One of the best kept secrets of Seattle, along with other local points of interest , are the completely accessible and affordable means of getting out on the water and exploring the scenic waterways. A view of the Seattle Waterfront from the water is a breathtaking change of scenery and perspective.

The Washington State Ferries (cars and dogs also allowed) and the King County Water Taxis (passengers only, no dogs) offer these priceless opportunities for less than $10 pp (eg to Vashon Island it’s $5.75 one-way, bicycles and kids under 5 free, with orca lift only $4.50). Lake was just A few months old when we’d last taken the water taxi to Alki and had wondered about taking it to its other destination Vashon Island. Walk-on as a passenger from the Seattle Downtown Waterfront (even bring your bicycle) and with the tap of an Orca card, 22 minutes later you can find yourself on Vashon Island.

From the ferry landing dock on the north end of the 12 mile long island, an Orca card transfer will buy you a free seat on the waiting Metro and take you up the hill and down the island to your chosen destination. We stayed at “The Charming North End Loft” compliments of Airbnb for initially earning Super Host. It’s lovely! Complete with a suitably charming little free standing gas fireplace to cozy up near while listening to the rain pound down on the skylights overhead. Michael came to join us by car ferry on Saturday morning (yea!) as he worked late Friday night and the Vashon Island Water Taxi offers service week-days only.

Which was your favorite part Lake? The water crossing by boat? The seven platinum blond Golden Retrievers puppies, only 8 weeks old, who greeted us? The (much anticipated) My Neighbor Totoro Miyazaki’s film we watched after making and eating dinner? Without skipping a beat, My Neighbor Totoro was the clear winner. Lake is becoming a Studio Ghibli connoisseur. More on that later. Thanks for tuning in to another “perfect day” I’m glad I spent it with you!

This evening we played again under the enchanted cherry blossoms while folks with all sorts of accents came to pet and play with Langley. “Auntie” Lindsay Arnold took the gorgeous family photo. The scene was like out of a fairytale. Indeed, afterwards I sent Lake to sleep with a story.

A lion arrived in the Quad and began asking for Lake, the fairest prince he’d been hearing about all over the land. He bowed at once deeply to Lake and said he was enchanted to meet him finally. His zebra and giraffe musician friends struck up an accompaniment while they promenaded around the Quad. They passed slowly under all 30 of the the 90 year-old cherry trees in full bloom while blossoms drifted down gently like snow all around them. Lake caught one on his tongue and the Lion laughed deeply. As the procession came to a close the crowd of visitors let up a big cheer. That spurred the musicians to pick back up their instruments and merriment commenced. Lake and the Lion began to dance and laugh. Soon all the animal friends and guests were dancing too. It was an enchanted ballroom under the night sky. They danced and ate and drank all night long until the first rays of sunlight began to creep into the sky. One by one the people and couples drifted away and the animals began to bed down each under his own cherry tree. Mama then picked up Lake and carried him home to bed just as the sun was rising. As soon as Lake’s head touched the pillow his eyes fell asleep and he slept soundly with a smile on his lips… dreaming of an enchanted cherry blossom ball that comes but once a year.

It was surreal. So many blossoms. So many people. Such a warm sunny day light a light warm breeze. Occasionally the blossoms would be kissed by the wind and would drift down in a lazy snow flurry.

We spent four hours on Sunday afternoon at the University of Washington Quad touring the de facto Cherry Blossom Festival. Lake and Langley and I. Plus a zillion others. It was a festive zoo. With surmountable difficulties we were able to meet up with some other Newfoundlands from the Newfoundland Club of Seattle. Lake was excited to look for James Bond (225# Newfie and 3 years old) in the crowd. As it turned out Langley was pretty happy to find him too. Sightseers effectively forgot about the cherry blossoms when we walked by. Langley is a showstopper. Everyone’s enamored with Langley. He is the strikingly handsomest Newfoundland we’ve ever seen. While James Bond may be the prince, Langley holds his own as the regal king. We held court in the shade of the blossom-filled sky and enjoyed to no end the enchanting floral canopy above.

Simply look up and one finds great peace, in spite of the crowds of loyal subjects. Truly enchanting. Our Enchanted Forest!

