Minimalist update

Sorry for the long gap between posts... life has continued despite the lack of evidence on this blog!!

This month we were excited to have my parents return from Korea and have enjoyed catching up and sharing with them the whims and follies of family life with two munchkins.

We spent another week remodeling Kenzie's room into a veritable ballerina cocoon. She loves it, and Steph did some gorgeous work, and her love really shines in her product!

We have also been busy with the kids starting school, doing all sorts of projects, and generally adjusting to new schedules.

Lastly, this weekend we (Steph and I) are off to Vegas for some fun on our own, while the kids stay with their Grandpa and Grandma Clark.

So... that all said, look forward to a catch up post next week, complete with pictures from the Puyallup Fair, Mariners-Yankees game, Kenzie's new room, some school pictures, and perhaps even a Vegas picture or two:)

Cooper

Sunday Night Art

Good.....

Great.....

MASTERPIECE!!!!!.....

Camping!!!

This week I took Thursday and Friday off and we embarked on our first ever family camping trip. We told the kids about our plans a week ahead of time, just to make sure they had a chance to build up the anticipation the way only a 3 and 5 year old can.

It being our first time, we opted for a very family friendly, close by camping spot, opting for something a little short on the rugged factor, but scoring high marks for convenience. We chose Denny Creek campground, near Snoqualmie Pass.

The quick description: a little jewel of a campground actually tucked in between east and west bound I-90, an unusual location for a campground to say the least. I joked with Steph that were going to be camping on the median of the interstate. However, it actually was the perfect atmosphere for us. We set up our camp adjacent to a beautiful little creek, in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. I-90 splits near the pass, separated by a rougly 1/2 mile swath of old growth forest. The best part of the campground was that it was walking distance from a couple of trails that were perfect for kids to hike, ending at Franklin Falls, a gorgeous waterfall where the kids spent 20 minutes throwing rocks into the splash zone as waterfall mist sprayed their faces.

This trip was the perfect way to spend a couple days off. We had countless "freeze time" moments, where the kids just melted us with little things they said and did, their gleeful laughs and smiles, the new things they discovered (orange mushrooms! trail markers! synged marshmellows! tent stakes!), and the unsolicited appreciation they showed us for creating such a fun experience for them. We can't wait to go camping again next summer!

Favorite moments:
- Kids throwing rocks into the creek and the waterfall
- Sleeping in the tent (Jackson's favorite)
- Roasting marshmellows (Kenzie's favorite)
- Steph's awesome camping breakfast (pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, hot chocolate, and coffee)
- Our family hike, 1 mile up to Franklin Falls on the old wagon trail through old growth forest, returning via the Franklin Falls trail along the creek back to camp

Favorite quotes:
"I'm really good at hiking" - Mackenzie
"You're the fire guy!!" - Mackenzie to me
"Next time let's go camping for 80 days" - Jackson

Drinking grape Kool-Aid after setting up campThrowing rocks into Denny CreekOutdoor enthusiast, Jr.Outdoor enthusiast, Sr.Camp
Jackson roasting his first marshmellow Kenzie enjoying a spectacular camp breakfast

Hiking with Smoke-dog

Crazy orange mushrooms

All smiles on our hike

Franklin Falls

Sea Cruise!

Last Sunday evening we took the kids on a 1 hour harbor cruise in Elliot Bay in Seattle. It was the perfect evening for it, with blue skies and warm but not hot temperatures. The kids had a blast eating fish'n chips from Elliott's before the cruise, and had fun going on a boat, looking at the Seattle skyline, eating ice cream, and watching cranes unload a big tanker. All in all, it was a nice chance to add a little variety to what has been a great summer.

Our "cruise ship"

Excited KenzieHappy JacksonDowntown SeattleSpace Needle (Jackson says I took a nice picture here)Looking out at Mount RainierCranes unloading a tankermemories are always richer with ice cream!

Kenzie's Ballet "recital"

This is way overdue... I have yet to master the stone age video editing software that my new HD camera came with, and as such have finally just given up on hopes of editing the video of Kenzie's ballet recital. As such, included is some bonus footage of a couple other girls' recitals right before Kenzie.

As you may be able to tell, Kenzie was the littlest girl in her ballet camp, a whirlwind of hair, dress, and ballerina, but she more than made up with it with her enthusiasm and spriteliness. Ever since her camp ended, we constantly find her practicing the few moves she learned in class. We have her signed up for a weekly ballet class once the school year starts. We are so excited for her to start back up!!

Enjoy...

Old vs New

Just a quick pictorial of my visits to the new Yankees Stadium and old Fenway Park in Boston.



Whenever I travel, I try like heck to make it out to the ballpark in whatever city I happen to be in for the following reasons: 1) I am a baseball junkie and can't get enough of it, 2) I like the history of baseball and it's many famous edifices, 3) I like to get a sense of the local culture and local urban wildlife and can think of no more appropriate venue than a baseball stadium.



All that said, I found the new Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park to be a story of complete contrasts, not unexpectedly.



Yankee stadium is magnificent, marvelous, shiny, enormous, and generally very polished. Everything about the stadium attests to the success of baseball's most dominant franchise, and everywhere you turn, there is a reminder of some moment of triumph. Highlights for me were monument park, the excellent sight lines throughout the park, and the knowledgable, enthusiastic, well mannered, and supremely confident fans. The latter came as a bit of a surprise to me given the fans' reputation, but I guess it's easy to be confident yet polite when your team just completed a 4 game sweep of the hated Red Sox and are in the process of running away with the division.



