Walk and talk

One of Zachary's favorite afternoon activities remains the family "walk". Kind of a misleading term, since for him it's more of a jogging stroller ride, generally to the local park, where he runs around like a crazy man on the play toys. Anyway, he likes the walk so much that we'll occasionally notice that he isn't playing with his toys or asking us to read books. Here's how it usually plays out:



If you actually inquire with the magic word ("Walk?"), he'll make a really happy sound and then run over to the stroller, often jumping in head first. But yesterday, he first responded by smiling at me and saying "Walk!". I figured I'd misheard and it was just 'dah', or maybe he got interrupted in the middle of a 'wokka wokka'. But later in the stroll, I asked him if he was enjoying his walk, and he again happily repeated "Walk!". I even got him to say it on the phone for mommy, but she only heard "bah". Fear not; today he did repeat it for her when she suggested a stroll.

Groupie

Zachary's been to several live music concerts - orchestral, Balkan, Celtic, a cappella - and loved most every form of musical entertainment (or, ironically, at least been lulled to sleep by it, particularly when it was loud?!) But yesterday marked the first time he attended a show designed specifically for his demographic, and his reaction went far beyond mere enjoyment. A Seattle-based children's music trio (comprised of three guys who are actually teachers between gigs) was playing at a local library, so mommy took him. He spent the entire concert kicking, clapping (not yet in rhythm with the music, but he's got time!), and laughing -- along with 70+ other kids. Once the crowd thinned a bit toward the end of the concert, he even got down on the floor and danced and spun around to the cheery tunes. As Meh described it, the only bad parts were when a song finished; as with his concerns about recorded music, he'd begin frantically signing more even if the band had some shtick to do between pieces. But the music was fabulous in what Meh described as an 'early Beatles' style, the singers appropriately silly and goofy, and a CD had to be purchased.

I got to hear a sampling on the drive to our date night (hooray and thanks to Meh for organizing it!), featuring a lovely stroll through Woodinville's wine country, dinner, and a film that managed to make Meh cry only four times. But we both did like it a lot, and drove home rocking out to more of the tunes of Recess Monkey.

A good foundation

Zachary's been frustrated trying to assemble Duplo lego structures on the fluffy shag carpet in the living room. (Meh has separately been frustrated trying to keep said fluff from invading every other room of the house, but that's another story.) I'd occasionally help him out by building large lego bases for his structures, but they'd still eventually topple over to hollering and occasional tears. So it was time to take the next step, and this morning, we introduced him to a big green flat duplo surface (sorry, a "building plate"). First he wanted to walk around with it and play with it like a regular (albeit awkwardly large) toy, but as soon as I showed him that his legos would attach, he got very excited with it and started building up crazy Zachary structures on the floor. Gravity and sound engineering practices are no obstacle for the little man, but at least the plate might give his towers a fighting chance.

The big sleep

...was not meant to be this morning; still clearly on Eastern time from our trip, Zachary was up before 4 am. We went downstairs to let mommy sleep just a bit longer, and he was again excited and happy to be home, pulling out and dumping out his legos to build another tall and crazily unstable creation.

Mommy began her 4-day-in-a-row work rotation this morning, and put little man down for a nap before she left, at around 8:30 am. At about 10:20, he woke up very angry. I changed his diaper and snuggled him with his blanket on the changing pad on the floor, and before I realized it, we'd both fallen asleep! At 11:20, we both sort of woke up - I'd somehow ended up using a small bit of blankie for a pillow. Zachary stood up, pulled his blanket out from under my head, threw it back down on the floor, and collapsed back onto it, asleep again. I snuck out (though not downstairs; I didn't want to leave him sleeping outside of the crib!) and did some work in the office until he woke up for good (and very happy) at a little after 12. Crazy three-and a half hour napping man!

Lady of the lake

When we returned from Greenfield Village on Tuesday afternoon, Zachary wasn't much interested in a nap. So with a warm partially cloudy afternoon winding down, grandma suggested a boat ride. (Fresh from winter storage, Uncle B, Grandma, and I had brought the boat through the narrow tunnel to grandma's dock earlier in the weekend.) Meh had been concerned that he might not like having to wear the life jacket, having complained loudly when his swim class had made him use (a likely already damp and cold) one. But he was happy as could be, and was kicking, waving, and making happy noises as we boarded the boat. This quickly settled down to total vegging and drowsiness - that was a very relaxed little man! We had a nice low-speed ride around the lake (I took a turn at the wheel, though Meh declined), appreciating the pretty homes and the plethora of geese, ducks, swans, and herons; someone even had a pair of peacocks strutting around in their backyard - pets?

Wednesday was another rainy day, so we decided to try a trick from our Seattle playbook and head to the local mall. Furthering the use of the playbook, we had a lovely family lunch at the mall's somewhat newly arrived Seattle staple, whose cafe Meh and Zachary have frequented with friends, but was new to grandma and myself. A quick stroll later, Zachary ran around like a mad man at their play area, which featured a bizarre assortment of (I'm not making this up) candy and medical-themed climbing toys. Says the website by way of explanation:

"The newly refurbished play area features a health and wellness theme in which children can skip, frolic, and step along the ribbon of gauze to the mending Teddy. Healthy messages teach healthy lifestyle to even our youngest visitors!"

Yeeeeah, I'm not sure about the healthy message of Wonka-sized lollipops and melting creamsicle slides. But anyway, regardless of the representations they were going for, Zachary had a wonderful time running around with grandma in hot pursuit. Energy somewhat abated, he even let grandma and mommy shop for some cute new clothes for him while we toured the mall.

Grandma had mentioned a few times earlier in the week that she really wanted to babysit and let us have a date night. This was our last night in town, and Zachary was having a wonderful time giggling, laughing, and signing 'more' to grandma, so we took her up on the offer. We left in the midst of playtime (to what we learned later was only the briefest of Zachary objections) and got to have a nice, quiet, and relaxing dinner together in a cute nearby town's even cuter main street Italian restaurant -- Meh judged its tiramisu to be among the best she's ever had. When we got home, grandma reported that Zachary had had a fun evening of playing and even a mostly happy bath and bedtime. We're so glad that he's gotten comfortable and acquainted enough with grandma over the past few days that he trusted her with the cherished and sacred routine that has often left him in tears with other non-mommy/daddy participants in the past. That, and maybe he's starting to accept small amounts of change in his schedule? Nah...

Today was homecoming day; it was overcast again, we had a few hours, and the mall was on the way, so we went back to let Zachary play again, and enjoy one last bit of Michigan cuisine (hooray for orange cream coolers!) before heading for the airport. The only glitch was that the airline had auto-upgraded me (but not Meh or Zachary) the night before, and then of course gave away my seat. They didn't have two extra first class seats available (darn!), but the gate agent was able to do some shuffling and get me back into the same seat. Zachary slept for perhaps 45 minutes of the flight and was a crazy active man the rest of the time, wanting to climb between his seat and mommy and daddy's laps, and occasionally walking the aisle. With no real nap for the day, he was pretty much running on fumes, but seemed to mostly keep in a good mood.

It was so good to be able to visit with family and friends for the week, and huge thanks to grandma for hosting us, dealing with various baby- and schedule-related challenges, researching fun things for the little man to do, catering multiple parties, babysitting for our night out, and just being grandma! Thanks also to Zachary's Uncle B for flying in for a coordinated visit, and to all of our family and friends for making the journey out to grandma's house to visit and catch up.

Little man was so excited to be home, running around and smiling, laughing, and playing. His bathtime and bedtime were both happy, but I'm wary of what time he'll think is appropriate to wake up tomorrow. Meh's already asleep and I think I'll be conked out soon enough too!

Let's do the time warp again

It had been many years since I'd visited Greenfield Village, a historical re-creation of a nebulous mixture of 19th and early-to-mid 20th century life, with authentic (transported) buildings alongside more 'modern' replicas (most replicas were built by Henry Ford in the 1930s and 1940s) illustrating home life, crafts, industry, business, and of course early automobiles of the times. I'd last been there more than a decade ago, when our family had attended a Detroit Symphony Fourth of July outdoor concert, and the last time I'd actually walked through the village itself was probably a decade before that.

The cynic in me perceives historically recreated places as falling somewhere between M. Night Shyamalan's sinister "The Village" and fictional dystopic accounts of egomaniacal tycoons trying to recreate whitewashed visions of their youths. Thankfully the real thing is much more innocent (and kid-friendly) than either of these, though I still think it's a bit strange to see Henry Ford's parents' house and his elementary school transported brick-by-brick to their current locations, alongside an early 1800s hearse shed, the actual Wright Brothers' bicycle shop, and the original Heinz factory, apparently known more for horseradish than ketchup?

Our first destination upon entering the village was lunch, as everyone was pretty hungry. We selected the Eagle Tavern, a cute transported 1831 stagecoach stop, serving from an authentic circa 1850s period menu (well, minus the prices), and all using locally grown ingredients. Each of us got an 'asparagus pie' (a tasty quiche), and Meh and I tried their vegetable soup. The inn 'proprietors' were cute and friendly in their period costumes without being crazy over-the-top, and were impressed to have visitors from 'the western territories' (dork that I am, I had to check my history afterwards to confirm that Washington was correctly identified as a US territory at that time). The food was decent, though I think our favorite part was actually the pickled eggs that were served while we waited for the food.

After that, we strolled around the village, visiting the working farm (Zachary enjoyed the sheep), some of the arts shops (Meh and grandma watched a printing press in operation), a millinery (women's hat shop), a carousel newly added since my last visit, and noticing the sheer number of knowledgeable staff (period-dressed people singing, petitioning for suffrage, just out for a stroll, and working in each of the buildings, including two people hand-cleaning the tiny gears and mechanics of the Edison factory). Zachary's favorite part was the train that whistled its way around the circumference of the village; we caught sight of it several times to much 'mmm'-ing and hand-waving.

Speaking of 'mmm', Zachary's newest trick is to imitate our appreciate of food by saying 'mmm' whenever we're eating and/or offering him food. It doesn't mean he's going to actually sample a dish, but hey, at least he's appreciative. Here he was at that 1850s tavern, talking mommy into eating a bit of period bread she'd given him:

The biggest fan

Zachary still loves his overhead fans, and lucky for him, grandma's house has at least four of them. He's been spending a lot of time running around the house with (or without) a variety of toys and books, smiling up at the fans, getting very excited when his favorite music (grandma has the Enchanted soundtrack) plays, and occasionally piling up objects.

Sunday was Zachary's social event of the season (if not decade!). In the morning, many family friends came out to grandma's house to visit and enjoy a bagel brunch. Zachary slept through the first hour or so, then came down and had happy snuggle time on the couch and out on the deck, smiling and laughing at people he hadn't seen since a brief appearance at his uncle B's wedding last year.

And in the early afternoon, our extended family (grandma's aunt, her daughter, and her granddaughter) came by for a visit and barbecue! Zachary was getting a bit fussy, so Meh tried to put him down for a nap. When he remained unhappy after she left the room, I went in to try to sooth him, and when he hollered as I tried to leave, I flopped on the bed, hoping he'd take the hint and go to sleep. Somehow I ended up falling asleep for twenty minutes while (according to those upstairs with the baby monitor) he continued to chat away. We finally ended up having play time down by the water, where he walked back and forth along the stone wall.

