Here you are in the hotel before I arrived. You were happy about something. Maybe the TV was on. I love this picture.
And another one that is very cute. You've probably noticed that all your clothes are either pink or white. I think we have a yellow one somewhere but all the gifts from friends were pink. You are either going to love or hate that color when you get older.
On Friday evening, you went out on your first boat cruise. Well kind of. You went on that water taxi in New York a couple of months back, but this is more like the real thing. This is John and Cate Lewison. They were nice enough to take you and mommy out on a cruise around Lake Washington and you also visited their new house in Hunts Point. This lake separates Seattle from the eastern part of the state. Cate by the way is a little older than you.Here you are with mommy. She said you loved having the wind in your face. I've also noticed you like looking at water. There is a waterfall outside our apartment in Seattle that you like to stare at.
And here's Melinda with Cate. You and mommy look a little wet like you got splashed with water. In fact I'm sure of it. I can see some water on mommy's t-shirt. It probably involved mommy tripping on something or bumping into something. She's famous for that.
You passed by the house of Bill Gates. He started the company that mommy works for and I used to work for called Microsoft. He is currently the richest person in the world. He is worth about $40 billion or so I think. He said he is not going to give his kids any of that money when he dies; instead he plans to give it all to charity. So there's no point in asking if he has any sons.
The first thing I did when I got to Seattle was to meet Somanna (Som) and Ty (more on them later) for drinks. Actually I called mommy first and then I went out with those two. It was late so I didn't get to see you that night. I stayed over at Som's and his wife, Tanya's apartment. Mommy came over in the morning and we met up there. I don't know if you were more happy to see Som or me! Out of all the people we know you seem to like Som the most. But that is probably because he has seen you more than anyone else. Whenever mommy comes to visit he stops by the hotel you two are staying at.
And here you are totally relaxing and watching some TV with Som.
We also stopped by to see our friends Jackie and Craig. They too just had a baby. His name is Oscar. Craig and Jackie also work at Microsoft. Pretty much all of our friends in Seattle do. Craig used to work in the group I started in. That's how I met him. Oscar is a little younger than you. They have a very nice view outside their living room of the entire city of Seattle.
Here you are with a little stranger anxiety. You seem to get a little upset when other people hold you initially. It's pretty common. Craig is laughing because when you were first born they came to visit us in the hospital. This was when you and mommy were having trouble getting breastmilk and you were very hungry. One night you were so hungry you just screamed and screamed and I gave you to Craig so he knew what it would be like when he had a kid. So he doesn't think much of your crying here. It was much worse at the hospital.
I also figured out how to tickle you. I use my nose! It doesn't seem to work when I use my hands. So I rub my nose in the side of your stomach and under your arms and you just giggle at me.
Here's Jackie with you, mommy, and Oscar. You've started sticking your hands in your mouth a lot as you can see.
I think you liked Oscar. He was quiet compared to you. Maybe you like the strong silent type? He's kicking back on a play mat while you wait for him to do something macho.
One night Som and Tanya made us dinner. We had marinated flank steak, marinated pork chops, zucchini, and corn all cooked on the grill outside their apartment. It was very relaxing. For some reason you seem to be comfortable around Som but not around Tanya. Here you are crying after she tried to take you to the fountain just behind her. You even ripped out some of her hair! In general I think you are more comfortable around men because we tend to make stupid faces. Tanya was a little upset you didn't like her but I bet you'll like her when you get a little older.And as always we have to keep you clean, even on vacation. Here mommy is giving you a bath. I just love these photos of you in the bath. You haven't done much splishy splashy yet. I figured you would like splashing your hands in the water but you're pretty reserved in the tub. Maybe when daddy jumps in with you for the first time I can show you how to do it. You have some rubber duckies and rubber frogs now too. You seem to like them a lot since they make funny squeaky sounds when you chew on them.
We also went on a nice daytrip to Hood Canal. To get there we took the ferry from Downtown to Bremerton. You can actually load the car onto the ferry, so when we got off we were able to drive to Hood Canal. We first stopped at Alderbrook which is kind of a resort or hotel where you can go to relax. This is you and me relaxing in the back of the hotel. You seem pretty relaxed.
Until you realized that mommy was taking pictures and then you decided to get some quality time with the photographer by blocking me out with your forearm. No mercy with my own daughter!
Here's a picture of the waterfront that adjoins the resort. Boats can dock here and there's even a sea plane off to the left. The plane carried some news journalist to do a piece on the resort. We saw them taking video in the restaurant during lunch. Perhaps you were on TV.
After lunch we drove to Olympic National Park and went on a couple of hikes at Staircase. This one was supposed to loop around the park until we got back to the beginning. But some heavy snow that melted that year caused a strong torrential river to wash away the bridge. You can see the bridge ends and then starts up again on the other side. Good job the water had slowed down a little when we visited.
On the way back we were all very tired. So we relaxed on the ferry on the way home. You enjoyed a bottle of milk and some baby food before falling asleep in my lap.
But we got to see a very pretty view on the way back. That mountain in the distance is Mount Rainer. It's a big volcanic mountain about two hours outside of Seattle. Very pretty huh?
