Being a Stay At Home Dad in Seattle, you are sure to come across some rainy days… 70% of them.  So, you need to have some good plans on how you are going to be spending most of your days.  Here 10 things to do on a rainy day in Seattle

1. Turn the house into a fort-  you can always find some stuff to do at home., make a fort out of couch cushions, put blankets all over the place, play hide and go seek.
2. Try potty training- got nothing else to do?  Why not get the whole potty thing training thing over and done with.(Requires lots of rainy days… luckily we have lots of thoese
3. Go to the Seattle Aquarium- this is sure to make for a great day.  Lots of fun stuff for the kids to look at, and even tide pools where they can touch marine life.  There is lots to do down on the Seattle Waterfront.
4. Seattle Chilerens Museum- way too much to list for the kids, so visit the site.  Its at the Seattle Center and there is so much to do, that you cant do it all in a day.
5. Seattle Science Center- way more fun for you… but your kids of all ages are sure to find lots of stuff to make them happy.  It always good to get them interested in science and fun educational stuff… plus it brings us back to your nerdy self.  You know that you have been sitting around watching the Science and History channel… go eat some astronaut ice cream, I love it.
6. Seattle Art Museum- Fun for the entire family, and they have some really good kids programs.  Its always free for kids under 13, and free for everyone on the first Thursday of the month
7. Play In It-  Get the kids in their galoshes and head outside.  Saltwater State Park in Des Moines is a fun place to go exploring in tide pools and there are lots of walking trails
8. Go To the Movies- Take the kids to a movie on a weekday during the day.  Usually there is no one there to be bothered by your noisy little kids… not that we care.
9. Walk the Mall-  waste a few hours walking around the mall, most big malls have a children’s play area, and its always good to get the kids playing with others… plus they will be tired from walking and fall asleep in the car on the way home, and you can just carry them to bed.
10. Visit Grandmas- cant find anything else to do… go visit your mom or some family members.  You know that they always want to see the babies, and you can even score some free lunch or a babysitter for a hour or so, and you can have a little time to yourself.

I have begun to not wash my clothes until they are really dirty.  I mean, either visibly dirty or offensively smelly.  And I’m not doing this as some tree-hugging type of thing… it’s out of sheer laziness.  That, and the fact that I need to figure out how to cut down on laundry some how.  With my wife, tossing pretty much everything that she touches in the hamper.  The kids going through 2,3, or 4, outfits in a day, some covered in poop!,.  A bunch of towels and cleaning towels, burp rags, hooter hiders, swim stuff, and blankets and pissy sheets to cap it all off.

The laundry dosent stop… ever.  And if you dont do it, like everyday… the stuff really gets out of hand.

I know that this is nothing new to all you moms and dads out there.  But I just felt the need to point it out.

I put everything into piles like this… its crazy

1. Boys socks
2. Girls socks
3. boys pants
4. boys shirts
5. boys pajamas
6. boys shorts
7. boys onesies
8. boys jackets
9. bibs
10. burp rags
11. girls pants
12. girls shirts
13. girls dress that get hung up
14. girls shirts that get hung up
15. swimsuits
16. moms undies and stuff
17. moms shirts
18. moms pants
19. moms shirts to hang
20. moms pants to hang
21. moms pjs
22. moms socks
23. dish towels
24. bath towels
25. hand towels
26. hoodie towels
27. and my stuff gets tossed into a drawer

And that’s it…

A about a month or two ago, we were pretty into the whole potty training thing.  My wife even, several times, did the whole “Potty Party” thing where we decorated the bathroom and had stickers, prizes, and candy to reward her for using the toilet.  Then we went on vacation, and the diapers came back on.  Well, now that it’s just me and the kids all day, potty training is something that I really don’t even want to attempt to do.  Until today.

For the first few hours we were able to stay in the bathroom, watch TV, and read books and play with barbies (tons of fun), and she went pee once.  Then we came downstairs so i could get the bottle ready to feed the baby.  I should have went back up stairs, but, instead I decided to feed the kid.  A few minutes into the feeding, my daughter came running out of her play room holding a poopy diaper, saying “I got poop on my couch!”

“Shit!”  I yelled (oops).  I had to stop the feeding… which really pissed off the baby, and immediately stated a  real “shit fit.” Then she handed me the diaper with a perfect ice-cream scoop size poop in it.  Before I was able to grab the poopy diaper, she ran off, and the little sticky tabs on the diaper were stuck to her shirt, so the mess was going with her.  I quickly grabbed the diaper, squishing the poop between my fingers, and carried her to the sink.  Holding her in one arm, I washed off my poopy hand and finished off the job.  What a mess.

The lesson is… there must be no interrupting the potty training day… or the feeding of the baby… How do ya do both?

Are you looking for something fun to do on a Tuesday Night.  Try the All Star Sports Bar in Des Moines, WA.  They have ping pong, every Tuesday night around 8:00.  The table is always open for play (except in weekend nights when they have bands playing).

At All Star Sports Bar in Des Moines, Ping Pong is no joke… the players here, for the most part are super good.  There is even a regular player that has actualy written a book on ping pong stuff.  The food is really, really good, and the bar is big.  The best part is that this bar, that is by no means huge… has over TWENTY FLAT SCREENS.  This place is great for sports, there is a TV in every place that one will fit.

PING PONG TOURNY at ALL STAR SPORTS BAR

22303 Marine View South

Des Moines, WA 98198

IN DES MOINES WA

TUESDAYS @ 8:00

View Larger Map (its where the Chinese Restaurant used to be… totally remodeled)

Here is a video of a band that played at All Star Sports Bar in Des Moines

Remember the time that going to the grocery store used to be just that… a trip to the store.  Well, now with two babies to look after alone during the day, that little trip to the store is a full blown outing. (For all the moms reading this… I know that you do it like everyday… but guess what… guys are not the same)

First of all, you have to get all ready and get the diapers changed before heading out, and that usually takes a few minutes, and sure enough… as soon as you get them both changed, one of them has a diaper blowout and you need to do a whole outfit change.  Then you need to change the other ones diaper again before finally getting all loaded up into the car.

So you get to the store and the baby is sleeping and the toddler is going out soon.  Since the baby was sleeping, I kept him in the car seat and tossed him in the basket of the cart (the Orbit car seat is weird and wont fit on the top like most car seats do).  This took up the entire cart and there was no room for the toddler seat, so she had to walk.  Unfortunately she was out cold and I had to carry her, and drag the shopping cart, stuffing groceries around the side of the seat.

When I got to the check outline… I realized that I must have left my wallet at home, so I abandoned the cart and took off.

A few hours later after nap time, I tried for round two.  I had only one request from my wife… her special shavers.  The first store that I went to didn’t have them so I just said fuck it, left, and went to another store.  That store didn’t have them either (time for a new brand).

Anyway, I spent all day going to the store… next time I am just ordering in from Safeway.com.  They deliver.

The lesson here is…

wait until the wife comes home, and then go to the store or just don’t go… until i possess the multitasking skills.