Weather or not its spring

After living in the midwest my whole life, the weather out there is pretty predictable.  Summer will be humid with about 2 weeks in July being absolutely miserable.  Fall is beautiful, Winter is cold with little snow, but again about 2 weeks in January that's absolutely miserable.  And Spring has thunderstorms that are wonderful to see and hear. 

Can't say that for the PNW.  The weather out here is totally unpredictable.  Summer doesn't really start until July and it's pretty much in the 80's w/no humidity or rain - maybe 3-5 days of over 100 degree's.   The mornings start out chilly, so we throw open our windows and wear our coats until about 11am, then we shut the windows and shed our layers.    Fall - BEAUTIFUL!  The temps stay within the 60-70 degree range w/out much fluctuation.  Winter - rainy.  Well, not totally rainy.  On most days it rains, but then for about an hour in the afternoon the skies are perfectly blue - always carry your sunglasses.   And spring....who knows!!  Today is prime example. 

This morning was cloudy, cool and sprinkling.  Lunchtime was about the same.  Then around 3pm all HAIL broke loose.  Literally.  It was cloudy.  Then a complete downpour....no forewarned rain showers - downpour!  Then as quick as it started, it ended - trust me, I was stranded at the grocery store waiting for it to pass.  Didn't have to wait long - 5 min.   An hour later, complete downpour!  No sprinkles before.  Then holy hail, lightning and thunder!  Then downpour again.  And then as suddenly as it started it stopped, the skies cleared and the sun was out - it was a storm that lasted maybe (MAYBE) a total of 15min.  When I say the skies cleared, I really mean it...not a cloud - except those in the distance from the storm that just passed.   Repeat the previous story 20 min later. 

Anyone who lives in the US can spot a person who lives in the PNW because we're the ones who wear layers - year round, water proof everything (I haven't used so much water proofing products in my entire life) and we wear shoes that are easily removed b/c we rarely wear them indoors cuz of the wetness. 

Eventually, this rain will end.  Until then, I'll continue working on building my own ark. 

Happy Birthday - 6yo today!

Happy Birthday!  I cannot believe that 6 years ago today you made your way into this world and at the same time, I cannot imagine life without you!   You were born via c-section at 12:03pm.  7lbs 15oz and 21 inches long. 

As of today, you're 45lbs and 3ft 5.5" tall!!  My have you grown!  I love you! 

And today, like 6 years ago, you still won't smile nice for the camera!! 

2 girls, a guard and lots of giggles!!

Late last week, Catrina and I decided that we needed to head out of town and see what adventures we can find.  We chose to head up to Seattle again and collect the smashed pennies we love.  We had already been to Seattle, but at that time, we weren't so into collecting pennies, so back we went to the places we had been before.  

It was a late start to the day, somehow a 10am departure turned into 11am.  All well.  We had mapped out where we were going - although those plans were left in the printer....OOPS!  We knew that we wanted to head to the State Capitol - they have a penny machine in the gift shop.  The rain stopped and the sun started to shine (here and there).  Being that we're both caffeine junkies, half way there we stopped and grabbed an Amp for me and a Rockstar for her - this on top of the coffee and diet coke already consumed.  Let the adventure begin!!

The Capitol was open and it's pretty cool to see.  We did see some tourists that we will strive to be in the future!! 

 Yes, we strive to have matching parka's!!  Nothing screams TOURIST louder!!  LMAO! 

Me sitting on the steps

 

Once we were done seeing the inside of the Capitol, we headed on over to see the Governor's mansion.  Apparently, we were not invited to lunch because the gates were not open and Christine (our Governor - we've decided that we're on a first name basis with her) was not waiting for us.  We were just walking the sidewalk (I did say SIDEWALK - the one by the street) just looking at the mansion, the gardens, and the lake in the distance when the Guard in the guard house by the driveway steps out and asks "Can I help you?"   "ummmm, no, we're just walking.  Is that OK?"  He replied yes and then went back into his wee little house.  The guard looked all of 12yo and a scrawny puny thing at that, so we weren't worried that he was going to 'take us down'.  

After leaving the Capitol, the Facebook messages began.  The caffeine had kicked in fully by this point, so we're VERY punchy!   Here are some excerpts. 

Tina Walker Burleigh
was just wanting to use the bathroom. Apparently the Governor's Mansion does not have public restrooms, as per the armed guard at the gate. Oops!

Catrina Williams So are you now going to tell everyone that you went around the corner out of sight and popped a squat?

Tina Walker Burleigh I did not!!!!

Catrina Williams How were the leaves from the Magnolia tree? Soft with a nice fragrance?

Tina Walker Burleigh Yeah, I found out it was very difficult to run with my pants around my ankles! That damn state trooper is a fast little fucker! Once again, apparently they don't like you peeing on the grass either.

Catrina Williams Good thing his patrol car was parked on the other side of the State Capitol! Phew! Never thought we would get away! Wait! This isn't our car! Oh crap!

Judi Georgeades-Tambara Tune into Cops to see what happened next!

So, these FB messages had us in tears laughing so hard.  Which made the rest of the drive go by very quickly.  I just want to say that Catrina was typing the FB messages for me while I was driving.  There was NO texting and driving going on. 

We made it to Seattle, got our pennies from the Underground tour, Pikes Market, Piers 54, 56, 57, City Center, we rode the monorail and got pennies/quarters at the Space Needle.  Of which we have been to the top already.  

But, lets get back to the monorail.  WHAT??!!  I guess we just expected more, we didn't read the tourist info about it.  We didn't know that it only goes 1 mile - a 2 minute ride.  We were expecting more.  And the monorail driver, not so engaging as we'd hoped.   Catrina asked him if there is a special divers license needed to drive the monorail.   No was all he said.  Nothing more.   So I chimed in with how cool it would be to be able to flash the special monorail drivers license when getting into a bar, or getting out of a speeding ticket - I mean, really, how cool would that be!!  We had fits of giggles over this, but not our very serious monorail driver.  Maybe driving a monorail is much more intense than we thought.   

We didn't leave Seattle until after 6 and we decided to head to Tukwila and go to Rain Forest Cafe for dinner.  Catrina has never been, and although it is made for kids, they have a penny machine.  Who knew that the dumbasses of Tukwila would tear up a major artery of the city and route those cars through the mall parking lot!!!   AND, at the same time, the mall decided that it was a good time to tear up the outer mall drive, so cars had to drive next to the mall!!  What a mess!!  It took 15min from Seattle to the mall, but 25 min just to get into the parking lot!!  

We got sat right away, but our service was terrible!!  We sat down probably just before 7pm, but didn't leave the restaurant until 8:15ish!!  We sat forever to get our drinks, dinner took forever to get out to us, THEN just trying to find our waitress for the check was impossible.  Trying to get back onto the freeway was just as impossible and almost got us killed!!  It started raining so visibility was bad, I was in an unfamiliar area and I was the first car at the stoplight turning left.  I missed the median and turned down the wrong way of the street.   I was going the wrong way down a one way!!  YIKES!!  Luckily there were no cars coming AND there was a gas station to turn into right away!   We may have tinkled ourselves just a bit. 

All well, one not-so-great experience from the entire day was ok.  As we were heading home, we decided that we had $20 cash burning holes in our pockets, so we stopped at the Emerald Queen casino.  BAD idea - the money was gone before we could blink.  Yes, even me, the lucky one at slots, was leaving empty handed.  We got home after midnight, tired, penny books filled, and knowing that we had quite an adventure!