Ice Skating

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Video

We met up with three other families at the Seattle Center ice rink for an outing. Neither Audrey or Charlotte have ever been. Charlotte considered it for about five seconds before deciding not to try. "I might fall down!" Audrey was game, though, especially with the walker-type devices they have for little kids.

I skated with Audrey for a while, mostly trying to convince her to avoid swimming upstream in the crowd. Then Carol took over and I got to shoot some video. Audrey skated for nearly an hour.

We went across the way to the Center House food court for lunch, where we happened upon a huge holiday model train layout and the entrance of a youth pipe and drum band. After that we visited the Children's Museum downstairs where the girls had a blast for another couple of hours.

Oh, by the way, yesterday was Charlotte's first day leaving the house in underwear. She managed to tell Carol two of the four times that she had to go before doing so. Carol had come prepared with three changes of pants. Charlotte has been getting close to being toilet trained. Carol had a goal of getting there during my Christmas break (by New Years), but Charlotte had some kind of intestinal bug for more than a week that presented a setback. Now we're back on track. We're looking forward to celebrating our last diaper fairly soon.

Christmas Video

I shot a bunch of video on Christmas morning. Here are highlights of the girls' reactions and comments.

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Puppy Bot

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With the break from school and work I have some time for playing. Last night I decided to build a new robot for the girls. I didn't have enough time to figure out something from scratch. Fortunately there is nxtprograms.com, which contains dozens of "plans" for robots that can be built with the Lego Mindstorms NXT kit. I decided on a puppy, since that is Charlotte's favorite thing in the world (well, next to baby dolls at the moment).

The puppy walks forward for two seconds or until he detects and obstacle. Then he looks left and right. If he hears a sound during that time, he'll turn the direction he's looking. If he doesn't hear anything he'll move forward again.

As you can see from the video, Puppy Bot was a hit.

Merry Christmas

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We had a great Christmas around the Methot homestead.

Due to the bad weather, our friends Scott and Susana couldn't get a taxi to the airport, so they called me midday Christmas Eve and asked if I could drive them in their Subaru Outback (all wheel drive). We were just relaxing around home so I was glad to do it. It had the side benefit of allowing me to do some last minute shopping, since we were otherwise still housebound with our alley almost impassable.

Carol and I were up late Christmas Eve getting the stage all set for Santa. Then we all had a good night's sleep. Charlotte woke up at 6, but I was able to put her back in her bed and I crawled in the big bed in her room and all was quiet again. Although I couldn't sleep because I was excited for the girls' Christmas. Audrey woke up at 7 and then the house came to life.

The girls got some physically large items this year: a play house to share and a doll house each. Santa had shrouded them all in blankets in case the girls woke up in the middle of the night. Carol distracted the girls downstairs while I went up and uncovered everything and got ready to take photos. Then we had the reveal.

Both girls loved everything. Carol and I got to sit and devour Carol's Christmas morning cinnamon rolls and read the paper for an hour while they played peacefully with the new toys. Later we all went downstairs and watched Wall-E. Carol and Audrey saw it in the theater but I had never seen it. It's a sweet, delightful, funny movie if you haven't seen it.

Then it was time to go to Aunt Tricia's for the feast. Frank's mother Carmen and her husband Henry were also there. Tricia is a fantastic cook and as usual everything was delicious.

Temperatures are increasing and the snow began to melt a little Christmas Eve, a little more yesterday and still more today. By Sunday everything should be back to normal for Seattle in December: 45 degrees and raining.

We're really looking forward to having mobility again. However, I must say we've had a pretty good time being housebound. Audrey and Charlotte have really enjoyed having me around full time, and it's mutual. Charlotte gives me spontaneous hugs a couple of times every day. It's going to be hard for all of us when I go back to work, but I have nine more days to not think about that.

Merry Christmas!

Still Snowbound

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Yesterday we had our third snowstorm in a week, which actually had two waves. It was supposed to stop snowing late morning and then have scattered snow showers in the afternoon. But after stopping briefly in late morning, it snowed steadily from noon until after 4:00. We got about 5 additional inches. We probably received about 10" in the last storm combination.

