From the Mouths of Babes in March

Dave:  Last one is a rotten egg.
Robin: Hey!  I'm the only Robin egg.

Linus:  I get to choose the flowers because I'm the best at it.   (Buying flowers at hospital for Grandma after knee surgery)

Robin:  I need my guitar.  Where's my guitar?

Cell Phone Rescue Mission

I swear I don't know what is happening to me.  I am becoming so absent minded.  Friday I just could not seem to remember my cell phone.  I left my phone at home when I went to work.  That evening I drove Linus and two classmates all the way to West Seattle for a basketball game.  It was cool to see to be back at my first teaching gig, Our Lady of Guadalupe.  The gym didn't exist back then.  It was a great game.  The boys have improved significantly since the first game.

Linus and I met up with some of the team back in Shoreline for pizza.  Once inside the restaurant I reached for my phone to text Dave and let him know the plan.  I realized my phone was not in my purse.  Checked the car. Nope. Shoooooooot.

I decided to enjoy my pizza and cider and not fret for the moment.  I got home and Dave suggested using the Find my phone android app.   It worked great!  We figured out my phone was still in West Seattle, but no longer at the gym.  I correctly guessed that the gym manager had found it.  I sent a message to my phone screen to call Dave's cell phone number.  A nice man named Mark called less than 2 minutes later.

We were able to figure out I could get my phone back Saturday afternoon.  Thank goodness I didn't have a ton of plans!  Nothing like a trip to the far reaches of West Seattle from Lake Forest Park.  Traffic was on our side.  The kids napped in the car. 

I felt so lost without my phone.  I keep notes on my phone that I didn't want to lose, like a list of books I want to read (there's like 20 books).  Having safely retrieved my phone, I took the kids on a little tour of  West Seattle.  "Look kids! There's the sketchy apartment on Delridge your dad and I lived in when we first got married!"

We went to the Junction for cupcakes--it was interesting to see what was still there, what was gone, what was new.  I love the free parking of the Junction.  Ballard could learn a lesson here.  I thought it would be fun to go to Lincoln Park.  I was disappointed to learn that the zipline was gone while the playground undergoes renovation.  Luckily, the beach did not disappoint.

Seattle is the best sometimes.

The kids each found a cool stick they liked.  We skipped rocks, hopped along driftwood, and had a grand time.  Once we got to the pool, we headed up the trail. Robin did great although his lack of balance was nerve wracking.  The kids loved hiking trails, identifying plants.

Eileen discovered this tree root and declared it a "snake eating an elephant."

While I'd rather not lose my phone again, I wouldn't mind another day trip to West Seattle.  It's a pretty great place.

Budding Young Paleontologists

These days it seems rare that we have a weekend afternoon that isn't already filled with something --sports, birthday parties, stuff.  I entrusted Linus to come up with something to do today that did not cost too much (he wanted to do iFly) and was something everyone could enjoy.  I was impressed with his Google search skills.  He landed upon Dino Days at the Burke Museum.  Linus was super pumped and quickly roused everyone to get ready and out the door.  I'm pretty sure that if I had suggested it, Linus would have recoiled in disgust.

Parking was terrible.  I had no idea they were building a new Burke Museum.  While I'm happy to hear it, it took us more than 20 minutes to find parking.  The people at the Burke have definitely upped the ante since the last time we attended several years ago.  We headed the online advice and bought tickets ahead of time.  A bingo scavenger hunt was devised to walk you through everything.  Normally, we skip that sort of thing, but the prize was a super cool plastic pith helmet.  It was all the motivation Linus needed.

It was neat this year how you could see real paleontologists at work behind glass and ask them questions.

Linus might not look excited, but it's all an act.

It had been awhile since we had visited the Burke Museum.   I enjoyed seeing the kids remember parts of exhibits and still get excited about the fossils. 

Young paleontologists at work.

Backwards hugs!

After we'd visited everything, Linus and Eileen wanted to go back to where real scientific illustrators were at work.  They got to try their own hand at it.

Dino Days was a big success.  No one had a melt down.  Everyone had fun.  Linus told me he thought he would make a good paleontologist some day.  I agree.