We had to go to Lonan’s future elementary school (Kimball Elementary) to sign a few papers related to the summer program and the before/after school care. Amanda had filled out the paperwork earlier, but had forgotten to sign something, and they needed the paperwork perfect before processing.

I had never been to Kimball before and was stuck with how small (in student population) it was. It also seemed that the building and grounds were in serious need of capital improvements. Or not exactly inprovements, but basic maintenance.

His new teachers seemed nice enough, although one seemed barely 18 years old. I think she is a current education student, though.

Afterwards, I dropped Amanda off at Harborview, and returned home. Eventually, SDK and D came by to pick up LK as they were going to Ride the Ducks. MM and NM were not really into riding the ducks, so instead we headed out to the Seattle Center to check out some museums and the Space Needle and other attractions. Baby Jae was with us.

It was still fairly cloudy when we got to the Seattle Center, so they deferred the decision to go up it for later. We decided to eat llunch first, so we went to the Armory building. NM got old of those pie things while MM and I got falafel. I also got a very large fry because I am a gluttonous individual.

After lunch we went to the Experience Music Project. When I had last been there, the EMP and the Science Fiction Musuem were separate organizations with separate adminsions even though they are in the same building. Now, while I cannot speak to the separateness of the organizations, there was only one admission fee for both places. Technically, though I do not think the Science Fiction Museum Exists as such anymore, as it seems to be folded into the EMP part.

There were both rather enjoyable, although completely different than when I had last been perhaps seven years ago.

We headed out and sat by the International Fountain for a while. MM and NM eventually decided to not go up the Space Needle. It costs something crazy like $21 dollars nowadays anyway.

We then headed back to the car, but MM and NM stopped in the Bill and Melinda Gates Visitor Center. I stayed outside as I wanted to stop holding the Bonasaurus and I wanted to give her a chance to run around for a while since I had been holding her for so long.

They were gone for quite a while, but I expected that as I knew the visitor center was very museum like in and of itself. The Bon had fun running about the area outside which was filled with low rocks to sit on and chairs and tables for a small cafe.

We headed out to the Olympic Sculpture Park when they got back. I found it fun walking about the sculptures as always. There were actually constructing a new one which basically looked like the rood of a house sticking up out of the ground. Art, ya know.

We then headed back home, but stopped at the fruit stand to get some fresh fruit as I was unsure if we had any at home.

Amanda called and wanted to eat out, but I thought that staying home would be better, so Amanda just came back with her mom and sister and D and we ordered pizza which Amanda left to pick up.

We ate, that sat around talking, then SDK, BK, and D left, then we put the kiddies to sleep.

I busted open one of our good wines… Erath Prince Hill Pinot Noir 2004. It seemed a past it prime for a couple of years to me, but I enjoyed it anyway. Amanda said that I better finish it, but of course, I saw no problem with that.

Amanda, MM, NM and I talked for quite a while, but now everyone is going to sleep. I needed to stay awake to finish my daily writing, then I will call it a night and sack out on the couch again.

D is leaving tomorrow, as is MM and NM. I will take them to the terminal around 11am. I think SDK will be staying at our place tomorrow. She will be leaving next Monday.

I was supposed to pick up our car registration tabs today as the Prius’s if going to expire while we our going to be in Oregon, but we can still pick them up on Monday and will it matter in Oregon if our tabs are expired? Technically, our registration expires in the middle of the month, but the tabs on indicate the month, so why would anyone care until next month when we are obviously deliquent. So, we could wait until we get back to pick the stickers up.

My old high school (and junior high, and elementary) friends MM and NM came into town today! They are celebrating their 20th wedding aniversary (I know, crazy) by going on a cruise to Alaska and are staying with me for a couple of days before it starts.

As usual, I dropped Lonan off at school and then took Amanda to the University of Washington. On the way back I dropped off Baby Jae with her grandmother who offered to take her so that I could hang out with my friends (and to take her to Amanda for lunch).

I met them at the airport around 1145am. They both look pretty much the same as high school or college really. That certainly isn’t true for me. They definitely look the same as when I last saw them which curiously enough was my wedding ten years ago. Time flies.

They were hungry as they had been up for twelve hours at that point. Nancy wanted to eat somewhere only in Seattle, so we went back home to drop off their luggage and then went down to Columbia City and ate lunch at Geraldine’s. MM actually had an Avocado and Pepperjack Omelette even though it was practically dinner time for him. He had asked me what was good and I told him we really only ate breakfast here normally, but the aforementioned omelette was awesome. I always feel funny about suggesting such things since people like different stuff, but he loved it and said that he had never thought to put avocados in eggs before (even though he likes avocados). I had a veggie burger, and NM had BBQ I think.

They actually felt like going out and seeing some of the town which surprised me as I would have thought they were exhausted. Which they were, I am sure, but perhaps they wanted to get on west coast time before their cruise). I did have to go to Lonan’s preschool graduation, so we could not go too far, so I thought to take them to the Olympic Sculpture Park. On the way, since the weather was nice, I changed my mind and took them to Pike Place Market as one never knows what the weather will do. And the Market was one of two places they wanted to see (the Space Needle is the other).

So, we went to the market. We walked around (mainly the top level). They saw the fish throwing place. I took them to the Gum Wall and NM chewed up a piece of gum and added it to the wall. Since we were there, we walked to the original Starbucks.