Seattle is not used to this much snow or this sustained, so it pretty much comes to a halt. The traffic cameras around town show that not many people are on the roads. I shoveled the entrance to our garage and the high center spot in the alley in front of the garage and took a little test run to see if we could get out. I got stuck twice: once getting from the alley to the street and again getting back into the garage. I guess the answer is "no". The temp is just above freezing and we are getting a little melting, so maybe tomorrow we'll be able to use the car again. Carol and I both are getting cabin fever.

We don't have snow tires or chains because we rarely need them. Although it might make sense to get some since we'll definitely use them in Boston.

The snow was pretty light and powdery as it was falling. Audrey wanted to build a snow man but it wasn't possible with that snow. But with the bit of warming today the snow moistened and we built a big snow man in the back yard. The girls loved it.

My sister Elizabeth was scheduled to fly to California this afternoon to visit our parents. Yesterday Alaska Airlines canceled all flights because after a week of freezing weather they had run out of de-icing solution. Apparently they obtained more because today some flights are getting out. There are many people stranded at the airport who were supposed to just make a connection - three days ago. Hopefully Aunt Betsy is in the air right now.

This weather is forcing me to take a real vacation. I had big plans to accomplish a bunch of projects around the house, almost all of which were outdoors (build a fence, install the last gutters on the garage, etc.). I can't do any of that, so I just have to relax and play with the girls and read. It's nice!

This morning my grades for Fall semester were finally posted: two A's. So now I have five A's and one B for a 3.83 GPA. I wish I would have worked a little harder in that B class. Straight A's would be cool. Three courses left to go.

Snowbound

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We're having quite unusual winter weather in Seattle at the moment. We typically get snow maybe once or twice a winter, and it usually melts quickly afterward. But we've had two snowstorms in the past five days and expect another tomorrow.

Last weekend it snowed a couple of inches. Our part of Seattle (West Seattle) got it worse than the rest of the city, and it apparently started with some frozen rain because there was a sheet of ice under the snow. It took until Tuesday for the ice to melt off the sidewalk. No one prepares for that here (e.g. by keeping ice melter on hand) and none of the hardware stores have any in stock.

Wednesday we were supposed to get more snow. Seattle ended up in a snow shadow of the Olympic Mountains all day while all of the surrounding areas were getting snow. But at 4:00am Thursday it started to snow and it snowed almost continuously until 3:00pm. Once again, West Seattle got more than the rest of the city (we got 8" on our patio) but the whole city got blanketed. We are also having an unusual cold snap where we aren't getting above freezing so the snow and ice are sticking around a lot longer than usual. We aren't expected to get any melting before the next snow storm hits tomorrow afternoon.

So we've been essentially housebound. Most people are just staying home - there is very little traffic even on the main streets. But plenty of people are out walking around.

We live on a bus route that loops around the north end of West Seattle. Today to get out of the house we hopped on it and rode to the nearby business district (called the Alaska Junction - where Alaska St. crosses the other main street, California Ave.). We visited the pet store and the toy store and then went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch.

Audrey was fascinated by the chopsticks. She experimented until she was actually picking up noodles with them and getting them into her mouth. No style points, but still I was impressed.

Coincidentally, Audrey and Charlotte have been getting along exceptionally well the last few days. Excellent timing since we're housebound.

I'm hoping it stops snowing, melts and dries out after the storm this weekend. I was hoping to get in a couple of bike rides during my vacation.

Destination: Boston

As you can tell from the title, we've come to decision: we're moving to Boston.

This is one of the hardest decisions we've ever had to make. There were so many factors to consider. In the end, moving seems like the most financially and professionally sound option even though it has big family costs. Carol and I both talked about it a lot with our parents and siblings. We think we have a plan where the girls will still get to see a fair bit of their grandparents, aunts and uncles. And we're viewing it as an adventure.

