iBean

My dad at a trade show saw this silly gimmick called iBean.  Its a giant bean, only it sounds more trendy if you put an i in front of it.  I know I sound bitter.  I was just so excited for my bean!  My dad told me about it over the phone and I thought he was describing a bean with a word or symbol lasered on it that went deep enough it imprints on the bean itself and when it grows the little imprint shows up too.  
I was imagining this bean with a symbol printed on at least the first leaves but thought, well, if it can imprint on the first leaves why not all of them?!  This thing sounds cool!

Here's my bean with the first leaves popping up.

And here is the bean with the leaves up and open.  No imprint on the leaves.  I thought it was a little too good to be true.  Turns out the laser imprints only on the cotyledon, which is in laymen's terms the seed, only without the outer husk layer.  The leaves are popping out of the cotyledon and you can see the symbol on it in this pic. Darn.  Not that impressive.  Oh well.  Thanks anyway Dad!  I was very thoughtful of you to bring it.

So the instructions on how to plant the bean have something along the lines of "hold the bean in your hand and whisper your dreams and hopes to it.  Transfer your positive energy to the bean and your hopes and dreams will come true and grow with the bean"  Really lame and hokey.  Oh well.  I am grateful for the sign of spring.  (Gratitude is printed on my bean)

Ocean Shores Pics

View from the balcony of the hotel

Our sandcastle.  Might have been bigger if the sand wasn't so cold.  Not a very good smile from Carter.  Looks more like a scary face.Brianna went on a walk with me to look for seashells.  She thought we were cleaning up so she spent about a half an hour picking up every broken seashell she saw.

Ocean Shores Pics

Playing on the beach and flying kites.

Sunset on the water from our balcony.

Love the spills

We've been watching the Olympics lately and I have to admit I love the spills! Watching a really tough chick bounce 3 ft in the air off an icy slope or a cocky asian with dredlocks fall to the floor of a half-pipe. Love it. It's not that I enjoy watching them fail, it putting the successes in perspective. I don't realize how fast or high those people are going until they fall and slide on their bums down the snow at 60 miles an hour.

This may all be a little in poor taste considering the fatal accident on the opening day, but I am proud to say I did not, and will not, view the horrible crash. I think the end of a human life put on public display is in really poor taste. How inconsiderate to make his blood a spectacle.

I love watching the close calls of a skater hitting a block or catching their pants on their skate or seeing the torque of a snowboard when the boarder hits the deck. I also like watching the non-qualifiers because you realize how incredible the medal winners really are.

I just wish I had control of what events I could watch and when. Although short-track speed skating is my favorite, if every heat is broadcasted I'll bite all my fingernails 'till their bloody. Show something different like hockey or curling. Enough figure skating for pete's sake.

Jan/Feb 2010

Well, Charlie's trips have all been on and off but no more China trips on the horizon. My parents came to visit before the busy season starts and were hoping to give me a little rest while Charlie was gone. They ended up arriving just a few hours before Charlie landed and left just after Charlie ran to Ohio for a quick trip. I was glad for a visit regardless of the timing. In fact, maybe turned out better because I still had company while Charlie was jet-lagged and babysitters for date nights! Thanks Mom and Dad! We got to go out or to friends houses a few times and went mountain biking together as well. I haven't been on the bike in about 9 months and was surprised to realize how out of shape I really am.

Charlie took a day off work to spend time with the fam and a plan for a day trip to the WA coast turned into a weekend. It was so much fun and so needed. We spent a couple of hours playing in the sand, flying kites and running from the waves. We actually ended up with our car in the water when the tide came in. A quick scramble and we saved the toys and scooted the car back to a safer position.

We played together in the pool, had a round of mini golf, a walk, a little shopping and some more time on the sand. It only took about 2 1/2 hours to get there so I'm sure we'll go back again soon. I'll have to post some pics. . . . sometime.

Zoo

We went to the Cougar MT Zoo on Saturday while Charlie was away. The kids and I are doing okay so far, we've learned to stay really busy on the weekends because that's when we notice Daddy's absence the most. The Cougar Mountain Zoo is really small (its just in Issaquah) and there were maybe 20 people there. There were probably more zoo keepers than visitors. It was nice though, we had one zoo keeper follow us around an area and tell the kids the names of all the animals and the best way to get the animals to stay close or eat the treats out of the kids' hands.


The keepers were really nice about making sure we knew when something fun was about to happen. They told us they just gave some toys to the baby tigers so we headed over there to watch them play. We didn't see the baby tigers, just some huge tigers milling around. Later we realized that the huge tigers were the 9 month old cubs. We also got to see the tigers drink their daily bottle and watch the keepers give the adult tigers some meat and give them their medical inspection. It was great to be so close to such majestic creatures.


They had a ton of beautiful Macaws everywhere too. While we were looking at them one of them said "Hello!" It caught us by surprise, but we did manage to get him to say it once more. Here are some pics.