What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Part I--JUNE

It is 58 degrees and raining right now, and IT IS STILL AUGUST! Ugh. I love Seattle, but this is ridiculous. However, it does reinforce the fact that summer is, inexorably, coming to a close (schools are starting, pears are falling off the trees, and--gasp!--are those maples going a bit reddish over there?) and I realized that I have not posted anything to the blog in about two months.

Thankfully, this is because we have been extremely busy doing lots of fun stuff. Liam finished his first year of pre-school, which was celebrated with a school camping trip to Vashon Island. The Kaplans visited towards the beginning of the month, meeting up with us on the island, and then immediately thereafter we made an unexpected, short, and hastily planned trip to Phoenix to visit Amy's grandmother who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was good to see her, but obviously, the circumstances were pretty sad. Fortunately she is still hanging in there and has a few more months left. During our visit, she was pretty lucid, and was able to visit with our boys and the other grand kids and socialize for a couple of hours at a stretch.

We made it up to the mountains for a beautiful hike to Twin Lakes near Snoqualmie Pass--Liam absolutely loved having a snowball fight in summer. At the very end of the month we visited with Ben Heumann, one of my students from McGill, during a stop on his epic bike journey from Portland OR to Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory before his PhD started in August. It was great fun catching up with Ben and hearing about his adventures. You can read a lot more about his voyage and check out some cool pictures on his travel blog here .

CORE GIS--maps for Sightline and the Washington Trails Association

A couple of months ago I did some analysis and cartography for the Sightline Institute. They've been working on the actual and potential impacts of Measure 37 in Oregon, which effectively exempts many parcels from the celebrated land use restrictions that have been in place in Oregon since the 1970s.

The maps have just been published in their new book Cascadia Scorecard 2007, and they've also posted the maps to their website here, here, and my favorite, here.

I also made a map showing temperature changes in the Northwest between 1950 and 2003. I did not do the analysis on this one--the data came from the U.S. Historical Climate Network and were processed by Phil Mote, the Washington State Climatologist.

For another recently completed project, I created a series of maps for the Washington Trails Association documenting the extensive damage to trails and roads as a result of an exceptionally powerful storm that hit western Washington last November. Those maps were printed in their monthly magazine, and my buddy Josh Livni made a very cool web-map with the same base data that WTA will use to update the trails and roads conditions as they are repaired over the summer.

Twin Falls

A couple of weeks ago we hiked Twin Falls, starting from Olallie State Park. This is a great hike for kids, in that it is not too long, there is not too much elevation gain, and the exposure is pretty minimal, except for the viewing platform above the falls at the very end. The platform is of very sturdy construction and has great guardrails, but still, the drop is substantial. We also encountered the profile of an Ent during our hike, which was rather startling.

Lochlan is One!

Last month Lochlan had his first birthday. It is hard to believe that Micro Man is a year old, walking, and starting to talk. We had a party at our house, invited our friends and neighbors over for a pot luck, played in the backyard after the rain cleared, and ate chocolate cake! As far as I can tell, a good time was had by all--especially the guest of honor, who despite seeming a bit confused about why so many people were paying so much attention to him, retained his characteristic equanimity.

We did not go overboard on presents, mostly because there are so many age-appropriate toys in the house already from Liam (plus, well, he's ONLY ONE). However, Lochlan will turn just about any object into a drumstick and start beating out a rhythm on any available surface. Every time we go to the Zoomazium, he makes a beeline for the African drums in the toddler section and just goes to town. I usually have to pull him off the djembe when it's time to go. So we got him some drums, and they were, er, a hit.

Cascade Land Conservancy Conservation Awards Breakfast

On Tuesday morning I attended the Cascade Land Conservancy's annual Conservation Awards Breakfast. This is the third time I've attended in five years, and I have to say it is truly astonishing how quickly (and how much) this event has grown. This year, they had to move the venue from the Westin to the Convention Center--because there were over 1,800 people there!!

The featured speaker was Governor Christine Gregoire, and she gave an inspiring speech about the progress the (Democratically controlled) Legislature was able to make on conservation and environmental issues this past year. Then--a complete surprise to me--she had a signing ceremony for a bill that passed this session enabling a regional transfer of development rights program to begin within the three metro counties of Greater Seattle. This is a landmark piece of legislation, in that it will create a truly effective market for development rights and has the potential to take most if not all of the development pressure off of the forests and farms near the growing cities of Puget Sound.

