Knoxville ReEntry/Culture Shock & OSP/Theo

We're back amongst the cuddly kitties, the familiar furniture and the cherished yard. We are getting reaquainted with oddities of Knoxville life. Adjustments this week have included: learning to guess when the other drivers might turn as most still don't use turn signals, remembering how to drive when the left lane of the interstate is clogged with senior citizens, trying to understand the Southern accent again, & trying to order something at a restaurant that doesn't come with gravy or bacon. The Seattle area is very pedestrian friendly and it's a law that a pedestrian can walk out at a cross walk at anytime and cars have to stop. It has made for a nice vibe. I tried to stay in this compassionate mode while driving through the Target parking lot tonight and I stopped leisurely to let a lady cross from the lot to the storefront and nearly got rear ended by someone trying to zip past all of humanity.
On a positive note, we enjoyed a lovely meal at the home of Brian and Jean Bonnyman last night. It was a treat to spend time with our "kindred spirits" in Knoxville.
Reflecting on last week, if you are viewing the OSP/Theo pictures in the photo albumn, know that the OSP stands for Olympic Sculpture Park and Theo Chocolates is the amazing fair trade/organic chocolate factory that I took the kids to last week. Rachel, our tour guide, was great and is in the close up picture with the kids. The OSP was astounding. The sculpture, the views, the plantings, the design of the space all weave together a very memorable park. The kids look cute in the woven baskets that hang in the pavillon. Also, the cool frosty pictures were taken at the boardwalk through the wetlands of North Rose Hill Park in Kirkland. The kids loved the Dragon climbing wall as you can see. Lastly, there is a picture of St. Marks, our temporary church home, and Emily our wonderful babysitter.

Back Home

Just a quick blog to let everyone know that we are back in Knoxville. Our travel was safe and stress free, and the kids handled the nearly 4 hour flight very well. We flew into Nashville on Sunday and spent the night at the Gaylord Opry Hotel. It was nice to walk around the gardens. We were even able to take a boat ride in the hotel around some of the gardens. We rented an SUV to take us and our heavy luggage the rest of the way to Knoxville. We found our house where we left it in pretty good shape. Cats looked happy and healthy and we spent a good amount of time cleaning up mounds of cat hair from the beds and furniture.

It was good to catch up on mail, especially Christmas letters. The kids finally got to open up some of the gifts that were sent here, rather than in Washington.

I'll wrap it up for now. There are lots of events of the last hectic week that we'll want to blog with more detail. The last photo album (OSP/Theo) covers sightseeing that Karen and the kids did in Seattle. And I also want to reflect more on my experience at Eastside Community Health Center. But in the meantime we are also trying to catch up on 3 months of "life", plus dealing with a slow internet connection - so we will do our best.

Sunshine on the Sound

We enjoyed a bright and sunny, albeit frigid, MLK day. To make the most of the sunshine we planned a ferry trip across the Puget Sound. We caught the ferry "Kaleetan" in Seattle, boarded and parked our car, and climbed up to the passenger decks to catch the majestic views. Check out the pictures!

The ferry brought us to Bremerton, where we drove south to Tacoma. On the way we crossed the impressive Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and enjoyed even more stunning views of Mt. Ranier. In Tacoma, we made our way to Point Defiance Park and spent some time at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. After the Zoo and a drive around the "Point", we ate dinner at Anthony's At Point Defiance for great seafood and more views of the Sound and Mt. Ranier, as the full moon rose into the sky.

Yesterday was not so sunny, but had fun in Seattle visiting the Center for Wooden Boats. In the photos you can see us hacking away at a 30+ foot canoe, under the supervision of Saaduuts, the Master Haida carver who is the artist-in-residence for the CWB. We later drove to the Pioneer Square Historic District and visited the Klondike Gold Rush Museum and Elliot Bay Books. Of course, we rounded the day off with great seafood at Ivar's Acres of Clams. Oliver has become quite the little connoisseur of fish and chips!

