Week 22: Seattle, WA with Diana M.

Stanley was super excited to arrive in Seattle and wanted to see the sights right away. Very luckily for Stanley, it was not only sunny but surprisingly warm despite it being early October (a rarity for Seattle!) Stanley told me he has always wanted to see the Space Needle so it was our first stop!

I told him we could go to the top but when I mentioned it to him he immediately turned pale and feebly said "no thanks" Who knew he was afraid of heights? So we explored some more...

...to the Pacific Science Center. I told him about the cool laser light show that they had there but since it was such a nice day in Seattle he told me he wanted to see "the colors of Seattle"

"A market?" Stanley was confused as to why there would be a market outside in normally rainy Seattle. I told him it wasn't just any market but it was the famous Pike Place Market.

 Stanley loved the huge selection of fresh local fruits and vegetables. He wanted a picture by the oranges because it matched his right arm.

 And he couldn't resist a shot in front of Washington apples!

 We even stopped to watch the fish throwing.

 Stanley loved the deep red of the dahlias.

 But he also loved the bright cheery sunflowers.

 He begged and pleaded for us to buy some flowers. So we chose a bouquet.

 Good pick Stanley! If you look closely you can see him catching a ride in the bouquet. He got a little overwhelmed by the crowd of people and decided to hitch a ride in the flowers while we traveled to our next destination.

 

"What is this stuff?" Stanley asked. I told him to reach out and touch it and upon doing so he immediately yelled in disgust. It was a wall covered in chewing gum!! Eww! 

I told Stanley to think of it as a work of art but ever since touching that wall he seemed a little scarred for life. I reminded him he's done much more gross things (like falling in a toilet!) and after laughing about it he lightened up and even took a picture in front of a gooey purple gum heart.

As we were heading back to the car we passed by the EMP museum and the reflective purple walls of the museum caught his eye. He couldn't resist a picture in front of it especially when he realized he also got a shot with the reflection of the Space Needle off of the purple mirror wall.

Before Stanley left he wanted to take a picture with my cat Princess who he spent the rest of the week relaxing and taking cat naps with. He couldn't resist wearing his new Seattle space needle shirt as well. I packed him some snacks and off he went to his next adventure to Canada!

Week 21: Ferndale, MI with Rachel H.

Stanley's visit with me was incredibly well timed for a couple of reasons. The first was that he got to meet Godzilla - my boyfriend's brother's tortoise. I had a lot of fun taking pictures of Stanley and Godzilla hanging out with eachother. They had a lot of fun getting to know eachother.

And then Godzilla noticed me taking pictures and Stanley was creeping in the background. 

About an hour after this photo shoot, Godzilla's previous owner came to take him to the vet (he has a bone deficiency, hence his broken beak) and apparently wanted to keep him. I'm glad Stanley got to meet him.

The next day, Donnie's sister, Sarah came over. It was her 21st birthday, and Stanley was excited to meet her and wish her a happy birthday.

Stanley came to work with me and had fun hanging out and seeing the inner working of the car wash world. He definitely kept me company! He also enjoyed watching Breaking Bad while we were there.

That night, Stanley had fun hanging out with Donnie and I and some adult beverages. Stanley had his bottle of Jack, but I introduced him to Labbatt Blue.

I had the pleasure of Stanley's company during the crazy shutdown of The Nest. Stanley was glued to the computer with me. I caught his reactions to Annie's posts.

Stanley spent a lot of time at the car wash while he was visiting with us. He got a little interested in how it all worked, so Donnie, his brother Dylan, and I had fun showing him around.

Stanley helped run the box to send a couple of cars through the wash.

Then he inspected some of the brushes.

And helped Donnie fill the air freshener stand. 

Then he helped Dylan clear the condensation from the windows. Well, he tried - he kept getting stuck to the window!

The whole week, Stanley was begging and begging to go for a ride through the wash on one of the rollers. We kept telling him no, that it was too dangerous, but he just kept begging! We finally gave in. Donnie strapped him in really well and took some video. Stanley had a blast!! He said it was like a roller coaster - he knew that he wouldn't be killed by the brushes, but they came so close that it scared him!

Week 20: Wilmington, NC

Flat Stanley was so happy to arrive and be part of our family for a week. Tony (our almost six month old) and M.Q. Patton, (our 1 1/2 year-old apricot standard poodle) were excited to have an extra sibling for the week.   Flat Stanley was hoping we could get to doing fun things right away, but even though I'm on maternity leave, I still have to teach one class and keep my research going. Flat Stanley understood, and offered to proof-read a research article I'm working on.

 After he finished that he went out to help Evan rake the pine needles in the yard, but ended up just playing with the pine cones under the trees and smelling our flowers.

 When he came back in, he thought it would be fun to play with Tony on his activity gym.

 

 Then he helped me hang out Tony's cloth diapers to dry. He was such a big help :)

Patton was really excited to meet Flat Stanley, but when Tony was cuddling with him on his chair, Patton got a little too playful, and Flat Stanley got scared.

So he decided maybe rocking with Tony in his swing would be a better low key activity...

 But then Tony got a little too curious for Flat Stanley's liking ....

And I had to take Flat Stanley away. Tony was very sorry to see him go, but took his nap in his swing without him.

And When Tony woke up, Flat Tony was ready to go on an adventure

So we decided to go to Wilmington's historical district, I was very impressed how interested Flat Stanley is in our nation's history. He insisted on reading all the historical signs.

 

Tony wasn't quite as interested, so Flat Stanley offered to go find something else to do.

 

 So we went down to the waterfront ...

 Flat Stanley was so excited to see the Battle Ship, and insisted we take his picture by it

 Then he wanted to go for some Pumpkin Spice lattes. He took the seat by the window immediately.

 Tony was jealous that Flat Stanley got to have a latte and he didn't (He doesn't even get to try solid food for another week.) So Flat Stanley went over to comfort him, but it's hard to reason with a baby.

 And Flat Stanley ended up on the floor :(






But Tony seemed like he was in a much better mood afterward :)





So, we decided to go shopping on the pier, Evan and Tony hung out outside while Stanley and I went in to look at the earrings. He helped me pick out a pair to match a new dress I bought for work.

When we got home, it was evening, and Flat Stanley asked if we could go sit on the porch.

 So we did until it was time for dinner.

Flat Stanley didn't want to get too close to Tony, but still wanted to sit on the swing with us.

Before bed, Flat Stanley started to get nervous about his future trips, so we read "Oh, The Places You'll Go" before we went to sleep.

 During the night, Flat Stanley decided he wanted to crawl into bed with Tony to make sure he'd get a good night sleep. The next morning, he was off to visit Rachel :)