The Fulfillment of a Dream or: Dinosaur Day!

Landon was born to be a Geologist. His artistic view of the world, his never-ending curiosity, an aptitude for math, and a love for the great outdoors just = a scientist. He really could not have been anything else.

When he was a little boy, he was already obsessed with dinosaurs. His Grandpa Wilkes gave him a Newsweek magazine when he was about 8 that featured a famous paleontologist name Paul Serano. Landon pored over those pages almost like scripture and learned more about dinosaurs, digging for fossils, and the analysis of bones than most of us have ever known. Almost 20 years later, this passion for dinosaurs would translate into a career path. So basically, I have this man to thank for the never-ending years of school. :)

So, long story short, Landon called me at the beginning of last week and told me that none other than Paul Serano was coming to UW to give a lecture in conjunction with Dinosaur Day at the Burke Museum of natural history. We definitely could not miss this opportunity!

We decided to spring for a babysitter (a rarity for us) and make a date night of it! It was so much fun to listen to a grown-up lecture about dinosaurs in Africa and think about how Landon has made his dreams come true, one at a time. He's well on his way to being a full-blown doctor of Geology and, while he's not currently studying dinosaurs, the knowledge he's gaining and the research he's doing help scientists just like Dr. Serano better understand the environments that ancient animals lived in. It's easy to forget that this guy I married is brilliant and just basically amazing in the daily grind of changing diapers, time-outs, and working really hard to stay within our grocery budget. For me, it was a nice reminder of what we're working so hard FOR.

We promised to bring Walt an "Easter Egg Treat" when we left, so we stopped off and picked this up on the way home. I love this man and how he makes me laugh!

The next day was Dinosaur Day - I had a church obligation so Landon and Walter went on a father-son outing to the museum together. They had so much fun!

Even though they had to wait outside in the rain for over an hour (I guess this is an extremely popular event), Walt didn't even remember that part as he told me all about it later on. His favorite thing was the "dinosaur feet."

Landon said it was a blast for both of them. I'm so grateful he was willing to get out and do something special with Walt. It's great that Walt is getting to an age where he can appreciate Father/Son time. He loves visiting Daddy at school and is always wondering when Daddy's coming home. They do a lot of Duplo building, book reading, Nintendo playing, and show-watching together. Our little boy is so blessed with a great example of what a Dad should be!

Elqui Valley, Chile

I know, Landon just randomly travels the globe a lot. It can be stressful, but it is a lot of fun for him, and I'm pretty hopeful that someday, when we have older kids and a little more disposable income, I'll get to come along on more of these trips.

This is the second year Landon did a Chilean expedition. Much of his final dissertation will be based around the work he's done there. The first year they dug pits and brought back soil samples to study the temperatures from ~5,000-19,000 ago. He's been processing this in his lab since then.

This year they set up weather stations at the same sites - which include a wide range of altitudes - so they can gauge the differences between today's climate and ancient climates, and also get an idea of how precipitation, soil depth, and seasonal differences can effect the temperature in that area. (Landon, did I describe that right?)

As strange as it seems, we really are grateful for these globe-trotting opportunities. Landon has been able to participate in some pretty strong research projects throughout his time as a graduate student, and has even had several papers published. With every week we spend apart, he is building a stronger resume and increasing his chances of getting a good job when we're done with this crazy adventure. That's our life, and we love it!

Friday Harbor! Bucket List #9 & #53 | Lime Kiln Point + San Juan Islands

I know I sometimes complain about Landon's travels for school...the truth is, I'm totally jealous that he globe trots without me. Luckily, some of the time I am invited along, and those times pretty much make up for the other times when he leaves me home.

Last weekend, we were invited to a retreat for Landon's lab crew at the university. "Retreat" in this case, was code for "all expense paid weekend at Friday Harbor with two hours of work thrown in."

The San Juan Islands are famous around here for being gorgeous - and for whale watching. So obviously we've had them on our bucket list from the beginning. We leaped at the chance to explore, especially with our accommodations and meals taken care of! We're on a student budget, what can I say?

We elected to go Friday night so we'd have a little more time on the island. Walt is really starting to love riding the ferry! He calls it the "big boat" and loves that he can run around and look out the windows. I'm with him there - I'm starting to realize that air travel is the least comfortable and most expensive way to get around. Trains and boats are pretty much awesome.

We treated ourselves to a nice seafood dinner right on the shore, picked up a few groceries and headed off to our cozy cabin in the woods.

I wish I had more pictures of the facility, but I guess I was just enjoying myself too much! UW owns a pretty big patch of beach-front property on San Juan Island, with condos, lab space, offices, an indoor tide pool, a private pier with rowboats and kayaks, a full-service dining hall, game room, outdoor playground, and lecture hall. There is probably even more there that I just didn't have time to notice...they even have wi-fi in the cabins!