I sat at Charlie Raines' table with folks from The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Conservation Northwest, and a few other organizations. I've worked with Charlie for about five years on a wide variety of projects, and he's truly an environmental hero. I'm sure one of these days he'll be up on stage receiving an award from CLC, but not this year. The lifetime achievement award was given to Paul and Debbi Brainerd (they started the Brainerd Foundation, which has done a TON of stuff in the NW). Debbi gave a short speech, and she ended with a fantastic quote from George Bernard Shaw:

This is the true joy in life: the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one, the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. --George Bernard Shaw

I'm thinking of sticking that one on the bathroom mirror.

Boats, Part II--Seattle Maritime Festival

Yesterday was day two of the Seattle Maritime Festival, which featured tugboat races, wooden boat building, and best of all--a Coast Guard helicopter rescue demonstration. The Coast Guard flew out one of their Jayhawk helicopters up to Seattle from the air base in Astoria Oregon (our local air base has the smaller Dolphin helicopters), dropped a dummy in the water, then had one of their rescue swimmers jump out of the helicopter, 'rescue' the dummy, and hoisted the swimmer and dummy back into the helicopter. This all happened in Elliott Bay, a few hundred yards away from the dock where we watched. It was awesome, very similar to some of the scenes in the movie 'The Guardian' (which I highly recommend).

Afterwards, Liam met the Coast Guard officer who provided explanations and commentary during the demonstration, and we grabbed a quick shot of him and his daughter with our little guy.

It was a great day--tugboat races, helicopters, and people dressed like orcas. What more could you ask for?

Boats, Part I--Opening Day

Opening Day is a long-standing Seattle tradition (close to 100 years) that takes place on the first Saturday in May. This year, Amy was attending an all-day oil spill response training on Lopez Island, so I loaded the boys into the bike trailer and we headed for the Montlake Cut. It turned out to be a beautiful day, and we made it there just a few minutes before the 12:00 opening cannon shot was fired. We lounged on the grass and watched the boats pass by. On the way home, Liam fell asleep and completely squished his astonishingly tolerant little brother into the side of the trailer.

Liam Dances

Here is Liam demonstrating his mad dance moves.

Lochlan Walks

OK, I finally got it! Here is a short, silent, grainy movie taken with our digicam.

Port Townsend

A couple of weeks ago Amy attended the Annual Conference of the Northwest Chapter of the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. The conference was held at Ft Worden state park, and the boys and I met Amy out there at the end of the first day. I had a great time hanging out with the boys while Amy was at the conference, and we took an extra day to enjoy Pt Townsend. It's a great town and we had fun playing on the beach and playing "chase" in between all the other tourists downtown. Amy found us a great hotel right on the Sound, with excellent views of the boat traffic and the Whidbey Island ferry.

Lochlan is Walking

Lochlan started walking last week. And I mean walking for real--not just a step or two, but across entire rooms. We've had some difficulty capturing this new developmental triumph photographically, but I have a couple of shots taken a few days before liftoff.

Liam's Awesome Bruise

One day Liam was playing with an attachment to the vaccuum cleaner. He thought it would be fun to throw it up into the air, catch it, and throw it up into the air again. One time he caught it with his forehead. Here's what happened.

I'm happy to report that Liam is feeling just fine now.

Easter

Yes, I've been slacking on the blog. Work has been really great lately, maybe even a little too great, and after I've spent time with Amy and the boys there is not so much time for other activities.

HOWEVER, I'm going to have some serious down time for the next several days, so let the catching-up begin!

Here are a whole bunch of pictures from easter, which was a fun holiday. We decorated eggs with our friends Matt, Heather, and Audrey the day before and had an outdoor egghunt on easter morning. Liam finally figured out that easter = candy, so he was really into it this year.

I Love Being a Dad (*WARNING: this is gross)

Alright, I did not complete the Portland trip posts as I had intended because (predictably) I was completely overwhelmed by a raging tsunami of work. Which is a good thing.

But I had to post about a hilarious thing that happened last week.

Amy and I each take one full work day per week to spend with the boys, which helps cut down on child care costs and is good for us too.

So last Thursday, I have both boys, and we're getting ready to head out to The Museum of Flight for the day. Liam is playing, I'm holding Lochlan, and I have to pee. So I go into the bathroom, set the MircoMan down, and start doing my thing. Now, to understand what happened next, you first have to understand three things:

1. Lochlan very recently started pulling himself up on things and is cruising around all over the place, using furniture, legs, whatever, to hold himself up.

