Baby Otto

This morning the fam and I headed out to the Kenmore/Bothell area to check in on Otto Wildenhaus and new parents Joe and Ashley. After a warm visit and a flurry of shutter clicks, there is no doubt that our Wildenfriends are doing great.

Standing Date Night

Tonight was Mommy and Daddy's standing date night where they hit the town while either Silver Galloway or Kathi Van Riper, both teachers at ELDC, come over and hang with me. Kathi joined me while Mommy and Daddy jetted off to go pick up their Flexcar Mini-Cooper.

If you know Mommy at all, you know that she is obsessed with the cuteness of this car and woudl surely hyperventilate at the prospect of actually driving one. It turns out she did great and even floored it a couple of times while the two of them bombed out to West Seattle to cruise Alki and take Beach Drive up to Lincoln Park and back. They also had specialty margaritas at the fairly new Cactus Restaurant on Alki. They were impressed and plan to head back for dinner. Also while on this drive, they found their own personal street of dreams. I believe this is where they plan to focus their house hunting when they've got some scrillions in the bank.

Casa des Anderson's

Our dear friends the Andersons: Jeff Anderson, Jessica Anderson, Brenna Anderson and A.J. (Audrey Jean) Anderson had us over tonight for our regularly scheduled hang session and the revealing of their brand new house. Brand new. Literally.

The Anderson's have been living in Covington, WA the past ten years and were ready to move a little closer to the action. And the action in this case, among other things, is Jeff's work: Issaquah Trophy & Award.

The house is amazingly beautiful and any home buyer's dream come true. There is a sitting room, dining room, office, powder room, living room, gourmet kitchen, pantry, three bedrooms upstairs, walk-in closets in the main bedroom, embarrassingly luxurious master bath, and a finished basement with a bathroom and 12 foot ceilings. The house operates on a grand scale and will likely suit the Anderson's for years to come. Congratulations guys!

Jimbabwe and Treatz

Tonight our friends Jim and Lanetta Robarge paid us a little visit for Family Pizza Night. Instead of procuring the usual Papa Murphy's fare, we even eschewed the usual back-ups by instead making our own. Daddy and Sergeant Jimbo eventually got the chimenea fired up and had themselves some fine cigars to go with the copious amounts of wine and cocktails. After three vodka gimlets I was toast!

Projectile Vomiting

Here at Chez Beel we often wonder if the fine and caring folks at ELDC are a little over-cautious when it comes to instituting a 24 hour ban when either fever, vomiting or diarrhea occurs during the school day.

Case in point: Today I got an upset stomach and zooked. Big whup, right? Well, my temperature was taken and I was a balmy 100.3 degrees Fahrenheit. This EXTREMELY elevated body temperature (completely normal for a toddler) combined with my unabated (one instance) vomiting requires me to stay away from school for 24 hours. This means Mommy and Daddy have to do all kinds of fancy dancing to leave work early, rearrange schedules, move meetings, work from home, etc.

So I must be pretty down and out, right? That couldn't be further from the truth as I'm bouncing off of the walls, cracking up and generally pleasant to be around. While I appreciate ELDC's intent and believe that it has likely and positively served my well-being countless times, I have to wonder if there might be a way to ensure that a person doesn't waste an entire day of work and push patience with co-workers and employers when ultimately a child is absolutely fine. Woe are us. I realize that this is pretty paltry compared to many grave circumstances happening around the globe, but the situation is frickin' annoying none the less.

Here I am obviously suffering from grave and contagious sickness:

Bellingham Weekend

After an energetic and well attended Sponge session on Saturday, Nana and Papa met Mommy and Daddy at Spanish so that I could head back to Issaquah with them allowing Mommy and Daddy to begin their relaxing getaway weekend.

Nana and Papa gave Mommy and Daddy a gift certificate to the Chrysalis Inn and Spa in Bellingham that they finally made the time to cash in. It is one of Nana and Papa's fave getaways and it was super nice of them to share. Also included in the Christmas gift was a gift card to Flats, their gnosh joint of choice in charming Fairhaven.



From what I hear, Mommy and Daddy had a great time: sitting in the window box of their room reading magazines while listening to music and drinking T-Vines Grenache, taking a relaxing spa bath in their room, exploring Fairhaven, checking out Village Books, getting bebidas at Archers, eating at Flats, watching some veteran musicians gigging at Skylark's (one of whom looked freakishly like Lance Logan), interacting with a fawn on the path between the Chrysalis and Fairhaven, jogging in the morning, getting coffees and a pastry at Tony's Coffee, and luxuriating at the Chrysalis Spa with indulgent facials and eucalyptus steams.



