Seattle Aquarium

Feeling like we just needed a break from another evening spent at home working, Henry and I recently visited the Seattle Aquarium.

Just another Friday night down at the docks...

The biggest factor in choosing the acquarium was the birth of a brand new sea otter, born only hours before we saw him. Staff could not tell if it was a boy or girl because it was so covered in fur. Apparently, all that fur is needed to keep the pup afloat and dry if it goes in the water. It was very cute, but didn't do anything more than get licked on it's mom's belly while we were watching. I hope all that fur protected it from the snowmageddon about to pummel it.

Laugh it up, fur ball!

I really appreciated the exhibit that allowed you touch sea stars, anemone, and other weirdly growing sea life.

As excited as a school kid.

I am always struck by how ugly some fish are. I guess it doesn't matter at the bottom of the ocean. Topping the list of ugly fish were sea horses and a lone, lazy octopus.

The most handsome fish in the sea.

I am glad I now have first hand knowledge of the aquarium for giving recommendations to all future visitors.

Sunset on the Sound

Christmas - Part II

Finally - as advertised, Christmas Part II comes to fulfillment. In honor of Henry's first trip to Nebraska, we gave him the full experience. This included, of course, a tour of a hog farm.

Dressing sharp to meet the piggies!

Although skeptical at first sniff, Henry was easily won over.

Baby pigs are so cute!!!

Trying to refrain from taking one home.

Dinner was served following our tour, but we had to try to get the pig smell off of us first. The solution: trampoline jumping. I have no idea how effective this actually is, but I can think of worse things they could have made us do.

Dinner included toy and joke filled crackers.  Winner of the night:

     "What did one snowman say to the other snowman?"
     "Do you smell carrots?"

Action shot!

As always, no visitor to Beatrice escapes the clutches of the Homestead National Monument. Who knew that Washington too, was partially settled by homesteaders? (Everyone who lives in Beatrice, probably...)

Washington!

Early adopters of wind power.

We also had to document the mangle, as we feel the current Wikipedia page inadequately captures the effort people put in to ironing their clothes. This is especially salient when compared to how little effort I will put in to ironing.

The infamous mangle!

Christmas - Part I

Given my previous history of setting up a multi-part series and then failing to deliver, I titled this post with some trepidation. However, I feel I cannot fully describe my joyous winter break in only one blog entry, and must proceed in this manner. This is your warning, I cannot be held responsible for dashed hopes.

Christmas break was such a lovely reprieve after a hectic school quarter. I brought some final assignments with me to finish grading and may not have started packing until 11:30 pm the night before my morning flight, but all was forgotten as soon as I got back to the farm. As always, the fun started before I even left the airport.

Why I am always excited to come home...

Seattle has softened me, and I was worried that I was going to find Nebraska cold, snowy, and unpleasant, so I was very excited that it was sunny and warm for almost all of my stay. It was even warm enough to enjoy the outdoors, although not without some "home clothes", or layers that only get worn when on the farm.

In the battle of young versus old, youth prevailed!

Spending time with the family was great, and I was quite shocked to realize that it had been an entire year since I had been home and seen any of the cousins. Of course, within 10 minutes the mocking stories about high school shenanigans began and I questioned whether it had only been a year since I heard it last.

Getting ready to pass the food.

In the end, it's never enough time to fully catch up for a year.

I think these are the more distant cousins...

During the 10 days I was home, I filled up on semmel, zweiback, valentinos, runza, pork loins, flincent, eggnog, and klups. So yummy.

Henry also made his first visit to the farm, and first to Nebraska in general, checking another state off his list. More to come in part ii. Maybe.

Survivor

Half-Marathon

Last Sunday, the weekend of Thanksgiving, I ran my first half-marathon. Because of school demands, I hadn't been able to train at a level I would have liked, so I was kinda nervous going into it. The day was typical Seattle: gray and rainy. But I was very grateful that it was only drizzling and not pouring. Yes, that's a reason to celebrate in this city.

Mile 1 and 13 were pretty exciting - everything else in between kinda blurred together. I ate my first gu, which I was scared would taste horrible but was in fact quite tasty. Rest assured, I also took advantage of the gummi bears (mile 4) and krispy kremes (mile 11) being handed out along the course, so I was well fueled.

I loved all the supporters lining the course. Some of my favorite signs include "Chuck Norris never ran a marathon" and "go, stranger, go!". I felt very encouraged.

And then, before you even realize you've been running over 2 hours straight, the finish line!

Rounding the last corner!

Don't be fooled by the runner's clothes....the real evidence is in those lining the course. Umbrellas, hoods, and winter coats were definitely called for.

I was really excited to get a "space blanket" upon completion. I think I look more exhausted than victorious. I was ready to eat and then nap....which I promptly did.

Champion!...er....Finisher!

 In the end it was a lot fun and I never would have done it without some peer pressure support.

I'm still wearing that medal...

Thanksgiving

The effort needed to prepare food required that we eat food...

Let's pretend it hasn't been months since I updated my blog and move right into current happenings. I had a lovely low-key Thanksgiving with Henry and friends yesterday. Henry was the main chef, for which I was very grateful. I don't bring much by the way of cooking into the Traditional Thanksgiving meal line-up, but I make up for that with good food shopping skills. I earned the award for best purchased contribution, with an amazing spinach dip.

Such intense competition

We spent the afternoon playing some old school Nintendo games including Mario cart and Street Fighter.

Celebrity sighting in the kitchen.

Turkey Time.

We also broke out a new game called "Power Grid", a purchased inspired by our resident power engineer who looks suspiciously like the engineer on the cover of the game.












The turkey was excellent, although the vegetarian in the group had to take 15 minutes after the carving of the bird before she could eat anything. 

Keeping the lights on in Berlin.

We spent the rest of the evening trying to supply electricity to Germany. A lovely day in all. Right now I'm thankful that I won't see my car's license plates any more when I look at my blog.

End of an Era

Although I have lived in many States since leaving Nebraska (Kansas, Texas, Idaho, Washington, Michigan, Florida, Colorado, Maryland, Washington D.C., and finally Washington again), I have always maintained at least one link to home - my license plates. It made my car just slightly more findable in a parking lot, and it gave me an excuse for any driving errors.

This has finally come to an end, however, and I have been forced to register in Washington. One of many things grad school has driven me to. Goodbye, 3 county. I will miss you.

30!

As is becoming tradition, my sister flew into town for my birthday, and we had a great weekend (I'm choosing to ignore all flight delays in this assessment, which are also becoming a tradition). I am very thankful that this has not yet deterred my sister from attempting the trip.

To celebrate, we made cupcakes with strawberries and red hots. During our debate in the grocery store over which cake mix to buy, we both realized that we had no idea what makes a devil's food cake different from chocolate cake. Is this common knowledge that somehow skipped us?

Instead of taking in the city fireworks show, we joined some friends on a beach for a personal show. There were many people along this stretch of beach setting off their own fireworks. It was taken very seriously. The threat of danger really heightened the excitement of this show. To begin with, we had to vacate our prime viewing spot about 3 times to let a train pass.

Also adding to the sense of danger was the "contraption", pictured below. It was equal parts terrifying and magnificent. When they set it off, we all got to our feet to increase our mobility, should one rocket shoot off in an unintended direction.

Fireworks aside, we also brunched on my deck, taking advantage of it for the first time. Please ignore the unsightly red curtain - it has been replaced. The weather has just recently warmed up enough to enjoy the deck in the morning, and it was gorgeous!

We also did some wine tasting in the Woodinville Wine Country. They have over 80 tasting rooms - we made it to 2. Some of you may be familiar with Chateau St. Michelle in your local grocery stores. Also gorgeous.

Kind of on a whim, we spent our last morning heading up the Space Needle. I had always been lukewarm about visiting it, but was suitably impressed once up there.

All in all, it was a fabulous way to turn 30.