February 16-22 in Pictures

Sunday was a beautiful day for a walk in Magnolia.

Both boys played Captain Underpants.

...And I was finding underwear around the house days later.

Drinking beer, making soap.

Jake wanted to use my deodorant. Reed quickly followed suit.

J&R play Rock'em Sock'em Robots with their new robot hats.

A hike on Hobart - Middle Tiger Railroad Trail

A family hike in the rain

As part of my training for Mount Rainier and my effort to get my kids in the outdoors, the four of us went for a hike on Rattlesnake Ledge on Saturday. Though the weather called for rain, I thought it would be acceptable with tree cover.

At the the parking lot, the boys were already having plenty of fun:

They both did a pretty good job, stopping occasionally to play in various forts, climb rocks, and frequently ask if I could make the ramen we bought at QFC (which I'd planned on being lunch when we hit the summit). I carried Reed up for a significant chunk of the ascent.

The first part of the hike was quite nice weather -- dry and calm.

But before long, the wind picked up, the rain started and became pretty consistent, and it got chilly. Reed -- ever the contrarian --  refused to wear his rain jacket, and with us very nearly to the top, Andrea and he turned around and started down the mountain. It was the two of them only because Jacob insisted on making it to the top, which we did not five minutes from when Team Shirey split up.

It was cold, windy and very limited visibility at the top: perfect for me.

But Jacob got chilly in a hurry, as evidenced by the first picture from our descent (not 100 yards from the summit): 

 Soon he was suffering from the weather, so I spent a fair portion of the descent carrying him down.

A few minutes before we reached the trailhead, we caught up with Andrea and Reed, and the four of us exited together, stopping for a brief photo-op at the sign:

February 9-15 in Pictures

Jacob hoping to get his own ukulele from Guitar Center.

Reed and I "play" chess.

Finally the rain has returned!

A dog on the 550 to Bellevue with a great shirt bearing hands making the shape of a heart.

Jake reads from the dictionary, a gift originally from my grandma when I turned six.

A long commute home Friday at least has great views.

At the Rattlesnake Ledge trailhead after descent.

Show your ♥ for Seattle with this t-shirt

In July, I'm going to attempt a Mount Rainier summit, and the costs I incur (for crevasse training, a guide, etc.) will support the Washington National Park Fund. Therefore, I recruited my talented friend Luke Kackman to create a design with two icons of the city I love: the Space Needle and Mount Rainier itself. I am shamelessly selling t-shirts in various color schemes, the sum of whose profits will go entirely toward the non-profit WNPF for scientific research, volunteer efforts, search & rescue, education, and so on.

I have created six designs on CustomInk.com where early adopters can enter their shirt size. When everyone's got their requests in, I will place the order. After a brief time, you'll give me $25, I give you the shirt, and you'll get a warm fuzzy feeling from knowing you're supporting Mount Rainier, North Cascades and Olympic National Parks. To boot, you get to show off your love for the Emerald City.

Below are the current set of designs I have. Tentatively, I plan to place the order on Feb 22nd, but if all orders are in before then, I might do it earlier. These are not the only options, so if you or a loved one wants something different, I can set it up.

Red

Green

Blue

Ladies Dark Blue

Ladies Dark Gray

Ladies Light Blue

Unfortunately, there's no especially easy way for you to pick your own color combinations -- I'll have to create a new sign-up for each shirt style + shirt color + ink color combination.

Edit: Per request, I've created a white-on-dark-gray men's tee:

Gray

And a black-on-indigo men's tee:

Indigo blue

February 2-8 in Pictures

Poor execution on my green and blue scones for the Super Bowl. Go Hawks!

Bellevue near sunset with some love for the 12th Man from Overlake Hospital.

Snuggling with Reed Tuesday morning.

Icicles on the fountains outside work as the temperatures finally dip into the 20s.

Jacob and Reed wrestle with Aaron during his and Elissa's visit.

Aaron and Elissa walk along the beach at Discovery Park.

Jake and Reed pose on some art outside the Seattle Aquarium.

January 26-February 1 in Pictures

We took the boys to Subway on Sunday as a special treat.

Monday morning raspberry scones.

I'm finally learning to enjoy stouts.

Like father, like son. Reed enjoys playing Age of Empires.

The last known picture of Andrea pre-Lasik.

Microsoft celebrates Seahawks  pre-Super Bowl

Reed and me hanging out at Serendipity.