Long Awaited Restaurant Review

I think this may be my new favorite picture of Owain. We were at the seafood festival last weekend and it was a hot day and poor O was late for his nap but he sure is cute even though he was being a bit of a sourpuss. I just realized that I never followed though on the promised review of How To Cook A Wolf. Let's see if I can actually remember anything from 2 weeks ago. We got there at 6:30pm and were told that there was a 2 1/2 hour wait so we gave the maitre de our cell phone number and went off in search of drinks and an appetizer. We ended up just down the street at Opal, another fancy restaurant. We ordered an appetizer each and a regular portion of pork belly to share. That was delicious and it also came with trotter fritters (fried pig's feet) YUM! We still had some time to kill so we found a cafe that served beer and wine and then of course 2 sips in the phone rang, our table was finally ready. We sat down at a comfortable table but the restaurant is pretty small. It was all copper and light wood the lighting gave it a warm, cozy feel. The menu consisted of appetizer-like selections the idea being a table of four might share 6 dishes which is exactly what we did. Anne and I hogged the scallops and heritage tomatoes, we also had some pasta, paninis and a lot of wine because I can't remember what else we ordered. It was a lovely evening and I'm glad we decided to spend our rare night out with new friends and try a restaurant that would have normally intimidated me.

I must include one more picture of the wading pool. It would be remiss of me not to.

Splish Splash

Owain went for a dip in the wading (paddling) pool at Green Lake Park today. Owain loves the water.

9 Months Old! Yesterday.

Owain is now nine months old and had his well visit at the doctor's yesterday. The new stats threw me for a loop. 28 1/2 inches-50%, 21lbs 2oz-60% and head circumference is at 85%. The doctor put my fears to rest saying that because he just learned to crawl he's burning a lot of extra calories and we can expect another small dip when he starts walking. Sounds reasonable to me but I am going to start feeding him a lot more solid foods. I started last night with carrots.

What a mess! In other news, my tryout for Wheel of Fortune did not go well. My name was never called so I didn't even get a chance to wow the judges with my sparkling personality:) We did get a lovely photo of the WheelMobile.

Tonight our babysitter is back from a 3 week hiatus so we will be hitting the town with friends Anne and Mike. We are going to a new restaurant called How to Cook a Wolf. Stay tuned for a review.

Baby Triathlon

I finally caught the camera-shy crawler burning up the carpet.

As I speak, he's wandering 'round the living room looking for things to climb on.

He can sort-of stand up for an instant.


He can also feed himself although this also is somewhat of a hit-and-miss affair.


Later today, we're going to Sequim near Olympic National Park so that Heather can audition for her favouritest TV show, Wheel of Fortune. Wheel of Fortune is hosted by mighty quiz-show overlord Pat Sajax. If you don't believe me, check out his no-nonsense website.

Victoria

For the 4th of July long weekend, we took a trip to Vancouver Island! It's easy to remember; it's the one where Vancouver isn't, also not to be confused with Vancouver, Oregon which isn't even in British Columbia.

We took the ferry from Seattle to Victoria early on Friday morning, passing right by the spot where the fireworks are set off each year in Elliot Bay. The baby was very good for most of the way but he often gets tired and emotional so...

Presenting for the first time anywhere in the world, evidence of Owain being a miserable git.

The area's premier tourist attraction is Butchart Gardens, described by one of Heather's friends as "Disney Land... but Flowers".

On Saturday evening, Heather an I ate seafood and I smoked a sneaky Cuban cigar. Owain managed to get some food in his gob, but not much. Tidy.

On Saturday, Owain had his first swim. Actually, he didn't really swim at all. I suggested we let him go and see if he would float. Heather vetoed that idea.

Later, we visited Miniature World. There's not a lot I can say about Miniature World that isn't covered in the name.

Then, we went Whale watching and saw a Minke.

And that's what I did on my 4th of July holiday weekend.

The End
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Whirly-champ!

Do you remember me mentioning Whirlyball last December? Well, all of us Surreal programmers went back to the Edmonds Whirlyball Center yesterday ... and my team won! This was once I had figured out that my Whirlystrength lies in avoiding the Whirlyball itself at all times and instead obstructing the other team's Whirlybugs by loitering under our goal, driving slowly and occasionally cutting in front of other drivers ... so basically my normal driving style.

In other news, I invested in a new bike last weekend.

It's a Giant FCR 2 and it's sort of half-racer, half-mountain bike. I've ridden in to work on it three times so far. I'm going to try for the whole four days this week. I don't feel any fitter yet but my legs ache all the time. So that's good.

To our surprise, Heather managed to sell Jim's old street racer on Craig's List for quiet a few notes. I'm glad it's gone to a good home; the frame was too big for me and it was starting to seize up.

"Wait a minute, Whirlyjohn. Did you say four days?" That's right. Friday July 4th is a holiday and to feel better about not splurging out on a bicycle, Heather has splurged out on a holiday to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Activities involve whale watching and teaching Owain to swim in the hotel pool. Can't wait!

Finally, Owain started crawling on Thursday afternoon. I tried to film him at it yesterday but he wasn't in the mood. So far, the best way to get him to crawl in any particular direction is to place something dangerous or delicate/expensive there. Better still, encourage him to move in the opposite direction.

Heather is now all concerned that the flat isn't baby-proofed which it certainly isn't. We've started putting down obstacles between him and electrical outlets, easily tippable furniture and glowing hobs supporting rusty iron pots painted with lead and full of boiling bathroom bleach, under-ripe fruits and vegetables (which aren't properly liquidized) and sharpened bamboo shoots. This only seems to encourage him.

A Friendly Visit

Andee and Francisco brought thier sweet baby girl Isabel on an ambitious road trip from Orange County, CA all the way here and also made some other stops to visit family along the way. Here is Isa with Owain's foot creeping closer and closer.

She is a lovely baby and it was a lot of fun having them visit. We went to Volunteer Park in Capitol Hill near the bed and breakfast they stayed at.

On Tuesday night we ate at the Fisherman's restaurant down on the end of pier 57 and then Wednesday we checked out Pike Place Market. It's hard to believe that I've lived here for 7 months and haven't been to the top tourist attraction in Seattle, well maybe 2nd to the top, let's not forget the fabulous space needle. Here are the rest of the photies.