First Baseball Game

Huxley attended his first Mariners game dressed in his Mariners hat and jersey.  We had awesome seats in the Hit it Here Cafe.  We ate lunch while watching the game.  Huxley survived the two hour game, and the Mariners won. I think we have a future baseball fan in the making.

Our adorable two-year-old

Don't be fooled.  Tantrums and messes aren't all Huxley is about. Although, he certainly has his share of both.  He also has  moments of utter adorableness.  Moments were I have to pick him up and give him a great big squeeze.

His favorite toys are tools, trains, and Legos.  He has his own tool bench and tool box. That never stops him from stealing daddy's tools.  Last night he had to wear his safety goggles while taking a bath. No special reason.  He just loves his safety glasses.

And while trains used to be number one with Hux, now he seems addicted to Legos.  He can hardly be bothered to leave the building, train, or tower he's working on to come eat dinner. This afternoon, he fell asleep on top of his Legos.  

His sense of smell is eerily accurate.  We walk down the hall in the apartment and he names off different smells emanating from each room.  When I was making dinner last night he kept leaning out of his room and asking:

"Mommy!  You making squash?"

"Yes, Huxley."

"Mommy! You making grilled cheese?"

"Yes, Huxley."

He was in his room the entire time busy with Legos, so I have no idea how he would have known what I was making other than his great sense of smell.  I took him to the trash shoot the other day, and he started gagging.  I thought he was going to puke.  

Upon entering our first Starbucks in Seattle, he exclaims: "I smell coffee.  It smells good in here!" He made me proud.

And he says the cutest things too.  Binoculators, Fike, and motorcyclables.  Don't try to correct him.  He'll correct you. 

Rock Star Beagles

Everywhere we go the beagles are showered with compliments.  Regardless of age, everyone wants to meet the beagles.  The elevator doors open, and their fans flock to them. The cute toddler attached to my leg hardly gets noticed.   Half the time he's having a toddler moment, so that may contribute to the lack of attention directed his way.

The culture in Seattle certainly caters to dogs.  Nearly everyone I see in our apartment has at least one dog.  Dog parks (which are free here) are all over the city.  We even have one across the street.  Many companies including Amazon allow their employees to bring their dogs into work.  Both Buffy and Spike have had a day at the office. 

Our dogs don't always handle the attention well.  Spike was greeted by a mob of children and had an accident on the floor.   It's understandable.  Kids are scary.   Buffy has gained even more weight and is having arguments with Spike at the food bowl.  Consequently, Spike has lost weight.  I'm sure they miss their yard and daily walks around the neighborhood.  We are trying to take them to the dog park more and get in good play time on the roof.  

It seems so silly to be blogging about our dogs, but they are very important members of the family in Seattle. 

Life in Seattle

It has been quite an adjustment going from Noblesville, Indiana to Downtown Seattle.  For me, it is difficult to fit into our smaller kitchen.  I enjoyed the large island in our old house.  I could bake 6 dozen cookies and still have room to cook dinner.  I barely have room to cook dinner, let alone bake my  six dozen cookies.  For the most part, I make the cookies in the sink, which works out great.  I turn the water on, and the flour and sugar mess gets washed down the drain in seconds.

Huxley misses his yard, his house, and his friends.  He saves things for them and says that we will see them tomorrow.  I have joined a playgroup and take Huxley on frequent outings around the city exploring our new home.

Today, I discovered it is not easy getting groceries (for so many reasons).  It would be nice if Huxley could help carry the groceries up to our seventh floor.  I gave him a light bag to carry and he got it to the elevator.  Then, he became to preoccupied with what is in the bag. I gave him the toilet paper and paper towel bag and even that bag was incredibly interesting. 

Of course, living downtown, homeless people are everywhere.  They sleep in the parks, outside the apartment building, and anywhere they desire.  A few nights ago, Spike had an emergency potty break at 3 am. I discovered the roof wasn't open during the early morning hours, so I took the dogs out to the street.  Homeless people looked on while I yelled at Spike to find a tree a go. 

It has been an adventure and an adjustment to life in Seattle.  We love the various outdoor activities and the convenience of being downtown.  We'll be having a few visitors in the coming months and are looking forward to showing them the city and our home here. 

We found Red Robin!

I'm not sure we could have stayed in Seattle without Red Robin.  Although, Rainforest Cafe may have surpassed Red Robin in Huxley's book.  We took him to Rainforest for the first time, and he was in awe of the animals and the sounds.  He talked about them for days.

As far as adult food and ambiance, Red Robin is still my favorite.  And the Red Robin in Seattle is far better than Indiana.  It has to do with the location - on the waterfront next to where the ferry boats dock.  It was fun to eat our normal Saturday lunches and watch the boats. We are going back tomorrow and are planning on taking a ferry ride too!

Our budding musician

Two of Huxley's new toys in Seattle were a guitar and tinker toys.  I made a microphone out of tinker toys, and he picked up his guitar up and started singing.  When the video first starts, he is singing a verse of Mary had a little lamb.  The song at the end is his own creation.  He likes creating his own songs.  He even sang one about me when I was putting him down for a nap.  "Mommy take the toy away.  Mommy take the toy away, yeah.  This is a good song."  Yes, he even said the last part.

The weather

It is a bright, sunny, 75 degrees in Seattle today - just to make you all jealous in Indiana.  This weekend, we will be experiencing a heat wave with temperatures near 90, which will be quite toasty since we don't have air conditioning.  But, we did have this really nice fan installed today.  Most apartment buildings in Seattle don't have air conditioning, since temperatures are fairly moderate during the spring and summer.

As for the rain, we've only experienced one rainy day since arriving.  Several days have been cloudy, which is apparently not the norm during the summer.  A weather pattern on the west coast has been making temperatures lower than normal and provided more cloud cover than typical. 

We are looking forward to the warm temperatures this weekend.  We will be at an Amazon company picnic at the base of the Cascade Mountains.