Garreth's Birthday

For Garreth's "29th" birthday on Saturday, we got out of dodge and headed down to Seattle for the day.  We went to a very cool place at the Seattle Center called EMP - Experience Music Project.  I'm not going to lie to you, it would have been even more fun without these two whiners,

but we really had a good time.

The guitar tornado, ground floor.

Guitar tornado, second floor.

Garreth and Liam next to some famous guitars -  the coolest being the one Kurt Cobain played in the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video.  (it's the one on the right)

Three boys and a Jimi Hendrix jumpsuit.

Our favorite part was creating our own band and performing on a stage with actual instruments, and the curtains opening to a huge video screen of screaming fans.  After a rousing performance of "Purple Haze," we got to go outside and watch our performance.  Very impressive.  We could have bought a DVD or band poster, but we went with taking a picture of the screen instead of actually buying one.  

Presenting our band, Septic Monkey, in all its glory:

And here are the tickets to our show.  We think $60 might be just a little high for a band of our caliber and the crowd might actually feel slightly ripped off.

THANK YOU, SEATTLE!  GOOD NIGHT!

There were tons of places to play on real instruments and experiment with effects.  

Cheesy smiles like this one were actually very rare from Evan that day, so I'm glad I documented it:

In the same building and included in the price of our tickets was the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame, so we took a few minutes to channel our inner-complete-dorks.  (It was hard after feeling so cool and hip in our first rock n' roll performance.)

The robot display.

(These pictures are really bad since I couldn't use my flash.)

Liam's outline and a Storm Trooper.

ET.

After we left, Garreth broke years of tradition by not choosing a Japanese steakhouse for his birthday dinner.  After finding out that we do indeed have Claim Jumpers in Washington, the choice was easy.  And a big birthday steak it was.

We had to wait a VERY long time to get in and the kids were restless and hungry, so Garreth entertained them with a "Quick, how many fingers am I holding up?" game.  His "magician face" cracked me up enough to take a picture.

It was a really fun day spent with our favorite little people in the whole world.

Happy birthday, Garreth!  I love you!