We spent Saturday morning just exploring and wound up at Lime Kiln Point, another item on our bucket list. This is a famous whale-watching beach where you can often see orcas. Sadly for us, October is not the prime season to find them, and it was too cold to stay all day. :) We'll definitely be back and hope for a peek! This is the part of the trip where for some crazy reason, Walt decided to be a grump. He wasn't seeing the awesomeness of our trip, and just wanted to hunker down somewhere and play with the cell phone. It was kinda cold, I'll give him that. Mostly, it was a good reminder for me that you can't control your kids' attitude or force them to have fun. You can only offer experiences and hope they soak up something, and have good memories when they look back someday. I imagine that my childhood was somewhat less idealist that I recall. My mom probably has many stories just like this one - but I don't remember it that way at all.

Sometimes it's good to capture these kinds of memories, too :)

We also found a random alpaca farm on the island. It was a little taste of Peru in almost Canada. Good times. :)

It was a short weekend, and we only caught a glimpse of what the San Juans have to offer. We'll definitely have to plan another trip in the spring. But we were grateful for the opportunity to spend some time together and see some more of Washington. Walt was just glad they had chocolate milk in the cafeteria.

A Little Slice of Heaven

Back when Landon went to Antarctica, he made some life-long friends, including his roommate there, Clément Miège. Yep, he's French. And yes - I could listen to him talk all day. :)

Anyway, Clem and his girlfriend Michelle, who also went to Antarctica with Landon's group, have made their way to Seattle! Over the summer, they've been living in a floating boat house on Lake Union downtown. They were gracious enough to invite us over for a quick trip out on the lake before they move at the end of the month.

I have to tell you, this might be the coolest thing I've done in this city. I had no idea this community of floating homes even existed! Clem and Michelle keep a canoe and a couple of Kayaks tied up right outside their front door, and actually use them to travel around the city. I'm only sad that they are moving and we won't be able to do this every weekend. :) The views were simply spectacular, and the company was just as great.

One of the things that has amazed me about Landon's career to this point are the people we've been blessed to know along the way. Geologists are a quirky lot in some ways - they like to camp out on glaciers, get really drunk, and are chronically disorganized. But so many of Landon's colleagues are generous, kind, wonderful people who would give you the shirt off their back if you needed it. It's been great for us to be exposed to people who are so different from the community that we grew up with, who show us how many ways there are to be Christlike. 

Also: I really love Seattle! Don't tell my Mom, she's getting nervous that we'll stay forever. We just might. :)

The Prelim

At the end of his first year of studies at UW, Landon had to participate in a formal evaluation process with all of his peers. They call it the "Preliminary Examination," although it's more like an oral defense.

He spent his summer combing through research articles, working on lab results, and preparing a paper that was submitted to his committee. Then, last Friday, he gave a 20 minute presentation and was then questioned for an hour! The whole thing sounded completely exhausting to me.

Landon is such a great example to me of what hard work, a good attitude, and treating people with respect can accomplish. He always blows people away in this type of setting because he is brilliant, but also because he gives a lot of thought to his work and is always very prepared to meet challenges head-on. He's also not afraid to ask his own questions.

Needless to say, he passed his prelim. :) Walter and I are so proud of him! We took him out for a celebratory lunch...and then had brownies for dinner. Don't judge, it was kind of a big deal.

One year down, 3 (ish?) to go! We're on our way...

Camping With Rocket Scientists

We were invited to go with Landon on his latest field work expedition. I had really been looking forward to this - usually Landon just goes off and has adventures without us, so it was a treat to go along!

We were only going as far as eastern Washington. It was about a 4.5 hour drive, so still long, but now that we're veterans of the 13 hour triple state drive to get home, it didn't seem too bad. The whole time we were driving, I felt like I was in Idaho. The east side of the state has a dryer climate and the same kind of plant life.

We camped at Lewis and Clark Trail state park, right near a river. It was really pretty! We weren't too sure what to do with Walt this time...we don't have a sleeping bag for him, and his little tent is too small now. We ended up just letting him bunk in with us. I was pretty worried about it since we have never let Walt sleep in our bed. Not even when he was a newborn. Not that I care if you let your kids sleep with you, it's just not something I ever wanted to do. I like my alone time. :) We kept him up super late so he would be tired, then did our regular bedtime routine. He actually slept really well! Mom and Dad, on the other hand - well, we had to get used to his kicking. :)

Hanging out in Landon's world was a little bit surreal. Everyone there except Walter and myself had a PhD in some kind of science. The campfire conversation revolved around bio-geochemistry, optically stimulated luminescence, and clumped carbonate isotopes. It was all very fascinating, but also a little hard on the confidence of meager little old me. I told Landon's advisor (who is quite literally married to a rocket scientist) the next day, "I promise I am smart - if you want to talk about the media's impact on elections and public policy, or the best way to pitch to bloggers, I would have a lot more to contribute!"

It was great to see the work they do, though - now I have a better understanding of where it is that Landon goes all the time. :) And Walt was a fabulous little traveling buddy for me. We had a blast exploring the area.

In true form, Walt loved all the water we encountered. We threw rocks in the river and hiked around while we waited for Daddy to get done with his work.

Even if it did take 6 hours to get home (Seattle traffic can be a beast...), we are so glad we went! Hopefully we'll be able to tag along on a few more of these field trips in the future!

Walt votes yes. :)