2. Lochlan wants to grab everything he sees.

3. When a man starts peeing, it is very difficult for him to stop.

So there I am, doing my thing, when Lochlan crawls over to the toilet, pulls himself up on the rim, looks up at me, and tries to grab the stream of pee. Naturally, I am horrified, but I can't stop, and I can't move him without making the situation worse, so I just try to hurry it up and get the job done. Then he switches hands, and really starts trying to gain some purchase. Suddenly, it dawns on me that I am urinating on my son, and I start laughing uncontrollably!

I've read a lot of parenting books, but honestly there just isn't really any way to prepare yourself for something like that. (Needless to say, I washed him off and changed his clothes before we headed to the museum.)

Portland Adventure: Day #2

After arriving in Portland late on the afternoon on Day 1, Liam and I got settled at the hotel, walked around town a bit, and had some pizza at Hot Lips. There was a band setting up in the corner as we left, and the drummer had long dreadlocks. As were walking past, Liam slowed down a bit, then walked up to the drummer and said "You look like Captain Jack Sparrow!" The rest of the band started laughing.

The evening was challenging. Lots of screaming for Mom and milk, but eventually, we both fell asleep, and rested (fitfully) until about 7:00 the next morning.

On Day 2, we were picked up by our friends Jen and Carl and we went for a fantastic hike along Eagle Creek in the Columbia Gorge. Unfortunately, Liam was quite tired so we only made it in a little over a mile. This was far enough that we saw some great scenery and were able to traverse an extremely narrow ledge carved into the side of a cliff, with (naturally) a waterfall dropping directly onto the trail. Walking along slippery rocks on the edge of a cliff under a waterfall is thrilling and exciting even by yourself, but for an extra special dose of stimulation, I highly recommend carrying a sleepy three year old. YEAAH!!

After the hike, nap time, then exploring downtown Portland, and dinner at Kell's. It was a good day, and the night was a bit easier than the first, with far less screaming in the middle of the night.

The Portland Adventure: Kick-off Party and Day #1

This past Friday we had a weaning party for Liam. After nursing him for 3 1/2 years, through her pregnancy with Lochlan, and tandem nursing two boys for the past 9 months, Amy decided she was done. Since Mr. Little Guy has shown no signs of quitting on his own, we decided to give him a firm but very supportive, festive nudge into the land of big-boyhood. The Weaning Party was a rockin' affair for the preschool set. We had vegan chocolate cake, featuring a photo montage we put together of Liam nursing at various ages (and printed with edible ink on edible rice paper by the Erotic Bakery)--which I decided not to include an image of here on the blog for the simple reason that Amy would kill me. Liam's buddies Colin, Darby, Audrey, Max, Amelie and all their parents were there, and it was a lot of fun.

Liam's pediatrician recommended that I take Liam elsewhere for the first few days of the weaning period, so the next day, Liam and I headed south on an Amtrak train for a four day adventure in Portland.

A Clear Day at Carkeek

We've had really clear, cold weather here in Seattle up until yesterday. About a week and a half ago I took the boys to Carkeek park for a play date with our friends Audrey and Heather. It was cold, but we still spent some time on the beach. There were some beautiful views of the Olympics, and a green fishing boat plying the waters just offshore.

Brothers

Liam and Lochlan, January 2007

Will Dance for Food

Amy went snowboarding with some of her buddies from work today and I had the boys. Liam wanted to go to the library, so the three of us hopped on the trusty 44 and took it to downtown Ballard. The bus stopped right in front of the Great Harvest bakery, and the tempting aromas were impossible to ignore so we headed inside to grab a snack. The folks working the counter were playing some god-awful 80s station, and the particular tune we heard upon entering was "Rock Steady" by the Whispers. Well, despite the vacuous lyrics it *is* a dance song, and upon feeling the beat Liam began dancing in the astonishingly uninhibited manner that can only be attained by three-year-olds and the clinically insane. He was cutting some mad dance moves, and before long he had the two women working the registers dancing too, and just about everyone in line laughing. When it was our turn to pay, the woman gave him the cookie for free for being so entertaining. The guy behind us heard that and started dancing, and said "can I have my cookie for free too?!?" It was awesome. I love being a dad.

Gratuitous Baby Shot

Several days ago, Lochlan started pulling himself up to a standing position. Today, he started cruising from chair to table to high chair in the kitchen. The crazy thing is, the kid just turned eight months on Thursday! Here's a shot of the wee lad after he pulled himself up to plunder the toy box.