This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter). Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon

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Pics from Nov 2014

937 pictures for the month. First cut got it down to 50. Second cut got it to the required 1 per day 30 for the month of November.

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2014-11-01 01:13 UTC – Remember I divide things based on Universal time, so in Seattle Trick or Treat is early on November 1st and that is how we start the month. For the second year running, Brandy made Alex a train as his costume. He also wore a conductor-like outfit.

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2014-11-01 02:08 UTC – The train leaves the station with Grandma Ruth right behind.

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2014-11-01 02:14 UTC (picture by Grandma Ruth) – At first, all the stops were like this. Alex insisting on hiding in the train while begging me to do the doorbell ringing to collect his candy.

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2014-11-01 02:34 UTC – Later, after a bit of coaxing, we got him to actually go up and ring the bell.

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2014-11-01 02:34 UTC – After which he would immediately turn and run. He would then hide in the train again.

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2014-11-01 02:56 UTC (Picture by Grandma Ruth) – Eventually toward the end, he finally (reluctantly) did the whole thing himself a couple of times.

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2014-11-01 03:57 UTC (picture by Brandy) – This was Amy’s first outfit for Freaknight.

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2014-11-01 04:04 UTC – Trick or Treating over, Alex wants us to inspect some food he found.

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2014-11-02 01:1? UTC (picture by Brandy) – Amy was going to be Chell (from Portal and Portal 2) for her second costume for Freaknight, but it was canceled for this evening. Amy was sad.

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2014-11-02 01:14 UTC – Amy was not the only one in the family into Portal though, and Alex wanted a turn at the Portal Device.

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2014-11-04 20:35 UTC – Alex was working hard in his workshop on new train layouts, but it wouldn’t do quite what he wanted, so he was getting very frustrated. Not much later, this particular layout was no more.

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2014-11-07 00:54 UTC – I got a pic of a nice sunset in Lynnwood, WA.

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2014-11-08 20:23 UTC – Roscoe wants to know why I am taking his picture.

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2014-11-13 21:59 UTC – Alex had a trip to the dentist that required him to be asleep via anesthesia. This was right afterwards. He had roused enough that they were OK sending him home, but he was still basically asleep.

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2014-11-13 22:19 UTC – Once he woke up his first request was McDonald’s. We had to tell him he wasn’t supposed to eat for another hour or so. He was very unhappy about this. He really wanted McDonald’s.

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2014-11-15 21:52 UTC – A few days later though it was all forgotten. He wandered the aisles of a drug store choosing things he wanted, including the hat, glasses and brush, and asked to pose with his loot. (Which he did get to have.)

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2014-11-17 22:42 UTC (Picture by Amy) – Um, then Amy totaled her car. Nobody was hurt except the car.

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2014-11-17 22:?? UTC (Picture by Amy) – Amy was very sad though. Poor car.

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2014-11-20 22:39 UTC (picture by Brandy) – Brandy got to go with Alex to a Thanksgiving thing at his school. Alex made faces while he ate.

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2014-11-22 01:56 UTC – I’ve got Alex pumping gas for me.

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2014-11-23 04:58 UTC – Alex decided that to be warm he needed to join me inside my sweater.

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2014-11-23 18:37 UTC – Alex is starting to REALLY get into Lego. Usually it is vehicles of one sort or another, but this time he made this, which he said was “a dog in his yard”.

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2014-11-27 03:16 UTC – And when he visits Grandma Ruth, he plays with MY old Lego from when I was a kid. You can also see the Mr. Potato Head that was modified to look like my High School Physics teacher Mr. Posa as part of a Rube Goldberg project my senior year of high school.

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2014-11-28 01:45 UTC – Amy is not amused as I attempt to take pictures of her as we get ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

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2014-11-28 01:50 UTC – A few minutes later, Alex elaborates on a story he wanted to tell before dinner.

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2014-11-28 05:49 UTC – Later in the evening, food cleared away, Alex starts on some crafts.

