Seattle/Victoria Trip, Day Two (The Clipper)

Okay, so day one was not exactly riveting, I know. We spent most of the time in a plane, so of course there wasn't much to report. But don't worry, day two got better.

We had decided that we wanted to take advantage of being so close to Canada and hop over the border for a day. Victoria B.C. is less than 3 hours away by clipper ship, so we thought that would be a logical destination.

We had to get up earrrrrrrrrrly. For some reason, the clipper only leaves at 8:00 in the morning in the off-season. We were supposed to be there to check in by about 7:00. So, we woke up around 5:30, got ready, left the majority of our luggage with the concierge at the Seattle Doubletree, and took a taxi to the clipper. It was a cool, drizzly morning. Typical Seattle in October.

***Before I start posting pics, let me share this: our camera is horrible. Yup, horrible. It's a Canon PowerShot--you know, just a point and click kind of deal. It's only about 6 years old (I think we got it right before we got married), but it's obviously at the end of its life. The automatic lens cover doesn't close anymore, and sometimes it actually gets stuck half-way open and blocks half the shot. It's kinda funny that it's so quirky. People give us odd looks when we're banging on it, trying to get the lens cover to open. Anyway, I'm just sayin'. Our shots will not be award-winning ones, but hopefully they'll give you an idea of what we saw. ***

So, here's a little shot from Pier 69 in Seattle, where the Victoria clipper leaves from:


Here's hubby (holding both of our coffees!) and the clipper we took:

The clipper ride to Victoria was probably one of the highlights of the trip for me. It started out kinda crappy, because the boat was packed. I was hoping that we'd get to spread out and snooze or read or just be left alone, but it didn't work out that way. And I'm so glad it didn't, as I'll share later.

The clipper is a double-decker. All of the seats are inside (and out of the rain). The top deck has fewer seats, and that's were we went. The seats are arranged in clumps of six--three on one side, three on the other, and a table in between. We ended up sitting with an older couple who live in the Victoria area and a middle-aged couple from Seattle. My ears instantly perked up when the lady from Seattle said, "My husband is a travel writer. He's writing about traveling to Victoria in the off-season."

A writer! A travel writer! Man, how do you get that gig?? And do you have some travel advice for us???

We started up a conversation that lasted the entire three hours of the trip. I relished every minute of it. Both couples gave us lots of advice about Seattle and Victoria, and they were all just joys to be around. The older lady sitting next to me started talking about a commercial currently on TV in Victoria for a local insurance company. She and her husband shared how much the commerical drove them crazy. Evidently it shows a lady who is a very bad driver, and a voice-over says, "You don't drive like her. You shouldn't pay like her." The point is, of course, that if you are a "good" driver, your rates shouldn't be the same as those of a "bad" driver. But the way the point was made drove the couple batty.

"First of all, it's just demeaning. But more than that, it uses improper English. You don't drive like her, you drive like she."

Oh, man! Did I mention that I really liked these people?? They all started discussing grammar and syntax, and oh, I was in hog heaven! Ha!

I found out that the writer has actually just published a book. How exciting! He said it is his third book, and it's called Literary Feast--The Famous Authors Cookbook. What a cool premise--he went to various local and national authors and found out what their favorite recipes are and then compiled them in this book. Food and literature always go hand-in-hand. The author is Terry LaBrue, and the book is a bestseller at thriftbooks.com right now! He said that he just got a contract with Costco to sell it in their stores. That's hitting the big time!

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I'm going to have to split this post into two sections so it won't get outrageously long (and the boys should be waking up fro their naps soon). Next post: Butchart Gardens and a cool pub!

Seattle Trip, Day One

Last Thursday, we sent the boys off to Meme and Papa's, and Scott and I packed up and left on our first vacation without the kids! Our plan was to fly into Seattle and spend one night, then taking a clipper to Victoria B.C. and stay for a night, and then travel back to Seattle for three more nights. There is so much I want to remember about our trip, I'm going to try to break this narrative down into segments.

So, this post will be focused on the first leg of our trip--our first night in Seattle.

We had an afternoon flight out of Dallas, so we arrived in Seattle at about 4:30pm. Seattle's public transportation is pretty comprehensive--you can get a free bus ride from the airport to the light rail station, then ride the rail from there to downtown Seattle. Easy.

Well, theoretically easy. This is the part of the post which I will entitle "We Would Suck at The Amazing Race."

Here's Scott going up the escalator at the light rail station...


...and here I am going back down the escalator after we figured out that the light rail actually leaves from the other side of the station.


Hmph. Anyway, we finally got on the train and headed to Seattle. As we took in the scenery on the ride into town, the first thing I noticed was how different the houses looked. None of them were made of brick like the ones here in Dallas--they all had siding and large rectangular windows. I asked someone later about this, and he said that brick doesn't last in an earthquake. Ah...earthquakes. I am definitely not in Texas anymore! I asked the man who told me about the houses: "You get in a doorway if there's an earthquake, right?" "Yes," he said, "and if it's in the middle of the night, roll off the side of your bed. That way if the ceiling collapses, it will fall on your bed and not on your head." Useful advice....

