Vacation, Day 7: Panda and the Pool

And so ended our vacation. Day 7 was pretty much back to normal - up early for first service and then home. Another spectacular sunny day, blue skies all around. Worked on stuff around the house and did some cleaning. Panda Express for lunch as a final hurrah. And now back to the dieting and strict financial controls of normal life. We talked at lunch about how the week went and Monday seemed to be the best day for all of us, followed by Friday and then Thursday, marred mostly by the Carl's Jr. experience. Wednesday didn't really count and Tuesday, which was supposed to be the day most directly planned for the children, especially Ben, turned out to be the low point of the week. (We can only hope for a renovated - but not remodeled - Children's Museum in Seattle since the one in Tacoma moved and opted for the open floor plan last year.)

Is Panda talking about our anniversary trip next month?

Vacation, Day 6: Menchies

We began to ease back into non-vacation life. We got up and hung out in the kitchen together for breakfast (that was cool, we don't do that enough under normal circumstances) and then Lori left for an engagement and I hung out with the children. Ben was way too hyper today and eventually I moved him to his room to play up there. Rachel alternated between cleaning her floor and playing on the computer. I used a timer that would lock the computer after 10 minutes and so she'd come back up and put away everything that I'd put in the hall. By the end of the day, her room was ready for vacuuming. While she was cleaning, I also read to Ben, but he couldn't even keep still for very long for that.

Vacation, Day 5: Lunchbox Laboratory and MOHAI

Day 5 was a spectacular day. Sun was beaming, blue skies all around. So we headed north to Seattle. Because of timing, we ran a few errands in town and then went up and started with lunch. Lunchbox Laboratories (lunchboxlaboratory.com) was on our to-do list, but we weren't sure if it would be during Vacation Week or next month's quick anniversary trip.

We drove up, found it, found a great parking spot and went in. The place has a fun look to it, neon test-tubes and burgers and the area between the bar and restaurant had a wall above the booths that was made of classic metal lunch boxes suspended on horizontal metal rods. They even had the yellow Snoopy lunchbox. I have the red one from when I was growing up and I've seen plenty of yellow ones on eBay, but never a red one. Anyhow, I digress.

One of the things that sold it for me was "Dork Balls" - fried balls of duck+pork. They were gone so quickly I wasn't even able to get a photo. Lori and I shared two great burgers - The Smoker (beef, havarti, bacon) and Truffle Love (beef, swiss, bacon, black truffle mayo) and Rachel had Grilled Cheese. Rachel had fries (shoestring, very crispy), I had sweet potato fries (so good) and Lori had tots. Rachel and Lori shared a Reese's Peanut Butter (substitute chocolate for vanilla) Shake and a I had a Crunched-Up Kit Kat shake. Both shakes were tasty.  I would like to go there again.

MOHAI was a late-add to our list of options for the week. Lori didn't know they had opened their new location in South Lake Union but when she found out, we penciled it in. It was a struggle to get to and from due to construction plus typical Seattle traffic, but parking was easy enough, a nice short walk through a park, and the museum. When you walk in, it feels open, possibly sparse. Along one wall are a number of Seattle icons, such as the Eddie Bauer stuffed cougar, the Rainier Beer and Ivar's Clam costumes from their ads and the Rainier beer's "R" from its old brewery. (You'll see a "T" there now as you drive north into Seattle for Tully's as a nod to Rainier.)  You also see the Lincoln Toe-Truck (a pink tow-truck shaped like a foot, used for years in parades and advertisements) and the Huskey helmet car, also from parades. And then a 1924 Truck from the Kenworth Truck Company.

Along two walls are a draped section that will be the Bezos Innovation display eventually. Right now if you peak around behind the curtain there's nothing there yet. Jeff Bezos could probably just kidnap famous people from around Seattle and just make them mill around in the space greeting people.

Vacation, Day 4: Foss Waterway Seaport

Day 4 was a rainy, overcast day. A perfect day to be inside. We headed south to the Tacoma Waterfront, to a new museum. Tacoma has a large port, but over time, it's moved to its new location. The older port areas along Ruston, Dock St. and Schuster Parkway have mostly given over to museums, parks and restaurants. There had been an old port building, over a mile long. Part of it burnt down and what was left was probably going to be torn down as well, until it was saved. They shaved off the front and replaced it with a wall of windows, removed the pier and flooring and replaced it with concrete and now it's a new museum. They also fortified the structure itself with new steel beams. The testament to steel, there aren't a lot of beams, so you are still left with this rich, wonderful, cavernous space with lots of intricate wood beams. To enter in, you can tell it's still a bit of a work-in-progress, but there's still plenty to see. You start with a history of the building itself which is really pretty cool. Then there's a section of models and ships in bottles. There's lots of salvaged boat signs and mechanical stuff, some of which I'd be hard-pressed to even explain. If you look out the windows, you have views of the water, the trains, the hillside and the freeways hung from it and all the buildings of downtown up on top of the hill.

