Seattle Bullets

Greetings from........ Michigan.

I was in Seattle for almost two weeks and I got back home to Ann Arbor at the end of last week. I had some great stuff to blog about while I was there, but my uncle's computer and Blogger.com were not friends. Every time I tried to upload a photo, post anything, or even save a draft of a potential blog post it timed out on me and gave me nasty error messages.

The reason for my trip is pictured right: Jessie, the dog belonging to my aunt Jennifer and uncle Denis. The two of them took off for Hawaii and they needed someone to watch the dog and the house while they were gone so I enlisted. It was actually a really sweet arrangement - I got my own place in the funky Seattle neighborhood of Queen Anne (just up the hill from the Space Needle and Seattle Center - the picture at the top was taken just a few blocks from the house) but I was only a half-hour drive away from my sister Julie's house in the suburb of Sammamish.

For the uninitiated, Julie is my oldest sister, her husband is one Lance Olson, and they have four kids - Caleb (12), Meg (10), Kate (7 1/2), and Ashley (4 1/2). I hadn't seen Julie and her family about four and a half years. The last time I saw them Ashley was a two-month-old infant, so a visit up there was definitely overdue and the dogsitting gig was just the excuse I had been looking for (plus I really do love dogs). It was great to have so much time to spend with their family because their lives couldn't just stop because Uncle Brian was in town, but instead I got a chance to peek in on their everyday life.

There is a lot to recap so I'm sorry if this turns into one of those "I went on a trip and here's an exhaustive travelogue complete with every picture that I took" posts. Rather than provide a chronological account of the whole trip I'm going to reduce it down to some bullet points detailing some of the more memorable moments of a thoroughly memorable trip:

• Caleb went on a week-long camping trip with his school to the gorgeous Whidbey Island and I went along with Julie and Ashley to drop him off. We then had a fun little picnic down on the rocky beach.

• Elder Holland came to speak at Stake Conference, but unfortunately we were seated in the very last row up on the stage at the back of the gym, where it was both freezing and impossible to hear anything.

• At church on Mother's Day they gave all the sisters the day off from their callings to attend a special brunch, so I somehow got roped into being the Primary pianist. I think I sight-read all the music passably, but afterwards Caleb (brought in from the Deacon's Quorum to maintain order in the Primary) told me, "You played really loud."

• Speaking of music, I got to see Meg play the violin with her orchestra (favorite selections - Canon in D and the theme from a James Bond movie). We even had a chance to jam together on some fiddle music that she had recently played in a fiddle competition.

• I needed to watch all of the Jazz playoff games but I didn't have cable, so I discovered a nearby sports bar called The Spectator, where the bartenders soon came to know me as the guy who came in a for a few hours but only ordered a single lousy Sprite. I got to know a few of the bar's regular patrons and I'd like to holler at my Seattle sports BFFs Steve, Kristen, and Dave.

• Kate and I were science BFFs, building an egg capsule together for the annual egg drop (her egg survived!) and conducting an experiment for the science fair. My conclusion: massive amounts toilet paper + a leaf blower = fun project. Kudos to Julie for her leadership skills - she was in charge of both the egg drop and the science fair and she was really running the show.

• I got a chance to go with the whole family to see a brand new musical called Busytown at the Seattle Children's Theater, with sets designed by my aunt Jennifer. It was a real labor of love for her - she had spent over a year collaborating with the playwright, composer, director, choreographer, etc. to make this thing come to life. The resulting show was just delightful - here is one of several glowing reviews.

• I got to be there to see Julie run the Tacoma City Marathon. Sadly, we mistimed our arrival and didn't get to see her cross the finish line, but we were with her in spirit as she ran because she had previously asked each of us to recommend a song to put on her iPod (mine was "Rock Lobster" by the B-52s). P.S. - Where did Julie get the time to train for a marathon?

• Lance smoked up some salmon on Mother's Day and it was the first fish I've ever had in my life that I actually enjoyed. I even had seconds.

• Julie and Ashley and I rented a canoe and went out on lake Washington. We rowed underneath the freeway and found some nice secluded spots full of turtles and herons and ducks that gratefully accepted Ashley's graham cracker snacks.

• Julie and I went to the Experience Music Project at the Seattle Center (the building is shaped like a smashed guitar) and had some fun jamming out on the guitars and stuff in the interactive displays.

• The last time I had gone to Seattle was for Caleb's baptism, so I thought it was fitting that I was there when Caleb went to the temple for the first time to do baptisms. It was a really special opportunity.

• I got a chance to try out life as a soccer mom one evening when Julie and Lance had overlapping meetings. I dropped Kate off at her soccer game then immediately took Meg to gymnastics. I watched her for a few minutes, took Ashley back over to the second half of the soccer game, then returned with Kate and Ashley to the gymnastics place just in time to see Meg climb the rope. That may not sound that hectic, but you also have to factor in all the traffic at the park from the adjacent Cirque du Soleil show.

• Although I left just before her actual ballet recital, I got a chance to see Ashley dance at an exclusive dress rehearsal. Just like her mom.

• One night I wandered over to take a look at the newly remodeled opera house and lo and behold, a performance of I Puritani had just started. I watched the first act on the T.V. screens in the lobby and then after intermission I just slipped in to the audience for the rest of the show. However, I didn't stay for the third act because the Jazz were playing, and a Jazz game trumps the opera any day.

• On my last night with the kids I gave them an origami lesson in which we made seals with balloons that balance on their noses. Julie has since informed me that Kate took our creations to school for show and tell and Meg has figured out twelve of the origami figures in the book I left with them.

In between all the aforementioned activities I also managed to squeeze in time to take Jessie on daily walks, practice for my role in Così fan tutte, and watch season 3 of the new Battlestar Galactica (which is, along with Lost, the best show on television right now).

It was really great trip because, unlike most of my trips, the emphasis wasn't on seeing as many museums and landmarks as possible but it rather it was about seeing people and getting to know them better. The Olsons are a really wonderful family and I'm thankful that they let me be a part of their family for a couple of weeks.

I just hope another four and a half years don't go by before we see each other again.