Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

In case you were wondering why you had not seen a picture of Mount Rainier, it is because I have not been able to get good shot of it until today due to forest fires and haze in general. You can rest easy now secure in the knowledge that I did actually notice this little hill to the south of the city. So, no fooling around today. We got up at a reasonable time so that we could swing over to the Museum of Flight at Boeing today. Tracy was not all that keen on going so she stayed home with the goal of starting to prepare dinner for everyone this evening. What a nice host, eh? Tony and I, however, were very enthusiastic about this morning’s visit to see some cool airplanes. It turns out that the Museum of Flight is a fabulous museum that I would highly recommend to anyone who finds themselves in the Seattle area. We all had a really good time. The kids did the flight simulator which was very cool. You have to check the video I uploaded to see what I mean (should be there by Sept 10 at the latest). And little Carter got selected from the audience to help out on stage. But once Carter got there he had a little bout of stage fright. No problem, it was big sister Erika to the rescue to finish the scene! There were so many cool planes there. We saw a P51 "Mustang", an SR-71 “Blackbird”, a replica of the Wright Brother’s first successful powered flight aircraft, a Russian Mig-21, a Taylor Aerocar III (a flying car with removable wings) and many more ... even a cruise missile. The kids got to sit in an F-18 cockpit and we even saw the lunar module from Apollo 11, which they used for training for the mission to the moon. And then they had a number of other airplanes outside including a Harrier “Jump-jet” that can take off and land vertically, as well as two other special planes we were allowed to board. The first was a tour Air Force One which was used in the 50’s and 60’s. This is the same plane that carried at different times Eisenhower, Kennedy, Kissinger, Johnson (no relation), Nixon (definitely no relation!) and many others. Even Russion president Khrushchev was on board this bad boy at one time. Cool, eh? The second was a tour of the Concorde. I never thought I'd get the chance to board a Concorde but I was obviously wrong! Unforunately we didn’t get a chance to see all the exhibits but the next time I am in Seattle I am definitely going to swing by there again.
After the museum it was a very quick dash back to Kirkland to catch the Argosy boat tour around Lake Washington. As you might expect by now, we had a picture perfect day to check out the sights around the lake and along the shores. Turns out that poor old Tracy who had stayed home to get dinner underway, ended up addressing the messy situation with our MoHo freezer defrosting on its own. What started out as a quick favour, “Can you please grab the meat and ice cream out of our freezer and we’ll take care of the rest?” as we scrambled out the door turned to get to the Museum of Flight, turned into a serious mop-up by Tracy, who, from all appearaces, is the nicest person in the world. (Thanks again Tracy and sorry again Tracy). I am not sure how we will ever be able to expiate this self-less action on Tracy’s part. Meanwhile, back to the boat tour. It took us all along the shore checking out the homes of the rich and famous in the Seattle area who are situated on Lake Washington. We even got a glimpse of Bill Gates' place. There are some incredible homes along the water in this area for sure. Tony had elected to skip the boat ride but he was there waiting for us when we disembarkd in order to chauffeur us back home. Then, with the rest of the afternoon, we tackled the cleaning of the MoHo for the second time this trip. Meanwhile Tracy was cooking up a storm and treated us to an absolutely delicious dinner in their dinning room which also overlooks Lake Washington thereby affording us a beautiful view of the setting sun. Wow, the whole evening was a sensory sensation. It was fabulous. We then retired to the living room to chat the night away. Another fabulous day here in the Portal to the Pacific.

Today’s word:

expiate \EK-spee-ayt\, transitive verb:
To make amends for; to atone for.