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2014-11-28 21:00 UTC – Pair of pants on head as a hat? Check! Second pair of pants in case you lose the first hat? Check! Blanket? Check! One of mommy’s purses? Check! Lets go on an adventure!

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2014-11-29 16:26 UTC – Alex and Roscoe check out the first snowfall of the season.

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2014-11-29 18:24 UTC – Daddy is just cold.

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2014-11-29 18:36 UTC – There wasn’t that much snow, and it wasn’t very good for packing, but this was our pitiful attempt at a snowman. It was about 4 to 5 inches tall.

And thus ends November.

Pics from Sep 2014

1076 pictures for the month. First pass narrowed to 70. These are the 30 that best represent September.

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2014-09-01 06:39 UTC (Picture by Amy) – An Amy Selfie to start the month. (Yeah, yeah, I already used this one on her birthday post.)

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2014-09-01 21:44 UTC – Alex chases after Amy at Bumbershoot

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2014-09-02 02:19 UTC – Alex and me joining the family after a quick romp through the fountain at Bumbershoot

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2014-09-02 04:36 UTC – Amy comforts Alex after he tripped and took a bad spill while running after her to get into the EDM venue at Bumbershoot. After this he was done for the night.

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2014-09-03 16:58 UTC – First day of school for Alex

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2014-09-05 01:19 UTC – We didn’t even know we had an apple tree, but one day we noticed this hanging off a tree in our front yard. We think it is the tree’s very first apple. Awww…

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2014-09-07 19:44 UTC – Brandy accidentally made a sculpture out of frosting.

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2014-09-11 21:53 UTC – Alex plays in a balloon room at a local mall. (Posted before as part of Alex through the Years.)

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2014-09-11 22:13 UTC – Alex and I built a robot! He knocked it over seconds later of course.

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2014-09-12 20:28 UTC – Alex’s class at school prepares for his birthday ceremony, where the birthday kid circles a candle representing the sun once for each year of their lives, while the parents show pictures of them from each year and say something brief about what the kid was like each year. Brandy and I were participating, so no pictures of the actual event.

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2014-09-12 22:21 UTC – Once we were home, it was time for our own birthday celebrations, and Roscoe got to wear the birthday hat from school.

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2014-09-12 22:22 UTC – Grandma Ruth got to wear the hat too.

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2014-09-12 22:48 UTC – Brandy made a train cake for Alex.

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2014-09-12 23:11 UTC – Alex with a present from Grandma Ruth.

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2014-09-12 23:14 UTC – Alex opening a present from Amy.

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2014-09-14 05:27 UTC – One of Alex’s presents was a lego set from Papa Bill and Grandma Cathy. Alex has been getting more into Lego lately. Here he diligently follows the instructions to assemble this set.

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2014-09-14 05:45 UTC – And here is the final product. Alex assembled it almost entirely himself, following the instructions in the booklet. He only asked for help on one or two of the many steps in the process. In the following days, he did several other lego sets too.

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2014-09-16 23:48 UTC – A few days later, it was time for my birthday. Alex wanted Brandy to make me a train cake too, but Brandy was sick at the time, so instead Amy and Alex went to the store. Alex picked this hamburger and fries cake for me instead.

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2014-09-17 00:19 UTC – Amy presents me with my biggest present, from her and Brandy. Can you guess what it is? (It was a much needed new chair for my home office.)

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2014-09-20 22:31 UTC – Grandma Ruth took Alex, Roscoe and me on an adventure in a nearby park. This was the start of our hike.

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2014-09-20 23:22 UTC – The destination of the hike was a little area on the shore of Lake Washington. Roscoe and Alex spent a few minutes playing in the water!

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2014-09-20 23:34 UTC – After the hike and playing a bit, Roscoe was ready for a bit of a rest. We had a picnic. Roscoe patiently waited to share.

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2014-09-21 00:02 UTC – Alex and I climb up on a large tree that had fallen over and leaned over the lake

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2014-09-21 00:04 UTC – Alex does not seem impressed as he dismounts from the fallen tree.

