Corporate Headquarters

Tonight, O asked me if we could go to "Mikkel". I asked where that was, and somehow we were able to walk through his logic to figure out that he thought that was the name of a store -- the store that makes nearly all of the cars and other vehicles that he's always interested in. From there it was only a short leap to realizing he was saying he wanted to go to Mattel. Note to self to investigate possible tours of their El Segundo headquarters the next time we're in Los Angeles.

Today was a very fun third birthday party for L, the son of friends J and S. They held it (apparently sight unseen beforehand -- brave!) in an area of Seattle I'd never really explored, though it was blocks from the grassy field north of Boeing Field where the boys and I have occasionally gone to watch planes land. Anyway, in the midst of this mostly industrial neighborhood was a giant indoor sandbox. No really, that's what it's called, and it looks like a converted airplane hangar or factory that has been covered with a foot or more of high quality sand. On one side of the complex was a volleyball match; on the other was a kids birthday party complete with many sand toys, vehicles, slides, and more. The boys and I had a blast, and the birthday boy was clearly having a ball as well (literally: he had a beach ball in hand for much of the event). Towards the end, Z and O both ended up way in the back corner where there were a pair of slides I hadn't even seen when we'd come in. It really does look like some kind of avante garde art installation seeing this much sand in front of solidly colored walls of nearly the same tone.
"aire de jeux de sable à l'intérieur"
(2013, assorted plastics with children on sand)