“Hakuna Matata; it means no worries!” Lake has the gall to be shouting incessantly after today’s poopocalypse, falling quickly on the heels of the epic-emesis affair that constituted his stomach flu of the last half-week. Our cursed upstairs carpet has been severely taking a beating this sickness go-around. I’m down on my hands and knees scrubbing poo-splosion up out of the carpet in our bedroom and he climbs onto my back like a horse rider. Somehow he managed to get the post flu creamy diarrhea poo to completely fill up and drip out of his diaper and pants as he walked slowly around my bed. A bit of a rude awakening for me from both of our afternoon naps. I let him know it was not a happy way for me to conclude my nap. He asks me repeatedly in between my expressions of discontent with complete guilelessness, “Did you have a nice nap Mama?” I was admonishing him on the insanity of pooing in his diaper at the foot of my bed when there is a toilet right next door, when he calmly replies “I’m not ready to use the toilet yet Mama”. When then?? I ask. He looks at me. I decide to take a leap of faith in my favor. Tomorrow? “Yes, tomorrow,” he confidently confirms. Okay then, we are making a chart for Lake’s pooprogress! A smiley for toilette pee and a star for toilette poo. He asks for a moon and a cow and a pig for toilette poos. Anything you wish for we will draw on your chart darling, when you poo in the toilette. Lord have mercy!

“Hakuna Matata! It means no worries.” This guy! And then as we’re getting ready for bed he comes up with, “I hope and pray I can spend my life with you…” Yes darling, you are my shining star; have no doubt about that. Definitely a strange kind of perfect day. I am glad I spent it with you, Lake. (And I am also preemptively glad for the toilette chart to be a smashing success!)

Lake being sick with the stomach flu didn’t stop us from getting a little fresh air this evening and some cherry blossom viewing. The cherry blossoms of the University Of Washington are for us a truly a magical tradition. Although Lake is not so impressed. Nonetheless we reverently walked laps around the quad, all wreathed with flowers, as the dusk turned to night.

In keeping with our college tour theme (UBC, then UW), Lake posed for a collegiate photo shoot at the UW Quad earlier this week in celebration of the cherry blossoms having popped. Somehow the lovely young German au pairs bring out that charming side of him for pictures that I really don’t have the talent for these days. Photo credits Luisa Jehle.

This morning we woke up running! So we ran directly to the Quad to check on the University of Washington cherry blossoms. They are out! The highlight of our year in the neighborhood.

If you’re interested in joining us for a run or some cherry blossom viewing, let us know! We’re planning on being at the quad next Sunday at 1pm with Langley and a handsome group of Newfoundland’s from the Newfoundland Club of Seattle. It’s going to be a perfect day. James Bond will be there, will you?

Canada. It felt like an epic adventure. Different outlooks different country. One hour border crossing. One “I’m not yet three” year old. We made it home each all in one piece. Our animals were each all in one piece when we arrived home.

Me: Are you happy to be home?

Lake: I have a smile on it. Because I’m happy.

Lake: (upon finding me in the house): I thought there was nobody. Then there’s yesbody.

Me: (laughing) yesbody!

Lake: Nobody. Yesbody. (Laughing) That’s a funny one!

Lake had a great time visiting the Greenlake Fire Department today! He was proudly wearing his fireman badge when I came home from work today. Turns out one can pop in for a tour of the fire trucks and get sticker badges and tours of the fire trucks and the firemen are really helpful and happy to host you… especially if you bring some muffins! Good work Luisa! Nice German Au Pair ingenuity! A great time was had by all… especially Lake!

Lake’s got the cutest expressions still. Every day something sweet and fresh. His latest take on the night time ritual is Sleep Dreams! And he says I’m going to dream on it when I went Sploosh! He’s referring to his most exciting event of the weekend, at the UBC campus Lake was ready to dive right in.

He was running all around their water features and we thought, it’s only a matter of time before he falls in. He actually cleared the fountain. Then, as we were heading out, he tipped over into their central campus entrance water feature, a chain of ponds and gentle waterfalls. As I came running he actually turned around so fast and scrambled up onto the walkway again. By the time I got there he was just coming up for air. I wasn’t sure if his exhale was going to bring laughter or tears. It turned into the biggest shocked horrified bloody murder scream. And as he tells the story, he went Sploosh! And Mama got him dry. Indeed, we directly stripped off all his drenched clothes right here in the middle of campus and quickly cobbled together a dry outfit: his jacket he was luckily was wasn’t wearing, our last dry diaper, mama’s socks, and Luisa’s scarf.

Riding up on the safely of daddy’s shoulders we went in search of lunch. From there, Mama spotted a children boutique and ran across the street to buy Lake a new (dry) emergency outfit and shoes. After all the excitement, he fell asleep on the restaurant banquette. Sleep Dreams, Lake!