Today uncle B headed back home to New York. Before going to the airport, we drove down to Ann Arbor to explore some more of Meh's favorite Michigan city. We started at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant (nope, Zachary wasn't interested in injera or any of the dishes), and then took Zachary to the very fun Hands-On Museum. They have a large room totally devoted to toddlers, and even a gated area focused on under-18-month-olds; Zachary of course saw objects in there and was annoyed that he couldn't go in. There are also some fascinating exhibits that we didn't really make it to this time -- likely next time when Zachary is a bit older. We spend the whole visit in the toddler room, splitting our time playing with cars and trucks, a giant Duplo Lego table, and a fire truck with a side channel that rubber balls could be rolled down into a crate. They even had a child-sized kitchen area that Meh (but not Zachary) checked out. And speaking of kitchens, while the Selfon men played, Meh popped out to hit a world-renowned cupcake place and a great paper store. We joined back up and visited a second world-renowned cupcake place (the owner was pressing us for info on our favorite flavors at our favorite Seattle cupcake bakery) before bidding farewell to Tree Town and heading for the airport.

We were so glad to see uncle B for the weekend, and Zachary smiled and waved as we dropped him off for his flight. We'll have to find more opportunities to visit him and aunt J! Back at grandma's house, we cheered ourselves up by eating some cupcakes (with impressively light frosting, I might add), and that evening after a Copper River salmon dinner, we all split the ones from the second store as dessert -- which was right about the time we heard that, six hours later, uncle B's flight still hadn't left. He finally took off around the time we went to bed, and with no cupcakes. Poor uncle B!

Rain out

We arrived safe and sound in Michigan! The flight wasn't too bad, though Zachary was awake and asking for entertainment most of the flight. On the plane, we alternated between reading books, looking out the window, and of course the occassional snack; no napping this time around.

One of the biggest pains of air travel at this point is our total dependence on elevators, particularly when carting Zachary's car seat-turned-stroller (for those keeping score, our use of that adapter thing solicited only two compliments this time; the novely must be wearing off for other travelers?). At SeaTac airport, they're all in weird out of the way locations, completely removed from the smooth pathing of the escalators; at the South Satellite, we ended up having to take a route through the customs area with TSA agents making sure we didn't mingle with folks arriving from international flights. Bizarre.

Anyway, Uncle B and grandma were there to greet us at the airport, and we all got to catch up on the drive home. We arrived to grandma's house, where Zachary immediately started exploring and discovering the new toys and books she had for him, before a quick dinner, bath, and bedtime. His furry uncle Gus wasn't quite sure what to make of him, and alternated between face licks and just trying to get some petting and attention from all of these adults who were clearly focused on the floor anyway.

Zachary actually slept in a bit today! Well, he was up the first time at like 6, but snuggled in bed with us until like 7:30 am, which is still 4:30 am back home, so I suppose that doesn't really count in the end. The weather forecast had been for sun practically our whole visit, but I'd forgotten that forecasting remains an inaccurate art in the midwest, and we had heavy rain most of the day. Looking for an activity to do with the little man, we turned to a list one of grandma's coworkers had given her, and found a promising indoor play area ("Michigan's largest!") not too far away.

I think all of us (including Zachary) were a little bit overwhelmed by what greeted us - four stories of indoor PVC-piped, exercise matt-filled childhood craziness! There was a small area ostensibly for toddlers, but a lot of older kids were running around and into it. Uncle B hid in a corner and read (the kids running around 'made him nervous' - I'd have to agree), and Zachary was often more interested in exploring the central sofa area where parents were relaxing than the actual play areas. The loud chaos was also a good opportunity for him to test out his latest sensory play activity, sticking his thumbs in his ears and then smiling when he removes them. In the end, he did play for quite a bit on the slides, bridges, and floor areas, and had fun running up and down matts while grandma, Meh, and I looked on.

Our drive home was again through a torrential downpour, but the skies finally cleared in the late afternoon and we took a family walk. Zachary chatted through much of the stroll, continuing to work on his three-syllable-and-rhyhmes-with-"ah" vocabulary. A very full first day in the great lakes state for the little man and his family!

Does not compute

We're off to the airport momentarily to visit grandma (and many other family members and friends!) in Michigan. But I had to share this discovery Meh made this morning -- though Zachary has been getting much better at climbing up onto the couch himself, only today did he begin climbing up on chairs. And then soon after this picture, standing on them. Hm, this will have to be corrected. But for now, we'll have to see what he decides to blog about first.

