions of Dad's ears.
Sign of a good walk? Muddy legs :-)
Fun around La Push
Hunting for blackberries
Wiping out in the Pacific surf
Clearing beach access
Beach olympics: shown here the javelin qualifying event
Beach walks
Hide and seek
Wave watching
watching the world pass gently by on second beach
Road Trip
All buckled up for a trip to the Olympic Peninsula
This picture is especially noteworthy since taking it delayed our departure...
But the view from the cabins on the beach at La Push was worth it.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Not a shaft passer
Safety harness at the Hiram M. Chittenden locks with a clever mechanism to bypass the posts that secure the wire without disconnecting the harness.
Trip to the locks
It's that time of year again , a trip to the locks to watch boats...
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Creek Running
Stan and Harvey demonstrating superior skills creek running on sourdough creek.
Superior than their dad's that is.
Green Power
Diablo lake is formed by Diablo Dam, one of the many dams built to provide hydro-power to Seattle and around...
...the power lines can be quite pretty...
...as can the lights that they power.
North Cascades Institute
Family getaway weekend (part II).
Last year
was such a great experience that we headed back up Highway 9 to the North Cascades Institute with Team-Whitty-Waelend for some outdoor education and relaxation.
[PS: Comments should be working again now] Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links [PPS: Comments have been removed. Because, comments]
Adams
183 is the South Spur route (aka the dog route) from cold creek camp ground up Mount Adams.
For the interested, the picture that started it , and more on flickr .
Enormous thanks to Chris and Martin for getting us all up and down safe and sound.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Kids on holiday
Assaulting the lookout
New forms of interpretative surf dancing.
Checking the neighbours mail.
Kite flying.
Fluid replenishment.
Taking the 'technical route'.
Driftwood & Surf.
Sand hugging.
Rock pushing.
And a bit of bird watching for big kids too.
Fun at Fort Stevens State Park
Fort Stevens State Park had all sorts of fun stuff for the boys to climb on and in, stuff that was built to defend the Columbia River over the last 100 years or so.
Getting a piccy of all of them was, well, difficult.
Camp Muir
Mount Adams was closed (a case of forest fire) so we decided to try a little day hike from Paradise (5,400ft) to Camp Muir (10,188ft)
Paradise meadows was still partly under snow
but spring flowers were making a show wherever they could.
Panorama point made a good spot for piccy's of the crew...
...and of Mount St Helens (or what's left of it) and Mount Adams to the distant south.
Next was the climb up to the Muir Snowfield...
...with views up to the summit of Rainier and across to the scared valley left by the retreating Nisqually Glacier.
After a long slog up the snowfield: Camp Muir appeared through the misty cloud!
Where we pitched the tent and cooked up some lunch
(a different tent from the picture 'cause I forgot to snap Chris')
Going down, the clear weather changed to foggy as the predicted 12,000ft cloud base came in at about 5,000ft.
Going down was quicker thanks to a spot of glacading.
Martin,
aka
chief shoot spotter, and Chris,
aka
Mr. Speedy, led the way with Aiddy,
aka
I feel a bit tom-and-dick and need to check the GPS every 10mins so we don't slide off a cliff or into a crevasse, followed some distance behind.
Back to Paradise just before 7pm in the gathering gloom.
I conveniently didn't get a piccy of Chris beating me in a run back to the car (Martin correctly observing "it's all a bit matcho").
Good day out. Can't wait till the boys can give it a go :-)
Big thanks to Fay & the Boys for the day pass.
Rattlesnake Ledge
We planned a quiet hike up to Rattlesnake Ledge , but didn't bargain on the thousands of people for 'Trail Fest' .
(although it was busy at the top).
Maybe Rattlesnake Ledge was too tame for the people attending trail fest...
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Plan C
Plan A was to watch the fireworks
on Lake Union from Gas Works Park.
Plan B was to watch the fireworks
on Lake Washington from Marina Park.
Plan C was to watch the sunset
on Cottage Lake from Cottage Lark Park
Our nice walk was interrupted by a loud 'bang!'
Yes, you guessed it, fireworks :-)
So we sat on the dock and watched the impromptu display.
Our thanks to the cottage lake neighbourhood.
We were quite comfy on the dock, but some others decided that a close-up view required some paddling.
Duck Racing
This crowd descended on the beach just before 4pm, and, by the by, managed to get in the way of some serious sand castle building.
Why? To watch duck racing, Kirkland style. The fastest ducks, as blown against the wind by men (yes, they were all men) with leaf blowers, won some serious prizes.
The trampled sand castles were quickly forgotten when the boys realised that there were 1,000's of ducks to help catch.
Happy Birthday USA
We did July 4th United States style. The parade in Kirkland, lunch (ducks and a swim) on the beach at Juanita Bay, a barbecue at home and then fireworks at cottage lake.