We'll probably move in late May or early June. I have a long list of projects to complete in the house to get it ready to sell. I'm on vacation for the rest of the year so I was hoping to do a lot those tasks during the break, but our current series of snowstorms and cold spell are making that impossible.

Most of the readers of this blog are in Seattle. We will miss you all! But by the magic of the Internets we should be able to keep in touch. For example, this blog will continue and will relay our explorations of Boston.

Catching Up, Again!

Once again it has been more than a month since my last post. We have had several fun outings, and Charlotte had a birthday.

Album | Slideshow Charlotte Turns Three

Album | Slideshow Thanksgiving at Tricia and Frank's

Album | Slideshow November/December Photos

Not chronologically first in this series of photos, but most important in terms of milestones: Charlotte turned 3 on November 27th. That happened to be Thanksgiving. We had a small celebration in the morning with cupcakes and presents before driving to Tricia and Frank's house for Thanksgiving dinner. The thing Charlotte wanted most of all (she told us several times a day for a month) was a baby doll with eyes that opened and closed and a crib and a high chair for it. Oh, and a Belle dress (Belle is the "princess" in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast). She got both and was very pleased. Until February 2nd we have a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old.

Charlotte is gaining a lot of motor and verbal skills lately. She expresses more and more complex thoughts all the time. And she mimics her big sister in terms of climbing, although Audrey has always been at the far end of the fearlessness scale. Charlotte has a more normal respect for potential consequences of gravity.

My parents spent Thanksgiving at their winter home in California this year, but us three kids gathered at Tricia and Frank's house in Puyallup for the traditional feast. Tricia always prepares a wonderful meal. Frank followed a recent family tradition and baked oysters with the "holy trinity": butter, garlic and parsley. Frank and Carol enjoy them the most but I usually eat a few. After dinner we celebrated Charlotte's birthday a little more with special mini-pumpkin pies just for the girls.

A different weekend made another trip to the Museum of Flight. It is a fantastic place to visit on a wet or cold day because it has lots of room to run around inside and plenty to see and explore. The girls love the kids area. They also enjoy going on the real airplanes, now reached via a new bridge. They have a Concorde and the old 707 version of Air Force One that you can tour. Very cool.

Britt and Ken joined us for a weekend walk down to Alki Beach. It was a chilly day, but we had a pleasant walk and even played on the beach for little while. Then we all went to have hot chocolate and treats at the Alki Bakery. The hike back up the hill to our house was leisurely and Audrey and Ian had a great time together. It was a very enjoyable morning.

Lately when I get the camera out Audrey has been asking to take some pictures. She does a very good job of holding onto the camera carefully and she even frames the photos pretty well. We might get them a kids digital camera for Christmas. I'm sure they'd have a blast with it.

This morning we awoke to a couple of inches of snow on the ground. It was apparently close to freezing when it fell, because the roads and sidewalks are covered with ice. Fortunately it has warmed just enough to loosen the ice so I was able to chip and shovel it off of our walks, but we aren't attempting to drive anywhere today. Nor is anyone else, the normally moderately busy street in front of our house is very quiet. The girls have been out to play a couple of times but they get cold quickly. It's not warming up enough to completely thaw the roads, so we'll see how it works out getting to work tomorrow. I definitely won't be riding my bike.

Merck has a use-it-or-lose it vacation policy; there is no carryover from one year to the next. That means the place gets pretty deserted in the second half of December. In my case, I have enough vacation left that my last day of work will be this Tuesday the 17th. 19 days off will be very nice.

The break from work will be especially nice since I also have a break from school. I took two courses Fall semester (Machine Learning/Data Mining; and Biomedical Databases). Fortunately the database course covered a lot of material I already knew, making the homework easier than usual. I have three courses left to complete my Masters degree. I'll take two courses Spring semester and the final course in Summer semester. I should complete my degree in August. That will have been a little more than two years altogether. I'm looking forward to being done and having my time back for all the projects on my list.