The chicken or the leg?

Saturday afternoon was the annual picnic for our toddler group. I didn't realize that it was actually for all of the various sections and age groups, which ended up totalling more than 75 kids. So the group pretty much took over this park, with kids running around everywhere, playing on the gym equipment, watching some grownups climbing around on an impressive ropes course, sampling the wide variety of potluck items everyone had brought, and in general having a wonderful time. And then the train showed up, and everyone simply converged as it chugged up to the shelter from the parking lot. Zachary in particular was in love, with giant smiles, hand waves, and attempted head-on approaches to the locomotive. Watch what he did when it left for its first park loop:



Mommy was able to join us after work, and we had a really nice evening getting to catch up with other members of his play group, as well as some familiar faces from other sections of the toddler group: J (Zachary's nanny), her son T, and a few other kids and parents we'd met back at our new parent group so many months ago.

Today Zachary and I were playing with, among other things, his cute toy picnic basket. Inside are a banana, a soda can, a sandwich, and a chicken leg. I held the banana up to my ear, which he thought was very funny. He wasn't interested in the sandwich or soda can. I then offered him the drumstick and asked if he wanted some chicken, and he replied "cluck cluck". Vegetarian it is.

Poop deck

Seattle's crazy early summer heat wave continues! Yesterday, Zachary's nanny J took him and her son T to a nearby water park (e.g. a giant paved park with a bunch of fountains and sprinkler-like things - and on a day like yesterday, a lot of kids). As J told us later, he was the brave one who walked right up to a gurgling fountain and giggled while batting at it.

Temperatures peaked at over 90 degrees today, the second straight day of record highs. Meh and Zachary went to toddler group, where apparently they had a new record attendance to take advantage of the refreshing air conditioning. The theme was cooking, and the day's art activitiy was decorating a potholder. After Meh showed him how to do it, Zachary actually did a great job of pushing rollers, stamps, and his own hands into the paint and potholder, creating a lovely art nouveau/abstract post neo-impressionistic melange with subtle hints of fauvism. Or something.

After they came home, Meh and Zachary kept cool in the backyard. Meh filled his new little pool, and also suggested he help maintain the excellent garden Meh has been establishing with a cute little watering can. Rather than risk wet clothes, it was naked outdoors time! This was a fabulous idea, and the little man had a great time running around buck naked and watering (generally more by shaking the watering can than tipping it over).

Alas, one unforeseen result: Meh heard a grunt, and before she could respond, the little man had pooped on the deck. Oh, and while she cleaned it up, he made a wee on the lawn. I'm giggling, but also feeling a tad guilty that she had to deal with the cleanup and a naked gardening man without me.

Turn the other cheek

The other day I noticed what I thought was a piece of schmutz on little man's cheek. (Trivia: Meh learned from a reliable NPR show that schmutz is quite specifically any piece of dirt whose composition is not identifiable.) But when I went to brush it off, it remained -- yep, Zachary has his very first (switch to high-pitched voice) teeny tiny little freckle!

More animal sounds this week: a lion ("rawr!") and a dolphin ("ee-ee-ee", sometimes so high-pitched that he doesn't quite make a sound.)

You can't handle the tooth

Little man had his third dentist checkup this morning. He was cute and happy while we waited; the waiting room even possessed an 'unabridged' (e.g. regular hardcover) Dr. Seuss's ABC's, which surprised me by demonstrating just how many modifications his board book version has. Ah, the joys of an edited childhood. The actual dentist appointment started off okay; little man sat in my lap and smiled at the hygienist. But when the chair started going down, he started to get unhappy, and with toothbrush and mirrors in mouth, he melted down with streaming tears. Even Dora on a big screen suspended over him couldn't distract him - maybe if they had Murray's word on the street? He calmed down afterwards, and was again briefly smiley for our super friendly dentist when she appeared a few minutes later, only to cry again when she did her exam.

