Hot weather? Ha!

So we went over to Ocean Shores for the day to escape the heat. Great idea and I only wish that we had planned ahead and gone over on Saturday. It got up to 92 in Tacoma and the temps were still in the upper 80's at 7:30. The water on the Washington coast it too cold to play in but the 65 degree temps with cloud cover was a nice break from the heat.






I think we'll be finding sand in weird places for the next few days. I don't know how I managed to live in Texas for 20+ years. Summer heat down there would kill me now.

Mini vacations rule!

With little kids it can be kind of a pain to travel. With Jennifer's school schedule it wasn't very easy to get away for more than a day or two at a time. She's finished with the commute to UW for classwork and is now at Ft. Lewis full time. She's off to D.C. for 3+ weeks next weekend so we wanted to squeeze in one more mini vacation before she left. Fortunately, the Puget Sound has a treasure trove of places to visit for the day or a short overnight trip. We took the girls back to downtown Seattle last Saturday for a night and had a lot of fun. We did this back in February and enjoyed it.

The Grand Hyatt is 7 blocks up from Pike Place Market and right in the middle of a lot of shopping and restaurants. Very convenient and we got a really good deal on an awesome suite. Heck, the 1/2 bath off the entry was more than big enough for Campbell's portable crib. Jennifer and Ellie got the king bed and I got the comfy couch. The girls were entranced by the view out across Elliott Bay and down onto the streets. Right over Ellie's head is Pike Place. Off to right we could see the Space Needle. The ferries come and go up until midnight and several cruise ships departed in the late afternoon. We got to check in a little early so we did the Market first and then came back to the room to clean up and get ready for dinner. Each time we visit downtown we end up finding somewhere else great to eat. The girls really don't give a hoot but Jennifer and I like the variety. On Sunday we went to the Seattle Aquarium. Small crowd for such a nice day but we weren't complaining. It was nice to let Campbell walk around with us without worrying about her getting run over.

After the girls were in bed, I walked down the street and took some pictures. I was trying to get some street scenes and while there were a lot of people out and about I just didn't seem to see anything that caught my eye. Until I got back down to the Market. The neon "Public Market" is the icon of area and is picture friendly. After I got back to the room I kicked myself for not bringing my tripod because the added stability would have really helped. But that's just something I'll add to the list for next time. It's not like we don't bring enough stuff as it is! We're heading to Ocean Shores tomorrow to escape the heat. Officially, it hit 87 today but the temperature downstairs was 80 as of 11:00 pm. Upstairs was even warmer. The girls' rooms stay a bit cooler but the master bedroom roasts for some reason. I know the Monkey Twins will love playing in the sand. Hopefully Ellie isn't dead set on playing in the water. She tried that last time we went and ended up with 50 degree water up to her knees. So here's to 70 degrees and some shade tomorrow at the beach. Even if we do end up with sand in odd places.

I am the master of my domain

This was the scene in our laundry room last Saturday...
I managed to overload the washing machine. A bunch of towels was too much for the old girl. I called a buddy who does appliance repair but he doesn't come this far south for work. But he walked me through 90% of getting the machine apart. As I got the motor unclipped, he says "when you get it off, you'll see what the problem is. I gotta go." Uh. Well, I pulled the motor off, turned it over and there is was. A broken coupling that costs $15. My friend just saved me $200 for a house call. I picked up the piece from Sears on Monday, put the washing machine back together and was doing laundry 10 minutes later. Thanks to Bill, I learned an easy lesson in home repair and managed to feel manly all at the same time.