H's first novel, and a place to stay for a few months...

So we've been moving, a lot...  During the second half of January we moved into a short term rental which hopefully means we have a place to stay and unpack that will last more than a month or two, which is longer than we've lived anywhere since August of 2012.  It has a lot of carpet which is really making H's allergies and asthma flare up, but we all really need a break from moving and this was what we found so we are sticking here for a couple of months at least.

 Anyone who has been an overnight guest at our homes (ever) knows that we have never gotten around to making up proper accommodations with real beds for folks.  Until now, yes, above is pictured a proper, adult sized bed located in it's own dedicated bedroom, fully made up and ready to go should anyone need a place to crash.  Also relatively new, as this was H's mattress which she only used for a year or 2 before she upgraded...

 H's brand new bunk bed.  This was mainly mommy's idea, who always wanted one as a kid but never had one...  So now H can pick which bed she likes to sleep on, so far both have been used but currently she prefers the upper bunk.  I can imagine this will be so much fun for sleep overs.  :)

 H with her creatures on the top bunk...

 H has also recently gotten into writing stories, and quite interesting stories actually!  This is her first book for anyone who would like a sneak peak before it gets picked up for mass publication, she wrote it and did all the illustrations herself, we only helped her with spelling... :)

Hardbound and everything, my girl always thinks big...

January...

Catching up on some January pics...

 01-04-2013, pictures from the top of the building where we stayed in temporary housing through most of January (South Lake Union).

 It was a convenient spot to run outside when the sun appeared for a quick dragon flying session...

 MOHAI and Lake Union views...

 The bicycle parking squid in Seattle Center 01-05-2013...

Seattle Children's Museum, last good shot before the Canon S100 finally died for good...

 More Seattle Children's, fire fighting and building areas...

H started preschool here in January, she goes for a couple of hours 3 days a week and of course loves being around kids her age again, this was from a field trip on 01-10-13 to the Seattle Aquarium...

We've been moving a lot, and B has moved around in terms of physical location a lot at work too, a couple of times already since December.  This was one of his work views before a recent desk move, on a rare clear day when he could see the mountains...

 Girl's night out at Buca di Beppo while B was at a work function, H enjoyed the heart shaped bread...

 In addition to the 3 day per week co-op preschool we are doing, H is trying an outdoor once a week preschool as well through the Rec Center.  I had my doubts, but she LOVES it.  Apparently my girl who doesn't want to walk one city block without being carried when with us (and never is interested in going on walks) can walk for 1.5 hours when outside in the cold rain and mud with other kids.  :)  She loves discovering fungus, digging up bird bones, and investigating all the local flora and fauna.  Good for her, maybe this means we can go back outside and enjoy nature ourselves again soon!

 01-20-2013, local pizza place.  H has been really getting into drawing on her own lately, and is actually turning into quite the elaborate artist.  She recently finally was able to see Frankenweenie (we waited for it to be rentable so we could watch it with the lights on in case it was too scary in the dark), and has really been inspired by it.  She drew this to leave on the refrigerator at the restaurant...

Also inspired by Frankenweenie, she is exploring the art of engineering and inventing...

 These are pics of her elaborate Frankenweenie set-up to bring dolls and toys back to life with electricity...

 It was clear that a lot of thought and imaginative use of various types of tools when into this...

Daddy helped her to fashion this lighted tool, a combination of a pillar from a My Little Pony Castle playset taped to a flashlight...  We've been pretty impressed by H's ingenuity lately...

Nothing changes on New Year's Day...

We spent a few days with family for the holidays, it was nice to see everyone and I know it will likely be some time before we can make it back, maybe next year for the holidays depending on where life takes us in 2013.  H was well spoiled, probably due to our guilt over all the recent upheaval, but that is probably well deserved as she has had to put up with a lot over the last few years, and may end up having to do so again.

Thoroughly enjoying her first present received on Christmas morning, at 4 a.m. before we had to leave to catch a flight, Toothless has been a nearly constant companion since (this was taken on the Xmas day flight home).

 Yesterday at Gasworks Park back in Seattle, trying to get out on a rare sunny day.  I have yet to find a quality park for children here but will continue to look.  Google indicated that this one was good for kids, that there were old pipes and equipment converted to play scapes for kids.  In reality, the picture above is the closest thing they have to a play area, it is a big pit of a dirt / sand / gravel mix, a few kids were rather sadly trying to play by taking handfuls of dirt from one area to another...  This is probably the only major city I've visited that lacks amazing urban playgrounds.

 An example of some of the old pipes, they are brightly painted and look neat, but plastered all over with signs that say "no climbing", we broke the rules a little bit above, but really I'm not sure what purpose these serve since this park looks like just another place for folks to walk their dogs and I can't imagine that the dogs would take in these structures.

Today we hit the first free Thursday of the month at MOHAI, figured we'd check it out while it is walkable, before we move to the next short term rental next week.  It was an interesting assortment of Seattle historical memorabilia but I'm not sure kids would want to go frequently.  This is an exhibit where people can stand in front of a green screen and appear on the TV in front of Seattle landmarks.  H also was able to make and take a periscope which was a neat activity to offer for the kids.

 Another nice sunny day, but definitely chilly, the little boat pond in front of MOHAI was a bit icy...

This is another otherwise nice park that lacks a play area for kids, so the kids were picking up pieces of ice and trying to toss them into the semi frozen pool to break them.  Old school fun I guess...  :)

Next week we'll be moving into a 6 month rental (the 4th move for us since August), B will no longer be able to walk to work anymore and we'll have to see how H does with a whole house full of aged carpet, but we're hoping it will work until spring, and if the house sells in MI then it will put us in a better position to find something here in the spring.  Either way it will be nice to unpack at least some of our things that have been in boxes since VA...

Go West...

Rather unexpectedly we have recently landed in Seattle.  We are not yet settled and probably won't be for some time as we are currently living in temporary apartment housing with our things remaining in storage / boxes as they have since August, until January of next year at the earliest.  We plan to find a rental around here as by now we have tired of the home buying and selling process of 2 homes in the last few months.  Although a decade ago this place was among our top desired destinations that was also back when we didn't have children and could live a very different life.  I think we probably would have enjoyed it a lot back then, as I see now a city full of young folks who work hard during the weekdays and also play hard on the off times.  With my current perspective however I am feeling rather isolated here in the far corner of the continental U.S., several days drive away from everything we know and sitting atop a major fault line, in a place where dogs far outnumber children and in fact can even go to work and shop with their owners (but no mention of company day cares).  :)  So far, this place reminds me of watching the movie "Lathe of Heaven".  Cold gray and rainy every day, we have had one sunny day since arriving.  But this is where the job is and so I expect we'll be here for a while at least, and in six months to a year we'll know our way around this place just like all the others before.  We decided after many years of not really doing anything vacation wise that we may as well spend the first few days doing touristy things here since there are many of those, and so our first few pics of the area show those outings.

 Layover in Chicago en route to Seattle...

 On the Empire Builder train to points Northwest, headed for the last stop before hitting the water, we tried out a sleeper car for this 2 day trip...

 One of the few moments of interesting views, the train seems to pass all the scenic areas overnight so really not much to see most of the time during the day.

 Getting closer to Seattle...

 H spotted this upon departing the train, fortunately we had already obtained tickets as a surprise...

 The Holiday Carousel in Westlake Center...

 The Space Needle...

 Looking out from the observation deck...

 Cheese making in process in the tourist district...

 H wasn't feeling the cold boat tour with a lot of boring talking :)...

 But she LOVED the aquarium...

 She touched many, many starfish...

 Rode an orca...

 Inspected a sea slug...

 And even finally got the courage up to let an anemone give her a little hug...

 The staff at the aquarium (Roberta in particular) were great, H even got to feed seaweed to urchins!

 Sneeze zone at the Pacific Science Center...

 The only pics we have related to the King Tut Exhibit, which doesn't even have the advertised Tut or any mummies for that matter, doesn't allow any pictures, and was exceedingly boring to H (can't recommend paying extra to see this with small kids)...

Ride the Ducks tour, H only liked this because daddy bought her a "quacker"... 

 The local zoo, didn't see many animals as it was so cold and wet, spent most of the day inside at the "Zoomazium" but H still liked that...

 Posing with the statues...

 Mini cows, maybe G'pa can get some of these for his retirement pets, could they be house-trainable?

 Inside sculpture climbing...

 Dreamworks Dragons show, low light made for few pictures...

 Despite it taking an hour just to exit the highway leading to a late arrival, and not being able to access our seats, H very much enjoyed the dragons.  We will however probably avoid the Tacoma Dome going forward after experiencing the extreme hassle involved with attending events there.

 We have continued to play "dragons" since the show daily, this may have been the highlight of our explorations so far...