Sweet Dreams

 She sleeps at the table. She sleeps on a stair.

 She sleeps curled up on a hard, wooden chair. 

Cora sleeps anywhere.

 

Chris recently told me he had secretly wished that our children would be the kind who fall asleep in their food. Ally never obliged; she's always been too busy to sleep. Cora, on the other hand, has become a very proficient random napper. A carseat nap after playing on the beach is quite expected, but this one came about mid-chew:

Posing with Flowers

I Love You More Than

BACON!

 But bacon is a close second.

The Rest of the Story. . .

After I posted our 2011 anniversary, Erin sent me a few pictures from their excursion to the Pacific Science Center. I figure they're worth sharing here so I don't inadvertently lose them in the depths of my e-mail account.

What a broad of 5 small children looks like. Cora and Thane must be twins.

Proof that Ally held the cockroach. Is she cracking a smile?

They also played with butterflies. Brave Ally looks a little stunned.

The day after our Seattle date, I stuck Chris on an airplane and sent him off to a conference for the week. The girls and I stayed with Mark and Erin so they could continue playing with their cousins. This is what I remember doing:

The girls played a lot of dress-up. All the kids also enjoyed singing, dancing, and running around (except Thane who was just learning to walk). Cora and Thane spent hours stealing each others' cars, climbing on the train table, taking apart Legos, and crawling up and down the stairs.

We took a trip to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. We watched one of their nature shows starring a lost dog and a GPS unit that took the owner all over the world. We also got an up close view of polar bears, sharks, and a fancy peacock (not in the exact same locations).

I also remember going to a home-schooling convention with Erin. (At least I think it was on this trip. Hard to verify it since I didn't take pictures.) And, no, I'm not thinking of officially home schooling my children. Erin wanted to go check out materials, and I was curious about what would be there. We loaded up the children and drove out to the Puyallup Fairgrounds. Since it was a clear day, we were able to capture an amazing view of Mount Rainier out the van windows. Once inside the convention, we were treated to two model train setups, a gymnastics area, a trampoline, old army vehicles and farm equipment on which to climb, and a plethora of booths with information and activities. The nerd in me took over, as I really enjoyed looking at the home science experiment stuff. Which reminds me-- somewhere around here I should have a package of magically-growing water beads from China. . .

After Chris came back from his conference we had a family date to the ballpark. When the Phillies are in town, you have to go! We'd planned to leave in plenty of time to avoid traffic, leisurely catch the mass transit train, and then explore SafeCo Field before the first pitch. We didn't factor in the apparent complexity of Seattle's transit options when you're a newbie. Did you know there are 2 different Tukwila stations for the Sound Transit-- one for the Sounder train and one for the Central Link light rail? We didn't know until we pulled up to the wrong one, bought tickets for the wrong one, and then realized no more trains were coming that night. So, back in the car we went, and drove through traffic to the other station to hop on the light rail.

We walked inside the park just as the game was starting. Chris and Cora quickly found their seats while I spent the top of the first inning in the walkways, waiting for Ally to improve her little attitude.

Although our team did not win in the end, we all had a good time. Even the ride home was enjoyable and glitch-free since we're now experienced Sound Transit customers. Instead of being squished like sardines, we boarded a new train that had plenty of room-- and we sat next to a couple who live in downtown Philadelphia. It's always a small world when you're a Philly sports fan.

Anniversary Flashback-- Seattle 2011

Today is our anniversary. Instead of posting a bunch of pictures from 8 years ago, I'm going to post some pictures from one year ago. Mainly because our wedding pictures are not digital, but also because I never got around to blogging about last year's anniversary trip. So come along with me while I load up the blog time machine and flashback to 2011. . .

We decided to drive out to Seattle to mark the occasion. Not only do we have relatives there (read "free place to stay and free babysitting"), but for years I'd always wanted to eat in the restaurant at the top of the Space Needle. Since we lived so close (only 4 hours!), we had to take advantage of Mark and Erin . . . and visit with them, too.


We left our children with their cousins and headed for the Seattle Center. We arrived early, parked at the grocery store after checking out the expensive valet parking option, and rode the elevator up to the Sky City restaurant. We dined on our food while watching the rotating city views below us. Thankfully it wasn't completely overcast, so we had some amazing scenery to look at. In case you're wondering, this is what we ate:

After lunch we walked back over to Whole Foods, bought some diapers to ease my mind about using their parking facilities, and then drove up some random roads to get another view of the city. We ended up on Queen Anne Hill and drove right past the High School that my grandfather went to years ago. We also checked out some real estate signs and saw just how expensive Seattle-with-a-view property can be. When we figured our date time was up, we called Mark and Erin to see where to meet them. They were running around the Pacific Science Center with 5 children under the age of 6, yet graciously told us to take our time and continue our date. Sweet!

*** As an interruption note: Ally says she really liked the museum, except for the part where the animatronic dinosaur turned and roared at her. She survived the encounter by hiding behind Erin and closing her eyes.
She is, however, quick to point out that she was very brave while holding a large insect in her hands that no one else was willing to even touch. I think it was a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. I imagine it looked something like this:

With the gift of additional kid-free time, we chose to go back down to the Seattle Center and visit the Experience Music Project. I was curious as to what the museum was all about, and Chris was excited about seeing their temporary Nirvana exhibit. We figured it wasn't a place we'd ever get to with children, so we bought our tickets and went inside.

I will admit that my curiosity about the museum was 100% sparked by its architectural uniqueness--anyone with two functioning eyeballs can appreciate its quirks. The guitar tornado in the center was pretty unique, too. Most of the Nirvana exhibit was kind of lost on me, but it was like walking down memory lane for Chris. I enjoyed myself by watching Chris enjoy it. We also walked through a "history of the guitar" section, a "history of select musicians" section, a Jimi Hendrix section, an Avitar the Movie section (which looked neat but and neither of us has seen the movie), a random hodge-podge of sci-fi vehicles section, and a "make your own music" section. Here is Chris messing around on the spin tables. He also learned to play the guitar and keyboard while we were there. He's such a renaissance man.

And that, my friends, about covers the excitement of last year's anniversary. Tonight we are planning on celebrating our 8th year of being superglued together by ditching our children at a friend's house and going out to dinner. I'm sure it'll be a nice evening, but so low-key that I'll probably never blog about it-- even a year or two later.

Thank you, Chris, for being my loving husband and overlooking all my quirks and shortcomings. I love you!!!