Worn out

I think I wore everyone out today. We hopped on the #72 Express downtown this morning and explored Pike Place Market and the waterfront. I never realized how hilly downtown Seattle is until my dad and Mikey commented on it. I probably never noticed because I'm normally chasing children. We had the famous Piroshky! Piroshky! for lunch, a pastry puff with meat and cheeses inside. Dad and I had salmon and the kids had the onion, cheese and potato. Even Genna ate a good lunch. We then got a couple souvenirs and headed home. I forgot how much the kids love riding the bus.

I made a quick trip to the grocery store while dad watched the kids and then we headed off to Genna's ballet class and the adjacent playground. There is only a small sliver in the ballet classroom door through which we can see the girls dancing, but I did watch a few minutes of the class that way today. I don't think there are many things more cute than a 4-year-old ballet class.

After my kids went to bed, I got to chat with Mikey a bit. It's fun to learn about the life of a 9-year old: Mikey's hamster, named Firework, is a dwarf hamster. She has to have a special ball to run around the house because she's too little to push around a normal-sized hamster ball. I remember when I was about Mikey's age and we had a hamster. I loved putting Bernie the clear plastic hamster ball and watching it run all over the house in the ball. What a crazy contraption, and I'll never forget the thump.... thump .... .... thump ... thump ... ... ... thump, which was the sound of the ball rolling down the stairs. Upon hearing those syncopated thumps, we'd all run to stairs to rescue the hamster from falling down the basement staircase.

I can't believe that Jonah held Papa's hand all the way to the bus stop. I can barely force Jonah to hold my hand just crossing a street. 

Whale sculpture, perfect for climbing

Whale-riding

Whale-hugging

Jonah is all smiles at a playground, unless we are leaving or he is falling off of something and bonking his head (which happened two times today)

For a change, we had beautiful weather today. You can't really tell by this picture, but this is a spectacular view out of our window. The full moon seemed huge, and it was reflecting beautifully off of Lake Washington. If everyday was like today, I would love Seattle. But it is not.