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2014-09-21 00:07 UTC – After the tree, there is some time for some more splashing at the edge of the lake.

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2014-09-21 00:18 UTC – Then it was time for the hike back to the car. Everybody was a little tired by this point. But we had to keep going.

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2014-09-21 01:50 to 01:56 UTC – Once back in the car, a certain someone couldn’t quite manage to stay awake.

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2014-09-23 01:11 UTC – Uh, he is not supposed to climb up there.

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2014-09-26 00:31 UTC – My mom and Sara. A good team.

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2014-09-27 22:24 UTC – Alex told Brandy that he wanted some fresh paper and markers and such. Brandy got him this new art desk thing. Since then Alex has been “art-ing” every chance he gets, producing many many pages of drawings and paintings and other things. He uses that desk almost every day now!

And that wraps up September…

Santa Train 2013

As we did last year, we booked tickets for Alex and the family to the Santa Express run by the Mount Rainier Scenic Railroad.

So we all hopped into the car on Monday afternoon and headed out to foothills of Mount Rainier…

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Alex and Amy were ready to go…

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This was going to be our engine…

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And this was the train…

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Then we watched the engine couple up to the train… or “buckle up” as Alex and I sometimes say…

As we got on, I noticed there was a second engine at the other end of the train, so right after we got on I headed to that end to get a quick picture…

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G’ma Ruth and Alex got settled in at a table.

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Amy put on her practiced sullen face.

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I ate my popcorn.

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(Picture taken by my mom)

Soon the train started, and Alex watched out the window intently while perched on my lap.

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(Picture taken by my mom)

Only a few minutes later though, the conductor told us it was our turn for Santa…

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And unlike last time, when I unfortunately his stop on the video right before Alex started to talk to Santa, this time I actually did get the whole thing on video…

Unfortunately, unlike last time, it was much noisier, and it was impossible to hear what Alex said to Santa. (Although, Santa said that Alex said “trains”, which of course would be what he would say.) Also of course, it wasn’t his first time with Santa, and it wasn’t nearly as cute. So I am still very sad about stopping the video early last year.

But we quickly moved on.

Through dirty windows we saw some scenery…

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Last year, we had power outages and never got to the “destination” of the trip. This time we got to the end, which was a little train museum. We got out to look at some of the stuff…

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(Picture taken by my mom)

We saw the engine that had pulled the train last year.

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And a diesel engine with caboose.

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And another old steam engine.

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(Picture taken by Brandy)

We could have hopped inside that engine, but Alex just wanted to look through the window.

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There were some old tanker cars too.

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And a repair shed.

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At that point, we went back into the train…

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(Picture taken by my mom)

Right around then, we realized we had lost Brandy! We had no idea where she had gone. One minute she was with us, then the next she was not. We’d hoped she would be waiting for us at our seats, but she was not. For what seemed like hours, but was really only a few minutes, we sat there and wondered where in the world Brandy had gotten to.

As we sat in our seats Alex said, “I think Mommy will be lost FOREVER.”

But, of course, a few minutes before the train was due to head back, Brandy showed up at our seats.

As the train started heading back toward the station, like last time, Alex and I (and Grandma Ruth too this time) went to find one of the spaces at the ends of the cars where there was a waist high door with an open area above so that you could look out without dirty old glass in the way of the view.

Of course, by this time it was dark…

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(Picture taken by my mom)

We could see the stuff right by the side of the tracks because of the lights from the train, and it was exciting when we passed level crossings. But of course I wasn’t going to be able to get any good pictures of that with very low light and everything going by quickly.

But Alex and I stayed, with me holding him up so he could see out, for the whole ride back to the station.

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(Picture taken by my mom)

And then it was over. We headed back to the car for the two hour drive home, with only a quick break for dinner at an Indian restaurant on the way.

It was a fun time, although very different than last time. Will it become a tradition? Talk to us again next year. :-)

Riding the Streetcar with Grandma Ruth

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All His Trains Are In The Plane

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