There aren't the long list of exciting stats like at the pediatrician's office, but Zachary does now have 16 teeth, including his soon-to-be-fully-in canines. No tooth decay, a good bite (Meh was concerned he needed braces already with his underbite smile, but the dentist said he's just figuring out where to position his jaws), and a 6 month reprieve until his next appointment. They even gave him a little Chuck E. Cheese-like token to take to a stand of toy dispensers at the sign-out desk. Meh selected a very cute little ducky on a string loop (a duck necklace -- a ducklace?), which we spent the rest of the day trying to pry out of the little plastic shell it was delivered in.

Play with your food

I guess you could say that the Sloane women have always had a thing about fake food as decor. For example, I remember a basket of papier-mâché fruits and veggies in the kitchen that my brother and I would somtimes play with. I have been known to make minature versions of food out of polymer clay. Nowadays, my Mom has a plate of realistic-looking ceramic cookies on the counter (don't even try to pick one up, they are fused to the plate) and papier-mâché breads in a basket.

My Mom's newest project (inspiried by me?) is knitted cupcakes:


I have been looking around online for other handmade cupcakes to give her inspiration, and I found a tutorial for making felt cupcakes, I just had to try it. I even had all the materials lying around, evidence of my former life as a Sunday school teacher.

Full of hot air

In what could be the longest build-up to a surprise, S invited us to join her and J last night for what was originally to be J's 2008 birthday/anniversary present: a hot air balloon ride! Due to repeated inclement weather last summer, the ride was postponed to this year -- and this time the weather did not disappoint, with a beautifully warm evening, clear skies, and apparently favorable air currents.

Having never been on a balloon, I was surprised by how quickly they're able to get these things deployed and up in the air; we drove out to an open field (right next to a small airport runway, where we kept seeing the same plane taking off, dropping parachuters, circling around, landing, and repeating). They dumped the basket sideways off the trailer behind the van, unfolded the chute, ran a diesel fan to fill it with air, and then blasted some seriously warm propane flames into it to warm the air. Within 10-15 minutes, the balloon was full and ready for passengers. A second balloon was deployed at the same time, and they took off just ahead of us.

Once we were aloft, the most noticeable thing was just how quiet it was. (Well, when the propane flames weren't flipped on for an altitude gain - that was loud, and pretty warm!) The next thing was of course the incredible view -- we could see Mount Rainier, Mount Hood, the Snohomish River, and as we rose, the Seattle skyline, the San Juans, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and even out to Vancouver Island! Though we were just standing in a small canopy without harnesses or seatbelts, it felt totally safe. Our path (as the pilot explained, pretty much dictated by the wind currents) took us over the Snohomish River, past some lovely forests and homes, and a total of six miles downstream in about 45 minutes. We flew over a prop plane, past another (which tipped its wings in greeting), over a few beach barbecuers, and actually even gently grazed the top of a tree before coming in for a smooth and soft landing in a farm's grassy field. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I'll stop talking/linking now and just show a few. :)


Far more pictures than I could ever get away with directly including in the blog can be found here.

What an amazing experience! Even the slugs that were in the landing field (which we didn't notice until Meh found one on her foot; I was still climbing out of the canopy while S bravely plucked it off of Meh) couldn't dampen the fun. On the drive back, the pilot explained the history of ballooning and some of the early French escapades and modern accomplishments involving balloons. When we got back to the ballooning headquarters, they had champagne waiting for us, and with a great flourish, used the sword-slicing-bottle technique to open and pour the wine. It was a perfect end to a wonderful and special evening - thanks so so much to J & S for inviting and including us!

Pet sounds

For some time, Zachary has been imitating animal sounds -- it started with the dog ("ah-ah!"), snake ("ss"), and chicken ("koh"). A few weeks ago, he picked up monkeys (random combinations of "oo" and "ah") and ducks ("quah quah").

This week we've got two more to add to the mix. One of his favorite toys is a cow puppet that actually moo's on pitch when you close its mouth. Earlier this week he brought his cow puppet toy to Meh, and when asked what it said, he responded "mmm". Hey, it's a start.

This morning, he and I were reading his newest book (which he incidentally selected all by himself from his growing library). When I turned to the page with an animated cat and asked him what a cat said (expecting only his expectant smile), he responded with a high-pitched "eeeah". It was repeated a little later for mommy, one of the cutest sounds yet!

Round numbers

I've started getting funny looks (and/or people trying to do advanced math in their heads) when I say Zachary is "almost 22 months old", so I think it may be about time to move up to years when describing his age. Certainly the weeks and days that the blog has been tracking were interesting at one point, but are now just pretty unmanageable. So with that in mind, version 2.0 of the Zachary Age Counter (or ZAC) is now featured in the stats bar at the right of this blog. We'll see if it totally blows up on the first of the month, or on his birthday, or for Y2K10 or something.

Summer has finally arrived for real! In addition to yard and park playtime, Zachary still loves rocking in the hammock, though at times he tries to sit up in it. Here's a typical relaxing evening for the little man, even down to the unbuttoned pants:

Back in time

It was a wonderful weekend celebrating my cousin M's college graduation! Well, more of an end-of-week than weekend, since I arrived late Wednesday night and headed back Saturday morning. Anyhow, it was great to be able to stay with family, enjoy the mostly mild Maryland spring days, visit the interesting and entertaining (and only moderately kitchsy) International Spy Museum, sample foods from many yummy restaurants, and spend time with bubbie (Zachary's great-grandmother), aunt I, uncle S, my mom, brother (who I hadn't seen since his wedding!), cousins M and M, and their dog M. And I even got to see high school friend J, who's doing well and is actually living in the same building complex where my grandparents once lived.

Alas, the fortuitous bump to the direct flight I enjoyed on the way there wasn't meant to be on my return trip -- and besides, I thought to myself, the direct flight departed 4 hours later anyway. So of course in the city where I stopped over, the connecting plane was late arriving, thunderstorms kept it grounded for an hour, and in the end, I landed in Seattle 30 minutes after the aforementioned direct flight. There was even another flight from Denver to Seattle leaving 50 minutes earlier at the gate directly across from mine (which as it turns out, beat the thunderstorm entirely), but since the two airlines aren't partners, nothing could be done to make a switch happen.

On the plus side, the timing did allow me to accept an airport pickup from visiting friend M, and I got to spend a bit more time M & K before they headed back home this morning. Zachary had a blast with M & K as well, and apparently has a new favorite Japanese children's song:

We'll miss M & K, and wish them a safe journey home and the very best with their pregnancy and beyond!

A free lunch

I'll never understand airlines' insistence on overbooking. Are they so pessimistic about their own on-time performance that they assume a bunch of passengers will just miss their connections? Even when it's the sole flight of the day for the airline from this airport, and likely most passengers are originating there?

On the flip side, I am *so* not complaining. I'm on my way to Maryland for my cousin's graduation tomorrow and Friday, and when I heard the gate agents start sweetening the pot for volunteers to be bumped, and mentioning they'd rebook on other airlines, I stepped forward. You see, another airline happens to have a direct flight where I was going, so even leaving 3 hours later, I'm getting:

• A direct flight arriving 8 minutes later than the connection would have landed.
• A flight on an airline I actually fly, so tasty miles accrual.
• A flight voucher (though lamely, you've got to actually go buy your ticket at the airport in order to use it - what is this, the 1950s? They can handle electronic ticketing but haven't figured out online voucher codes?)
• Free meal vouchers -- three of them in seemingly random $9, $7, and $5 denominations. I grabbed lunch, and the restaurant employee was trying to find me an extra buck in snack foods to maximize voucher use, since you can't get change from them. Sadly, nothing was that cheap.

Plus it's more uninterrupted time to knock out e-mails. I've finally gone from 260+ down into the 30s, though as soon as I connected to the internet, I was back up to 60. Ack!

Your call is important to us

Sometimes he even opens up the flip phone before putting it to his ear. Silly little man.