Seattle Trip
Buddy Dennis and I decided to take our kids to Seattle for Saturday night. His 2 boys (4+7) and my 2 (3+7) and the 2 dads makes for a busy weekend We all went in his van – the 2 older kids had their own DVD player in the back watching movies with headphones and the 2 younger ones also had their own player while Dennis and I just listened to the radio. Traveling in 2006 sure is different from the way I remember it. Good thing is that the kids are entertained and quiet during the 3 hour trip. Not a family bonding experience though.

We went to the Seattle Zoo and spent 5 hours there. It was great and saw most of the exhibits and animals. I think I enjoy it as much as the kids. We went to our hotel in Bellevue and I used Priceline to get us a deal. $65 US plus taxes for a 3 Star Red Lion was a great deal. Saved us about $50. We had 2 double beds so we put 3 of the kids on air mattresses on the floor and one with Dennis. Besides my kids waking up crying at 12:30, 1:30 and 6:30 (sigh) it worked out. The were pretty hyper in the room bouncing between the 2 beds.

We went swimming in the outdoor pool at 6PM. It was cold outside but the pool was kind of warm so we stayed there for an hour and had fun. Then it was off to the all for food and the lego store. Bellevue is upscale so not much cheap family food to be found.

Sunday was Dennys for their Extreme Grand Slam breakfast and the stores. Target, Best Buy and GIJoes. I was looking at GIJoes for some anti-raccoon device but I figure a shotgun wouldn’t be a good thing to bring across the border. That was one suggestion from the clerk. It’s a major outdoorsman type of store – they have everything for guys.

On the way home we didn’t put the movies on and I think should have. The kids were bored and restless which made for a much longer trip. Another weekend away down.

September 11
My buddy Jason in Montreal turned 40 today. That’s what September 11 used to mean to me. Now I think back 5 years ago to Linda and I on holidays driving into Toronto to tour the city and listening to the radio and not believing to what I was hearing. It was all too surreal. I thought it was a radio prank and until we went to the Much Music studios where they had a wall of TVs showing the crash we didn’t fully understand the magnitude. We watched the towers fall and then we got nervous. We went to the CN Tower but it just closed due to it being a possible target and then the whole city started to shut down at 10:30AM. So we got back into the car and traffic leaving the city and drove back to my cousins. Our flight home was delayed a few days but we made it home the Friday. Just way too bizarre to even comprehend what took place that day. I have trouble watching the clips still – I find it all too scary and sad.

Carter Turns 7 !!
My little guy is growing up too fast. I can’t believe he’s in grade 2 and 7. I still remember him being this cute baby boy. Sigh.

He got to go to my brother Dougs place on Saturday night for some cake and presents with the family. That was great and Doug and Helen have done wonders on their house. Their outside backyard is simply awesome with a massive pond and deck and outdoor fireplace.

Carters Uncle Bob from Kelowna came to visit Carter Sunday morning. We spent the morning building Lego before going off to his party. We did the theatre thing. That’s where we invite a bunch of his buddies to the movies and use the theatres party room for cake and presents. We saw ‘Ant Bully’ and I was pleasantly surprised with it. It was a fun kids movie. The kids were all great and the whole thing lasted 3 hours. Linda made a great hot wheels cake for him. A licorice road with trees and hot wheels cars on it. I don’t know if I would do the theatre thing again as it’s quite expense.

For his birthday meal he wanted Little Caesars pizza and crazy bread and California rolls. Crazy kid.

School Again
September means school again. Carter is in grade 2 and Haley is in preschool. I’m back doing night school at Simon Fraser University. Tuesday was my first class and as soon as it started I started to crash. I was exhausted and sitting still just brought me right down. Luckily the class wasn’t the full 3 hours and I got home early. I need to read more and study more before next class.

Long weekend
So what do people do on sunny hot long weekends ?
Take the Friday off and instead of camping – paint the trim of the house. One day down.
Then come up with this brilliant idea of having a garage sale on a sunny Sunday on a long weekend. We put up about 20 signs around the neighborhood and then got all the crap we wanted to sell ready. Drive out to North Van and pick up my folks stuff they wanted to sell. Another day down.

The sale was a bust. Few people showed up and those that did thought everything should be a dollar. They would pick up 3 or 4 items priced at $20 and say $1. I’d say no and then they would just hand me the $1 and start walking away. And I let them !! I just wanted the crap gone. After 4 hours, we put out FREE signs on the driveway and got in the car and went to the pool. We were fed up and gave away hundreds of dollars worth of stuff. We made a total $100.50.

Carter made $14 selling Lemonade though – little businessman.

Monday was the corn maze. This place has a massive corn maze which would take hours if you did all the checkpoints. It was just me and the kids so after 45 minutes Haley put up her arms like she wanted to be carried and that’s when we made our way through the maze top the exit. It was fun though Very dusty since we haven’t had rain for so long. Kids played there and did the petting zoo and slide and barrel rides and hay rides. It was so dusty though they wore goggles. They sure needed a bth when they got home.