Day 2

I'll come clean: Thomas and Friends stopped by for a while on Saturday morning, allowing the Blogfather to catch a few extra minutes of dozing alongside the kids. Possibly a good while by the standards in your own homes. During this time though, the Blogfather deduced a new Law of Parenting while taking in Thomas' trance-inducing theme song over and over again:

shunting trucks + hauling freight = dozing late

For those who absorb scientific laws in equation form, here's a good one:

(st + hf)*e = zzzzzz
where e = episodes viewed.

Do you like the italics? I remember many textbooks using italics to emphasize "This is something meaningful that you are unlikely to comprehend on your first try."  Doesn't it seem more meaningful now?

Yes, the Blogfather's preference for remaining in at least a partially sleeping state after 6 AM got the best of him once again. I extend congrats to all superparents out there who run 10 miles before dawn, wage daily war against the evil TV and its ability to rapidly degenerate the human sprirt, and whip up a 3-course homemade breakfast. Did you get it posted to Facebook yet? In the meantime, chortle away at the Blogfather's selfish weakness in comparison to your superiority. Yes, you have more perserverance and skill than the Blogfather.

For all of you worried this forfeit to Thomas Inc. confirms the Blogmother has been victimized by a mere mainstream mortal, have no fear: most details of the Thomas profit machine do not slip under the radar, even in a state of partial sleepiness while children sit on the Blogfather and scream "Emily!!" when she comes chugging into the screen. The most obvious manifestations of Thomas' revenue engine are 1) the proliferation of train characters to cover just about every type of human being, and 2) the evolution of his theme song, which years ago was a simple trance-inducing British kid diddy, but has since been recreated in full pop and rap versions.

The kids were lobbying hard to watch college football after breakfast, but they also told me they were looking for an opportunity to learn and grow as human beings, so we headed to the children's museum. On the way, we took advantage of the three best kids' amusement rides in Seattle next to the Space Needle - the light rail line, the monorail, and public elevators. Who needs Disney when you can catch a monorail every day? Apparently public transit is called Undriving here in Seattle. One might call it 45 minutes each way, vs. a 15 minute car ride. But it's solid time for big eyes and smiles. If kids ran the town, I'm pretty sure we'd all get around in trolley cars.

Hey how did this picture from work get here. Sox collapse. Sigh.

Inbound!

The Monorail - an amazing wonder of modern technology - coming soon to every town in America.

Yes, it's real rock. Or is it?

Jack jumps into the driver's seat. Molly makes a break for the door.

Jack makes a break from pinkie as the camera comes out. 

(defenders of gender neutrality: fear not. no stereotypes were reinforced in the making of this picture. jack was encouraged to roll confidently in any car.)

Molly picked off the whale going 60 in a 40.