Hokkaido Hunger

Lydia likes to have Ernie help her cook which is fun and cute. It does freak me out a little bit when he's close to hot things on the stove, though.

I have fond memories of feeding the ducks stale bread but I feel like the current story is that you aren't supposed to do that anymore. Sad.

We're so spoiled out here. "At Indigo Cow, we are proud to introduce the tasty and time-honored tradition of Hokkaido dairy to Seattle with the first ice cream shop in America to make soft-serve ice cream with milk from Hokkaido."

We're also spoiled for Ramen joints. I think St. Louis had like two and they were bad.

This time we tried out Hokkaido Ramen Santouka Bellevue. It was good but it's going to be hard for anyone to tear me away from my beloved Kizuki Ramen & Izakaya.

Baaing and Splashing

Ern visited the animals at Kelsey Creek Farm in Bellevue, Washington.

Ernie was BAAing loudly at the sheep.

We met up with the Germans at our local splash pad.

We bought him a little deck chair and he looks like a contemplative old man sitting in it for some reason.

Playing in the Sink

Lydia had a genius way of keeping Ern corralled and entertained while she took a shower.

We learned some important life skills at KidsQuest Children's Museum in Bellevue, WA.

Reading Ernie books is fun but I also like to just sit and watch him flip through the pages of a book on his own. Most of the reading I do these days is on digital devices so having a kid has been a giant leap back into the analog book experience,

We mounted up and explored Bellevue Botanical Garden.

I think I may have missed my true calling in early childhood game design. Ernie recently got a zillion plastic balls for his ball pit. Well I chucked a few of those in the kitchen sink then turned the faucet on... it's been literally hours of fun.

Tech Support

So I started a small contract job and they mailed me a company laptop. I could NOT get it working. Plugged it in, tried to restart it, hold down the power button, checked the battery... etc. I recall my manager having some sort of hardware problem as well so I figured they were just sending us their old junk stuff to work with. They were in the process of sending me a replacement so when Ernie wanted to play with the dead one, I figured no problem. I'll be damned if my little tech support technician didn't just pound on the keys and slobber everywhere until the thing started working again! It's funny in this sort of scenario you're glad it's working but you're also sort of worried that you're going to get accused of lying about a broken computer to waste time or something. Good work Ernie!

Greasy diner food is something that I've been missing from my Washington living experience. Lil' Jon Restaurant in Bellevue really hit the spot.

We visited Lake Sammamish State Park for a change.

We ate snacks on our balcony with no pants on.

When at first you don't succeed, vigorously pound the keyboard with wet hands.

There was a celebratory cider. Hurrah!