The Bonsai Incident (with rhododendrons, too)

Warning: Anyone with aversions to bonsai trees should skip this post. Don't say we didn't warn you. That said, on with the story.

It all started with Mom's incessant googling for economical destinations to add to her "Seattle bucket list" of stuff to do during our vacation. The vacation part was mostly for Mom and the Muffins, since Dad was actually there to do official stuff related to his grad program. And so it was that we began to discover the crazy adventures open to an unsupervised Mom with a minivan. One of the places Mom googled was the Weyerhauser Bonsai and Rhododendron Gardens in Federal Way. The Bonsai section was free, and the Rhododendron section only charged for kids over 12. On our way there, Amanda asked about whether we could go into the woods sometime. Little did she know how close she was to getting her wish. Here are the Muffins standing in the midst of forest and big trees . . .

. . . on their way to go see some very small trees:

There were dozens of trees in the bonsai section, and Mom took pictures of nearly all of them, which she will gladly show to anyone who so much as starts to say "bonsai." However, for the sake of the blog, we'll limit the photo collection to an example of Mom's favorites, the ones with flowers on them:

While there were indeed dozens of bonsai trees, it nevertheless didn't take that long to see them all. Mom asked the Muffins if they were interested in checking out the rhododendron section, and they responded enthusiastically. We saw this nice little waterfall in the indoor conservatory:

Amanda found lots of fallen flowers on the outside paths that she wanted pictures with:

Really, it was a very nice woodland garden with plenty of photo ops:

But it was a little lighter on actual rhododendrons than Mom had expected for her admission fee. We did see these, but not many more. There were plenty of plants, to be sure, just not a lot of flowers. Whether this was the result of latitude-related growing season differences or zealous gardeners remains to be determined.

However, we were there in time for blue poppy season, which was definitely something new to us:

All in all, a fun outing, but with a few lessons learned. 1) Lydia is allergic to something Pacific Northwest. Not sure what, but apparently something in those woods, since she spent the next couple of days in hives. 2) Older Muffins make good stroller helpers, but they do have their limits. 3) If rhododendrons are what one desires in Seattle, one should check one's own neighborhood first. Consider this find right by our library just a couple of days after the outing:

(And that doesn't even begin to cover Mom's digital rhododendron collection from all sorts of places not officially labeled rhododendron gardens!)

Museum of Flight

Here we have Curtis, all settled in for a long flight, intently watching the inflight movie.

Or, there's the real story: Curtis was checking out one of the exhibits at the Museum of Flight at Boeing Field, our second official Seattle tourist destination. There were quite a few planes there, to say the least.

Amanda discovered the joy of "insert self here" photo ops while we were there. Not sure which famous aviator she's supposed to be. 

Overall, the kids' section was most popular with the Muffins. There was a model helicopter to sit in.

And, even better, there were a couple of small real planes with open cockpits to explore.

In all fairness, though, we must acknowledge the suffering of the youngest Muffin, who frequently found herself contained in the stroller against her will.

And so, as Lydia got sadder and nap time got closer, we left one air field for another, making sure to get Grandmother to the airport in time for her flight home to Grandfather.

Pacific Science Center

Here we have our first official tourist destination in Seattle:

Not the Space Needle, although we were obviously near it, but rather the buildings visible below it. Our destination was the Pacific Science Center. Here's the Muffin clan on the way there:

One of the first things we saw when we got inside the science center complex was this set of dinosaurs, which immediately convinced Curtis that he was headed for a good time.

There were also interactive water features in the courtyard, like this giant stone ball. The kids all had fun moving it around, once Dad showed them how.

They also had fun with the water jet games.

Once we actually got inside the buildings, Jared found a nifty hide out for building big stuff.

In the same area was a water table, along with lots of other little kid play things. We were fortunate enough to have Grandmother visiting at the time, and she kindly stayed with Lydia in the play area while the rest of us explored more. Lydia was quite pleased with the arrangement.

Jared found a giant caterpillar to ride in the bug area.

The Muffins also had fun building bugs with Dad.

There weren't a lot of fossils, but there were several animated dinosaur models, as well as this giant footprint, which Curtis thought was pretty cool.

Remember how we left Lydia in the play area? We couldn't help but take a picture of another Lydia we found on our explorations . . .

Dad took Jared and Amanda to a combustion demonstration, to their great delight. They still occasionally yell "Combustion!" out of the blue, just like the combustion guy did. Aside from that, though, the butterfly room was probably the favorite exhibit. Here are a few of the ones we saw:

King Tut and his stuff were also on display while we were at the science center, but let's just say the special attraction cost was extremely prohibitive. Nevertheless, we can still say we were at the museum with King Tut, and we saw his picture, too, first all around the museum, and later on bill boards all around town.

Our Summer 2012 Neighborhood

Last time we announced our "epic" summer vacation. How big is epic? So big that we found a house to camp in while we were there, since it was cheaper than a motel for the length of our stay. Truly epic, yes? Our destination was Seattle, and our summer digs were in the Beacon Hill neighborhood. And now for a little tour of fun things around us (note that everything featured in this post was less than a mile from our place). Here's a terrace garden we passed by a lot:

Note the stadium, Puget Sound, and big buildings in the background at this intersection we passed during one of our walks (and transit fans can note the trackless trolley wires).

This park had perhaps the smallest playground we've ever seen, but it was fun to discover anyway.

Also in the neighborhood was Katie Black's Garden, a small Japanese garden that was donated to the city after Katie Black's death. The kids had fun exploring the winding paths.

One of Mom's favorite things about Seattle is all the flowers everywhere, like this garden patch. A large part of the photos Mom took this summer were flower pictures.

Yes, it's a bus stop, but see the map on it? Most of the bus stops around the city have local art of some sort on them, especially in the more residential areas. Just fun to see.

There was a great little library nearby, and best of all it was part of the citywide library, which meant we could order in whatever we had a hankering for. The kids loved to visit, and the older three Muffins all completed the summer reading program and earned a book as a reward. For the record, Curtis was the first to finish; he loved having people read to him.

The crowning jewel of the neighborhood, though, as far as the Muffins were concerned, was definitely this playground. Not only did it have swings and this fun climb/slide structure . . .

. . . it also had spinning things. There was this thing that one or two kids could spin on:

But even better was this merry-go-round, where the kids spent quite a lot of time over the summer.

Our little neighborhood also included easy access to public transportation and a some small stores within walking distance. The home we stayed in was probably the nicest one we've ever lived in. All in all, we loved it.

Summer Vacation 2012 Begins

The big event for our summer (aside from the upcoming baby, of course) was our summer vacation, an epic adventure which will unfold in several installments. Today we start at the beginning, with the Muffins buckled into the minivan for a long road trip.

Our first major stop was the Discovery Center of Idaho, in Boise. Here the kids encountered all sorts of fun science toys, including this chair-and-pulley thing they had fun lifting each other with.

Amanda bravely tried out the bed of nails (and lived to tell the tale).

Curtis loved floating balls on air.

All the Muffins loved the kid-sized play grocery store. Mom took tons of pictures, but this one of Lydia in action zooming through the aisles in her pink jacket with her tiny cart pretty much sums it up. All in all, definitely a Muffin-approved stop.

Farther down the road, an unscheduled bathroom break gave us a new adventure. The closest town at that point was Baker City, Oregon, and we ended up getting off at the "other" exit, i.e. the one that wasn't loaded with convenience store bathrooms. As we cruised through town, we came across the library, which in addition to being open and having bathrooms was conveniently located by a nice park. The park included this interesting merry-go-round, and, even better, Daredevil Dave, the guy in the brown jacket. He kept the merry-go-round going, to the delight of all the kids, usually while simultaneously performing stunts, such as hanging by his feet from the bars in the top/center area of the merry-go-round. Favorite overheard Dave quote: "Hmm, what other stupid things can I do?"

All in all, a fairly decent road trip, considering all the Muffins and how long they spent on the go. As for our destination . . . stay tuned for another installment of Muffin News.