Day trip to Rainier
Thanks to Dawn for transport, we had a great day trip to Mount Rainier, stopping off for donuts and a view of the Alder Dam on the way.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Twin Falls
We took Nana and Faith to Twin Falls on the South Fork Snoqualmie River
On the hike we were surprised to see a rare finster that lives in the woods, we managed to get this rare photograph just before the finster disappeared into his burrow!
Aunty Faith made a big mess by pushing down all the trees
The best view is of the lower fall!
Happy Birthday Number One
Amelie is a big 'one' :-)
Happy birthday Amelie, with added 'cha cha cha'.
Summer Hike
The family thought I was crazy (well, more crazy then usual) when I geared up for a little hike on Mount Pilchuck (yes, that Mount Pilchuck )
but when everything is a shade of white you never can tell.
Are you standing on fluffy snow or fluffy cloud?
Just don't look down
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Three days of proper walks
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Wot, no cars?
Memorial day weekend at Deception Pass State Park and look, no cars in the car park/parking lot.
Maybe the early hour had something to do with it.
Camping Deception
A long weekend camping at Deception Pass State Park was a chance to really get to know the place after last years day trip .
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
May in the Garden
As is becoming tradition , May in the garden.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Found
Martin's cap lost on the way up, found by someone and placed on this tree so we'd see it on the way down.
Whoever you were: thank you.
Mail box
An early start on Saturday for a hike up Mail Box Peak
Pretty spectacular views of Mt. Rainier to the SE, but the haze meant downtown Seattle was only _just_ visible.
It's called Mail Box Peak because there's a mail box on the top! Martin had a good riffle through the contents, but there was no ice cold beer to be found.
Football in the garden
I cut the lawn this afternoon, which meant football could resume. It had got a bit ridiculous having to wade through the grass, and the lawn service - aka Les - has been otherwise engaged in strategic bedroom floor leveling activities...
The winning team: 10 goals to 8!
The proper training sessions begin Monday, we need more practice before Fantastic Fred arrives.
School Auction
An excuse to get dressed up, the 2008 school auction fund raiser (and yes, I do hate wearing a suit).
The bird house did good, loads a $$$$$$s!
close...
I nearly lost my coffee this morning, luckily I spied it before it spilled. Could have been nasty.
my friend, mr starbuck
Almost exactly what you need when you're up a tad early for a multi-continent conference call.
I'm thinking of relocating into the kitchen.
Steve.Age(40)
Yeah baby, Steve hits 40. I'm guessing we'll be missing a massive party or two. Congrats mate.
Pilchuk: Take 2
The previous attempt was a bit of a slog. This time we made it past the start (trail head)
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Odd Hotels
On previous occasions I've stayed in some odd hotels, like here and here . But this ex-prison as a hotel has been the only one to upset the kids.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-22 to fix broken links
Watch Out Spring
At a top secret camp far away from Newham, granddad underwent a rigorous training regime in preparation for starting up a competitive gardening service with the motto: "measure once, cut twice".
Paul & Dave are said to be in a state of minor shock at the thought of the competition.
Spring Break: Big Tree
Big and old (~500 years), but not as big or old as the one we saw last summer .
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to fix broken links
Spring Break: La Push One
Day one at La Push on the Olympic Peninsula Pacific coast.
Lots of drift wood, although it's hard to imagine some of this stuff 'drifting'.
Spring Break: Getting Lost
If you're lost, you can tell which way is North because moss grows on that side of trees (assuming you're not so lost that you're no longer in the northern hemisphere).
Except when it doesn't, in places like the
Hoh Rain Forest
.
The boys now appreciate why it's called a rain forest, and not, for example, a drizzle wood.
Spring Break: Sol Duc Hot Springs
We hit Sol Duc for a dip in the hot springs......with a variety of interesting characters. Unfortunately it was too steamy to capture on film (or CCD, or CMOS).
After a quick stop at the ranger station to assess conditions
We hiked up the closed road towards Sol Duc falls
Unfortunately snow obscured the trail making route finding impossible so,
after a quick stop to find the sweets that F had hidden in the snow,
dejectedly, we headed back to the cabin.
Spring Break: Wildlife
The odd bit of wildlife was spotted during our break
Sealions came and said hello
Seagulls told us where to go
Fat squirrels ate
And small bear's ran away
Spring Break: Hurricane Ridge
First stop on the spring break adventure: Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park.
Good news was that the road was open, not so good news was that we didn't break out of the cloud so we had to play in the snow rather than admire the views
(I don't think
anyone
else
minded though).
The boys discovered some snow holes to play in while a nervous dad stood ready with an avalanche shovel ...
...yes, really!
F later put it to better use by turning the tables on his big brother.
We also managed a bit of sledding without a sledge.
and I even got to wear my new specs...
