Memorial Day Weekend

Typically Memorial Day is to honor those in the armed forces that have given their lives for the freedoms we enjoy. It is also the unofficial start of Summer. Here is a taste of what we did this weekend.

On Saturday, the whole family went to put flowers on Grandpa Chuck’s grave at the Floral Hills cemetery. While Chuck wasn’t killed in action…he still served in the Navy from 1948 to 1952, during the Korean War. As a medical corpsman assigned to the 13th Naval District in Seattle for the majority of his service time, he once told Jack that he would often process paperwork from buddies who had died in the war. See an earlier blog about Chuck. Anyway here is a shot of Jack and the kids at his grave.

Jack had called ahead to Floral Hills and had asked where his grandparents were buried since he really couldn’t remember. With the map they provided we found the marker as well. Here is a shot of Gail and the kids (with Colin hiding) at the grave site. Also at Floral Hills there was a live military display which had a lot of artifacts – including a couple of running WWII Jeeps! We also bought cookies at the Vietnam Veterans cookie sale which has become a tradition as well. Pictures have been saved up to our Photobucket site including a funny vblog (a.k.a. video blog) sequence of Cian who had had enough of Memorial Day.

Other pictures of the weekend include: Caleb on the tractor; Emma doing chores; Rilla on her trike; and Cian sandwiched in the screen door. Colin is noticeably absent and was probably playing Age of Empires on the computer. Gail blames his Uncle Ridge for this! We finished up the weekend having the cousins down for BBQ'd Buffalo burgers (Jack's idea and they were pretty good) and smores, and in the end we all stayed up late to watch A Night At the Museum. Here’s to the official start of Summer!

Jack and kids 5.26.07

Extended Weekend in Leavenworth

We had a great extended weekend in the Leavenworth area. Actually it was in Plain about 20 miles North at the Whispering Pines Lodge. This was an excellent lodge accommodation for our family and a much better value than the two hotel rooms we had to have in Kennewick a few weekends ago. Gail did a fantastic job finding this one!

On the car ride over we had the kids work together as a team to spot these items:
Dog
Caboose
Boat
Tree House
School Bus (or Tour Bus)
Tunnel
Wood Carving
Tractor (or Construction Vehicle)
American Flag
Out of State License plate
With the incentive of ice cream cones everyone was duly motivated. And the team was successful finding everything by the time we arrived!

Friday morning we breakfasted at the Renaissance Café in Leavenworth then hiked around at Leavenworth’s Waterfront Park. Here is a shot at the start of the hike and here is a shot on the hike. The kids and Jack let Gail shop and played in the park across the street…next thing we found ourselves on a horse and buggy ride around town. Here is Colin's sketch of Lucky the horse. Here are some other Leavenworth shots: Caleb & Rilla, Emma, & Colin. Later that day we went out to Lake Wenatchee State Park and followed-up with the ice cream debt.

Saturday we headed over to the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery, did the Interpretative Hike over the spill way and around the area, and then had lunch. On the way back we stocked up with Cold Stone ice cream cones and supplies at Safeway. We spent the rest of the day back at the Lodge, including smores in the firepit.

Sunday we packed up and then went back to Lake Wenatchee State Park to play for a while. Here are shots of: Caleb, Emma, Colin & Rilla, and Gail & Cian. Then we hit Highway 2 West bound….stopping only at Zeke’s for burgers before rolling into home.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day Gail!

Penn Cove 4.27.07

Here is some art work from the kids: Caleb (11); Emma (8); Colin (6).

Elephant Art

Colin (6) wanted everyone to see his latest piece of artwork. Inspired by today's visit to the zoo.

Colin Art 5.10.07

Level 4 State Gymnastics Meet Trip

Emma has had a remarkable first year in competitive Level 4 Girls Gymnastics. In fact, she did so well at Sectionals that she qualified for State! So on May 3rd we packed up the car and drove clear across the state to the Tri-Cities where we stayed at the Wingate Inn in Kennewick. If you think that we made the trip without any stops you haven’t driven any distances with children; how about five (actually six on the way home). Here are the stops: One (Snohomish Library – yes, this still counts!); Two (the pit toilet rest stop just East of the pass – note the wee bit of lingering snow); Three (dinner in Ellensburg); Four (bathrooms at the Bi-Mart in Sunnyside – probably best not to visually chronicle that one…). Actually four stops before our destination isn’t bad…

The first day we drove around to figure out where Emma’s practice session and meet was, had a picnic at Wye Park, did a short hike across an isthmus, and even found the Costco! Plus swimming at the hotel and dinner with the whole team at Red Robin!

The next day after dropping Gail, Emma, and Emma’s friend Ariel, at the TRAC pavilion for the first day of competition, Jack and the rest of the crew went to Columbia Park. Here is a shot of the kids and some baby geese. That afternoon we collected the girls and went to Sacajawea Park where we had lunch, played, and soaked up some sun in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark. Alas, we only spent a few hours here rather than the few days the Corp of Discovery stayed. But we did go through the newly opened Sacajawea Interpretive Center and even dropped in on a medieval group, the Barony of Wastekeep, a branch of The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). With the Hanford Nuclear Site in its realm, the name ‘Wastekeep” is truly fitting(!). Anyway, here are pictures of the kids: Caleb; Emma; Colin; Rilla, & Cian at the park.

Before Emma’s competition the second day we zipped up to the Ice Harbor Lock and Dam on the Snake River where we went through the Visitor center and watched spring Chinook heading up the ladder. Here is a picture of the kids with the dam in the background (and including Emma’s friend Ariel!). Then back to the TRAC pavilion and lunch at the baseball park across the street before warm-ups.

At the meet a local beauty school did the girls hair. Here is a picture of Emma’s web.

At the meet Emma did a great job! In fact her all-around score at State was the best so far! Here she is right before her salute and floor routine – and you can tell she is really focused! Obviously her parents need to get a better camera to focus those distance and speed shots since most in the set are blurry! Oh well!

Here is Emma's State Certificate.

The trip home was uneventful except for finding Winegar's Ice Cream in Ellensburg. Sort of, ‘icing on the cake’ of a packed but fun weekend/trip/meet/vacation.

Here is the 'good-luck' ad we created for Emma for the Level 4 State Meet Program: