Ian the Explorer...

Another day in the Land of Perpetual Clouds and we woke up to SNOW!!! Doesn't that look great?

We also got to spend the afternoon exploring since Seleta was finally done with her class.

And of course there were the usual downtown large city freaks... But we made it to Pike Street again and explored some more.

... and caught the tail-end of a bridal shoot...

Our little longshoreman enjoying a free sample.

This is the weirdest Sushi restaurant we ever went to. You essentially sit next to a large conveyor belt and grab sushi as it passes by. At the end, they tally up the plates and charge you accordingly - different colored plates equal different prices. Odd.

We may not post tonight simply because we'll be getting packed and ready to leave tomorrow. So we hope you enjoyed the blog this week and we'll update with the last of the photos sometime this week. Take care!

Another Day of Rain

There wasn't an update last night quite simply because I was tired. But here's the latest juicy gossip on our favorite little hero. Wednesday we went to Mark's house for dinner with him and his girlfriend of two-years (no, that's not a typo). As you can see, it's an ugly house surrounded by ugly trees and so forth... If only I had the time to see his cabin in the woods...


I'm sure in the 80 (or 90) degree weather this doesn't look appealing to you, but imagine how comfortable the little bugger looked wrapped in his blanket when it was in the low 40's and either snowing, hailing, or raining outside...



The kid is serious 'bout his blue-boo's...


Dinner at a thai noodle place: Tao Noodles.

Friday, Ian and I visited the Pacific Science Center and had a blast. We didn't see nearly all of it so we may all go again tomorrow (Sunday).



What a mug.

We also visited the Sci-Fi museum on Wednesday. It was pretty good - even though the squeaky-voiced kid from The Simpsons tried to yell at me for tearing out the coupon out of the City Pass book "without permission." I also couldn't take photos, so here's a few. The one of the Enterprise is from the episode of "The Trouble with Tribbles." It was the model that could be seen outside the spacestation window.

There's also a photo of Twiggi from Buck Rogers and Muffit from the original Battlestar Galactica.


And here's a photo of Ian and I in front of the original Starbucks... Just within walking distance of another Starbucks. In fact, from the Monorail station to Pike Street (only 3-4 blocks), you pass 5 Starbucks and one lonely Seattle's Best. Like Rob Schneider from that SNL episode, "Coffee. Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee!"

After Seleta's class on Friday (her last class was a partial day on Saturday), the whole class met at Anthony's Pier 66 restaurant for a sunset dinner. Of course, you had to order before 6pm and sunset isn't until 8pm up here... and it also either rained, hailed, or snowed the entire time. Detect a trend yet?

Until tomorrow...we hope everyone is having a great week!

Mulder, it's me...

Greetings from the Land of Perpetual Sunshine! As you can see, the weather has changed in our favor and it's been nothing but sun, sun, sun... Just kidding. But it has rained less today and I saw my shadow twice.


Today we went to the Woodland Park Zoo and saw Lions (one was clearing his throat), and tigers (actually, it was hiding), and bears (all three Yogies were sleeping) - oh my!



We also got to see a bunch of Hyenas (or pronounced, "Hi-eees!"). Every time I see them, I keep thinking: "Mufasa!" *shudder* "Ewww.... Say it again!" Thanks, Whoopi. Ian liked the Hi-eees so much that he got a stuffed one that he is sleeping with as we speak.


What was cool about this zoo was that you could view most of the animals from multiple angles and the exhibits were large and original (like, actual trees instead of plaster-like trees). The lion and hyena exhibits were actually connected with a window so they could see each other through glass. Here, the lioness (or according to Ian, "Elise?") is walking over to "speak" to the hyenas about being loud first thing in the morning...

I loved the wolves! Ian thought they were all Tank. Here's a photo of a white wolf... peeing... and looking at me... just like Tank.

Believe it or not, this is part of the bear exhibit... Not bad. It reminds me of those old beer commercials. Unfortunately they were all sleeping and Ian didn't believe me that the snoring ball (i.e., 2500 pound ball) of brown fur was an animal.



Ian couldn't see the Otters - they were sleeping in since it was cold - so he decided to take the big brass one home.


... Um, don't ask...

We also got to meet up with Mark and he gave us a tour of his office. It was cool... It was a really awesome plain building containing plain white hallways with tan trim leading to plain white offices with tan trim... Of course, there was that one door that had the nameplate reading: F. Mulder and D. Scully. I asked about it but Mark said he'd have to kill me and plant a cancer-causing tracking device in the base of Ian's neck that would later make him the target of a massive government cover-up involving a chain-smoking reject from the movie, "Goodnight and Goodluck."

As soon as Ian got to Mark's desk, he immediately sat in the chair and picked up the phone... That's my future little bureaucrat!

Tomorrow we're off to the Sci-Fi museum and Mark's house for dinner... Take care!

Greetings From Seattle!!!

I apologize now if this doesn't make much sense. We're all exhausted and I ain't proofreading it. You all just wanna see photos anyway.

Howdy everyone! We're alive and well up here in Seattle. We had an uneventful trip so far and Ian's been handling all the changes with ease. Heck, he even got to meet the Dalai Lama (sorta).






We left Burbank Sunday and were lucky enough to have a flight where Ian got to stay in his carseat. He handled the flight great but was a little unsure of the takeoff with all the changes in g-forces and the vibrations. Other than a quick paniced look, he never cried or fussed. We landed in Oakland on time but our flight to Seattle was 30 minutes late due to our plane having to be replaced due to some mechanical issue. This gave Ian time to run around, make some new friends (a few that didn't want to be disturbed as well), and have lunch. Unfortunately, the flight was packed and Ian had to sit in our lap(s) for the second half of the journey. Again, he handled it well and Seleta's planning had it timed that he slept through the flight and woke up in time for the landing.

After getting our bags, we picked up our rental (an '07 Trailblazer), and made it to the hotel around 3pm. Ian immediately picked out HIS bed... Shame it was the wrong one! ;)



Later, we met up with his Godfather, Mark, and we got to have dinner together. Later this week, we may run up to his cabin and play in the snow.




Today, Seleta started her class (she's got fellow students that came from as far away as Australia and South Korea) while Ian and I checked out the area and went to the Children's Museum. This week is a big week for Seattle since the Dalai Lama is visiting and speaking at various places. His first stop today was the Key Arena - next to the Children's Museum. So as we were walking up, he was walking in. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera handy. But during lunch, we got to sit, eat Chinese food (no, not because of the Dalai Lama), and watch the Dalai Lama speak on a big screen TV set up in the food court. It was pretty cool.









Tomorrow, we plan to maybe head to the zoo - depending on the weather! Just kidding. Apparently the saying up here goes, "if you can't do it in the rain, then you can't do it."

Gotta say, though, that it's been weird. To go from everything being blue and brown to everything being gray and green. I also can't figure how it's possible for it to be so dark during that you have to use your headlights all day and yet it stays lighter outside much later (like 9pm). And that if a bridge floats ON the water, is it really still a bridge?

More photos later...