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I made it back to slightly chaotic Centralia a little before 1. I had breakfast and a couple lattes at Peter’s house before leaving at 10:30. Traffic was fine through Seattle, but in the usual places south of that. 

Once I was here we all ate some lunch then, with Chuck, went down to Borst Park to visit the house. The house is pretty impressive, but it was dark as the volunteers couldn’t figure out how to turn on the lights. August made it through the ‘tour’, then he and I went and played on the porch while Carly and Chuck looked around. 

We then all took a walk around the park and to the baseball fields, where they had watched some baseball the day before. Before we left, August had fun running and playing in the big grass field near the car. 

We came home and spent most of the afternoon inside due to the rain. However, at one point we went outside to the driveway where Vivian (home from a party with Cherie and Cassie) rode her scooter (without pants), Carly rode the skateboard while using an umbrella, and August played in puddles and watched Chuck shoot baskets. 

After dinner August was looking tired kind of early. Close to 8 I took him for a short (15 minutes) walk down the street to get some fresh air. 

Once he was asleep I helped Carly plan her first couple of units next year. We made some good progress in planning her units on innovation and its consequences. 

 

Reunited with Zinnie, in a very familiar shirt (I think I remember my brother wearing it as a kid): 

Borst House and Park: 

Back at the house: 

Playing in the rain: 

On a walk: 

The evening: 

From Thursday to Saturday I headed up to Edmonds to stay with my friend Peter and attend our book group meeting. So, not a lot of August here:

 

Thursday: 

I left a little 6:30 this morning and drove 4 hours north to Lake Roesinger to meet at Peter B.’s cabin for our book club meeting. I took all blue highways and only stopped once, at Cedar River, to hike along a trail for about an hour. 

I arrived at the cabin a little after 11:30. That all went well, and we left around 5. I had picked up Peter and his two kids and Chris. They had ridden up with Stacey but she had to leave earlier. 

We made it back to the house and relaxed for awhile, then drove up to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. 

From there we drove down to Edmonds and walked to the water, getting frozen yogurt along the way. Well, they all did. I was way too full. 

Back at the house I talked to Carly. Sadly, August was already asleep. But she told me that she and Cherie had taken August and Vivian to a couple parks to play, and that Cherie had bought a rocking cow (or pig or something – but not a horse) that was August’s size. He was a bit afraid of it at first, but after seeing Vivian and Carly on it, he warmed up and had fun getting on and off it. 

To end the day Peter and I watched the movie Whiplash, which was nominated for best film last year. 

August before I left: 

Cedar River: 

View from the cabin: 

Sunset at Edmonds thanks to the smoke from Canada: 

Friday: 

 

Peter and I walked to QFC for breakfast items before the kids were up. In the morning I skyped with Carly and August. We then decided to go on a bike ride with the kids along the Burke Gilman Trail. Thus ensued about two hours of preparing bikes, which included driving up to Harvy’s Bike Shop for a new tube and figuring out how to get four people and four bikes in/on his hatchback. 

But by 12:30 we were off. We drove to Matthews Beach on Lake Washington and started from there. We rode to Gasworks Park and hung out there for awhile. We then rode back and stopped at U Village and locked up the bikes. We looked for a place to eat and ended up at a teriyaki place right outside the village. 

We then rode back to Matthews Beach, finishing about 4:30. 

Peter and I put on some of his old jazz cassettes (mainly Red Rodney and Cannonball Adderley) as we’d been talking about jazz after the movie the night before. As we listened to that we started a game of Killer Bunnies with Micah. The game was paused for dinner and resumed afterwards. Took about two hours thanks to the four expansion decks Micah has. 

In the late evening Peter and I watched the Hal Hartley film Simple Men from 1992. I particularly liked the Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo on the soundtrack. But also a very funny movie and holds up pretty well 20+ years later. 

August and Carly had gone to Borst Park during the day. He slept 12 hours the night before and then took a two hour nap during the day. Vivian must be wearing him out. But then he stayed up until at least midnight. 

Riding the Burke Gilman: 

Hanging out at Gas Works Park: 

A pretty smooth day. In the morning I took August for a walk while Carly packed. We walked north to 87th, playing ‘I Spy’ as we went. We crossed paths with a woman with a boy in a stroller heading the other direction who was also playing ‘I Spy’. 

We walked over by Top Ten Toys and then south, then did a lap from 78th down to 76th to smell more flowers. 

We got home, finished packing, and got on the road a few minutes past 10. We stopped for gas then went to REI. I tried on baby backpacks. Carly got some shorts and I found a nice hat for August for next spring/summer. 

Back on the road, we were going to stop at Hank and Judith’s shop. Carly was driving. But August fell right asleep so we kept going. He slept all the way to Centralia. 

