Mid-Winter Break

So, one of the great joys of being a teacher are the little breaks you get from work. I love my job but after a day of sugared-up kids on Valentine's day it was time for a vacation!
Isabelle and I have been taking full advantage of our five days off together, attending a birthday party, taking in the sights of Seattle and then promptly getting sick. That's just the way it goes.
Here are some pictures from our adventures.

This one is totally out of order - sometimes I think blogger is out to get me. Anyway, this was taken at the Pacific Science Center. See below for more info. Ugghh!

Valentine's Day, and off to a birthday party at the Children's Museum.

Isabelle flying a Boeing 747.

In the reading room at the museum. We really like this spot because you get to look down at all the fun sights.

Another one of Isabelle's favorite places - the animal clinic. Here she is caring for a poor injured frog.

Writing up a prescription and making a quick phone call to the veterinary assistant.

Taking her passengers for a ride on the metro bus.

In the glow room.

At the fire station.

On the roof of the museum is a giant playground and fossil dig site. Isabelle loves climbing the rock wall.

Way up high on the big twisty slide.

The Pacific Science Center has been hosting the exhibit "Lucy's Legacy: The Hidden Treasures of Ethiopia" for the past couple months and we finally had time to see it. Click here for more information. "Lucy" is a 3.18-million-year-old hominid fossil that was discovered in the mid 1970's in the Afar region of Ethiopia. It was an amazing exhibit with so much wonderful information on Ethiopia and its people, in addition to a great lesson in paleoanthropology. Isabelle's favorite parts were punching in the numbers on the listening device for the guided tour and reassembling the skeleton bones in the hands-on part of the exhibit. We of course couldn't take pictures but oh, how I would have loved you to see the expression on Isabelle's face when we finally made it to "Lucy." Her mouth was literally hanging open as I tried in vain to explain the process of evolution, while she was staring at this hairy being in front of her. Priceless. Of course, when leaving you exit into a gift shop stocked with all things Ethiopia, from necklaces and flags to bags and blankets. I resisted the urge to spend $200.00 on a string of beads (yeah, you heard right), opting instead to hold out for something less expensive in actual Ethiopia.

Before the "Lucy" tour we checked out the rest of the science center. Isabelle's been many times before but it's always exciting. We even got to see a brand new Imax show, "Under the Sea: 3D" on the first day it opened!

Experimenting with water.

We see the Space Needle all the time, but it's still really cool!

The other half of the guitar picture - can you tell someone is being silly? The science center also has a beautiful butterfly pavilion. They're very hard to see but there are a couple butterflies in the background of this picture.

Hanging out with a caterpillar. Fortunately I have spared all of you from pictures of hissing cockroaches and giant millipedes, but rest assured, they were a huge hit with Isabelle.

The one thing I did buy at the "Lucy" exhibit was this book of Ethiopian recipes. I've been looking for one and this book also lists all the Ethiopian markets in Seattle so it's a great resource. It also has interesting facts and history about Ethiopia. And, I got it for the much more reasonable price of $3.25, including tax!

And now, for the sick part of the vacation. I do have good news though. After almost ten years of going without a food processor we finally had to invest in one so I could make Roasted Potato and Leek Soup for my soup club last week. If you haven't heard of this wondrous machine, you MUST get one. It does fantastic things like thinly slice 20 shallots in under 10 seconds. I've already used it several times, including today to make soup for my sick family. I don't know how I got along without it!

"You travel on until you return home; you live on until you return to earth."

~Ethiopian Proverb