Spring Break in Lynnwood

After coming home from White Pass, the wife and kid came and stayed with me at my hotel in Lynnwood. I took half days off for a couple of days so we could do stuff together. On the first day the family met me at the Boeing office, where my current project is located, and we went to lunch at Z's the best burger place in the Pacific Northwest. Most of my co-workers from the office were there and had the privilege of seeing my children that I talk about all the time. After that we went to the headquarters of Nintendo USA, where we traded Daniel's beloved, but broken DS, for a refurbished DS. This was an early Birthday present for him. There was a display at the visitor center that had all the different game consoles Nintendo has come out with. Daniel was elated to get his new DS. Instead of a plane white body, this one has a black bottom, and a dark blue lid. He played it all afternoon and evening. When it was time to go to bed he tucked his new beloved toy into bed next to him. There are few things more fun than watching a three year old with a beloved toy. On Wednesday we went to the museum of flight. They had an SR71 Blackbird, an incredible WWII and WWI display, a concord, and one of the old Air Force One planes. I was able to stand where Nixon once stood, and repeated those immortal words, "I'm not a crook". The SR71 that was there was an experimental version they built to play around with the idea of launching a super sonic drone from a blackbird. The experiment did work, to they moth balled the plane. That particular SR71 only has 200 hours on it. The kids had a great time playing around the hotel. Every morning they went to the pool while I was at work, and every evening they were down at the pool. Lil Dave also dragged me down to the gym. Daniel's favorite part was the elevators. The hotel is a huge atrium surrounded by rooms. The elevators have a glass back so you can look over the atrium while you go up and down. Daniel loved watching out the elevator and pushing the buttons.

Sprinter Break Trip to White Pass

We went on a trip this weekend up to White Pass. I don't have time to write all the details just yet, but here are some pictures.

The scenic view by our cabin at Camp Zarahemla

Guys from the X-Games jumping snowmobiles

Zach on skis

Sabrina on Skis

Sorry no pictures of Lil Dave on the snowboard from this trip.

Daniel playing in the snow at camp.
David sledding at camp
Zach sledding at camp
Sabrina sledding at camp
Zach by our cabin at Camp Zarahemla
Fixing breakfast

April Fools Day 2008

When I arrived home on April fools day, my children kept on trying to play April fools jokes on me. David started by telling me that he was sent home with a “white ticket” (disciplinary notice). This being his first ever, I gathered it was a joke, but I thought I’d play along. I told Dave that he was grounded from his beloved Xbox, TV and the home computer for a month, and I wanted him to got to his room for the rest of the night. Figuring out that this joke on Dad wasn’t going the direction that he wanted it to go, he went into the April fools, it’s just a joke routine. But having way to much fun with this, I told Dave that I didn’t believe it was a joke, and wanted him to go to his room.

Later Sabrina came home, and already worked up about having to go back to the church to retrieve her forgotten backpack. Dave, always willing to poor gas on the flame that is Sabrina, told her that her beloved guinea pig, Ruby, had gotten out of her cage, and we couldn’t find her. After Sabrina ran up stairs to find Ruby, Dave nudged me, and with a sly look on his face said “Don’t worry Dad, I put her someplace safe.” I asked where he stuck the poor rodent. He replied, with a look on his face like he knew what he was doing, and had everything under control, “I put her in the top drawer of my desk.” Yes that’s right, he put this poor guinea pig in his top desk drawer. And of course the funny part is that he thought it was a great, clever idea. I smacked him upside the back of the head, and ordered him to get the poor thing out there before if suffocated.

Sabrina, already livid that something happened to her beloved rodent, went ballistic when she saw Dave pull the thing out of his desk drawer. It took several slices of pizza to calm her down.