We also went to have dinner over at your mommy's boss' house. His name is Erik and his wife's name is Elizabeth. They just adopted a baby girl from China named Elisa. She had only been in the United States a few weeks when this shot was taken. She's a little older than you are.
We also went to see another co-worker of mommy's - Katie Drucker. She just had a new baby too. So many people having babies! Here she is holding you and Carol is holding her baby, Margeaux.
Daddy of course is on feeding duty which seems to happen a lot lately. You've got a big appetite. You are up to 30 ozs of milk and 3-4 cubes of food.
One day we had breakfast at Pike's Place Market. Actually we had breakfast at a restaurant there called Maximillien's. It's one of our favorite spots because it has a beautiful view of Puget Sound (the body of water that Seattle opens onto). We went with Jackie, Craig and Oscar who we had met earlier. Here you are with Jackie. Usually you have a bit of anxiety around other people but Jackie is a new mom too so you probably felt more at ease since she knew what she was doing.
The market is one our favorite places in Seattle because they have very fresh fruit, vegetables and fish. When you get older we will take you there and you can watch the men who throw fish at each other when you purchase one. You can see some of the stalls in the market behind you and mommy.
Another day we went there to get fish sandwiches and some donuts. Here we are at the fish sandwich place which I think is called Market Grill. It is a small little kiosk that serves a few people around a bar. After this we went to get some donuts at another kiosk. They are tiny but they are the best donuts I've ever had.
You also went on another boat tour. This one went through the Ballard Locks. It started at Lake Union which is the big lake right in the city. You can see from the shot below the full city behind us.
The lake has a lot of floating homes. These are actual homes that sit on big tree trunks so they float. They are kind of tiny and very expensive. They were made famous by a movie called Sleepless in Seattle which you would probably like. Melinda and John used to live on a houseboat before their baby was born.
Here we are at the front of the boat as we work our way from Lake Union to the locks.
And another picture of the whole family.
Here we are. At the Ballard Locks. A lock is a way for a boat to get from a higher body of water to a lower one or vice versa. In this case we're going from the higher inland lake to the lower ocean inlet. To do this they drive the boat into that area in the picture. Then they close the gates behind us and then pump out the water. As the water level drops the boat drops down. When it gets to the height of the ocean water they open the front gate up and we drive out. You can also see salmon swimming upstream at the locks.
As we made out way out to the ocean and Puget Sound we saw a huge ocean cruise ship leaving port. This boat just dwarfed the tiny boat we were on.
As we went home it got very windy. You seemed to love the wind in your face. You make a face like you are trying to lick it or eat it.
And here we are approaching Seattle from the Puget Sound direction. I don't know why they call it a Sound. It doesn't make any noise. On the left is the Space Needle. You can go to the top of that and see the entire city. We didn't do that on this trip. And to the right are two identical buildings. Mommy and I lived there before we were married and before you were born. We lived in the apartment building on the left and on the corner facing the Space Needle.
And he were are as we approach the city itself. There are lots of piers all along the waterfront here. Overall it was a very fun tour and we learned a lot about the city.
We also got to see the Harnett family. David & Michelle and their two kids, Ethan and Claudia. They even have a third one on the way. And Michelle's father, Don, was also visiting Seattle at the time. David was friends with me when I first moved to Seattle. He was the only guy I really knew. We both joined Microsoft around the same time. We met them at Etta's which is one of our favorite breakfast spots. Here's Ethan and Claudia at the breakfast table. Claudia was a little shy and very proper, but Ethan is going to be a terror on wheels. Takes after his dad.
Ty Ueland also joined us. He's another friend of mine that worked at Microsoft. We used to go skiing in Montana where he grew up. He would invite us out each year to stay at his aunt's place near the Big Sky ski resort. He's offered to give you skiing lessons when you get older. He's a good skier. He's skied down that big mountain I pounted out before.
And here's David with his son. You can see by the size of his forehead where he gets his deviant ways.
One of the last things we did was go over to Som's to have dinner. Som is a very good cook. When you get older he will cook some food for you and you will say, "Som this is very tasty and VERY HOT!" He likes to make spicy food. He made us his spicy crab. Here it is below. We spread newspapers out to cover the table and used our hands to pick away at the shell. It was very tasty and VERY HOT!
Another couple, Susan and Rohan, were there with their boy Zubin. We tried to get you two to interact but you would have nothing to do with it. You can also see that you are kind of walking here. I stick my two fingers out and you hold on and kind of stumble forwards. It's pretty impressive.
Here's another picture of you and Zuban ingnoring each other.
And a better picture of you walking. You're heading towards Zuban so maybe you two have warmed to each other.
Meanwhile Som and I do what we always do together. Have a drink and relax. We are both very good at it.
And that's our trip. We'll probably head back to Seattle once a year so one of these days you'll remember all these things and the people we saw. What a fun vacation.
[update] One more thing to add. When we left Som gave us a ride to the airport. I was up front with Som and you were in back with mommy. As we approached the airport we heard your mom say, "Oh my God." Turning around we saw that you had had a major explosion in the car seat. Eeww. Gross. We pulled over and did our best to clean you and the car seat up. Som and I were laughing but mommy was a little grossed out :). You were fine for the rest of the trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment