Belly Bumping

We had a plan to reveal that Ernie was on the way to our families in person on Thanksgiving, but that meant that we had to hide him from everyone else in the meantime. Lydia had to start getting creative to hide her little belly. Also not drinking at social events was another small wrinkle, but she could blame dieting or some other thing for that which people seemed to buy.

The Barnes & Noble in Bellevue was cute but kind of sad, because it was a quaint little shop with like skyscrapers next door and it seemed like surely the value of the land it sat on was such that it would not be long for this world. Sure enough we wandered in there one day and everything was on clearance because they were closing. I told our friends Gabby and Derek about the sale, and they ran over there and bought a bunch of stuff. Amusingly they bought a Back to the Future board game that I had been eying but decided against buying. So we invited them over to our place to play it. It was nice because it was a cooperative game. I get kind of salty when I lose so it's best that no one has to see me cry. Lydia made a nice charcuterie board for us to nosh on while saving the world.

Culture so Popular

We came to the Museum of Pop Culture the first time with Linda and Doug, and we managed to parlay that purchase into a whole year educational discount membership.

There's so much fun stuff here to nerd out on. I'd like to spend the night here so I can read all the signs and watch all the videos without interruption.

"In 1900 American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator W. W. Denslow published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Baum later wrote 13 more novels set in the world of Oz. Although the Oz series was both a critical and financial success, today it is best known for the 1939 movie, starring Judy Garland as Dorothy and comedian Bert Lahr as the Cowardly Lion. Lahr's costume was made of real lion pelts, which made it difficult for him to perform under the hot lights of the MGM set."

"Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elderberries!"

"King Arthur sets out with his Knight of the Round Table on a quest for the Holy Grail in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Along the way he is twice thwarted by a rude, hectoring French soldier who flings ridiculous taunts as well as livestock at the company. Arthur never finds the Grail, and his quest abruptly ends when he is arrested for the murder of the film's narrator."

Seeing this prop was especially fun because it was worn by John Cleese, who we just saw perform live recently.

The Little Duck was one of those fun Chinese restaurants where you walk in, and it's packed, but you're the only whitey in the whole place.