Bucket List #81 | Windemere Cup

I'm really not sure why, but I had heard of the Windemere Cup prior to moving to Seattle. It's a fairly prestigious rowing competition held yearly on Lake Washington.

It was so random, but the whole thing is free and we thought it would be fun to go cheer on the Huskies. We were pleasantly surprised by how fun it ended up being! There were thousands of people gathered, the weather was beautiful, and the final race was quite exciting! (The New Zealand olympic team barely edged out UW)

The weather was great and the event was set up with all kinds of fun extras - a bouncy house for the kids, food trucks, flags, and a photo booth.

We arrived pretty early, and got a decent spot, but I wish we'd have gotten there just like 20 minutes sooner and been closer to the water. That way we could have avoided some of the rude college students who showed up later. :)

Overall, this is such a fun event, and will we probably go back if we're around next year. We give it:

Bucket List #4 | Morsel

So, I created our bucket list before we moved to Seattle, and I added some restaurants to the list just based on what I found online. Over time, some of these have become places I really want to go, and others have become something I was sort of dreading. Being in grad school and all, we don't get to eat out very often, and I realized that I didn't want to waste money or a date night going somewhere that I'm not thrilled about. So, I'm making a few changes to our list, since now we're locals and can figure out the best places to eat! It's my list, I can do whatever I want. :)

Any-way...

Since having Isannah, one of things that has been killing us is that a babysitter is pretty much out of reach for us now. Babysitters are already crazy expensive in Seattle, and when you have two kids it just makes it worse. Plus, Zuzu is still so little that it's hard to leave her for very long. When Walt started preschool, I realized that I had a 2.5 hour window of time when I just had the baby, at least. So I asked Landon if he wanted to buy me breakfast. :)

We had a blast on our "sneak away" date. One of the BEST things about grad school is that Landon essentially sets his own schedule. Sure, he has one or two classes and occasional meetings, but other than that he can work when he wants to. And even though we had to bring the baby with us, it was refreshing to sit and talk to each other without constant interruptions about which Star Wars guy is the coolest. (Although we like those interruptions sometimes. :)) We've decided to make this a once-a-month kinda thing.

Morsel was a Yelp find, and I'm sold on the place. It's only open for breakfast and in the early afternoons. A short walk from campus, Morsel makes a-maz-ing breakfast sandwiches on homemade biscuits (Landon had buttermilk, I got cheddar chive) with eggs cooked to order. I highly recommend the "Spanish Fly." Also, the hot cocoa was pretty super. Did I mention that it's cheap? This place has it all. I actually can't wait to take people there when they come to visit!

We're giving Morsel:

If you're looking for breakfast in the U District, you can't beat it. Be aware that there is not much seating inside (it is pretty divey, so you have to like that kind of thing). We went in the late morning (10:30ish) on a weekday, and were able to snag a table, but I imagine earlier or on a Saturday it'd be tough. Still totally worth it!

Bucket List #97 | Cherry Blossoms

Washington is famous for a lot of things, but one of them is cherries. Before we came here, I didn't even like cherries. I never really have. They seemed like a lot of work to eat around the pits - and then they are usually just mushy or really sour and not worth it.

But that was all before we came to the land of amazing cherries. They are enormous, sold at tons of roadside stands, and I'm telling you - they are the best cherries I've ever tasted. I'm completely converted. I just wish they were cheaper!

Anyway, before you can have the delicious Bing and Ranier cherries that they sell here, you need to have cherry blossoms! And one of the best places around Seattle to admire them is right on the UW campus. I happened to have an afternoon doctor's appointment this week right when the trees were in full bloom, so we decided to come early and make a picnic out of it. :)

No joke, this quad is gorgeous. I mean, the campus is gorgeous in every season, but it was over the top with the trees in bloom.

And oh man, they smelled just as good as they looked...

I was amazed at how many people came to enjoy the day with us.

If you can catch them in the right season and get a nice, sunshiny day, I would say the blossoms on UW campus are well worth the visit.

At least, we thought so!

Bucket List #5 | U District Farmer's Market

After all of the craziness with our families visits, we have been enjoying a little peace and quiet around here. Of course, I couldn't handle it being too quiet...we have done a couple of fun projects, and a couple of weeks ago, we opted for a short jaunt to the U District Farmer's Market - we wanted to go while blueberries are still in season!

First off - Seattle takes its farmer's markets very seriously. The U-District market, and others, is a year-round event with artisan cheeses, raw milk, urban honey, fresh pressed cider, and all kinds of organic fruits and veggies for sale.

Things here were pretty expensive, but they were also delicious. We really appreciated the fact that the things for sale here are actually from local farmers. It's not an arts-and-crafts fair crusading as a farmer's market. It feels a little like Europe, and we could tell that some of the people around us were there for their weekly grocery shopping.

We came home with a nice little bunch of produce and other goods ourselves, so we must have liked it! A word of advice: bring cash; only a few of the merchants take credit/debit cards! Also, a reusable grocery bag would have been helpful.

(Lemon cucumbers, peaches, gorgeous blueberries, urban honey, country apple cider, and fresh cheese)

I'm not sure I'd call it a tourist attraction, exactly, but there were of course a few street musicians there! It was almost as crowded as Pike Place for the space (this particular market is on Saturdays, so I'm sure that contributes).

Even so, we rate the market:

If you're looking for gorgeous produce or locally farmed goods, this is the place to get them! It has a truly local feel, and you're sure to come home with something that catches your eye.

Real Science

Since we were already downtown after Tugboat Storytime (see previous post), we decided to meet Landon for lunch.

These two boys are inseparable. They both have a contagious enthusiasm for life. Walt was so excited to see his Dad in the middle of the day. And so was I! After lunch, Landon graciously took us on a tour of his lab. Although we hang out on campus quite often (I cannot get enough of it, it's so beautiful), we had never seen where the magic happens, so to speak.

He took us through his whole process, and it was really incredible! It's hard to describe, but I just felt in awe of him the whole time. This guy is pretty much a genius.

Sometimes, I think we get into a pattern - we live life, Landon goes to school every day, I tell people he is working on his PhD...it's all routine. We forget how amazing it is that we're here. Landon has already had the opportunity for more education than about 70% of Americans get, and now he's getting even more. The things we are doing here and now are going to bless our lives forever. And the science itself is pretty fantastic! Other people watch news about the kinds of things Landon gets to discover in a real science lab on a daily basis.

I know he would tell you it's no big deal. He sits and polishes rocks for a good portion of his day, and watches the machines to make sure they function right, and spends tedious hours learning about process and recording data. But to someone who isn't there every day, I have to tell you, it is impressive.

His lab looks like a documentary (or an episode of The Big Bang Theory:)). And sometimes it hits me. Landon works so hard, and is so smart, has literally traveled the world and studies with some of the foremost thinkers in his field -- and he still makes the time to keep us, his family, as his top priority.

We are so proud of this guy and everything he is accomplishing. Go team go!

Seattle Bucket List #31 | The Burke Museum

Our Seattle bucket list is a list of adventures we're hoping to have while Landon studies at the University of Washington for the next several years. To view all of our bucket list posts, click here.

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We're saving up to do a mini-trip over spring break, so this president's day we stuck close to home. A trip to the Burke Museum seemed in order, since Landon can go for free as a student, and we had a better chance of scoring free parking while school was out. (Which we totally did...long distance high-5!)

The Burke Museum is a natural history museum on UW campus. I have yet to see an extensive Seattle "To-Do" list that doesn't include this as a stop. It's a little pricey - $10/person, but UW students and kids under 5 are free.

We had a good time looking at the exhibits. There was a really neat temporary display about plastics and their impact (good and bad) on our modern world.

But the real reason we went to the Burke was to see the dinosaurs.

Unfortunately for us, the dinosaur exhibit was severely lacking. Everything they had was in a couple of small rooms, probably all together not much bigger than BYU's paleontology museum, which is free. 

We still had a great time, and we enjoyed learning a little more about the history of Washington state on the bottom floor.

The best part about the museum was that it was super kid-friendly. There were lots of touchable displays and activities for younger and older kids. My guess is that the events they put on there for children are fantastic. 

We had a fun morning, but we won't be going back, except on first Thursdays, when the museum is free and Walt and I can meet Dad for lunch.

We'll give the Burke Museum:

A fun family outing, but this place had nothing on Thanksgiving Point, and cost more!

(I have been getting complaints about my rating system, so I've changed it to a 5-star model. Other posts will be updated eventually.)