While they were busy doing their thing, I was full tilt and balls to the wall with Nana and Papa. With not a nap in sight the whole weekend, we eschewed our normal Mexican food haunt of Tapatio on Saturday by trekking north to Jalisco's in Kirkland, which turns out to be Nana's new fave. Beans, rice, and meat, meat, MEAT... Jalisco capably sated this little girl. And this weekend Papa and Nana debuted Charlotte's Web for me. I was way into Templeton the rat.

The whole lovely weekend was capped off at Nana and Papa's with a wonderful meal consisting of a refreshing roasted corn relish and grilled Copper River salmon. Papa had conferred with his trusty wine consultant and brought home some Woop Woop Shiraz that apparently went quite well with the dish.

It was great to reunite with Mommy and Daddy, but I do relish my time with Nana and Papa where just about anything goes.

Pooping on the Potty

Kidzdance Recital

Today at my school we held a dance recital for all of us Kidzdance partcipants. Our dance instructor Miss Melissa, the Queen Bee of patience, led us through our routines to the riotous laughter and utter delight of all the parents.

Feliz Dia De Las Madres

Happy Mother's Day everyone. Last night Nana and Papa came over for a Daddy-prepared meal and Mother's Day celebration. Mommy and Nana spent most of the day in Lynnwood at the Olympus Women's Spa and they had a very relaxing time while I spent the afternoon being a knucklehead with Papa while Daddy got the meal rolling.

A round of martini's and gimlets to start alongside a selection of cheeses and Marcona almonds to start, another tasty reproduction of Daddy's mixed greens with thyme and rosemary coated goat cheese cakes, followed by some New York's from Whole Foods with a gorgonzola-walnut butter and minted tabbouleh, a crackin' bottle of Cab that Papa picked up, and a finish of chocolate mousse cups and you've got yourself one yummy Mother's Day Meal.

BTW, we celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday this year... M's Day on Saturday is the new black, yo. No more messing around with everybody and their mother trying to get brunch on Sunday.

Today was spent hanging out with Mommy while Daddy and Papa Jack headed to Echo Falls in Snohomish for yet another round of golf. I think Papa is trying his hardest to get his chops up for his annual face-off with the cobra at Potholes Golf during the Crooked Club Classic.

While the boys were away, the girls certainly played. Rumor had it that the carousel at the Woodland Park Zoo was finally open after a long winter hiatus. I tell ya what, I was so excited when we got to the zoo that I was literally shaking at the site of the open-for-business carousel. One trip around was not going to do it, so we saddled up for one more go 'round. I can't wait until next time.

While there we managed to see the new tiger cub after enduring a very short wait. The cub was sleeping and is so amazingly cute. We also checked out all of the big birds over in raptor land. The bald eagle was being harassed by a lowly crow and was none too pleased about it. A bit sad seeing this majestic bird tied down and unable to destroy the crow. That would be a show I'd pay to see.

Daddy rang on his way home to see if there was anything he could pick up for us. Mommy didn't feel like making dinner so she had Daddy get Red Mill. One chocolate shake and a few fries later, I was ready for business.

Rent

Last night Mommy and uber-pal Tia Smith headed to Seattle's classic Paramount Theatre to catch the touring production of the smash-hit musical Rent. Beforehand they had some happy hour apps and cocktails at the cozy Machiavelli Ristorante nearby. Sounds like fun!

Otto Joseph Wildenhaus

Great news! Here is from an email by the newly christend Uncle Dan Wildenhaus: Otto Joseph Wildenhaus was born by C-section Monday, May 7, 2007 at 12:27AM weighing 9lb 9oz. Mother and baby are doing fine - Mother is very tired.



Congratulations to new daddy Joe Wildenhaus and mommy Ashley Wildenhaus!

Thistle Theatre

Today while Daddy and Papa were golfing Newcastle's China Creek course, Mommy and I headed to the Sunset Hill Community Center to check out Thistle Theatre's puppet production Brother Coyote and Sister Fox.

This is a delightful and hilarious adaptation of a beloved Mexican folktale. Hermano (Brother) Coyote wants one thing, and one thing only... To catch and eat one of Dona Conchita's plump chickens. But quick-witted Sister Fox is always one step ahead of him, just waiting to trick him with one of her clever schemes to keep all the chickens to herself! Set on a sprawling Mexican rancho, this lively tale of thievery and trickery features traditional music as well as whimsical original tunes by Sue Ennis in Spanish and English and yes, plenty of chickens! Una obra para todos... A show for everyone!

This is our second puppet show in as many weeks and I'm starting to dig these. In fact, Mommy plans to get us a season's pass to Thistle Theatre's series for next year.