Weather Update and Living Conditions

I am laying on our couch in complete darkness for fear that any extra light might emit heat and add to the 90 degree home in which I currently dwell. The only way for me to see beyond a few inches in front of my face is to shine my handy I-Touch, from which I type, around the room. I told Ben it seems like a scenario found in a horror movie.

Today was hot.

However, I did find ways to escape the heat:

1. Have a friend who is smart and stays in an air conditioned hotel when it gets above 100. Thanks Shannon.
2. Invite yourself over to friend's hotel and reap the benefits of the hotel pool!
3. Eat out. Ben and I found out with our friends Tyler and Stacy, that everyone has this same idea. The mall's food court was so packed it felt like the A/C was giving out.
4. Go to the movies. Again, a popular way to stay cool, "Harry Potter" was packed tonight! We had to sit in the 4th row. (But it was 2 1/2 hours of glorious A/C!

All in all not a bad day...

It is the sleeping in a 90 degree apartment that I'm now worried about.

Sorry for the whining.

Go Mad Men Yourself! (with Mandy edit)

In preparation for the third season of Mad Men AMC has added a new website where you can create 1960's avatars of yourself. If you get the chance it's a fun way to kill a few minutes plus it will help pass the time until Mad Men returns August 16th!

Ben circa 1964
Mandy circa 1964

Heat Wave

Seattle is having a heat wave! It is currently 94.5 degrees outside (according to the thermometer at the house where I nanny) and 90.5 INSIDE!!! Yes, I am sweating just sitting here! My arms are sticking to the desk where I type. (Sorry Jamie, I'll wipe up my sweat!)

I know Seattleites are big babies when it comes to weather. 75 is about as hot as I can personally stand and 40 is about as cold as I can take it. So I know I'm spoiled to live in such a temperate area of the world. People are dealing with much hotter temperatures than this right now. I do, however, long for some air conditioning just a temporary break from the heat! It's just too hot!

Looks like I'll have to head to the mall or a movie theater if I'm going to get a break anytime soon. Check out our five day forecast!

Old School Frozen Custard

A few nights ago Ben and I went to Old School Frozen Custard, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood with our friends Tyler and Stacy. I was especially excited to try this place because whenever we visit JBLMR in Vancouver we go to their frozen custard place, Sheridan's. I should mention that it is important to call Sheridan's, Share-wa-dins as Miss Lydia refers to it! I also need to mention that my niece Lydia and I always get the same thing at Share-wa-dins, we get Duht n' Wuhm's. So I was hoping to get Duht n' Wuhm's at Old School Frozen Custard to keep the tradition alive!
Success!

They didn't have Duht n' Wuhm's on the menu but I was able to create it with one of their Concretes. (Basically a their version of a Blizzard.) I had vanilla custard with oreo's and a worm on top! Ben had vanilla custard with butterscotch mixed throughout. We loved the place!
Every night they have vanilla and chocolate custard along with a flavor of the day and lots of toppings/mix-ins. That night the special flavor was Creamsicle. They have a calendar online so you can check out future flavors of the day. Demmy and I are hoping to make a trip when they have Hawaiian Coconut and Mountain Blackberry.

Somewhere Out There... (Updated)

Natalie's dad informed us that the International Space Station would be soaring over Seattle tonight. All the stars aligned (no pun intended) allowing us a great view of the station right outside our apartment. Seattle's sunset happens so late in the summer that by the time the station passed over the sun's light was still reflecting on it. Making it look like a bright star gliding through the sky. It was pretty cool I must say! Ben insisted I take a video, although it just looks like a little dot. So if you are interested here you go:

Here is an article about the station with a link to check out when there might be a sighting in your area!

Edit:

Ben and I went out tonight to

look for the space station but

I think it was still to bright to

see anything. I should mention

that Ben's mom and dad were

able to see it pass over in Utah!

Here is the time for tomorrow's

sighting, it's supposed one of the best:

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Start looking West at 9:20 PM

it should be overhead at 9:25 PM

Thanks John for the tip!

When Does a Moment Become a Memory?

I embarked on a new project this weekend, one that I have been thinking about for quite some time. Ben is often commenting that he never gets to see all the pictures I take on vacations and fun outings. (Sound familiar mom? My mom and dad have this same conversation, probably daily... Scary...! :) Anyway, we do print and post photos on our fridge when we get the chance and I occasionally update the framed photos we have around the house. Unfortunately, I don't have time/money to do an album for every trip we take! So I've been trying to come up with another way to display photos around our house. I wanted something that I could change out often.

Then I remembered a family I once nannied for having a GIANT piece of plexi-glass in their living room. The plexi-glass was the designated area for the kids to hang up whatever they wanted. Every once and a while it was my duty to clear off the plexi-glass so it could be filled up again. I thought this might work for my picture dilemma... Ben and I went to Home Depot on Saturday and bought a 3'x4' (roughly) piece of plexi-glass and attached it to the wall in our kitchen. Then I went to work placing pictures all over the plexi-glass to fill it up! I removed all the photos from our fridge and added them, leaving our fridge a little less chaotic. As I was doing this I was thinking about how cool pictures are. Just looking at a picture from our latest trip to Salt Lake I'm able to transport myself back to that time. That got me thinking about the tag line on the back of business card:

I think the answer to that question is the minute it's captured. I love our little memory catcher hanging in our kitchen. Every time I'm in there I look and remember another fun time we've had!

Attention all nieces and nephews, new photos are always welcome and wanted for our memory catcher! We accept emailed photos too! :)

Happy Birthday Mames!

Happy Birthday Mandy, hope you had a great day today, I sure did. I know you don't like things to get all corny so I'll make it simple... I love you! Now is your favorite time of the year where you get a couple of months to pull the age card on me. This is the picture I see every time I open up my phone (that's why it's kind of blurry)and it always makes me smile.

Mandy's Birthday

Ben has been asking me all week what I wanted to do for my birthday. I'm a pretty simple, some might say boring gal, but I really couldn't think of anything in paticular that I wanted to do. Then yesterday the Seattle sun came back (after about a week of clouds and a few sprinkles) and I thought kayaking would be fun!We invited our friends Tom and Andrew and had a fun time out on the water this morning.The weather was perfect, there was just the right amount of sun and breeze!We passed by the boat we had our wedding/reception on! Uh... Tom where's Andrew...? :)

Sleep-Over!

A sleepover at Mae-Mae-Demmy's aka Mandy and Ben's has become about a semi-annual thing. As the kids get older we keep adding them to the bunch. Once Micah is about two we'll have 5 in the group.

Dinner Time! We had rice bowls with vegi's! Eating on the floor worked out well, since we don't really have enough room around our table for all of us!Winding down watching "Robots." I think the last kid to fall asleep was William, the youngest go figure! Thanks for coming everyone we had a blast!

Lyds-Bids and Micah-Man

My sister, Bree, has been in town this last week and we've enjoyed spending time with her and her two kids. Lydia was able to come over for a sleepover (pictures to follow) and met Mae-Mae at the U-Village, with her nanny kids several times. Mae-Mae-Demmy have been especially excited to spend some time with Micah. Since turning one his little personality has really started to come out.

Nona said Micah didn't really love the pool and that he probably wouldn't get very wet so we kept his shirt on. Micah thought... "Wanna bet?" Sweet BoyLydia and Demmy dancing!Lovin' his new phone.

The Fourth in Fremont

Ben and I decided to host a little party for the 4th of July this year. We have a great view of the fireworks from our rooftop, so besides food there was an additional incentive for our guests!

Ben and I don't have a BBQ (a traditional way to prepare food on the 4th) so we decided to do large party subs. We had three kinds, Turkey with an Avocado Spread, Italian with Salami and Prosciutto, and Turkey and Ham Club.

We had my Mom and Dad, Bree, Lydia, and Micah, and Tom, Shannon, and Andrew come over. The two older kids did sparklers before the big fireworks went off. They were a hit!The view from our roof, waiting for the fireworks to start!
My sister made her "Red, White, and Blue Tiramisu!" Yummy!

Wenatchee River and Leavenworth

Ben and I both had the day free today and decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather. Ben had never been to Leavenworth, WA so we planned a little day trip to the middle of the state.

We researched some hikes in the area and found one about 3 miles outside of downtown. It was the Tumwater Pipeline Trail, a trail that crosses the Wenatchee River and follows it for about a mile. It was a really easy "hike," probably more fair to called it a "walk." The scenery was beautiful and quite historic. Here is the history:

The Great Northern Railway abandoned its route over Stevens Pass and opted to go under the pass instead. It was too difficult to keep up with the snowfall on the tracks each winter. The exhaust-emitting steam engines were a problem while going through the long tunnel so the line switched over to electric engines between Skykomish and Leavenworth. The railroad built a dam to generate the power for the trains, but in the late 1950's the railroad switched to diesel and abandoned the pipeline and power plant. The trail starts at the site of the power plant and at the large iron bridge that used to carry pipeline across the river.

The bridge offers amazing views of the Wenatchee River and Cascade Mountains. We hoped to see some brave kayakers and river rafters floating down stream but no such luck today.Once we crossed the bridge we followed the trail through Tumwater Canyon. We reached a side creek at about the 1/2 mile mark and had to rock-hop across. Mae-Mae-Demmy aren't the most coordinated folks in the world so this was quite comical! As we continued on the trail we noticed swimmers in the river below. We broke off of the main trail and ventured down to the river to cool off. It was in the upper 90's at this point and we were HOT!The water was PAINFULLY cold, but dipping our feet in helped cool us off for a moment. The trail was covered with wild flowers and Maple and Cottonwood trees, that we hear come fall are beautiful shades of orange and red. As we continued on we noticed "Castle Rock" across the river. Obviously a favorite amongst rock climbers, see the white spec on the top of the rock to the right? One rock climber who has conquered and made it to the top!The trail ends at about 1.2 miles (more of a walk, than a hike! :) where a tunnel once bore for the pipeline. At this point we turned around and headed into town. Leavenworth is a cute little Bavarian town nestled in the mountains. It was very crowded with tourists today, so we only spent a short amount of time there. We had lunch at Baren Haus and each had a Schnitzel Sandwich!The homemade roll was fantasic! For a place we just stumbled upon we were quite pleased.Next we did a little shopping and then headed home! It was a great day despite being nearly 100 degrees outside!