On our way

We left SEA at 11:45 and 95 degrees. We were all so happy to be in the air conditioned car. And are even happier tonite to be in an air conditioned room in Idaho. Kat did great, 5 straight hours in the car and she played with her toys, read many of her multitude of books and was almost great the whole time. Course, she never napped, so she passed out instantly tonite in the hotel room (did I mention nice and cool hotel room?). We scored on the t room- not that it was cheap (it's prime resort country), but they had a free buffet of hot dogs and burgers and potato and macaroni salads. And beer. So that was nice that we didn't have to hunt down dinner and pay for it. And there's a free full beakfast, so we'll get more money's worth out of that. We went swimming in the pool. I believe there was crying when it was time to go (and the next time we walked by the pool as well).

Tomorrow, Bozeman. The next day should be Yellowstone, or maybe more accurately, the Beartooth highway, up above the NE corner of Yellowstone. It's supposed to be an absolutely spectacular drive (with the pass at 10,000 feet). We want to find out for ourselves if it rivals the Lake Louise to Jasper route (which is definitely not at 10,000' feet) but IS breathtaking.

Here's Kat and her new friend, the Mariner Moose (I got it free for signing up for the Seattle Times on weekends). She loves it.

Hot hot hot

Well, we broke 100 degrees today with the hottest temps ever on record in Seattle. Lucky us. We went to the afternoon Mariners game, and it wasn't that bad. We were in the shade and kept wetting a towel for cooling. I saw 107 on my car thermometer. I'm sure we'll all get a great night's sleep. We leave for Yellowstone in the AM. I'm looking forward to days in the air conditioned car!

Well, I'm on my second iPhone.....after 3 trips to the Apple store in the past week regarding the battery. I didn't want to go on our trip without having all of the potential power I can. Even though my appt was for 8:40 tonite, the mall and parking lot was PACKED. My thermometer said 98 degrees or so on the way there. No one seemed to me in a hurry to leave the mall. We'll see how the new phone works. Maybe I'll be able to e-mail the pics to here with the new phone. I'll definitely keep trying.

Beating the heat

I hosed down the boys. Then climbed in the kiddie pool myself. That definitely encouraged kat. And now I'm mostly dry and hot again. The sprinkler is next. Thermometer says 103 out (that's in sun) and a cool 81 in...... Tomorrow, an afternoon baseball game. Maybe they'll close the roof?

War paint

She had the markers out the other day...went right for her face. And Dan's legs. And the bottom of her feet.

Testing. To see if I can text to the blog (no pics to worry about).

Ben

Well, I'm trying to post from my phone and I'm not getting the pictures.... Will keep trying, though. I added the pics from the computer after mailing them to myself.

Trying to bury himself in the dirt to hide from the heat?



Sent from my iPhone. Sorry for any typos.

It's safe to say I LOVE the iPhone

Especially now that I've turned off the 3G network and the battery survives throughout the day. And it's now my official phone- I only have one to carry around. I'm on AT&T (as are almost all Americans with iPhones), so you can call me free if you are too. And if you have one and have cool apps to share, drop me a note. And I have the ability (though likely not the inclination) to text now. Same phone number, BTW. As of today, Dan is on T-Mobile with work. Also same #.

We survived Dan's absence last week and he had a great time exploring NYC (and sweating in the 90 degree, 90% humidity that NYC is famous for).

This week's activities look a lot like last week's, though never as hot. They keep claiming that it will be. I keep checking the weather on the iphone and the high for the day keeps dropping throughout the day until it matches reality. It says 80 for today. I doubt it. It also says 94, 97 and 95 for Mon-Wed next week. I hope they're wrong. But Top has Tillamook ice cream BOGO, can't be too careful with heat like that- must be prepared.

We went to Matthews Beach on lake Washington. But we liked the playground better as it was pretty cool out. I hadn't seen one of these merry-go-round things in ages and Kat had never,but she LOVED it. I suspect they haven't survived into the new age of kinder, gentler, safer playground apparatus.

Just now- that's a dog food container that she's sitting in. I wondered why it got so quiet. She spit out the piece she was eating when I walked in.....At least she's learning to eat her dog food secretly.

Can you say obsessed with all things related to dog food (and dogs)? Yes, that's a dog bowl on her head.This was blueberry picking. She can eat a lot of blueberries. I felt obligated to buy corn, pears and cukes from the farmer's market, as our blueberry bucket MAY have had a pint in it.....but probably not.

Awwwww. I love this pic.

We stopped at a garage sale after music class.....she loved her bouncer when she was little- this is a toddler version and she loves this too.

In action on the bouncer.
With her beloved Ben, who is eating dog food that she scattered all over the place. He didn't want it when it was in his bowl, but apparently his philosophy is NEVER turn down food offered by a two year old- even if it's just crappy dog food-they may stop offering and he does not want that to happen. As if that could ever happen.

While Dan is away....

Dan's been in NYC since Wednesday. I love the iPhone, as we can send daddy a pic at any time to show him what we're up to. The following pics are many of those we've sent to him. I have to ask Liza how to post from the iPhone itself. And how to save the pics without mailing them to myself.

We've been very busy participating in almost everything offered in our mom's meetups.

We've been to a concert in Kirkland and played in the water. I don't know why she looks so suspicious.
We've been raspberry picking. She really got it and spent all of her time picking and eating berries. And eating the beries out of the container where I had put them.

Feeding Ben bite by bite is a slow process- especially if you have to dip each piece of food in the water first. Apparently she thinks he's part raccoon

We went to the dogpark and the boys played in the water.

We went to the spray park and played in the water.

We've been at a playdate and played in the water.

We had lunch at a friend's.

We went to play at a bouncy house- always two paws up for that one!

I've been desperate to keep us busy and wear her out so she'd sleep great. Hasn't worked so well. The first night was great. Second night required payment of a bottle of milk. Last night was just painful. She was up at 2 and would NOT go back to sleep. Crying/screaming, etc. Mommy was NOT happy and we were up till 5. It didn't help that her room was 80 degrees- I can't open the windows, as I'm sure the neighbors don't want to hear hours of screaming (and she can scream). We watched some spongebob and I put her back down at 4:30, closed all of the doors/windows and turned on a book on CD for her and white noise for me and turned off the monitor. I don't think she bounced and cried for more than 1/2 hour before finally passing out.

Tarun's visit and Ann's visit And the beach

Tarun was here for a conference and Ann overlapped him by a day. Then she went on a 200 mile bike ride from Seattle to Portland in 2 days- that sounds sooooo friggin fun. And now she's back with us not looking even a little bit beat up from her trek (and lack of sleep).

Ann and Kat at breakfast yesterday. Daddy and Kat in the water on Saturday. Ann, before the ride, letting Kat try on her paper coat (which she gave to Kat after the ride) A series of studio shots.....as long as the studio is the dogpark......if they were real studio shots, her shirt might be drier.....and her hair might look better....

No pics, just an update on calling 911

And not an update from Kat, either. I'll post pics later this weekend.

As I sit up with Kat at 3:37 AM watching Sesame Street, desperate for her to go back to sleep, I figured I'd post a warning for folks to pay attention to exactly where you are when you are out and about in the event of an emergency that requires a 911 cell call.

We went to our neighborhood playground yesterday, and Kat choked on a Honeystinger fruit chew, which is apparently exactly the same size as her throat. I handed my phone to Ann from Calgary (who had been in town for an hour) and asked her to call 911, which she did, while I was hitting Kat on the back. Our neighborhood is like a rabbit warren, with street names changing each time the street turns and they are all numbers, and I had NO IDEA what streets we were actually near. She kept telling them the Tam'O'Shanter playground/tennis courts, but apparently there is an actual Tam O'Shanter park, and this was NOT it. Luckily we got the thing out of Kat's throat and she was fine, but we were still on the phone with 9-1-1 trying to tell them where we were. They still wanted to check her out.

I eventually had to go to the street to read a house number (and those folks were smart enough to list the house # AND the street #, as I still wouldn't have had a clue what the street name was). So my mistakes (aside from giving her the damn thing), were not knowing exactly where we were so I could relate it to another person and/or not having Ann run for the nearest house and a landline, as they then would have known immediately where we were.

The ironic thing was that I knew the EMS technology was not caught up to the cell phone GPS technology, and that we'd have to tell them where we were, but even with the help of the map on an iPhone (that showed the other park) I could not tell them physically where we were. It was awful.

So, you cannot rely on the cell phone alone, the GPS does NOT tell EMS where you are (and who knows, the call could get relayed somewhere weird, another town, another state), you HAVE to know where you are and if there is a 911 emergency, it's best to try to make the call from a landline, as it will shorten response and talking time dramatically.

As it was, we got the thing out and she was fine, and I never panicked, as I knew that help would be there shortly if we couldn't.....but I'm not sure that they would have been there in time. They knew that the emergency had passed, so they were not under lights/siren when they did come, but it must have been close to ten minutes.....

And one more tip from my mountaineering safety class, if you're out hiking, etc, put the LOCAL ranger station phone # in your phone, as that will also speed up response times, especially in the mtns, as cell phone calls have been known to get bounced across the country from mountains.

And get your CPR certification and keep it updated!

That's my advice for the day.

Independence Day and baseball game

The spacing is all screwed up...I don't know why and am too tired to fight with it anymore. Sorry.

Tarun is in town and today we went to check out the Experience Music Project (aka Paul Allen's money pit), a Frank Gehry designed creation. It is interesting.....and different.

Here's Tarun taking a pic of the monstrosity. Which also apparently was the place where psycho fans went to mourn Michael Jackson for the past 2 weeks. there were none there today, but there are chalk messages EVERYWHERE.

I thought this one was a riot....we love you so much we can't be bothered to learn to spell your name.....

On Independence Day we went to a huge Naturalization ceremony and watched 570 people from all over the world become Americans. Kat was dressed for it, but was not naturalized (she doesn't need to be, as she was made a citizen by the courts).

For fireworks that night, we went to an Aquasox game and watched their fireworks. Kat's first and she dug them.

Tonite's baseball game- the final score. Woodward pitched a one-hitter for the Mariners, which was pretty cool.

Kat, playing quietly on the way home, with one of the toddler apps I downloaded to my new iPhone. There's nothing like the glow reflecting off her little face in the dark! But she was quiet, unlike our previous ride home from DT SEA today, when she screamed he whole way home..........

Summer in Seattle

I don't know why the pics are on the right....

This is Kat's first frozen yogurt tube.....and it was bath day outside, so it seemed a good day to see how she did with it.

Yesterday- a slide and a pool......Rodrigo brought the slide to the pool's edge. I put it over the edge so they'd land in the pool. I think they liked it.

How many toddlers can you fit in a baby bathtub? I think about 2.5.

Kat and her Ben.

Hiking last week at Ratlesnake Lake...how could a toddler with a hiking pole go badly?

More Kat and Ben.