Ballard Locks

 It's pretty much a mini panama canal.

 

Not going to lie, the highlight was watching the sea lion tear apart a fish in a bloody, graphic mess. Then the seagulls dined on the scraps. Very nature channel.

 

 

That's my award winning fish face

.

This is the fish ladder so the little fishies can still go upstream to the breeding grounds

It was a "meh" activity and we spent about an hour all together. Now if I had a 6 year old boy who liked boats, it would have been a must see.

Snoqualmie Falls

I would just like to say how awesome all the indian names around the area are. Or should I say Native American names. But my moccasin and turquoise wearing great aunts and uncles call themselves indians. (No seriously, I may be starkly pale, but my dad is enough Creek indian to have received money from it when he was younger. Well his parents received it on his behalf. Awesome eh?) So I'm going to say indian since it's easier to type.

I've decided touristy things are more fun with a baby because they are the ultimate prop for taking pictures

Apparently my dog Ada would not be able to make it up the ramp

Look! She smiled in one!

And pet a bear in the gift shop

Candy store and diner? Fabulous indeed.

 

Who wouldn't want to eat in front of a wall of taffy?

 So we went to this little park next to river and there was a group of boy about 50 ft away on bikes, probably around 13ish in age. They came over near us to jump in the river and we heard something like this.

kid 1: Dude, the water's cold!
kid 2: It's not that bad, I'm almost used to it. Come on kid 3!
kid 3: ok. *jumps off cliff thing into water* GAH! It's cold! My nuts!
kid 2: dude, there's people up there.
kid 3: oh. um sorry people!

kid 4: dude, it's F-ing freezing
kid 1: LANGUAGE!
kid 4: oops

*at this point I'm finished feeding J and we go to leave*

kid 1: Look! You're making them leave. I think you should apologize.
kid 4: Sorry!

Blueberries

I never really liked blueberries. Expensive and not particularly delicious. The Elena told me I had never really had blueberries since I'd only tasted the grocery store variety. It's sort of like if you had only ever tasted Sunkist oranges and then ate a fresh, sweet Arizona orange still cold off the tree. It just can't compare.

So we headed out to the blueberry farm and picked our own.

The little trailor where you actually buy the berries

Biology fact of the day: blueberries are one type of true berry. Raspberries and the like are actually clusters of berries since they have multiple seed carrying sections. And strawberries are in a whole different class since the seeds are on the outside.

J was a very good picker

And eater

Would it be bad to take family portraits in Seattle? It's so much prettier, but may be misleading to the lucky card recipients.

Seriously, I can't handle this cuteness

She actually could wear this long sleeve outfit

Don't worry, we didn't give her whole berries that she could choke on. I'm not completely negligent

Our haul

Space Needle

As the man I heard in line said to his wife (after paying the ridiculous fee for entry), "It's all about the experience!"

I wish Phoenix had some sort of identifying landmark. I know building the Space Needle was super expensive and pretty darn frivolous, but I'm jealous all the same

Saturday Steal: Furniture

My friend Camille has started up her Saturday Steals again and you all should go and participate. You don't even have to know her or read her blog. She'd love to have you.

My latest steals have been at the thrift store. I'm a little ashamed of how much yarn I bought there so I'mj going to show my latest money making venture: refinished furniture.

I've redone furniture for myself on a couple different occasions, but seeing all the beautiful things on various different blogs had me ready to try my hand making a little moola doing it. I've come to the conclusion I'd rather do it just for myself, family, and friends. I just don't like all the stuff sitting in my garage, taunting me every time I go run an errand. Anyways, here are my favorites.

I picked up this fabulous little desk at a garage sale for $20. It took a good bit of sanding to get the yucky old finish off, but now it it leads a happy life as a sewing table. Quite a steal.

These little pretties  received a fresh coat of black paint and some gorgeous contact paper I scored at the dollar store for $1/roll. I bought enough to do the back of a china cabinet so if Goodwill happens to have one in good shape, I may feel the furniture refinishing call again. I was able to sell the tables for 4 times what I bought them for. Which pretty much covered the cost of all the paint I bought for my various projects.

I haven't been able to sell this table yet, but my sister loved it so much that it is chilling out at her house. Any one want to make me an offer :) ?

Now I can't decide how I want to redo this table.

 All black? Distressed or not? White top black legs? Black top with bronze or silver legs? What would you spend on it if you found it on craigslist with a makeover?