We also went to the newish city Target that opened up recently. I had not realized that it is only a block away from the Market. MM wanted to pick up some storage bags for the trip. I should have bought a new iron there as this morning our iron died which is causing chaos with Amanda’s morning routine (as basically most of her work clothes need a bit of ironing before wearing). I did not want to lug it around, though.

After walking about the Market, we went down and walked about the waterfront a bit, but then headed off for home so that they could rest a bit.

After hanging out a bit at home, I picked up Amanda and Baby Jae from BK’s place (Amanda had caught a ride with someone at work back home), and we all went to LK’s graduation. All of us included SDK and her friends J and D.

The graduation was a chaotic as one might expect when preschoolers are involved. LK actually went through the graduation ceremony last year, too. As part of the ceremony, they sing songs, and this year they actually sang more songs than last year and even tried some choreography. They did sing songs in spanish and mandarin as well as English. I felt that last year was more polished, but they only sang three songs last year with no dance moves.

Back home MM and NM were still awake, although they did nap a bit. We talked for quite a while until the sun finally went down, and then we called it a night. Of course, the kiddies went to sleep way before then.

I as usual am not asleep yet as I had to finish muy daily writing. MM and NM are sleeping in Lonan’s room while Lonan is sleeping with Amanda in our room. I think I will just sleep downstairs tonight. Amanda suggested that I sleep in Jaelithe’s room, but I think that would be a bad idea as she will wake up and see that I am in the room and want to play and then scream when she realizes she is in the crib while I am in the bed and loudly inform everyone about the unfairness of it all. So, ya, I think I will sleep downstairs.

I had an appointment to get a roof rack installed on the Prius. I thought I had left home with plenty of time to get to the place (Rack and Road) which is on Aurora north of the Cut, but I got caught in very slow traffic on I5 and barely made it in time even though I left an hour early.

Amanda had said that installation would take less than an hour, but apparently that was not really correct and it would take a couple of hours. I was at a loss on what to do, but the guy there gave me a rundown on the nearby area. But then I remembered we were really only a few blocks from Greenlake, so I basically headed out there to walk around the lake.

I believe the lake is three miles around, about half a mile longer than the loop around Seward Park, so it was a good wasy to pass the time. It was rather sunny, but cool, and there were a lot of people around, many more than there are typically at Seward. I surmised it was because Greenlake is smack in the middle of a densely populated residential area and its trail is accessable at all points. One only enter Seward Park’s loop at the entrance basically unless one has a watercraft.

I was also struck by the demographics of the people there. Of course, 90% of the people there were white, which is not all that surprising because this is Seattle (and Seattle north of the cut). Perhaps two-thirds or more of the people were female, which I did find surprising, but perhaps I should not. As one might expect, people were walking by themselves or in groups (of two usually), and there were a lot of people (women really) pushing strollers with one or more kiddies. Actually, there were a lot of people with double strollers. There were people running or jogging. And there were a few people riding bicycles (which doesn’t seem fun to me at greenlake) or inline skates or skateboards.

Seward Park seems to be much more balanced with regards to the sexes, is much more diverse, and the people seem to be primarily there to exercise (as opposed to get some exercise while talking with another person). Amanda says people at Seward are definitely more focused on exercising.

So I did find all of that a bit interesting, but what I really found fascinating that all of those female groups (almost always of two people, sometimes three) were basically bitching about something, and more specifically, bitching about someone and usually critizing said person or persons rather meanly and hatefully. I was pretty crazy really. Basically this was true for near 100% of all the groups (and there were a lot of groups… I’d say at least twenty, perhaps more). There were two women talking to each other in another language so I do not know what they were talking about, but they sounded like there were bitching about someone, too. Of course that could be my imagination. And I did see two women seriously running together; there weren’t talking at all.

As for other groupings, I only saw one pair of males walking together. They were talking about a television show or movie or something like that. There were a few male and female pairs, and they were usually not talking at all. Some were also bitching about something or other, but curiously it was not directed towards another person but rather fate or my job sucks or something like that. There were also a three or so mixed groups of three or more people; all of these groups appeared to be talking about their plans for the rest of the day.

I stopped at Duke’s Chowder House for lunch to kill more time and consider what I had witnessed. I had a fish and chips and a beer. It was alright, but frankly too expensive. I must say that their cole slaw is excellent and perhaps the best I have ever tasted at a restaurant. I had been to Duke’s a few times before to meet with a company I was doing consulting for. They later stiffed me for a lot of $$$, but I do not hold that against the restaurant. Actually, I hold their high prices against them.

I would have liked to go some place cheaper, but there did not seem to be one nearby according to the internet. What can you do.

I went back to pick up the car. The roof rack is nice. It had better be for $550. We still have to get cargo containers/boxes/whatever to put on top.

I went back to MK’s townhouse to pick up the Bonasarus and relaxed with her back home until SDK and her friends D and J returned from Vancouver. Apparently, the other person they were (whose name I completely don’t remember) morphed into J.

We had grilled veggies and potato salad and other stuff for dinner. The charcoal chimney suffered a major structural failure so I tossed a lot of white gas on the coals to start them. And almost took off a lot of my hair as I forgot how exposive white gas can be.

MM and NM are arriving tommorrow. I will meet them at the airport around 11:30am.