We got out of the train at our stop in Pioneer Square, then realized that we didn't know exactly how to get from the station to our hotel. We consulted our map and got a vague idea of where the hotel was. We went up an escalator and left the station...and our hotel was literally right across the street. Bonus! :)

We stayed at the Doubletree Arctic Hotel. I highly recommend it! Nice bathrobes, amenities, fluffy duvet, flat screen high-res TV, and as everyone who has stayed in a Doubletree knows.....


...cookies. Straight-out-of-a-warmer chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies given to you upon your arrival. Mmmmm. I almost went back and asked for more.

By the time we got checked in, it was about dinner time. We were pretty tired (we had stayed up really late the last couple of nights cleaning and packing), so we decided to just eat in the hotel restaurant for dinner. (Yes, I had just eaten a big fat cookie. Don't judge me!)



The restaurant is called Juno, and it was pretty yummy. Scott and I both had a seafood pasta and some local wine. After a relaxing dinner, it was off to our room. We had to get up earrrrrrrrrly in the morning to catch the clipper to Victoria.

We had a huge wall-length window in our first-floor room, so we slept to the sound of the city. It was not like the sound of New York--full of sirens, loud voices, and car horns, but what we soon learned to be the distinctive sound of Seattle--the buses. Seattle has such great public transportation, and their buses run all night long. So our sleep was punctuated (not unpleasantly) by the buses making their rounds in the otherwise silent city.

Next post: Victoria, B.C.!

From Jesus to Pogo Sticks

As I've posted before, Isaac loves to listen to Bible songs. He particularly loves the "Wee Sing Bible Songs" CD we got him for Christmas. He is always running up to the CD player and shouting "Jesus songs!"

A few days ago, I got tired of listening to the same CD over and over, so I changed it to Derek Webb or Watermark or some other Christian band. Isaac started whimpering and said, "I want Jesus songs!" I told him that these were still songs about Jesus. "They are just different Jesus songs, Isaac."

Well, ever since then he keeps pointing to the CD player and saying, "A different Jesus! A different Jesus!"

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Yesterday, I showed Caleb a few minutes of a clip posted on Intentionally Katie's blog. She had a video of a man named Nick Vujicic who was born with no arms and no legs. What an inspiring tale! He has really used his disabilities in a way that honors God.

Caleb watched as the man walked with no legs and turned the pages of his Bible with a little foot. He asked me, "Why does he have no legs and arms?"

"That's the way God made him, honey. He's very special. God made everyone different." I started to tell him all about different types of people. "You know, some people use wheelchairs to get around, and some..."

Caleb cut me off and said, "Yeah! Some people use pogo sticks!"

Well, yes. I guess they do. :)

It Always Starts out Small

Today has been a bad day for me and my kids. They've been misbehaving, and I've yelled at them a lot.

Yes, sweet little me yells at my children. Often.

I know, I know. It's absolutely wrong. If you had somehow shown me a video a few years ago of present-day me yelling at my children, I would have been shocked. I couldn't have imagined being angry or annoyed enough to raise my voice to my children! My dear, innocent, precious children!

Ah, but it starts out so slowly. First you barely raise your voice. "I said to get down, Caleb." Then a few months later, it's "I said get down, Caleb." Before you know it, it's "GET DOWN! NOW!"

It's just like any other sin. It starts out small enough. No one will notice if I don't go to church today.... It was just one little lie.... Who cares if I watch that raunchy TV show?

Before you know it, you never go to church, or lies have become your truth, or your mind if full of so much junk you are desensitized from it all.

It always starts out small. Let's pray that we can stop these sins before they grow. Because as we all know, it's much harder to stop something once it's big and hairy.

How Did He Fall Down Again?

Hello, friends. I've missed you. I know I haven't posted much. It's not for lack of material, just lack of time. Here's a little Isaac story to keep you going until I can post more. ;)

Today before nap time, Isaac sat on the potty. He went--yea! Then I helped him flush, and I put him up on the stool by the sink so he could wash his hands. I looked down while I was drying his hands and saw a puddle on the stool.

"Is that water or pee, Isaac?"

"Water!" he replied. Little stinker.

While I stooped to clean up the mess, Isaac darted away from me, still naked from the waist down, giggling all the way. I called after him, holding his diaper. By the time I'd caught up with him, I saw him staring at a big puddle of pee on the kitchen floor. (More? You still have more??) He looked back at me, saw me approaching, and decided to run away from me again, laughing all the way.

Well, I saw what was going to happen, and you probably do too. I yelled, "ISAAC!" but to no avail. He slipped in his big puddle of pee and fell, face-planting on the tile floor. Isaac wailed, and I scooped him up in my arms. (Yes, he was covered in pee. But that's just what moms do.) Scott ran down the stairs, asking "What happened??"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, honey."

Klean Kanteen: A Review and a Discount!

Several months ago, I bought some Klean Kanteens for my boys. In my last post, I talked about how I prefer to use metal over plastic due to the side effects of BPA and who knows what else in plastic. Klean Kanteens are made of stainless steel, but they do use a plastic (polypropylene) sippy spout.