There are boats to look at, a boat to play on, lots to read. There are some interactive displays and a children's area complete with areas for pushing around boats (container boats and boats full of cars) and loading onto trucks (a mini-port, if you will) and a section on building bridges using K'NEX. Rachel would have liked to have spent quite a bit more time there. There's also a section that contains a bunch of ancient and contemporary tools so you can compare - like a massive metallic lamp with red glass and a tiny little red beacon (to mount on the side of your vessel) or a giant company and a tiny GPS device. That was pretty neat.

There's a bit of information on the Foss family themselves, but it doesn't have the prominence it deserves and will probably ultimately receive. (Thea Foss started a business renting boats and she and her husband Arthur turned it into a much larger business that eventually was heavily into tugboats and whose design is the design used by most tugboats these days.)

Vacation, Day 3: (none)

Because Ben had been sick the day before, we didn't do anything on day 3. We stayed home and watched The Hobbit on DVD.

Vacation, Day 2: Olympia Hand's On Children's Museum

Day 2 did not go so well... so the Olympia Hand's On Children's Museum has been a favorite of mine. Shortly after we moved here, we took Rachel. And by "we" I mean Lori and I and two of my college pals. It was great - with a ratio of 4 adults to 1 child, we got a chance to play ourselves. Children's Museums always have such cool stuff but children don't always appreciate it. I've suggested that they need "Kid-Free Nights" where grownups can come in and play with stuff without children. So this was a repeat from last year's Vacation Week. But since last year, they've moved to a new location and I can no longer recommend it. Essentially everything that could be wrong, is.

Starting with the parking lot. Getting to the parking lot itself is counter-intuitive with the car entrance far from the museum. That would be good, if it made sense on how to get there. The parking lot is small with tiny spaces and all of the edges are 2-3 foot-tall and made of concrete. So, you're all but guaranteed door dings or that you'll open your door into a concrete wall. It makes no sense whatsoever. The parking lot of a Children's Museum should be forgiving - large parking spaces, gentle edges, enough spaces and a well-marked (and protected) walkway. And it's a pay lot. But with only one place to pay, you'll most likely have to backtrack quite a bit to your car. (I said it was small - it's narrow.)

The museum itself is not autism-friendly, putting form over function. A beautiful, wide-open space encourages children to run and scream and be loud. Don't get me wrong - it's gorgeous - beautiful soaring space with lots of wood, but it's all open, essentially each floor has minimal partitioning and multiple hallways, it's difficult containing a child to a specific area. And in one case, a giant corkscrew slide from the second floor down to the first. It says that you're not supposed to go until the person in front of you exits at the bottom, but you can't actually see the bottom. So the first time, a bunch of girls jumped in and then Ben jumped in right after them and then I had to race down the stairs to the bottom, avoiding children and parents on the stairs, to make sure I didn't lose sight of him. The second time, he stopped short of the bottom and another children crashed into him. The water table has been a favorite of his in the past, but this time all he wanted to do was dip his hand in and then lick his hand. I tried keeping him out, but he did it repeatedly. And with no walls around, no matter where he was, he could easily get back there, so he did. Repeatedly.

Vacation, Day 1: Remlinger Farms

The last few years to save money and make it easier on ourselves, we've done stuff that's within driving distance. We've found that Ben has the best time when there's some predictability. This week proved that Ben's ability to cope has greatly improved over last year and it was exciting to see how well he did.

Day 1 was RemlingerFarms (www.remlingerfarms.com) in Carnation. There was a fair bit of driving in both directions but Ben did really well. So well that we left because the park was closing, not because we had run out of steam. We had been there several years ago for the company picnic but just on the corporate picnic grounds, not on the fair/attraction side.  A few days before the planned trip we also heard from my sister-in-law that their family had just been there and she thought it would be a good fit for Ben.

