The Boeing Tour

Last week, we went to Vancouver. On the way, we stopped at Everett to go on the Boeing Tour and the Future of Flight Museum. The museum had booths where you could design your own commercial jet plane. Later, you could print out your design and/or have it on a T-shirt or a poster. The museum had a jet's cockpit that you can get into. I had a lot of fun pretending that I was a jet pilot.
The Boeing tour was interesting. We saw three movies and then journeyed to the Boeing plant by tour bus. On the way there, we saw some aircraft that was going to go to Singapore Airlines. I think this was an amazing coincidence. At the Boeing plant, there were a few huge doors (top left). The guide said they were the size of a football field without the end zones. The Boeing plant was big too. The Guinness Book of World Records says it is the LARGEST building by volume. The plant is about as big as 91 basketball courts put together. When we got off the bus, we went down some steps to a maintenance corridor. It crossed the whole plant. Fortunately, we didn't have to walk that far. We took an elevator to the fourth floor. There we saw about six 777's being made. That was the tour. It was a little disappointing, but still it was nice to go there.

Woodland Park Zoo

Last Friday, Sarah came to visit. We went to Woodland Park Zoo with her and saw many animals. The Komodo Dragons were very active. We also saw an orangutan eat with a stick. I had read about chimpanzees doing this, but I didn't know orangutans could do this too!

santa (with an indian accent)

We had a Christmas party on Sunday with the folks my dad works with, including an Indian Santa who gave gifts to all the kids...

Snowed in...

We got stuck in Vancouver for longer than we expected. My dad flew to Paris on Saturday, and my Mom and I were going to drive back on Sunday, but it snowed. They had so much snow over the next week that they were advising people to stay off the roads. We didn't get back until Friday. My school was closed for two days, so I only missed three.

Wettest month

November was the wettest month ever in Seattle. Halfway through it was already the wettest November. Here is a link to slides from flooding at Mt. Rainier. The places we went there will be closed at least until March...

Vancouver Aquarium

My mom and I went to the vancouver aquarium and saw the belugas.
There was an owl and a heron.

Thanksgiving in Vancouver

We went to Vancouver for thanksgiving -- even though Canadian thanksgiving is in October.
We knew that we could visit friends because they would all be around.
I like the science museum inside this dome.

Books for my birthday

I got some great books for my birthday.

Early birthday

Grandma and Grandpa McNeely visited us, so I got to open some birthday presents early, including EuroRails.

Halloween costume

Tonight, I got many compliments on my cello costume. My dad made it. It's mostly cardboard, but has black tape, twine, and a few pencils. My dad made a bow too. It is made out of a stick and some more twine.

Ultimate Frisbee

I've been playing Ultimate Frisbee at Magnuson Community center on Mondays and Fridays. Today was our last game. (Since it will now get dark too early.) We had pizza. My dad and I made a DVD for the team. I has a secret button that plays the video backwards.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

Yesterday, I went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. The exibit was at the Pacific Science Center, and was really interesting because the scrolls were so old. In this long scroll from psalms you could see where they used a different "font" to write the name for God so that it wouldn't accidentally be read out loud.

Mt. St. Helens

Last weekend I went to Portland. On the way there we stopped to hike a little to the east of Mt. St. Helens. From the trail we took we could see Mt. Adams(below) and Mt. Rainier (above) as well as Mt. St. Helens (below left). That trail was great.

Mt. Baker

Yesterday we went on a trail up Table Mountain. It offered good views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan. The mountain with lots of snow is Mt. Baker. The Table Mountain Trail was great, but steep. The Fire and Ice Trail was a nice trail to relax on after the steep Table Mountain Trail. It was a half-mile, flat trail. I wish we could go again!!

update on the space needle

Here is me with the lunar orbiter, the dessert I mentioned in "from the space needle." It took us time to get the camera ready. When it first came out, the fog covered the whole table.

The Seattle Aquarium

Today I went to the Seattle aquarium. It was great!!!!!!! Here is their website.

The most interesting part was feeding time. I saw two octopus being fed. One unscrewed a jar to get it's food (the jar was covered in clam juice, that's how it knew that it's food was inside). I saw some fur seals being fed too. They sat on a rock to get their food. One got too close to another seal which hissed at the first. The seals were fed herring and other fish.

kayaking

Today I went kayaking with my parents on Lake Union. I saw lots of boats and several seaplanes. One boat I saw was called the Husky, which is the name of the University of Washington sports teams. Paddling was tiring, but kayaking was great.
The drawbridge opened for us (and a sailboat that was going through).

Cello

We found a cello and a teacher here in Seattle.
She is making me work on curved fingers.
Here are before and after pictures.

Lowell

Lowell school is great!

I take the bus there, and made a friend named Max.
I've made a few friends in my class, too. Their names are Mack and Joe.
My teacher is very nice. The homework he gives me isn't hard. In math I'm studying fractions.

On Friday, we had a movie night and my parents and I saw Howl's Moving Castle in the auditorium.
I'm going to join the chess club and the Chinese club.
There are many opportunities at Lowell!

reading

I am reading Utah Beach

Museum of flight

on Saturday I went to the museum of flight. It was great! I went near a harrier jump-jet (above). I made a glider and got into a blackbird cockpit! I also went on two simulators.

My dad made a video that I narrated. It is 3:15 long. We put a small copy (6MB) that you can see by clicking here. (Note from dad: The video should start after about a minute on a fast connection. I estimate 15-30 minutes by phone, so if you don't have a fast internet connection, leave a comment and we can mail you a DVD instead.)

School

I will go to school tomorrow. It is called Lowell elementary. My teacher is Dr. Dunlap. I hope I make new friends there. Here is the web site.

Labor day weekend

Saturday, I went to Mount Rainier National Park with my parents. The spaceship-like building in the picture below is the visitor center. We went along several trails. One had a good view of a valley carved by a glacier. Then I we went on the Mt. Rainier scenic R.R. (on the left). I stayed at the Mill Village Hotel. We didn't know we were going to stay the night, so we didn't even have toothbrushes!




Sunday, I went on a long trail. It took several hours. It is called the Skyline trail. The view was great. I actually touched some snow! We saw a few animals, including marmots.
On the way back to Seattle, we stopped at Fry's Electronics to get blank DVD's so we can send copies of video we took.

Today, I went to the Burke museum. I got a piece of paper with the the history of Washington.

From the space needle

Yesterday I had lunch on the Space Needle's revolving restaurant with my mom. I saw several seaplanes including the one on the top right. I also saw ships in puget sound including the Cosco container ship on the top left. For dessert I had a lunar orbiter. It's a sundae with dry ice to make "fog". The "fog" covered the whole table. After lunch mom and I went to the observation deck. We saw Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker there.

My weekend

Friday, August 25, 2006
Saw a midsummer night’s dream.
It was very funny. I liked Puck. Bottom was very outlandish. There were so many good parts I can’t pick my favorite part.

Saturday August 26, 2006
Saw Henry VI. Wasn’t as good as a midsummer night’s dream. I liked the fighting.

Sunday, August 27, 2006
Went to University Presbyterian Church. I liked Sunday School. In the evening, I watched the movie "Redwall the siege." I liked it a lot.

Off on our travels!

Here I am, ready to leave North Carolina...