Price: About $15 to $20 including shipping

Availability: Amazon.com, The Soft Landing, etc.

Description: Klean Kanteen sells all sizes of bottles, and we have a variety of them in our house. Scott loves the big 40 oz, I use the 27 oz, and both of the kids use the 12 oz sippies. This review will focus mainly on the sippy cups.

All of the Klean Kanteen bottles are made of food-grade stainless steel, inside and out, so there is no need for a protective lining between it and your drink (like when you use an aluminum bottle). The sippy cup option has 5 parts: the stainless steel bottle, a plastic adaptor that fits on the bottle, a plastic sippy spout, a plastic ring that holds the sippy spout to the adaptor, and a plastic insert that makes the sippy leak-proof. It sounds complicated, but it's not. :) It's much easier to put together than the majority of the other sippies we've used!

The sippy spouts are made by Avent for Klean Kanteen. All the plastic parts are BPA-free polypropylene (#5) and are probably the "safest" plastic out there. There's a picture of the spouts to the left here.


Pros:

• They are completely dishwasher safe. Scott usually handwashes our big bottles, which we just use for water, but we always put the kids' sippy cups in the dishwasher since we use them for milk and juice.
• They keep your drinks cold for quite awhile.
• Your drink tastes clean and great.
  
• They are BPA-free!
• The sippies hold 12 ounces, which I've found is a good size for the kids.

Cons:

• Your hands get really cold holding this! Because it's just stainless steel with no insulating on the outside, putting cold liquid inside makes the outside of the bottle very cold, too. According to this blog post from The Soft Landing, the Momo glass bottle covers work really well with the Klean Kanteen sippies and would solve that problem. I was going to order some today, but it looks like they are out of stock. The Soft Landing also recommend the Green Sprouts Neoprene cover, which has built-in handles! That sounds perfect for those little guys learning to use a sippy cup.
  
• Without a cover, the sippy is succeptible to dents and scratches in the paint when dropped. If you get the plain silver one (with no paint), it will look prettier longer! (Again, if you have a cover, this won't be an issue.)
  
• If you fill it all the way, it can get heavy.
  
• As it is, it doesn't come with a lid. You can buy one separately, or if you have old Avent bottles or sippies, the lids might fit. If you have an older kid, you can opt for the sports cap, shown below.

Bottom line: These are my favorite cups for the kids. They are easy for my kids to drink out of, easy to clean, and easy to transport. The biggest drawback is that they don't come with lids. If you get the kind with the sports cap, like in the picture to the left, that's not as big of an issue.

Discount: Because of the whole Sigg Scandal, The Soft Landing is offering The Bigg Bottle Swap. If you have a Sigg, you can send it in and get a 30% discount on a new stainless steel bottle. Or, if you don't have a Sigg, you can fill out a little form and get a 20% discount. Wahoo! This offer is only good for a short time, so check it out soon!

Seriously, Sigg? Shame on You!

Have you guys seen this?

I have been using a Sigg bottle for over a year. I love the design, the clean taste of the water when it comes out, and the fact that I'm not throwing away toxic one-use plastic bottles anymore. And, of course, I loved that it was BPA-free. Or so I thought.

In case you don't know, BPA is short for Bisphenol-A. It's a chemical mainly found in polycarbonate plastic--the hard, clear kind of plastic with the number 7 on the bottom--and in epoxy resin linings in food cans. Scientists have discovered that BPA can mimic sex hormones like estrogen and cause a whole slew of immune problems and perhaps even cancer. Almost every human tested has some traces of BPA in their systems since it has become so prevalent in the food industry. The chemical can leach out of cans or plastics and into your food or water.

Unfortunately, Caleb had BPA-laden bottles when he was a baby. I am so glad that I primarily breast fed and his exposure was limited, but even his first sippy cups were not BPA-free. Now almost every bottle and sippy out there is labeled "BPA Free." Yea! I still prefer metal bottles to drink out of. Hence the Sigg. Siggs are made of aluminum, though, which has to have a lining inside it. I knew that Sigg bottles had been around for years, and I saw them as a good alternative to plastic. That brings me to today. I just read the ZRecs article on how the Sigg CEO now states that the lining inside the Sigg bottles produced prior to about August 2008 DOES CONTAIN BPA, although he insists that it won't leach into the liquid you put in it. I am outraged! Shame on you, Sigg! Shame, shame, shame!

If you have a Sigg bottle, I highly encourage you to read the article I mentioned above. You can also read the CEO's answers to ZRec's questions here. It will probably leave you angry and frustrated and ready to file a class action lawsuit against Sigg! I actually emailed Sigg today and told them that I am outraged. I am SO glad I didn't get Sigg bottles for my kids (I chose Klean Kanteen--more on that in a future post). This was their answer:

Hi Tiffany,

All of the information regarding our former liner and new Eco-Care liner, as well as instructions on how to get replacements for your bottles, can now be found at http://mysigg.com/bulletin/exchange_program.html. Thank you.

If you follow that link, you will find that you can return your bottle (YOU pay the shipping!) for a replacement bottle with a new BPA-free liner. Um, thanks but no thanks, Sigg. You've lost my business!