Megan, Ian, Erin, Dallin, I'm talking to you. A long time ago, in this very galaxy, I took my kids to see a traveling Star Wars exhibit. They are not nearly as versed in Star Wars mythology as you are. Come to think of it, neither am I. But I had them stand next to things so I could take pictures. Hope you enjoy! And I hope you don't get mad when I don't know the names of things!
The sign outdoors!
Scott got to drive a hovercraft lightspeeder thing. It was on a very small driving area and I think he had less than a minute, so don't be jealous.
Here's Han Solo's ship the Peregrine Falcon.
And this is an Imperial NeckTIE Fighter!
I think this guy might have wanted to eat Scott for lunch, if he didn't have a tasty meat stick nearby.
If you lived on Hoth, you would dress like this.
Those aren't binoculars, they're macrobinoculars! And look at the itty bitty Luke Skywalker riding a ... thing that I can't spell!
A closer look.
Look who joined us! It's Dean!
And that guy! Vader? Vadar? Radar?
I think Dean is taller than Yoda.
Say that thing about "When old as I am you are, look as good as me you will not."
Luke's prosthetic hand.
Anakin's prosthetic hand. Quite an impressive technological leap, right?
Here's a handsome uniform! And a wookiee!
Now this was cool: build your own Jawa camp! You placed those black and white cards on the turntable, and the camera/computer would convert them into different buildings and resources. Perhaps someone with a longer attention span could build an awesome Jawa camp.
We ended up in Seattle last month. Ostensibly we were there to see a Star Wars exhibit, although I thought it was Mike's idea and he thought it was my idea and it wasn't until afterwards, when we were out of sorts and exhausted, that we wondered how the trip ever got planned in the first place. Nevertheless, we were there.
The first order of business is always to break out the smoothies, because heaven knows we packed a cooler-full since a city like Seattle wouldn't have food.
We booked a kids suite, which meant they had their own bedroom with Toy Story bunkbeds. Dean told everyone afterwards that we went to Seattle to see bunkbeds. And elevators. Dean slept on the bottom bunk; he fell out one night and got trapped next to the wall the next night. We took the ladder away so that he wouldn't try to climb it in the dark. We also barricaded the door to their room so they couldn't come out and interrupt our precious quiet time. The best way to vacation with small children is to lock them in another room.
We did some waterfront wandering, and found a little arcade.
Air hockey time!
The next day we went to the Pacific Science Center. After seeing Star Wars, we saw the rest of the place.
Dean moves a giant granite ball with the power of his mind. Look what a nice, sunny (freezing) day it was!
Scott and Random Boy piloted a space ship.
They had a butterfly exhibit that Scott loved. He's holding up the butterfly guide to show all the different kinds of butterflies.
Dean gets an assist to see into the higher branches.
If you want a butterfly to land on your hand, you must hold your hand out like so, and stand very still.
If you want a butterfly to land on your chin, you must be Mike.
The center also had a dinosaur room with some old-school animatronic dinosaurs. Plus a giant dinosaur footprint.
Two adorable children could easily be trampled by a Duckbill foot. That's the takeaway lesson, right?
Not at all unexpectedly, a few hours later the rain came pouring down. That didn't Scott from shooting water cannons, though.
On our way out of town the next day, we stopped at the zoo. And by "our way out of town," I mean that I forgot to bring our specially-purchased map of Seattle, and was hoping to rely on freeway signs to find the zoo, but it turns out they aren't prominently featured northbound so we missed it by several miles and then had to backtrack and as usual, with my navigating, it took twice as long as it should have. When will Mike learn not to leave me in charge?
So, we didn't have a ton of time to see the whole zoo.
We saw sleeping kitties!
And a wise old man.
Scott rode a kimodo dragon (not actual size) (not actual dragon).
Then we drove home and vowed never to leave home again, until we drove to Portland the following month.
We started out hiding eggs in the living room, then took them to our itty bitty excuse for a front yard and hid them in the bushes.
The gang gets ready. Mike bought Scott that fake leather jacket at Goodwill. He looks like a rebel. Dean is stuck wearing a non-rebellious animal jacket.
Dean points out a good hiding place in the prickly bushes,
along with the proper technique to wait for the eggs to be hidden.
Midway through the hunt I thought to take a picture of the eggs. Our awesome babysitter Jilian dyed the eggs with the boys, in yet another messy parenting moment that we passed on to her (see also: carving Halloween pumpkins).
Dean helps me hide some eggs for Mike while Scott takes our picture.
When the egg hunt got boring, we did some bubbles. Dean's technique is not very effective.
Wiki skulked around.
We sort of flew kites, too.
That's our house, with the open garage door. I point it out because we've become people who have shelves in the garage so we have to park one of the cars in the driveway.
But wait! There's more, after naptime!
We went to Larrabee State Park when it was slightly lower tide (and rainy).
Dean points out a lone starfish left in the mud.
I went macro on the starfish, because there's a tiny starfish right next to the bottom right leg. (Arm?)
Dean contemplates all the available rocks to throw into the water.
We walked up to a little overlook.
