Seattle Central Library

Thursday is typically my "free" day with Sophie. We can stay home all day and do nothing, or we can explore the city. Well, doing nothing sounds nice, but it's really hard to do nothing with a child like Sophie. She's too social and curious to play by herself. So, I thought it would be fun to explore a new space, and let Sophie experience its texture, shape and function. The first place that came to mind was the Seattle Central Library. It's the most interesting and quirky building in Seattle. And it had escalators and books. What else could a child -- and her dad -- ask for? 

Diamond shapes

Riding the escalator -- 5 times total

One more escalator ride?

I don't want to finish my "coffee" -- hot chocolate

Barbie Surfing

Yes, Sophie has a Barbie doll. It bothered the feminist and Asian American in all of us. But it was the exact Barbie Mermaid Surfer that she wanted, so we caved in and bought it for her. It was her best friend for a good two weeks. She played with it during bath time and slept with it. Now, it's sitting in a corner collecting dust. Here's a video of Sophie making waves with a blue scarf for Barbie to surf on. Very imaginative.

 

Bringing the Tiger back to the Mountain

Tiger Mountain is only 30 minutes from Seattle. But we had never been there until a month ago. We heard and read that Tiger Mountain was kid friendly for having several flat and wide trails. It was indeed worth a try. We did the Lake Tradition trail, which was about 2 miles long. Sophie walked for a mile or so, but it took an hour. For the last mile, Vân carried her -- for the first time with the new carrier. She felt my pain, all 40lbs of it.

Lake Tradition

Hiding from Sophie

Where did mommy go?

Yellow flowers on the side of the trail

40 lbs of pain -- carrier included

Picnic and a New Friend

Vân and a few colleagues from work organized their first picnic. It began with the simple idea of sharing food and introducing the children to each other. Vân thought it would be just a few families. But it became a huge success with at least 15 families showing up with their children in tow. We had a lot of fun meeting new people with children. And Sophie made a new friend -- Lucia.

 

Mother's Day at Joule

It's a little too late to wish Vân a happy mother's day on this blog. But we did go out to celebrate her day. We had brunch at Joule in Ballard.

The first time we went to Joule was years ago, when it was still in Wallingford. I don't think Sophie was even an idea yet at the time. The food, fusion Korean and French, was so good that I still remember some of the dishes we had that day. Kim chi gnocchi and condensed milk ice cream with chocolate molten cake. 

Joule did not disappoint us this time -- even years later at a new location. Vân had the Joule version of chicken and waffle. It was waffle with tonkatsu. And I had the shrimp and grit with Chinese sausage (lạp xưởng). Everything was so good -- and interesting. But what made Joule better this time around was that we could share it with Sophie. She was very well-behaved, and she tried all of our food. We hope she will have our love for food and appreciate the labor and love that go into cooking.

Mother & daughter

Juice!

Waffle with tonkatsu

Shrimp and grit with Chinese sausage

Hama Hama Revisited

About a month ago, we made it back to Hama Hama oyster farm for their last open farm event of the year. It was a bit sad to say goodbye, but it was really fun visiting the farm again.

Instead of driving the whole way, we took the ferry to Bremerton, which was half way to the farm, then drove the rest of the way. Taking the ferry didn't save much time, but we wanted to introduce Sophie to it. She loved the ferry ride. She was giggling the whole way. And on the way, we saw a whale breaching. It was too fast for me to take a picture, so you guys just have to take my word for it.

I love ferry!

"What's that about it?"

Ferry in the distance

The weather was so much better this time around. Sophie actually walked around on her own and attempted to dig for clams. She touched a sea star -- a first in my book! And when she fell and scratched herself on some oyster shell, she just wiped her hand and kept playing.

Mother and daughter going to work

Crab

I'm touching a sea star

Sea cucumber

I want to eat this one!

Blood, Sweat, & (No) Tears

Gunnel (fish)

Digging for clams

Clams

Lunch -- chorizo, tripple cream brie, Izzie, and focaccia bread

We wanted to stay longer, but they had to shut down the event because the temperature was reaching 65F. This is the point where oysters break down their meat and fat and begin to spawn. It might be good for the oysters, but it would not be good for us -- to eat them. We packed up our 4 dozens of oysters and 3 lbs of clams with ice and headed straight home. Deep fried oysters were the best. Until next year!

Oysters

Clams with pasta