The only thing I was disappointed by is that, aside from Monument Park, which is a holdover from the old stadium, the new stadium lacked any of the usual quirky charms or interesting features that give ballparks their character, such as the coke bottle slide and McCovey Cove at the San Francisco Giants' ballpark, the Green Monster at Fenway, Lookout Landing and the children's fountain at Safeco Field, etc. All in all, I say Safeco has Yankee Stadium beat, but of course I am a homer.

Approaching Yankee Stadium from the subway

Monument Park (behind the centerfield wall)


plaques of retired Yankees legends (Reggie Jackson to the right)

former single season Home Run king Roger Maris

me and Babe Ruth

me and Joe Dimaggio

9/11 tribute

Cy Young winner Roy Halladay doing his off-day long toss exercises

the time honored tradition of pleading for and not getting autographs

very cool display of former Yankees Greats near the stadium entrance. In order: Yogi Berra, Roger Maris, Joe Dimaggio, Mickey Mantle

I went with sepia here for that nostalgic vibe

view from my seat

I always do a walk around to experience the ball park from different perspectives...

Borat says "great success"

view from the cheap seats... not bad!

Old timer trying to will a 9th inning rally. He walked around handing that tin spoon to kids and let them hit the skillet with the spoon. A nice old time tradition in this brand new stadium. Sadly for him, it didn't work, Yankees lost by 1.

Fenway park was exactly what I was hoping it to be. It was tiny, crowded, worn out, lacked most of the modern features such as a booming sound system. Perfect. The fans all seemed very tight knit and in this thing together. They have clearly given up on hopes to win the division and have shifted focus to the wild card race. Again, they were suprisingly well mannered, and very jovial. In this case, the fact that they killed the Tigers and had their ace, Josh Beckett, pitching a perfect game into the 5th probably helped matters. I don't have all that many pictures, because, frankly there isn't that much to photograph. You can pretty much capture all of the character from your seat. That said, I prefer Fenway to Yankee Stadium. There is just something so authentic feeling to Fenway Park... it is favorite place to watch a game outside of Safeco Field. Favorite moment was easily the 8th inning when the entire fan base sang along to Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline".

The seedy underbelly of Fenway Park. uh, not so good sight lines. That's ok though!

View from my seat, looking out towards the Green MonsterPlenty of old-school "view obstructed" seating with all of those columns supporting the upper deck

In my happy place

Weekend in The Big Apple

Never one to fail to leverage a business trip for some fun time, we arranged for Steph to join me in New York before last week's business activities in New York and Boston. I am extremely thankful that I am able to do this as it makes the business travel much more tolerable for me, and it gives Steph a silver lining to me being gone (insert joke at my expense here!)


We had a very romantic weekend, doing the usual New York shopping and nightlife activities. I got things off to a great start on Friday by finding a fun hotel bar to have dinner and drinks (the Tribeca Grand) and surprised Steph with a new pair of earrings for her birthday!


We had a very fun time in a very New York social setting, and laughed ourselves silly watching one patron who was a little too enthusiastic with his dance moves, when nobody else was dancing.

me and Steph at dinner at the Tribeca Grand Hotel

a smiling Happy Birthday girl!

Day 2 was all about shopping and exploring favorite neighborhoods. We started off with brunch at Public restaurant, an experience to die for, followed by a shop-walk through Soho, Greenwich Village. the West Village and the Meat Packing District, ending with a light, late lunch at Vento (tasty thin, crispy pizzas)

Public, a must-do restaurant in SoHo

Salmon Benedict (steph's brunch choice)



Coconut-ginger-mango pancakes (coop) - heaven on a plate

SoHo architecture

OMG, pink mannequins! Mackenzie would JUST DIE!!!

OMG Pink Buildings, Mackenzie would JUST DIE!!!!!

all smiles after a perfect day of shopping and strolling

Satruday night we did the theater thing, settling on Avenue Q. It was a little different than expected. We didn't realize the stars of the shows were puppets. Essentially, the show is Sesame Street for adults. However, once we got used to it, it actually was pretty darn funny, and we ended up having a great time. We also enjoyed walking around Times Square afterwards, soaking up the energy and the bright lights of NYC.

Coop & Steph in Times Square

Sunday was a relaxing day for us. We've been to New York a few times, and the nice thing is that we don't feel compelled to spend all of our time running around seeing every sight the city has to offer. Instead, we chose to spend a day in the city at a more relaxed pace, with no set agenda. After a brief delay due to a crazy Dominican Republic pride parade that tied up traffic, we had breakfast by Central Park and then spent a couple hours strolling through the park, watching some folk dancers and checking out the farmers market. Afterwards, we hit the main shopping area on 5th Avenue, where we started doing some advanced scouting at American Girl for Mackenzie. That store is pretty crazy... miles and mile of dolls, with every accessory and service imaginable. Some day we hope to get Mackenzie an American Girl doll and take her to the salon at the store to get her doll's hair done!

Castle and duck pond in Central Park

International Folk DancingFarmer's market

Bizarro architecture...Chrysler BuildingMiles of dolls!!

On our last night together, we had dinner at an amazing Thai restaurant "Kittichai" at the Thompson hotel in SoHo. The decor and ambience was very soothing and the food was once again superb. I say this about a lot of restaurants we go to on vacations, but I am certain that this is my favorite restaurant I have ever been to.
After dinner, as we retired to the rooftop bar at the Thompson hotel, "A60". This is a very intimate setting, with room for about 30 people, great music, and spectacular views of the city. Just a great finish to our trip!

The small bar at "A60"

Manhattan skyline at night