Springfield Kids in Seattle

Natalie and Brandon were in town visiting and we had some fun times entertaining them about town.

I took the team to some of my favorite spots in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle. Being with new people is a fun way to add some spice to your life and change your routine a bit now and then. We checked out Jupiter Bar which ended up being awesome and I had never set foot in there before. What fun.

Seeing this World Cup 94 pinball game is a nice opportunity to regale my companions of stories about how I went to the World Cup Final that one time when I was 10.

Killer Queen is a fun multiplayer game that I like to play when I have a few people wanting to join.

Art and Sushi

I feel like a lot happened today. Ernie is such a bundle of entertainment I feel like many more of our days are spent at home, so today was especially fun.

We didn't have a whole lot of time to experience it but we did a quick run through of the Bellevue Arts Museum Arts Fair. Beating the insides out of a fish with a flute was good foreshadowing for our dinner later.

"Katie Kim

Newport High School

Salmon Satisfaction

Acrylic

Throughout the day, I dream about satisfaction. I imagine smacking and hitting all the stress and worries out till I'm satisfied. Perhaps I'll do so using my flute: an instrument I love, yet feel a strong desire to break due to the years of pain it's brought me. I also would love to satisfy my constant hunger. During school, my mind often wanders to my next meal. Maybe it'll be soup, rice, or maybe it'll be salmon: a food I've been craving for the past month. My painting is the moment all of these desires are satisfied. My daydreams put into reality."

We popped into the nearby mall for a boba but it was packed. We haven't really been going to the Happy Lemon in Bellevue Square Mall much because it always seems to be too crowded to bother.

One of my other favorite displays was a person that made art out of computer keyboard keys.

Zoe was preparing to move to Seattle, and took her obligatory "goodbye arch" photos.

I don't have any siblings, and so I don't have any nieces or nephews. I think I'll forever not really understand our relatives' compulsion to move here to be closer to Ernie. Several people have mentioned moving here for him. Nobody's been moving here for ol Johnny I can tell you that.

Our much anticipated fancy dinner for tonight was Sushi by Scratch Restaurants. It's hard to get a reservation here, and we had to speak to someone through an intercom before they would even open the door. We had a welcome drink in a classy little waiting area before we were escorted to our table.

The lighting in this place was very moody and blue.

There were little plates with our names on them waiting for us at our seats that were arranged in a horseshoe around the kitchen. I love it when restaurants do this, especially in a place with so many wild ingredients and methods, because it's so fun to watch these artisans work their craft.

They had some expensive drink flights but we opted to just do a couple a la carte.

Things started off exciting, with a chef hand grinding some wasabi. Wasabi and horseradish both are the hottest right after being ground, so this promised to be a flavorful evening.

There was a big menu on the wall with little hints of each course. There were so many courses with so many ingredients and long explanations that I quickly lost track of the script and gave up trying to follow along.

I ordered a sake that displayed some serious surface tension. Thank you, now I get to stick my nose in here while attempting to sip this without spilling anything.

The blowtorch is always fun to see put to use, but it does kind of feel like cheating at a sushi joint.

An example of one of the hardcore sushi explanations we got all night.

A notable event was when they held a giant bone and used the torch to melt the marrow out of it onto some sushi.

There was an uni folded seaweed taco type situation.

Lydia did some milk pumping while we took a little stroll around Belltown to help digest the 500 pieces of sushi we just consumed.

The little prince was taking a lap nap when we returned home. Today was our first experience booking a baby sitter. She was nice and everything went smoothly. Maybe I can have a small semblance of a social life after all.

Emergency Pinball

Lydia and Zoe hosted their book club at our apartment, so my duty was to entertain Spencer out on the town.

I took him to a few places in Seattle's Belltown neighborhood, most notable Shorty's pinball bar.

Just because Spencer was my guest doesn't mean I would not wreck his ass at Street Fighter. Sorry not sorry.

Taylor Hawkins, drummer for the Foo Fighters, dying made me feel kind of weird. I didn't even know who this guy was until I saw him play a few months ago but now that I have I feel a little bit sad that he passed away.