We Aim to Tease (@HiltonHotels)

So we booked a night at a local Hilton Hotel (Hilton Hotels are the official hotel chain of The Lamb Family) using HHonors points we earned from other trips and from using our Hilton HHonors VISA from Citibank. We've stayed at this hotel before - it's a very nice hotel.  Last time we stayed there, they put us on the very top floor - we had a balcony and a really large room that was decorated in the style that made us think of a luxury room on the Titanic or something. Really nicely decorated with a real period feel to it. It was awesome.

I know I shouldn't hold my breath - I won't always get the upgrade to first class, the town car instead of the shuttle van, the 800 sq ft suite instead of the 200 sq ft room I paid for (all things that have happened to me), but there's a small part of me that hopes to get such a nice room again this time. I know there's no guarantee, but you still hope. We don't get to get out much and it's nice to feel for a few hours like we're wealthy elite who get nice things.

But then I saw this on the confirmation... a link to what they call "eStandby".  Here's a shot of part of the website:

satisfied

Yeah, every post now comes with the "It's been too long since I posted." note.  Bah.

I'm on vacation, sort of.  I took the week off from work while Lori and Rachel are at VBS because last year Ben did not do well in the nursery for three hours while I was at VBS in a role that didn't have much to do except during the opening and closing. (Attempts to find or make work didn't really amount to much.)

So this year, I decided I would take the time off, spend it with Ben and do therapy-type stuff.  I always say I wish I had more time to do that, so this was the perfect opportunity to do it.

And what a great day it was.  

Vacation, Day 5

Technically the final day of our vacation, the Washington State History Museum.  When I was in Jr. High, we took the mandated semester of Washington State History.  The textbook was tiny and we studied the state's history 2-3 days each week and then watched Three Stooges movies the rest of each week.  So, needless to say, I wasn't expecting much from the museum we'd gone by a lot but never made it into.  I was quite surprised and impressed.  The WSHM is housed in an amazing building near the waterfront in Tacoma.  It has five stories (two stories of exhibits plus auditoriums and big spaces for field trip groups).  It seems like this is a well-funded institution.  

Ben showed signs of having had enough today.  It took a lot to keep him happy.

Watching Rachel explore these museums has been interesting, a mixture of impatience, genuine interest and a strong desire to share with us what she'd learned.   I wonder how I would visit museums differently without children.  I know that I skipped a lot of stuff, I wonder if I would move more slowly and read more.  Or take more photos.  This particular picture does not show the line of boys waiting to get on the stagecoach - it was incredibly crowded

Vacation, Day 4

Day 4 started with a medical appointment that couldn't be rescheduled.  After that, it was back on the 5 to the 599 and heading towards Seattle.  After going months without heading north, we've been in or nearly in Seattle all week and it's been awesome.

Our destination this time: The Museum of Flight.  One guide said that you should plan to spend 3 hours here.  I don't know how much we spent, but it was far more than planned and we still missed entire FLOORS of stuff.  There is just so much to see, so much to read, some much to just linger and regard. I'll post some photos on Flickr, but I'm sure there are already lots of good ones there as well.

This is sad.  This was part of a small boosters exhibit trying to get NASA to send one of the Space Shuttles to the museum.  The museum will not receive one, but instead a "trainer" - a wingless shuttle that never flew but was used for training in Houston.  If memory serves, no one will be permitted on board the shuttles, but the trainer will be open for walk-throughs, similar to the Air Force One and Concorde on display on the museum.  Boeing is putting the finishing touches on a new building for the space exhibit that was to feature a shuttle.  

Vacation, Day 3

Today we went to the Burke Museum of Natural History on the University of Washington campus.  Parking was confusing.  It could be clearer on their website.  But then, so could signage within the museum itself.  Anyhow, it was full of lots of cool stuff.  Dinosaur bones, the bones of a whale that were found here in the state that led to the discovery of a new genus of whale, lots of interesting stuff.

This is the thigh-bone of a large dinosaur.

A really large dinosaur.

Vacation, Day 2

Today started with homemade poptarts, courtesy of Lori.  Pie crust, strawberry jelly, powdered sugar+milk,  sprinkles.  Fresh from the oven.

Then, coffee with Ben while Rachel got ready.

Vacation, Day 1

We started the day with a tasty breakfast: a breakfast-sandwich with egg, sausage, cheese and pancakes.  Tasty.  Although not sure if that was overkill, considering lunch.  :)

The next was actually to be the Museum of Flight, but we got a late start and then the GPS led us to the closed South Park Bridge