Forest, Lake and Falcon hanging out with the felines and me on Saturday (Mr. Silky shown). The guys drove over from Montana to celebrate Forest’s big four-oh birthday and we were fortunate to be on the itinerary. Lake hasn’t had a chance to get over to Montana yet, so luckily Montana goes mobile and comes to us. Here Lake gets a sneak peek of Montana Camp. What a thrill!

Thank you for visiting, Forest friend! Lake is blessed to have such a strong role model as you, following your dreams and rocking this life thing wholeheartedly! Happy Big Birthday!

Lakers can sit. He’s sitting pretty. He loves his socks and chewing on his shoes. He can eat his feet. He can crawl with assertion and last weekend he even successfully climbed up a back deck stair. (Then he looked behind him and toppled back down.) … there have been a lot of head bumps lately. 

He pushes himself up to sitting for a while now. He’s every day perfecting his sense of balance, finding his center of gravity, and strengthening his core bit by bit. 

At first, he somehow managed to not get quite all the way. He would prop himself up. His arm is his “kick stand”… endearing!

Now he is pretty strong and usually sits all the way up, but tonight he threw me a kickstand for old times sake. Last night he was doing pull ups off his high chair tray. He climbed his way up to standing, using the Stokke as a jungle gym, then started hanging and pulling himself up with his feet off the floor. From kickstand to air time in ten days or less!

Yes, that’s Lake eating celery. We think he’s rather charmingly inspirational. Who knows what’s next?!

Bach’s Lunch… box lunch! After walking by this sign in our neighborhood for several months now, we finally had an opportunity to check it out: the First Tuesday concert in the church Bach’s Lunch. So, Lake ate his lunch in the sanctuary of the Christ Episcopal Church. 

He absorbed the sounds of Baroche masterworks of Scandinavia performed by a baroche flute, baroche violin and harpsichord. It was his first church. He loved the tall ceilings with the fans way up high. The pastor and the musicians were happy to have Lake there taking in the sights and sounds. I was too mesmerized by the music to eat my box lunch but this didn’t stop Lake! He was a pro at eating and listening. We were personally welcomed back and we look forward to the First Tuesday of April. Will you be joining us on April 4th? 4548 Brooklyn Ave NE… just two more this season. Bach’s Lunch with Lake makes for a perfect day!

We had a great time in Vancouver BC this weekend. In spite of the snow and freezing weather we had to show Jo our friendly neighborhood nation to the north. And we had a great time of it for sure!

We explored the various landmarks and districts of Vancouver. This included the famous Gastown Steam Clock, which I’d somehow walked very near for many years but never really seen. It’s fantastic! And it wa snowing which just added to the mystical old world feeling. 

We also had a ton of fun on the elevator of our apartment hotel. We had the same room as last year when we were here on our baby moon. Now we are back with Lake. Lake loves mirrors!

We explored the various aspects of Canadian culture. One telling anecdote from brunch highlights the difference between Canadian and American culture… where I was acutely made away of my heritage unflattering as it may be sometimes. 

My bottomless cup of coffee was brought to the table with all the other drinks orders. I was so impatient for my coffee! I would have been ready for a refill by the time the rest of the handcrafted drinks were ready. 

We were directly experiencing the common good culture. When our drinks arrived together they were all delicious. Such a thoughtful and polite society. 

Nonetheless, or perhaps enhanced by this, we had a wonderful brunch with the LKS UBC officers at Catch 122. 

A memorable visit to Vancouver, BC! Thank you for your hospitality Canada. We look forward to returning soon!

Goofing around on our lunch break today. Couldn’t be happier. What a lunch date! Happy Weekend friends!

At his 9 month well-child check yesterday he let his doctor really know how he felt about naked head-circumference measurements. He weighed in at 18 pounds, distributed over 21 inches. (I’m also still the same as last weekend 128.8… so far we are tying for “biggest loser” and we are both big winners. ) Anyway, this puts him at 78 and 22 percentile for height and weight respectively. A long and lean baby machine!

Then Lake got really wound up last night. It’s like he knew it was going to be his monthly anniversary so he needed to hit all his milestones in time. Plus there’s no 29th this month this year so he had to make the most of the midnight moment. 

Voila! He did it all. He was crawling for the first time. Giving kisses for the first time. And pulling himself up to standing from the floor. Really! Long and lean… what an all-star!

Lily Wu asked Lake if he had a girlfriend. Then she gave him an apple. He went right for it; he didn’t even need a serpent to tempt him! He is in love. We fell pretty hard for her noodle shop ourselves, with its authentic Northern Chinese cuisine and hand pulled noodles. 



As you can see, but not taste, from the photo, Xi’an Noodles is deserving of its many accolades and raving newspaper reports.  And it’s only a couple blocks away! We will surely be back, Lily! Thank you for your hospitality and welcoming Lake so enthusiastically. We all had a great dinner amongst the hustle and bustle of the build-your-own bowl cooler station and the other happy satisfied diners. 

We woke up to a white surprise here in Seattle this morning … more snow!

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Michael made it safely in to work driving early in the snow, and today is the day I start my new walking commute position at the UW Tower processing and authorizing medication refill requests. So I’m all set to go as long as I wear my boots with their all weather treads. So exciting! Now all I need are a few pictures in the snow with my snow bunny Lake!

Our fenced backyard isn’t quite cat proofed. There are significant gaps between the bottom of the fence and the gentle sloping grade of the ground. So we have been dreaming of fencing fortifications ever since we moved in late last year. When I spotted these while walking home from yoga this weekend, neither Michael nor I could resist. Suffice it to say we scavenged some bricks from the neighborhood build site for a romantic Sunday night date night. 

Lake helped of course!

The kitties can’t wait for spring and the prospect of going outside!!!

This weekend I discovered one of our neighborhood hair salons was having a grand launch party with free food and haircuts. What fun… so we all got our hair cut! What a festive day!

I went first

Then Jo

Lake watched and had some free food too! 

Thank you Suong (Susan), we love our spring cleaning trims!

We even came back with Michael when he got home from work! He looks super hot with his new trim. Hello Hair!