...which embarrassed F so much that he buried his head in the snow.
Misty Morning
A misty morning down at Cottage Lake today.
This pic is the end of a week long series looking at the weather (the others are
here
) and resulted from some inspiration supplied by this
anonymous comment
.
You see, you, dear reader, really are
in control
.
Feel the power.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to fix broken links
Consequences
The consequences of
(what I must admit was a particularly successful)
April fool early
today
yesterday.
Yes, most of the contents of my office disappeared
J
Full details of the gag
here
and reactions
here
.
Rounding out the weekend weather
The end of an extreme weather weekend: sun, rain, hail, snow, warm, cold, clear, cloudy, rain, drizzle, fog, mist but no high winds.
This was from the front yard this afternoon as another system moved down from the North.
Professor Snow Sentry
Another day, more snow and another snow-person. This one couldn't decided whether to be professor snowman or snowman sentry.
The trauma of the indecision must have been too much, 'cause he's gone now
L
More Weather
After the snow the skies cleared...
...in time for a short, sharp, hail storm.
We now have low stratus and drizzle.
Spring Snow
Excitement with some early spring snow overnight, led to small snow-person building in the garden.
"An inch? That's nothing" said Gran "we had two last weekend!"
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to fix broken links
Clearing Evening Storm
Snow forecast and hail storms for Fay to dodge while out walking this evening.
It just cleared as the sun was going down.
Day out
F took Fay out for the day to Woodland Park Zoo .
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to fix broken links
Office View
The view from my office today...
actually, you need to turn left out of my office
and climb two flights of stairs to get this view ;-)
That's, I think, Mount Index or there-abouts. Approx. 27 miles and two valleys away.
Cake hunting
Word spread like wildfire about the cake, soon the squirrels were combing the garden for the leftovers.
I'm trying to train them to find hidden eggs...
Egg Hunting at Easter
A small egg hunt in the garden yesterday. Matt and I lost count of the number of eggs hidden, I suspect we'll be finding them for months to come.
With ~20 kids running around, I was surprised to realize that nearly all the mums had vanished...
...they had succumbed to the temptations of cake.
Cake, they like cake.
Fay assures me that people left with cake, lots of cake; but I still think it was all eaten.
Thanks to everyone for bringing such lovely cake, puddings, deserts, pastries, more cake etc.
More next time?
Foot warming
When I was a lad we used to wear socks.
Now feet are kept warm on chilly mornings by standing on the heating vent.
Last of the Sycamore seeds
There's a big
American Sycamore
tree in the garden.
In the summer it shades the sand pit and soccer pitch.
In the autumn it dumps huge leaves all over the garden.
In the winter it lets the sunsets sneak into the family room.
In the spring, actually I can't remember what it does in the spring.
Getting Technical
H is still a tad young for Lego Technic , but Dad needs to get him moving up to some Mindstorm stuff ASAP so we have an excuse to play with the robotics SDK in time to challenge KZ and Anish at work :-)
Parklife
Time (again) to burn off some energy, so the usual plan down at Cottage Lake Park:
cycle the circuit; play in the playground; beat dad at basket ball
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to fix broken links
Cranes
When we moved H could find his way around by the number of cranes. "Lots" was Seattle; "a few" meant we were in Bellevue; and "one" was probably Redmond. There's a few more in Redmond at the moment, the office is expanding again and this is what you see from the 545 bus stop.
Idyl in Idylwood
The boys had a sleep-over
so we burnt off some energy at Idylwood park.
H spotted one of the Eagles while swinging.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to remove broken links
Gear
Hat and poles.
(A proper walk)
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to fix broken links
Slog
A plan to summit Mount Pilchuck turned into a workout slog up forest service road 2124.
What would have been a nice 2 hr hike to the starting point at the trail head with snow shoes... wasn't.
Lessons learnt:
1. In winter, check trail head accessibility as well as planned route.
2. Long hikes to trail heads are easier with snow shoes and/or x-country ski's (when there's snow around that is).
3. Snow cover on the ground is very dependent on tree coverage.
4. When a nice alternative like Heather Lake presents itself, go for it.
West Point Lighthouse, Seattle.
West Point Lighthouse , Seattle by Canon SD 1000 .
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to fix broken links
Proper Walk
View other proper walk posts.
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to fix broken links
Discovery Park & the Beach
When we got down to the beach there
was lots of big sky to gaze at...
...rock pools to investigate...
...and drift wood to play beneath...
...and balance on.
Oh, and various combinations of the above.
As we walked slowly down to West Point
and
West Point lighthouse
.
Discovery Park
The boys demonstrated the quickest way down a flight of steps with various jumping styles. But, I wasn't quick enough with the camera to capture the double back flip with 720 twist.
Spring is here (it remembered the date) with buds opening all over the forest.