Dad and the boys.
A serious moment. By the way, my Vermont puffy coat does not have a hood, and it is not waterproof. So it kept me warm at first, but by the time we got back to the car my elbows were wet. Darn coat.
Finally, Scott would like you to know that this amphitheater was finished in 1915. There's your history lesson.
On April 22, Scott's official birthday and Earth Day, his school had a garden party. Everyone brought seeds to plant and got to eat snacks and play in the rare sunshine.
Scott and Dean eat like they've never had goldfish crackers before.
Scott took the camera to the top of the playground and took a picture of our car in the parking lot.
Instead of pea gravel or wood chips, this playground is covered with rubber chips made from old tires.
We played hide and seek, and Scott's best hiding spot is underneath some stairs.
Starting off with my favorite part, the cake. I had thought about frozen buttercream transfers, like I did with Dean's birthday cake. But Scott wanted all of the Jedis, and I didn't think I had the talent for that. Plus I'm not good at making black frosting for outlining, and Jedis have a lot of black. So I went the easy route: edible printed image. People on the internet will make anything. I ordered the picture, made the cake, and did some fancy decorating.
I'll school you. The Clone Wars take place between Episodes II and III of Star Wars (the prequels), when Anakin Skywalker is a tough Jedi and the clones are good guys fighting the Separatists and all the evil droids. We've been watching the animated series via Netflix, and it is full of Jedi action. In comparison, the prequels have way too much talking. Actually, you wouldn't need a comparison for that. Zing! Also, animated Anakin is much better looking than human actor Anakin (you can't tell that from the cake because I accidentally got a water droplet right on Anakin's face and made it blurry).
Anyway, we invited every boy of preschool age in Scott's school to the party. He had one rule: no girls. He later added a second rule: no sleeping at the party. The party was held at the Jump Around Fun Zone, because we have no desire to host a party at our house. The Fun Zone has 3 or 4 inflatable structures plus air hockey.
Dean and his tongue waited for Max and Corey to play air hockey.
Dean on the big slide. Adults aren't allowed on the play structures, so luckily Dean has just enough coordination to pull himself up the inflatable ladder, usually with a line of kids waiting impatiently behind him.
I didn't get a lot of pictures of Scott, because he was busy. This is Corey saying, "Scott, come on!" Note the too-big Clone Wars shirt and Scott's red cheeks.
Dean fancies himself a Big Kid, so he joined the party in the bounce house.
Yeah, the bounce house got a little crazy. All of those boys are with our party. Dean is in the blue shirt, crawling away, and Scott is laying down in the front being attacked or something.
Yes, the internet can oversupply you with anything. I bought cardboard Clone masks, they were a huge hit. I heard that some kids went to the farmers market afterwards wearing their masks, other kids wore them at home all week.
After bouncing, we went to the party room.
Yes, that is a Clone Wars tablecloth. The boys ate fruit, cheese and crackers on Clone Wars plates and drank water from Clone Wars cups.
Then we did the cake ceremony. Here's a video of Scott having trouble blowing out the candles.
Then we ate cake!
Dean grabbed a handful of candles and shoved them into his own slice of cake, because that's what you do.
Then he was offended that someone tried to feed him. By the way, do you see I made it two (uneven) layers? And it was delicious.
Present time! Then we sent everyone home with favor boxes.
Can you believe the things that exist? Star Wars favor boxes with a 3-D Death Star on top?
Everyone got a Pez dispenser.
And a Storm Trooper bracelet.
And a Boba Fett chocolate lollipop, again from the category of Things People on the Internet will Make and Sell to You.
We come in peace.
That's mostly the end of the party. As a bonus, here's a picture Scott took of the book we are reading every night at bedtime:
It's from the library, which means someday we will have to give it back.
We had a mini-family party on Scott's actual birthday, which is notable only because I made banana cupcakes.
Scott's class had an ice cream party once, and he had to bring a topping. We bought sprinkles, and while we were in the decorating aisle at the store, he saw a package of "Happy Birthday" letters that he also wanted to bring as a topping. I forgot to send the letters to school with him, so I plunked them onto the cupcakes because I am creative like that.
Scott's self-portrait. He's been taking the waterproof camera into the bathtub and taking pictures, so I thought this was a good shot of the birthday boy.
Finally, Scott's party was a big hit. Apparently it was all the talk at school the following Monday, and one group of kids wrote about it:
I think two of the kids in the drawing weren't even at the party, but maybe they heard about it so much that they felt like they were. THE END.
When Mike and Janell travel back to Montreal in an effort to have a better time than the time when they were lost and ate bad food and shopped at Wal-Mart.
Which would have been filled with even more glamorous photos of beautiful people in exotic locations, had Janell not forgotten the battery charger for the camera.
An exhaustive, minutiae-laden story about The Amazing Race 5 finale party at Madison Square Garden, with lots of fangirl pictures of Phil's head in the crowd.
See America from behind a U-Haul! Marvel at the difficult parking maneuvering! Pity Wiki as she tries to retain her dignity while wearing a harness and finding places to hide in motel rooms!
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