He woke up when we stopped the car, the was pretty dazed for the first several minutes with Vivian. But he came around and they had a great time the rest of the day. Playing in the sandbox was a big thing, as was playing with water on the deck. 

I made a run to Safeway. Later, I made banana bread. August ate all of my cooked carrots and several bites of my mashed potatoes when I got back from the store and had dinner. Cherie sliced up watermelon for him and Vivian and they ate a bunch of it out on the deck. 

While Carly took a shower, August and I played with the black fan on the bed. He would ‘relax’ against the pillows with the fan blowing on him, work on figuring out the dial on the fan, and push it off the bed. 

It was fun to hold Colin and see how much August has changed. Perhaps the most amusing thing of the day was how many times August called Carly ‘Tia’ or Cassie ‘Mama’. 

 

Morning walk. Note the bee: 

Thatcher’s rocking horse: 

Napping on the way down: 

In Centralia: 

Holding Colin: 

Carly took him for a walk in the morning again. 

We then headed to Edmonds. We visited my friend Sarah and her husband and two kids, Lauren and Andrew. We ordered Thai food for lunch and Carly was nice enough to go pick it up. We visited for a couple hours. 

Next we drove to Marysville to visit my grandmother. August got confused because I was walking to Carly about “Grandma”. August heard this and thought we were taking about my mom. He got really excited, and then disappointed when she wasn’t actually there. So we ended up calling her ‘Grammy’, which seemed to work even though the word is quite close. 

The visit went really well, however. Grandma sat in her chair the whole time and wasn’t very communicative. But she did focus on August after awhile and once reached out to touch him. One of the women that work there brought out a doll that my grandma likes and gave it to her to hold. 

We then came home and I watched Thatcher while Derek made dinner. 

After dinner Carly, Andrea, and I took August and Thatcher to the pocket park.

 

Morning: 

With Peter and Kasiah in Edmonds: 

With Grammy: 

Beeping her nose: 

Back in Seattle: 

Pocket park: 

He woke up early, so Carly got coffee and took him on a walk to a pocket park on 76th where he had a lot of fun. 

We the had some time to play with Thatcher in the backyard and house. August pushed the lawn mower around and continues to love Thatcher’s fire truck. 

We then drove over to visit Stephanie and Ruby. We did tempera painting on the porch, played inside for a little while, walked their dog to the vet, and then walked to a nice coffee shop called Java Bean. August fell asleep on the walk and woke up during our stay at the Java Bean. 

August really got into the tempera painting. It was his first real focus on an art activity. He and Ruby were interacting a bit more (beeping her nose, for example) and it was good to see Ruby, who can be rather shy, really interacting with me and Carly. 

We went back to the house for awhile then drove down to Capitol Hill for dinner at Hank and Judith’s. 

We picked raspberries with Judith while Hank started dinner. August helped by dropping the berries in the basket. During dinner August ate salmon and lamb. Ethan showed up, and really entertained him by doing handstands and cartwheels in the grass. 

By the end, as he was getting tired, he was really excited by watching the bees and flies on the plastic the fish had been in, and looking in the barbecue. 

He made it home awake and took a bath before going to sleep. 

Morning:  

Stephanie and Ruby: 

Hank and Judith and Ethan: 

Back with Thatcher: 

Today we saw my friend Sarah and her family in Edmonds and then we had dinner with my family and relatives on the waterfront. 

Our first stop was in Edmonds at Sarah’s house. We ordered Thai food for lunch, which Carly went and picked up. August played a bit with Lauren and Andrew. I gave them small gifts from Korea, and the Tayo bus was a big hit with Andrew. 

From there we drove down to Marina Beach Park in Edmonds. August fell asleep as we got out of the car. We had about 40 minutes of sitting in the shade and reading before Paul showed up. My parents showed up a little later and August woke up. He was instantly thrilled because of seeing them but also because we could see the boat forklifts working in the marina. We walked over and watched the boat lifts for awhile, then went down to the beach where August worked on his rock throwing. My mom supplied him with rocks and I helped him work on his arm form, which he would then practice before throwing a rock. 

Dee, Grant, Cailen, Clover, and Darrin then showed up. We had a few minutes to visit, then headed over to Arnie’s for our 4pm reservation. 

We had a great dinner. Most of us got scotch in memory of Grandpa. And Cailen and I had the Copper River Sockeye, figuring that is what he would have wanted. 

August was full of energy, having just recently woken up from his nap. Carly spent the most time with him, but my mom and I both helped. He discovered door stops and played with those. 

When food came he did a pretty good job of eating. He said his made up word for ‘noodle’ dozens of times, and also loved the dessert sampler that Carly and I got. 

After dinner we walked north along the waterfront. When we came to the part where you have to go on the sand we stopped. August played in the seaweed with my dad and we hung around that area for awhile, but about half the group didn’t seem to want to walk in the sand so we turned around. 

We went back to the restaurant area and stood around talking, with August as the center of attention. Eventually we went our separate ways. August fell asleep at 8 as we got off the freeway. We got him to sleep in the bed, but he woke up at 8:30 and wouldn’t go back to sleep. Eventually, I took him for a walk down 76th, then back up to Greenwood where we walked back and forth. He liked the view looking up through the trees lit by street lights. Eventually, he went back to sleep about 10:30. 

 

Morning: 

At Sarah’s: 

Playing with Andrew: 

Lauren reading to Carly: 

Family meetup at Marina Beach and dinner at Arnie’s: 

Watching the boat lift: 

Enjoying the weather and view: 

Teaching him to put on his shoes: 

Looking up at the trees on our late evening walk: 

August had fun playing with Thatcher in the morning. They both thought it was funny to throw shoes and a tea wrapper into the recycling bin. Before we left the house he figured out how to scoot backwards while sitting on the floor, and he stood on the scooter and held the handles while we pushed him around. 

We then headed to downtown Seattle. We parked at Pacific Place where Carly needed to do some shopping. August and I walked over to Westlake where we admired the fountain and played at the playground (which turned into just him walking around the square). We then walked over to Pike Place Market where we admired the fish, heard a busker singing Dylan’s “Rock Me Mama”, and saw the gum wall. He also enjoyed the busker drummer and piano player we heard on the way. 

We walked back up and waited for Carly at another store. While we did we listened to another busker across the street. 

The three of us then walked all the way to the sculpture park. August played with the stacking toys in the building there (same as we had played with at the DDP in Seoul) and walked around a little in the sculpture park. But as we passed the Calder piece he suddenly wanted up and promptly fell asleep. 

We continued on and found our main goal: the new sculpture, called “Echo”, by Jaume Plensa (a sculpture we discovered at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in England). A 40 foot tall elongated head of the nymph Echo from Greek mythology, it didn’t disappoint. 

We continued walked up through part of Myrtle Edwards Park and then walked south along the waterfront. We bought sandwiches at a deli and ate them on a bench outside the aquarium. He woke up. We walked back to our car at Pacific Place, cutting through the market to do so. 

From there we drove up to Capitol Hill and parked on 15th, where we got a coffee and started walking. We stopped at the park across from Group Health to feed August, then continued to the green building and park at 15th and Madison to meet Carly’s uncle Hank. We played for 45 minutes – August liked digging in the dirt and playing I Spy. Hank was running late so we started walking again, but he caught up to us and we all went to a green area at Seattle U. 

We visited and August walked around and practiced going up and down stairs. hank left and we continued a walk around the campus. We stopped at the fountain to let August do a little wading and at the student union building to use the restroom. There, he walked around and admired the art and tried to play in the lost and found. 

We walked back to the car. It felt farther this time. By the end of the day (the hottest 4th ever recorded in Seattle) we had walked about 11 miles. 

We drove back to Greenwood and went to Ken’s Market where we bought meatloaf and pasta salads. We went back to the house and ate them along with the leftover salad. August then took a nice long bath and then went to sleep quickly after I read him some of Thatcher’s books. 

 

Morning:

Scooting backwards is a new thing:  

As was riding the scooter: 

Downtown: 

Sculpture park: 

The main reason we went to the sculpture park was to see the new Jaeme Plensa sculpture: 

Capitol Hill to Seattle U: 

Feeling bark: 

Stair practice: 

Meeting uncle Hank: 

Seattle U fountain: 

Back at the house: 

Starting to enjoy the bathtub on his own, at least for a few minutes: 

I woke up a good hour before anyone else in the house. So I had some tea and leftover cobbler for breakfast and did some catch up on blogging and reading. 

When everyone was awake Derek made French toast for breakfast. After which Carly, August, and I hopped in the car and took a short drive over to Stephanie, Nate, and Ruby’s house. 

August loved the house and yard. He played a lot with the kitchen set and toy blender and spent a little time in the wading pool. After he treated us to homemade scones and aero press coffee, Nate took August and me to the backyard and let August do some watering with the hose. I had to help control the hose, but August caught on to the idea of watering plants pretty quickly. 

Ruby also had a toy lawn mower and August loved that. We took it to the front sidewalk so he could push it more easily. 

For most of the time there August played pretty separately from Ruby. But near the end we were all inside and they were working together on putting stacking rings on a post. It was the most intently he has actually played with another kid. 

It was close to one so we headed back to the house as Anneka, Anthony, and Becky were coming over. August fell asleep so I stayed here while Carly and the three of them went up to Martino’s and picked up sandwiches and brought them back to here. We ate lunch, then August woke up. 

We then went for a walk, stopping by Bluebird for ice cream, and ended up at the Phinney farmers market. While Carly visited with her friends, August and I went into the neighborhood center and looked at an art exhibit, played in the drinking fountains, walked around the farmers market, and played in the playground. I showed him how to hop on the hopscotch squares, which he thought was hilarious, and then he tried to hop (which looks more like a stomp). 

We walked back to the house and said goodbye. 

Derek made a pesto pasta dish for dinner, which August liked, and Andrea’s parents came by with their own dogs to drop off Eddy. It was an exciting time – August wasn’t phased by the dogs – slightly marred by a woman who obviously needs some help yelling over the fence. 

Inside, August, Thatcher, and I played with a fan. August liked how it blew his hair and Thatcher would hold it to blow in August’s face. He would laugh and pat at his own hair. Very funny. 

In the evening, Carly and I took August for a little walk. We walked up Greenwood to 85th, and on the way back stopped at the Couth Buzzard (a bookstore) where a jazz band was playing in back. August was enthralled and we stayed for about 10 minutes. At that point he turned to Carly and basically told us he was tired and ready to nurse, so we headed home. 

He didn’t go directly to sleep, however, and stayed up to a little past 10 – basically his latest night yet. 

With Ruby and family: 

Ruby with the satchel we gave her: 

Walk to the farmers market: 

Back at the house: 

Watching some jazz: 

 

We have made it to Seattle. It made for a long, tiring day, particularly for August who seems to be going through Granma and Granpa withdrawals. But it was a lot of fun. 

August slept late, giving us some time to pack and hang out with my parents in the morning. Once everyone was awake, my mom made scrambled eggs for breakfast and we kept packing. 

We left about 10:30 and made our first stop in Wenatchee where we dropped out car off at Jiffy Lube for an oil change. We walked over to Hastings and had shared a mocha and let August play with some of the toys while we waited. We went back to Jiffy Lube and the car was done and we were back on the road. 

Our next stop was McDonald’s in Leavenworth for a quick lunch. Despite the quick visit, August still ended up playing in the water from a faucet attached to the building, using a salad bowl lid as a toy. 

Somewhere around Monroe he fell asleep and slept until we parked at Ken’s Market. While Carly picked out some ice cream and snacks, August and I smelled the flowers and coffee and named the fruits. 

We then drove to Derek and Andrea’s. Thatcher and August got off to a good start. They played in the house for awhile and then we all ended up in the back yard, where Thatcher introduced him to playing in the mud. 

Derek made delicious shrimp and tofu tacos for dinner, after which we all went for a walk to a pea patch. Once there they played on the grass hill and in a rocky area for awhile before we headed back. August was obsessively pointing out the hoses and sprinklers that each house had. He is also, apparently, really into pointing out basketball hoops. 

Back at the house Carly gave him a bath upstairs. Despite looking and acting tired, however, he bounced back from a first attempt to put him to sleep. He finally went to sleep a little past 10. 

He is doing pretty well with their names (Andi, Dee Dee, and Atcher) and can point to them. He is also now picking up on ‘no’ and repeating it. He apparently had done this with Carly a couple of times, but I just heard it today. 

 

In Chelan: 

Seattle: 

Pea patch:

Sunk cost fallacy aside, we made good use of our Discovery Pass while in Chelan. Alta Lake was the fourth place we used it. 

We started our day by going to Walmart to try and get our oil changed. After dropping off our car and walking around for 30 minutes, we noticed our car hadn’t moved. We went to check only to find out the guy that would work on our car was coming in an hour late. So we left. 

We went home and my mom made waffles, fulfilling one of our eating goals for the summer. He then had more fun shoveling sand on his granma’s legs. 

We then packed and headed out to Alta Lake before it got really hot. We had a great time up there. It was mainly empty. Carly spent a ton of time floating in the water. And August played in the water a bit more than he has done at the city park. When he got tired my mom and I took him for a short walk and he fell asleep. We went back to our shaded spot in the grass and I read for the next 90 minutes as he slept in the carrier. 

After he woke up and played a little more, we headed home. But first we stopped at the Rest Awhile fruit stand in Pateros and for milkshakes. August got to try peach, raspberry, and blackberry shakes. And he ran around, most interested in a broom, a bucket with cherry pits, and the display of sunglasses. 

Back home Carly and I spent a lot of the evening packing up. But for dinner the whole lot of us walked up to the taco truck to pick up food. We came back to the house and ate out on the deck. August sat with us and ate a little of our food, but mainly went for the spaghetti from last night. He was looking quite orange by the end of it – not all of which had disappeared by to end of a long bath with Carly. 

 

Morning:  

Playing at Walmart: 

Laughing: 

Alta Lake: 

Milkshake on the way home: 

Home: