The Ferry at Bell-Square

Walter goes to hang out with a group of friends every Monday night and to make things easier for Padon drops him off at my work on the way. This is kind of a long trip for Padon. In good traffic it is a 1 1/2 hour drive just to my work and then to turn right around is boring and a long trip. It's not so bad if we take the bus because there are lots of people to meet and bus interior parts to taste. But this Monday I had driven to work and Padon pretty much voiced his frustration, irritation, and anger towards being put back in the car seat after he had already been sitting in it for such a long time. So to stretch our legs Padon and I went across the street to the Bellevue Square Mall to play on the ferry.

-
In Bell-Square there used to be a really large hard foam tug boat and a small ferry but now it is just the ferry; the tug boat has been removed (sadness). When we arrived at the ferry there were just the right amount of kids around for me to plunk Padon down on the carpet and let him explore to his hearts content without getting trampled.

-
At first he was a little wary, checking with me every few minutes or so but then with one grand belly flop he was estatic with this new place to play and be free.

He seemed very interested in the boat but it didn't seem to connect that everything around him was for him to play on. So I picked him up and put his hands on the boat and he was so pleased. He smacked the boat, laughing and shreaking. I love this love of textiles and textures phase!

There were quite a lot of kids still running around and one grumpy 4 or 5 year old who was quite offended that Padon's hands were in his way of walking around the edge of the ferry was sure to point out to me that Padon was in his way and didn't I realize he had already been doing this for some time? In other words, get your baby out of my way lady! So when it was definitely past the standard dinner time for kids and almost all the kids were gone I took the opportunity to plunk Padon down in the back of the ferry. He crawled all over smaking the hard, painted, foam, peering off the edge of the ferry and attempting to pull himself to standing above the mock carport. This was of course followed by lots more laughing and shreaking. I think had the ledge been a little deeper he would have felt more confident about leaning forward to pull his weight up but he kept pulling himself up halfway and then sitting back down.

We stayed until I realized that by the time we got home it was going to be his bed time. That was a mistake. He cried half the way home even though he had his bottle. I made a note to myself that next time we should probably only stay an hour.

We did have a really good time though! I totally didn't care I was in business dress on my hands and knees and Padon seemed to love it. The older kids were a little intimidating and I wished there had been more babies but Padon was still facinated with the little people around him. I think going forward we will go play at the Ferry every Monday night. Maybe we will even make some new friends to play with there!

Medelstede Roust and Rut!

We had our second annual Medelstede BBQ this past weekend and what a blast! If you remember last year we had the BBQ a grand 5 days after Padon was born and this was a lot easier and man the weather was MUCH nicer too.
-
This year after a lot of planning Walter (A.K.A Idris) and Jason (A.K.A Theodric) put together an event they named Medelstede Roust and Rut. They listed out games to play, created a complicated treasure hunt (including buried treasure), had war senarios planned, and organized a pot luck, as well as ordered a Port-o-potty (A.K.A. A Biffy) for the large number of people that would be attending, and got our back yard ready for people to play and camp.
-
Jason, his lady Octavia, Walter, and I spent a night putting together beautiful glass bead necklaces and belt favors as prizes to the victorious few who played and Octavia made nice black bags to conceal the paired necklaces.

-

Late in the morning on Saturday people started to arrive and it wasn't long before Walter and Jason were giving the break down on the day's activities to about 27 people. It was a much smaller turn out then we hoped for but still made for a great time.They started off with the War Senarios and just about everyone got into their armor. They had various events and the most fun one seemed to be the bucket of water. The object was to knock the water out of your opponents bucket, without breaking it, first. The not breaking the bucket part lasted for about 5 seconds but with ductape they were able to continue playing and had a great time doing it. It was so awesome that it was sunny outside because had it been like last year they would have been freezing; they were all so soaked.

Lara (A.K.A. Fiojleaf) and Walter (A.K.A Idris)

They also played a game where you had to stand on a plank and with 12 ft pikes try to knock your opponent off. They did this in a round-robin style until there was only one winner.

While the war senarios were going on Talon, Issac, Aiden and I went on the treasure hunt. We started off in the front yard where the first clue was stashed in the top of the fountain. There were 11 clues all together and at least 4 times I had to run to Walter and whisper something like "We have a red and green bush?!" to find we were way off course or had thought of something Walter hadn't anticpated. He had the boys marching all over the yard (backwards sometimes) which in the end had all of us tired and looking forward to the treasure.

They did find it in the end and were really good about dividing up the large number of belt favors we had made for all the kids we thought were going to come. The final prize lay stashed in the chicken coop for who could solve the riddle: "What box has no hinges, lock or lid, but within golden treasures are hid?" Issac got it was an egg and soon found a necklace hidden above where the chickens sleep.

To keep the kids an active part of this event we then had an egg race and toss. Our mistake was using duck eggs which are quite rubbery compared to chicken eggs. We learned you can chuck a duck egg pretty far and hard before it will break so it probably wasn't the best choice for a relay race where you were looking for a winner.The boys did have a blast though trying to and finally breaking the eggs. Thank goodness we only gave them 3.

Jane was awesome and watched Padon for me while I helped with the last of the kids activities, ran to get drinks for the kids, retrieved the prizes that were hidden away in our bedroom, and made sure everyone had everything they needed.

Everyone took a potluck break in the late afternoon and sat and talked about what they brought and how well they thought the war senarios had gone. They agreed that those that couldn't come were really missing out.

If you bring hotdogs, babies will come. Look out Aiden!

-

Walter and Jason ended the dinner by awarding belt favors to the victorious fighters who were impressed with the beads and coordinating charms signifying the event.

I took Padon out into the grass, which I believe he has done with Walter before, but I had never done or seen and it was fun to see his interest in the grass and twigs.


In the early evening everyone participated in a blind folded maze where your partner had to yell to you which direction you needed to turn in. But no matter how loud I yelled Walter could only hear his name but not the directions and was out before he had gone 4 feet. Craig (A.K.A. Dalich) and Laura (A.K.A. Ceara) were the winners and were awarded a matching pair of neckalces that complimented each other in the bead color. This was followed by an orange necking race in which a collison between my brother Patrick, my sister Jane, and Lara allowed Laura and Craig to win again. I missed the apple bobbing and eatting contest but Jane tells me Patrick and Katherine won and Craig and Laura won the final contest testing how well you know your mate.

-

I participated in the last contest where the gals had to stand in a line and feel the guys right hands guessing whose hands were their loves. Man I was a wreak inside that I had to touch all the guys (I'm seriously not touchy-feely) and that I might guess wrong so when I looked back over my shoulder to see that it was indeed Walter I had pulled out of the line I was so relieved I said a bit too loudly "Thank GOD!!" and hugged him hard which made everyone laugh. I was impressed that I could pick him out of about 6 or 7 guys. As a tie breaker those who passed the hand test had to see if their partner could answer questions about them much like The Newlywed Game only dirtier and again Craig and Laura won.

-

We ended the night sitting around a large fire, singing songs and chatting. It was a great event and man were we tired the next day.

The next morning we fed everyone who camped over a huge breakfast and by 12:00 everyone had gone home. Walter felt really good about how everything turned out and I think is already planning what he would like to do and would change next year.

Happy First Birthday Gregory!!!

Gregory is already 1 year old!!! Wow how time flies!

Walter, Padon, and I got the pleasure of spending the whole day with Greg on his birthday and what fun. We started off the day giving Greg our gift. A sweet ride on a Motorcycle Rocker/Walker/Big Wheels. Even though I couldn't figure out how to adjust the seat it seemed as though it wasn't needed anyway.

We had a great breakfast of pancakes and bacon and soon Sarah's house was filled with family; my Sister Jane and her boyfriend Jason, Jason's Mom Judy, my Mom, my Brother Pat, his girlfriend Katherine, Walter, and of course Sarah's husband Wayne. It just turned out that Greg's birthday also fell on the March of Dimes - March for Babies walk. My Mom had gotten us all pumped about going and it was a great opportunity to go out and do something together.

Padon immediately fell in love with Judy and snuggled on her and she couldn't get enough of all that delicious baby goodness.

We were late in getting out of the house and the bad, very cold, weather didn't make getting together all the baby things any easier.

Snow! It's April 19th!!!!

We packed the Dog's up since they were also invited on the walk and they got along fabulously in the back of Sarah's new and fantastic, big, blue, machine (a.k.a. family van).
We dressed Greg's stroller up with a birthday balloon, a Birthday Boy, pin and a crown that I knit him so his head could stay warm and everyone we passed would know it was his birthday.

But when we arrived to the front gate we found that not only were we late but we were the last ones in the walk. We grabbed a map, dropped off our donations, and attempted to find the 5 mile route around the Pt. Defiance Zoo. The March of Dimes people had already started removing markers and we made a circuit around the parking lot once and met up with a friendly lady, Tiffany, who was having the same trouble we were. Where was everyone, and where were we supposed to go?! We finally found the ending of the route and decided to walk it backwards until we ran into people.

The first and last marker that we ran into was the rewarding Hot Dog tent! It was lunch time and were weren't going to pass up on a hot hot dog as we made our way.
Surprisingly the people set to watch the walkers weren't too keen on us walking the route backwards but let us continue if we turned around when it seemed we had reached the end of the people walking. This ended up being good because it wasn't much longer before Padon started taking his cue from the mass of other small and cold children we had passed and started to pout and whine.
This was quickly remedied by tossing my ever interested and energetic baby up in the air a couple times and sitting him on my shoulders to bounce around as we "flew" down the trails and back to the group of people. He thought that was a blast.

We turned back shortly after and this time as we passed the hotdog tents and the people gratefully passing their surplus of hotdogs onto us (Yum!!!) a couple of gals offered to take a picture of us.


We went back to the car, packed ourselves back up and went back to Sarah's place where she fed us dinner.

We ended the afternoon watching Greg open his presents from his Uncle Pat and Aunt Katherine, Aunt Jane and Uncle Jason, Jason's Mom Judy, and my Mom.
The boys played together wonderfully.And finally it was time for us all to go home and have a nice long nap. It was a really good time and I'm glad we got to spend so much time with everyone and hang out for so long with Sarah and Wayne.

Oran nan Car playing in the U-District, April 19th!

I have a friend in a band called Oran nan Car that is a Scottish Music Ensemble and their music rocks!

They were featured on the radio last weekend and have out a CD!
Wanna go out and see them?

They will be playing this weekend on April 19th at 7:00pm at the University of Washington's Ethinic Cultural Theatre.

With them will be the Karen Shelton Highland Dancers.

Ticket's at the door are $5 (or contact jamesfraser@msn.com) and their CD at the concert is only $10.

Ethnic Cultural Theatre
3940 Brooklyn Avenue NE
Seattle, WAshington 98105

Backpacks and SUV Stroller, 9 Hours, Transit Busses, Trip to Westport, Oh My!

Welcome to the 1st Annual Warren Holiday !

( A.K.A April 4th, Walter & Chloe's Wedding Anniversary)

Walter and I have talked about having a holiday for our family that we would make a point of celebrating every year. This year it dawned on me what better day to celebrate our family then the day we became one! Walter totally agreed and we decided actually going on a trip would be really, really nice. But where can you go when you have limited funds? I proposed Westport. We have fond memories of going to Westport with our friends Tim, Amy, Greg, and Lisa, about 6 years ago, and again about 3 years ago on an excursion and search for manila clams to stuff ourselves on. It seemed a great place to go again but could we get there without our car and only by Transit Bus? Well, yes, yes we could. It would only take us 7 buses, 4 transit systems, and 9 hours to get there. All totally doable (said Chloe) and Walter agreed with heartfelt grumbles that he could do such a trip even if it ment he could find himself on transit bus after transit bus with strangers who might want to snuggle up to him and chat for a while. ( Grayhound wanted $42 round trip for us both and it would only get us to Olympia. Not so economical) Chloe got Friday off, we found a babysitter for the dog, and we packed up three days worth of clothes, diapers and baby food in one large camping back pack and one regular back pack. Made up lunches for our trip and grabed the SUV stroller (the one that is difficult to manuver through tight spaces but great for carrying stuff).

-

Friday morning we left Standwood at 7:30am and made our way to Everett for our first bus (Sound Transit 510) and plunked ourselves down. This was at least Padon's 5th trip on the bus so this was nothing for him.

"Wait did you just say we had to travel 163 miles to get to Westport?!"

Walter and I were a little concerned about how nap times were going to mesh with our bus ride but Padon didn't seem to mind. Even if the naps only came in 30 minute spurts. As soon as he had really fallen asleep we were in Seattle and were pleased to see our next bus (Sound Transit 594) at the corner (we were supposed to have to wait 30 minutes). We hopped right on and away we went. We got dropped off at Commerce Street in downtown Tacoma and waited 15 minutes for the Pierce Transit 3. We got to listen to the ranting of a 80 something looking guy who said he looked forward to starting a family with his girlfriend who was in Africa someday. Were were also caught up in a thankfully short conversation with a guy with a gross runny eye problem and who I thought was going to creepily watch me change Padon's diaper.

As we rode the 3 we went through a portion of Tacoma we don't ever need to be in again and met, on the bus, a wonky looking guy with his girlfriend/friend/ grand daughter who said how cute he thought Padon was and after learning that Padon didn't have a piggy bank felt the need to donate a dollar to him. Instead of arguing with him I gladly accepted it and later told Walter we SO had to find a piggy bank for Padon now in Westport to remember this.

We got dumped off at the Tacoma Mall Transit Center and waited an hour for our next bus (Pierce Transit 300) to take us onto Olympia. It was a perfect time to try to get Padon down for a long nap and to have some lunch. It was a bummer that our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches had exploded in their zip lock bags during the trip but they still tasted good and hit the spot.

Walter said "You see that vertical gas tank over there? That's how far we have come and how much farther we have to go." I laughed and had to take a picture. If you can't see in the picture below the tank says "MILES".


We got on the Pierce Transit 300 and continued on our trip to the State Route 512 Park and Ride and transfered onto the Pierce Transit 603 to Olympia. Padon had been inturruped from at least two naps by this time and hadn't slept more than 45 minutes at the Tacoma Mall Transit Center. He was still playing and jabbering along and was grabbing at my jacket sleeve play biting when in mid bite he fell asleep. It was the funniest thing.

He was so out I could pick him up and snuggle him in my lap. Ah, I love being a mom!

As we made our way to Olympia passengers were talking to us about our packs and how great Padon was and we told them about our trip and how we were making our way to Westport. Unbeknownst to us the bus driver had overheard our conversation and knew we were really, really close to missing our next bus to Aberdeen. It would be a two hour wait if we missed it so he called ahead to the Aberdeen Station to have security hold the Grays Harbor Transit 40 bus so we could catch it. We arrived 10 minutes later and low and he hold there was a security guard standing there, next to our bus smiling. We flew off the bus onto the 40 thanking profusely the 603 bus driver, the security guard, and the 40 bus driver. It was another hour to Aberdeen.

When we got to Aberdeen we had to wait 25 minutes for the Grays Harbor Transit 55 bus. We hoped on to go about 30 minutes before we had to get off and back on a tinier verson of the 55. It was here that we attempted to confirm our Motel's location with the bus driver. Confused with which Pacific Motel we were talking about another passenger confirmed for us that yes it was the one with the eagle out front. We thanked her and got off with her at a Motel that strangely didn't look anything like the motel I had seen in the pictures on the web. Not strange we soon learned we had gotten off the bus at the wrong Pacific Motel and that it was important that we say the whole title next time we rode the bus into Westport. It was the Pacific Motel and RV Park that we wanted. The owner of Pacific Motel happily offered to drive us to the correct motel and we took him up on the offer. It wasn't raining but it was dreary and we were tired. Sadly he had a pick up truck so while Padon sat on my lap in the cab of the truck Walter had to climb in the back (he volunteered) with the SUV stroller and the big back pack. We were really happy to see our motel and the kind lady I had spoken to over the phone.
The room was cute, clean, there was cable television, and Padon had HIS OWN ROOM!!!! There was actually a wall we could pull closed that made his section of the room completely dark even though we still had lights on on our side of the room and could sit up and watch TV for however long we wanted! Rock On!


We went and grabbed some dinner at the Westport Grill and some wine to go with the snacks we had brought from home, as well as some breakfast for Saturday, from Ted's Red Apple Market (sadly it was just a grocery store and not a cool farmers market like Chloe had hoped). We got back and got comfy for a night of relaxing.

Saturday morning we got up bright and early to Padon jabbering away on his side of the room because he was hungry. We ate our donuts and drank our coffee and packed ourselves up for potential rain and a two mile walk to to the pier. Happily we were able to find our way to where the Shipwreak Motel used to be (where we had stayed with Tim and Amy) and found only one of the round buildings was still standing. The fire pit that used to be up in a tower like potion of the motel was still there though :D. We just had to take a picture.

We wandered over to were we could hear the surf booming against the rocks and climbed up the observation tower to get a better look. Padon wouldn't keep his hat on because it kept spinning in his face but after trying to take a couple pictures ouf ourselves by ourselves and then having a boy take a picture of us the cold finally got to him.

Wrapped up in Daddy's jacket with the hat on his head instantly turned a tearful baby into a happy one and allowed one last chance to take some more pictures of Grays Harbor before we went to lunch.


We went to the recommended, yet slightly spendy, Islander Resturant. The food was great and while the server was a little scatter brained she did serve us well and brought us a wonderful plate of steamed manila clams...yummmmmmm!!!!!!!
Padon happily chowed down on his snacks by the handful and overall it was a really good time and a perfect place to splurge a little.
We passed through what gift shops were open and found THE piggy bank for Padon. Our should I say crab bank. When it finally did rain on us a bus came by and let us flag it down so we could ride it rain free back to our motel. The people are soooooo nice in Westport!

Back at our room we watched some more cable TV and planned for our trip home the next day. We realized in planning our return trip that we had taken two extra buses on the way down to Westport. The Sound Transit 594 that we had taken from Seattle to Tacoma part way could have gotten us farther than we thought. So as we back tracked on our trip we hopped on the luxurious Grayhound quality of the 594 and rode it all the way into Seattle.
It was comfortable, Padon had his own seat the whole way and soon we were all alseep in the lull and grumble of the bus.
We got into Seattle to pure and wonderful sunshine! We had missed by a couple minutes the Sound Transit 510 and had to wait an hour (grumble) for the next bus but it gave us an opportunity to rate our trip and chat about how successful we thought it was. Over all we thought it was a great trip, were amazed at how everything went according to plan, and how we really enjoyed traveling with Padon. Walter doesn't look forward to traveling Public Transit again any time soon especially not 9 hours worth but we did discuss how cool it would be to take the Amtrak across country. "But not for another three years." (says Walter) What!!!??? (says Chloe)
Check back soon! We have video of our trip too! We had such a good time!!!!