H snapped us with the green bee on the bridge. You won't remember the bridge because I didn't post that pic ;-)
Two up
What to do when friends can't agree on which star wars story to read while waiting for Mac N' Cheese to arrive?
Mart demonstrates the solution: reading two books at once.
Proper Walk Returns
Return of the
proper walk
shot.
Note that this one is also an example of a
proper job
:-)
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to fix broken links
Fourth time
On the fourth attempt we did the twin falls hike!
Attempt 1:
rain stopped play so we hunted yeti instead
Attempt 2:
made it, only backwards
Attempt 3:
snow stopped play
Note: This post was updated on 2020-11-28 to fix broken links
Comfort Zone
I spent four (long) days last week
outside my comfort zone but having fun.
This pic above was me at about 1.30 am at the
end
of long day #3.
I learnt a lot, including that learnings isn't a word.
Proper Sitting
A slightly variation in the proper walking foot shot .
This time I'm sitting.
It's good to leave your comfort zone...occasionally.
fresh air
H & I have been bit sick :-(
so we jumped at the opportunity to get out in the fresh air today with a walk and some frisbee at
Golden Gardens
some went a bit further with open air tai chi
(at least I think that's what it is)
while others were just ridiculous.
I mean, we're 47°N and it's February :-)
Waiting for buses
The timetable for my bus changed at the weekend, as too did the route, which made for a slightly confusing trip to work today (made worse by a substandard edition of TWiT ).
The sunset in the pouring rain this evening while waiting
for the bus home made up for it.
Oh, and I got home to the news that
Sammy the Salmon
has, most probably, saved the school.
Sweet.
Monopoly on a Sunday afternoon
A blur of frantic activity as H strives once again to dominate
the family monopoly championships.
Math homework was never this fun when I was six;
but then I didn't get math homework when I was six.
Not what it is
Smile of the day.
Warning sticker on a car door cup holder
indicating that contents in open cups may spill.
IMHO depends very much on the driving style of the driver...
Team Zune
Music, news and opinions on the go. Cool.
Wireless sync when I'm suffering from a cold and banished to the spare room. Cooler.
Being part of the social? Haven't figured that one out yet.
Also means I'm not nicking Fay's iPod when I get the bus to work!
Super bowl!
The
Super bowl
is, for some reason, rather big here. Big enough that you'd want to take advantage of the lack of crowds and head for the slopes
(assuming you could avoid the
dynamite being dropped from choppers
).
F celebrated in traditional style, with a case of Bud.
King
of
beers
indeed.
fun at the park
H had a party so we headed off to the park for some excitement with the ' big tree ', ' boy eating tree ' and ' spiral staircase of doom '...
...followed by a pit-stop at the coffee shop for chocolate cake. Result.
bike man
F is getting pretty speedy, the trick is going to be getting the training wheels off without him noticing...
cottage lake - frozen (just)
Or at least frozen enough to have fun with the boys skimming stones and chunks of ice across the surface.
I *love* the sound of skating ice in the mornings.
snowtime
snow for us means a bit of fun in the garden/yard with mr. vader
but snow also means I90 closed due to stuff like
this
and
this
small walk in the snow
Admiring the views from above the cloud base, well, some of it.
The snow man was purely an exercise in keeping warm.
Sitting on cold snow while scoffing some lunch was probably a mistake.
Local advice told us that the most important decision when going into the mountains is the correct selection of foot ware.
Some foot ware however is rather fussy about the selection of hiker.
50 years of Lego
For the boys every day is a Lego day, so the fact that Sunday was the 50 year anniversary didn't have the impact it appears to have had on some .
From the top: Lego corner; AT-ST (aka walker) ; Imperial Landing Craft ; X-Wing Fighter .
bizarre is vegas
Domestic departures at SEATAC has this great picture view window, the sky is always amazing to look at from here, even when it's 18% grey .
By contrast, McCarran International in Vegas has slot machines. Nuff said.
I stayed at the Venetian — the worlds largest hotel — and the view's weren't too shabby either.
Oh, and the hotel has it's own version of the Grand Canal , complete with singing gondoliers .
Thankfully traveling for work is less frequent than it used to be (! :-)
Yard work helper
A couple of jobs needed doing. F helped, so they took a while longer than expected :-)
Fun with puddles
The boys were left to play today so we knocked down a couple of levels on Lego Star Wars and then headed down to Cottage Lake during a break between showers.
After a circuit round the park and a spot of 'Star Wars Tag' in the deserted play area, we followed Finn's lead and went amphibious with the bikes.
Much fun.
More on flickr .
Planning
Plans for 2008 include bagging at least one of the
Cascade Volcanoes
.
Mount Adams
, at 12,276 ft, is likely to be our first target but the real fun will be the training hikes.
[Pssst: If Fay asks, Rainier and Baker are not on the agenda ;-)]