Seattle Excursions

This week, CD made it to a performance of the Seattle Opera doing Pagliacci on Wednesday. He enjoyed not only the performance, but the respectful and supportive audience. I took the kids to Marymoor Park in Redmond and we visited the reflexology path again. I want to make one of these in my backyard! Saturday was a fun downtown day. We took the kids to the Seattle Symphony to a concert called "Tell me a Story." They played Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, Flight of the Bumblebee, Blue Danube Waltz, and the Harry Potter Suite. The Bennaroya Hall was an amazing a beautiful place to hear live music. Then we walked down the street to the Art Museum to eat lunch and enjoy the exhibits. Then for supper we went to Jeff Reiter's houseboat. Jeff is a colleague of CD's at work and had a little going away gathering for us. The pictures at the right were taking from the top of his "house barge." Enjoy!

So Many Things, So Little TIme

Wow! There are so many things to do in Seattle and the surrounding areas. We feel like we have experienced a good chunk of them, but there are always more.

This weekend we made it to the Seattle Children's Museum. On exhibit was "Moneyville" which Natalie loved. Oliver enjoyed preparing sushi at Japanese cultural exhibit.

Today was a clear sunny day. Very rare at this time of year. The views of the mountains were impressive. After church, we decided to spend another day at the Woodland Park Zoo. We weren't the only ones who had that idea, but we had an enjoyable enough time despite the crowds.

Recently we also made it to the Experience Music Project/Sci-Fi Museum. The EMP was pretty cool with a lot of Northwest music history and interactive music exhibits. But, my favorite part of this dual museum was definitely the SFM. I was in nerd heaven!

These are our last two weeks in the Seattle area. We will definitely miss a lot of things about being here, but we are looking forward to sunnier weather and seeing our home again (at least for a little while).

Guide to "Space Needle" pictures

The pictures to the right labled "Space Needle/NYE" need a little explanation. On Sunday, December 30 we traveled to the Seattle Symphony to check out their Soundbridge music room and attend a "Musical Storytelling." So you'll see pictures of the kids trying out the instruments and enjoying the class. I really like the Aaron Copland quote on the side of the building.
Every winter, Seattle does a Nutcracker March exhibit where they place Nutcracker statues all over town and each one is painted differently. In the picture we are standing by the one entitled "Waltz of the Snowflakes."
Then we got on the monorail and rode to Seattle Center where we enjoyed a train display, a giant checkerboard, the International Fountain, and of course the needle itself. It was fun to read the details of how it was built. My hat goes off to all of the workers who built it and worked for less than $4 an hour!
The next night, New Year's Eve, we traveled to St. Mark's Cathedral. I walked their labyrinth while CD hung out with the kids in the parking lot. Then at midnight we watched the fireworks shooting off the needle right from the great vantage point of the church's parking lot.

Snowboarding

It has been two days since my first snowboarding experience at the Summit at Snoqualmie and I am still wincing with almost every movement. I still liked it very much and look forward to trying it again some day.

We arrived in Snoqualmie Pass on January 1. This apparently turned out to be one of the busiest days in years, according to the locals. I couldn't have been much better weather. Plus, the views alone were worth the trip to the Cascades. I planned on buying a package deal - lesson, rental, and lift ticket. The lesson was taught by a young "snowboarding yogi" who taught us the essentials of snowboard yoga. I felt like the Karate Kid, because he didn't even let us wear the snowboard until we had become proficient in the yoga. At the end of the lesson, I graduated with his praise of being "quality."

After that, I spent the next 5 hours beating my body to a pulp. I didn't remember falling on the snow being this painful when I was 14. Eventually I mastered the bunny slope. I would have liked to go again the next day on the newly fallen snow, but it was physically impossible. Snowboarding looks a lot easier than it is to start. I assume, like most things, the mechanics get more natural with practice. I was pretty amazed seeing people weaving down the slopes, having a conversation, or talking on the cell phone. One of the frustrating things about this sport was having mess with the bindings repeatedly. It involved twisting my body, already in cumbersome clothing, into very uncomfortable positions.

In the meantime, as my body heals, I'll continue doing my snowboard yoga and look forward to my next time on a snowboard.