International Fountain

After looking around for free things to do in and around Seattle I re-found the International Fountain at the Seattle Center. We've walked by it in the past but we've never spent much time there. I invited our wonderful backyard neighbors and we all loaded into their 3rd row vehicle (man I can't wait to get one!) and headed down town for the afternoon.
Between the two families the kids had a great time. We packed snacks and let them graze as they saw fit while Monica and I sat and talked in the sun.
One of the many benefits of doing things with Monica is that she's a photographer. We're not talking a mom with a camera kind of photographer, we're talking a woman who can take great pictures. Check out her website if you're looking for some really nice photos. She snapped some shots of our little outing today as well:
After spending the afternoon together, the girls went to our other neighbor's house to check on their most recent project. Today the guy was making a salad bowl. Yup. They needed a salad bowl so he went out in the backyard and made one. No joke. These are the same neighbors who have chickens. They are selling 2 of their chickens along with a really nice chicken coop if you're in the market...just a thought.
I believe this is one of the chickens they are selling.
After all the running around August and Emma went with our youth group to hang out in Lake Washington till 10:00. They came home super tired.
And now? I'm sitting on the couch with a cool breeze blowing through our screen door while I watch Top Chef and write this blog. All is quiet in the Many house.
Tomorrow? We are going to see Shakespeare in the park in Lynnwood. But that's not till the evening. Think we'll take it easy during the day.
I've got to say- I really love living where we do right now. Having the freedom for the kids to be able to run from one house the other has been so wonderful. It reminds me of when we were young and would spend the whole day outside riding bikes and rollerskating with all the kids in our neighborhood.

Yesterday

Holy Cow!
OK. So we went to the Seattle Center and ended up ice skating. It was fun. The kids went around and around and August was pretty confident considering he'd never been on the ice. We went with Jonah and Aunt Kat.
Jonah is about Hazel's age and his been a friend of the family for years. My sister used to nanny for him and now she does yoga with him. Hazel and Jonah have a very special connection and they try to spend as much time as they can together but with Hazel in school now that time has been limited. So we made sure that the kids could get together during the break.
About 20 minutes into our skate date a woman approached Kat and requested that she remove Jonah from the ice as it was not OK to have a stroller or wheelchair on the rink. Kat was obviously upset and began to argue with the attendant. Hazel was hanging onto the stroller at this point and when she heard what the woman was saying she immediately began to cry uncontrollably. Hazel has a great ability to cry on cue. It really amped up the frustration factor...and drew a bunch of attention. At one point Kat yelled something like, "well, I guess we've got to get off the rink because they won't let handicapped people skate here!!!" At that moment I was attending to my emotional daughter and trying to calm my also emotional sister. I looked up and saw the principal of the kids school walking up with his family. He had no idea what he was walking into. I tried to explain the situation without emotion so as not to get anyone else upset. He offered to get involved, he offered to carry Jonah around the rink, he offered to leave the establishment. All of which I thanked him for but asked him to enjoy his afternoon with his family while we got our money back and went to the fountain.
Hazel recovered nicely once she was given the opportunity to run off her nervous energy.
Kat recovered when she brought Jonah home and told his parents about the afternoon. Jonah's parents recovered when they called the ice rink and set up a meeting to change the rules.