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...

Saline, MI...

Once upon a time we lived in Saline MI.  I can most kindly describe Saline for us as similar to Dr. Seuss's "waiting place".  I have partly neglected this blog for some time because despite what I may project in real life, I do try to keep this blog light and true to its original purpose even as our real life has departed from the hope we had when we started this.  I have much I could say about Saline MI, but since most of it wouldn't be positive I'll just post some pictures of our very brief time there.  It was a move made with the best of intentions, to be closer to family, but unfortunately nothing seemed to go our way while we lived there.  One bright spot was that we were able to make the acquaintance of one very kind family (also transplants) with a child who hopefully H can remain in contact with as penpals.  We hope to maintain this type of connection with a few of her closer friends we've left behind in various places to help her process all the recent upheaval, which has been very hard on all of us.

 Fixing up house #1 for sale in August, little did we know we'd spend another month and a half working on a second house just a couple of months later, again just to put it up for sale...

 Spent most of the weekends up north with family for the first couple months in MI when we had to stay in hotels during the week due to rental shortages, which fortunately H didn't mind at all...

 H with cousin T at a football game to benefit cancer.

 H posing in T's game gear...

 H enjoying grandma's nail polish collection...

 Pool maintenance up north...

 The Saline Rec Center decorate a pumpkin day.

 Costume #1, H wanted to be a cat for Halloween but they only seemed to have cheetah type prints...

 After trick or treating indoors at Saline Library...

 Statue climblng...

 Boo Bash at the Rec Center...

 Dancing with the abominable snow family...

 Trick or treating with a friend...

 Bad picture, but this is the annual pumpkin roll they do at Mill Pond Park in Saline...

 Splash Bash Mermaid swim party at Saline Rec Center...

 Grandma was a good sport about keeping up with H in the pool...

 A walk on a sunny day up north with the cows...

 Local lights up north, I think this is Fifth Third Stadium where the White Caps play.

 Not sure what to make of this moving Elf and the gigantic Santa behind (not pictured).

Helping G'ma decorate the tree...

Still summer...

Plenty of fun stuff to do to break up the drudgery, and half the time forgetting the camera, but still we have a few pictures to show for the time in between now and the last post.

 Our Special Harbor Sprayground...

 This is an amazing park, accessible to children of all abilities, free to play...

 Next door is Chessie's Big Backyard...

 A great place to dry off and have a little lunch after the spraypark side...

 Below is one of the few pictures I managed to take during our end of July trip up north...

 Start of our DC greatist hits tour, Smithsonian Natural History, hope to add more soon...

 :)

 The marine life section was popular with H this time...

 These scenes should be familiar to the folks who've been here with us before...

 Butterfly exhibit at Natural History...

 Platypus skeleton, H loved this as she's now into Phineas and Ferb (especially Perry)...

 Lots of work being attempted at the house, with help from H of course...

 I was beginning to think it would never bloom...

But this week finally in August our Tuscarora Crepe Myrtle decided to show some color.  This is the tree the grands planted with us to replace the old Cherry tree that grandpa took down, by himself...  (Hardy stock they are, hope H inherits some of that...)