Seattle Patriot

This Thursday marked a great day in one country’s history - Norway. To commemorate it, each year Ballard hosts a grand parade winding through its streets, filled with Norwegians from all over the greater-Seattle area. Despite the fact that Ballard is a small community, and that Norwegians don’t often make themselves overly known (unless you attend a Lutheran church), this is supposedly the third largest Norwegian Independence Day parade in the world (and the largest outside of Norway!). There were sword carrying children, giant-headed people (costumes…), lots of flags, a parade of old cars, including a old C3 Corvette that was the official pace car of the Indy 500 (see photos) and even representatives from my mom’s undergrad, St. Olaf (in Minnesota). In celebration of Ryan’s new job, the Stewarts benevolently treated us to dinner at Snoose Junction following the parade. A truly unique event!

This Sunday was Mom’s birthday AND Mother’s Day. She graciously let us combine her two big days into one celebration (which I still don’t think was entirely fair for her). We celebrated at church, at the Hearthstone with Grandma and the Riekes, and visited the arboretum. We didn’t get the picnic lunch there that Mom wanted due to the weather’s non-cooperation, but we were able to end the day with the picnic foods and a rousing game of Pictionary. Despite mixing up the teams, Mom won every time! A good time was had by all. Love you, Mom!!

This week we went to see the latest Marvel creation – the third (and final?) film in the Spiderman series. The film had gotten rave reviews, and we weren’t the only ones there. Evidently the film broke the all time record for sales in one day, reaching $59 million on Friday, its opening day. In addition to other movie-goers, the film was packed with villains, drama, good ol’ fashion beatings, and the guy from “That 70s Show” (Topher Grace) that I always get mixed up with Spiderman actor Tobey Maguire, which I therefore thought was an odd casting choice. There were some “darker” scenes in this movie (like the newest Batman movie, and X-Men, they all have to go dark at one point or another). I say that in quotes, though, because even the darkness didn’t seem that dark. The themes carried well from previous movies and it was easy to follow. My complaint was that it almost seemed too simple at some points, and bordered on cheesy at others (think Jim Carrey in THE MASK). Maybe I’m getting spoiled watching a lot of movies with twists and surprises…who knows.

Anyway, I would love to hear what y’all thought of it, best/worst, and how many stars you’d give, but NO SPOILERS PLEASE, so that those who haven’t seen it don’t get scared away!

This past Sunday, team “RAVENGERS” placed 4th in the 4th annual U-District Street Scramble (coincidence? I think not…). Our travels took us as far north as Roosevelt High School, as far south as Agua Verde, and up and down hill and vale into the U-Village. In 90 minutes we traveled nearly 6 miles across rough terrain, carrying water, food, and extra clothing in backpacks. Although every part of my body still aches we had a fantastic time! Because we rarely stopped sprinting around, I had few opportunities to take pictures. But here are the few I was able to snag. You’ll see us planning out our route before the start (on the topographical map) and Jess and Jeremy while we head down the viaduct into the U-Village.