Ernie's First Shakespeare

Ernie decided that it was time for him to experience some high brow culture with other fancy people.

Well in order to do that he was going to have to start with a tubby.

Kirkland made the news for that pride flag vandalism incident we saw. Sad.

Ernie wanted to talk to his Grandparents in Springfield immediately after his tubby before he got dirty all over again.

Zzzz

The venue for today's performance was in a fun new place:

Luther Burbank Amphitheater at Luther Burbank Park on Mercer Island. Mercer Island is a quaint little spot. I'm not sure why we don't come here more often. I think it's kind of a fancy people area and maybe they are keeping it quiet on purpose.

We set up our chairs purposely far away from the action in case Ernie wanted to add any of his commentary to the performance of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Ernie was feeling very Washington patriotic today.

The nice thing about Shakespeare is I barely understand any more of it than Ernie does, so I think it really levels the playing field.

This whole MLB All-Star game situation is approaching, and what I did not realize is that it's really a whole week of fun events. So I've been doing some deep diving to find out all of the angles. Going to the MLB draft for free sounds kind of cool, for example.

Too Much Food in Booboo

Big Ern was hanging out by the window, staring at the blinds as is his custom, and he was lookin' real cute so I did a little photo shoot.

Everyday I see Ernie he has a new war wound from scratching his own face. While breastfeeding he doesn't know what to do with his hands and so this is one of his favorite times to tear up his own face.

The MLB All-Star game is in Seattle this year, and I've been considering the best way to get involved without going bankrupt. I never really knew much about it, but apparently it's a whole week of events so it's a bit easier to take part.

We had dinner at Mediterranean Kitchen in Bellevue. The Lebanese-Mediterranean fare was delicious but these people are portion size terrorists. Look at the size of this salad Lydia ordered.

I want to say mine came with soup and bread to the point that I was pretty much full by the time the thing I actually ordered arrived. It was funny watching first-timers pick up their take out orders. The soup was still happening but packed up to-go, so people that ordered a few things ended up leaving with a whole menagerie of packages to take home. One of Lydia's students said that in Chinese they call Bellevue "booboo" so of course I call it that now too because I am a man of culture.

Arleana's Restaurant

Ernie baby was feeling patriotic today and so suited up in some of his Cardinals gear.

Ernie did some splashing on the patio.

On occasion we like to try out the region's best and most creative restaurants. That usually involves a drive to Seattle and so with big Ern we've been slowing down with that. Instead this time we found a restaurant that looked cool that was walkable from home. Arleana's Restaurant describes itself as "drawing inspiration from the vibrant Caribbean Soul Food."

Independence All Day

We paraded hard today. Kirkland had a pretty good 4th of July parade that we could walk to and did so. I love walkable events.

This was all very exotic to me, living in a landlocked couple of states my whole life. Really as far as the midwest is concerned the navy and the coast guard barely exist. I had never even considered submarine veterans!

Luckily I was not left having to imagine what a submarine looks like, as they brought one along with them.

The Ukraine Association of Washington State was getting me emotional. Helping Ukraine stay free is one of the rare instances where I can be 100% of our military industrial complex.

This old timey car broke down in the middle of the parade and had to be pushed away. It was a good reminder of the amazing advances in automobile technology over the years.

Casa Italiana is an Italian cultural center in Burien, WA that I have been keeping an interested eye on. When they put out a call for people to walk in the Burien parade with them we answered, as good Italians do.

The first order of business was to Italian pimp out Ernie's stroller.

There was a Vespa or two in attendance.

We had literature to disperse as well as candy.

It was fun.

I don't know what Ern is crabby about here but I'm going to say it's because he had some much fun at the parades and now he's sad that it's all over. Next year buddy!