Washington Trip #2

Monday, we went to downtown Spokane.  The City building was art deco, so I really enjoyed that.  There are a lot of homeless, but a lot of them seem to be fairly clean and have bags rather than garbage sacks.  Mom says said they have a lot of societies that try to help the homeless.

This was a map of the area.  The kids got to see the places we'd be visiting in the next week.  All along the river front are things that are left over from the 1974 World's Fair.  My Mom remembers coming to it when she was about 15.  There's even a carousel that was built in the early 1900's that she thinks she might have ridden as a teen.  They have a ring game that you try to catch the ring as you go around the carousel and then put them in the bucket on the other side.  Ada caught 5 rings, Sam 1, Jer 1 and the other two kids were just too short to catch any.

These statues were called the Joy of Running Together.

This was how he acted most of the day.  I swear he hit the terrible twos at the age of 4.

This is a great picture of some of the features from the Worlds Fair.

This was a fun installation.  A metal goat that has a vacuum in it's mouth that sucks in the garbage.  The kids thought it was amazing and we cleaned out our car.  They thought the best part was Sam feeding a half eaten sandwich to it and yelling, "Sandwich!"

They also had this amazing slide.  It was like the ones that we had when we were young, long, metal, fast and hot.  I thought it was really cool

The kids were a little wary of the geese.  They didn't want to get goosed.

In line for the Carousel.

Grandma treated everyone to ice cream on this hot day.  Ice Cream+Ellis=Yes

We also got to go on a gondola ride over the river and the powerplant.  Apparently it was on a natural waterfall and they just used it the way it was.  There were sculptures of Indians and pilgrims all up the side of the river too.

These outdoor games are all over up there it seemed.  We saw them in at least two different places.  The kids loved them.  This time was not a two person game.  It was more like a 3 on 4 person game.

Strategy.

To keep Seth from messing up the pieces we made him stack all the pieces that got jumped.  Here he's showing Grandma how tall he is to the pieces.

Grandpa paid for them to ride these twirly strawberries.  Ada and Seth got theirs spinning really well.  Sam and Evelyn didn't realized theirs could really spin until the ride was half way done.

The splash pad was more of a sculpture with a fountain in it.  It was so fun.  Ada was the only brave one, so I decided to go in it too so she didn't have to go in alone... and the others all followed.  Ada LOVED it.  Evelyn made a game out of timing it so that she wouldn't get too wet.  Sam stood right in front of a sprayer and turned to talk to me.  When he turned, it sprayed him right in the face.

For lunch, we took a picnic to Manito Park.  Grandpa and Grandma sure know how to pick the spots.  It was beautiful and Evelyn fell in love with Willow trees. 

She's my little Hobbit off on her adventure.

As part of the park, they have a rose garden and a Japanese garden.  They were both beautiful and free.  I love cities that do that.  Portland, they charged entrance fees to all gardens.  The rose garden smelled heavenly.  Sam's favorite one was bright red called Olympia Rose.  Ada liked the ones that looked like a sunset, Evelyn liked the hot pink ones that had a snazzy name that I can't remember.

Grandpa's soft couch.

The kids were taking pictures while I was in the bathroom....

I eventually got the camera back and these guys enjoyed the koi fish.

This reminded me of the Japanese fairy tale about the magic fish that gets caught by a fisherman and gives him wishes.

There were dragonflies all over the place.  I got one, but I had the wrong lens on to really get it very well.

My Daddy.

Sam had thrown a rock in the water.  We told him to knock it off, so of course Seth tried to pry up one of the rocks in the walkway to throw as well.  Luckily they were cemented in.

Ada got my camera again.  I love the facial expressions she manages to get from Seth every time she takes pictures of him.

Washington trip

Last week, we spent the week up visiting my parents on their mission.  Ada especially was jumping out of her skin to see grandparents.  I definitely have missed my parents, but especially after my time on my mission and in Kenya, I've learned a patience about homesickness where my kids haven't yet. 

We drove all the way up on Saturday after spending the two days before cleaning and packing.  We got there Saturday night at about 10pm and just hugged and chatted.  Sunday morning we took it easy.  Lots of grandkids sitting on grandparents.  Then we went to church with my parents at their church which shares a parking lot with the Spokane Temple.  It was so cute and tiny.  My Dad said that it has 1 endowment room and it can hold about 40 people in it.

One of our gas stops we found a dog that was bigger than Seth.

At another gas stop we found the Ghostbusters.

In Missoula's downtown we found these pretty parking meters.  All in Northern Idaho and in Washington the electrical/utility boxes and other boring municipal items were all painted differently.  It was fun and cute.  I didn't see graffiti really at all.  I think that them having artists actually paint these spaces on purpose tagging happens less often.

Because of all the fires, it was smokey through all 4 states that we drove.  But luckily we were able to drive through two different state parks right about twilight.

Cuddles.

This is the mission office.  We ran by to drop of the mission truck on our way to church.  My Mom schedules doctors visits (sometimes surgeries), takes care of things that can be treated at home, sorts mail and I could see that she has a personal relationship with a lot of the missionaries out there.  My Dad sorts out apartments, furniture, things that are broken, bed bugs, moving people (Mom too), etc...

Grandpa makes the best breakfasts. 

Cute little Spokane temple.

Giant Uno with Grandma and Grandpa.

First Day of School

These guys started their school year today.  It was supposed to start last Thursday, but we went to go visit my parents in Washington while they serve in the Spokane mission.  I had left all the housework done and the school supplies organized and uniforms bought.  And somehow I forgot that Evelyn had light up shoes that were not allowed at school.  Luckily she remembered and just wore her Sunday shoes til we could get her some others.  I can't believe that she's starting 2nd grade.  She likes Ms. Ray so far.  Most of her friends are in the other class, but that might be good so that she'll be less distracted.

This one is very excited to start school again.  She started 5th grade and both of her best friends are in her class.  The first day she also met another boy that loves the same book series that she does and she's off to make a new friend.  She has a teacher that's new to this school, but she taught 7 years before she had and raised her own 4 kids.  Now that they're all in Jr High and up she wanted to teach again. 

Sam started 4th grade with Mr Brown.  He laughed when I asked if any of his friends were in his class.  Apparently they are all in the other two classes.  He doesn't seem too bothered about it.  He says that this year they started letting you sit wherever you want to in the lunch room instead of with only your class, so he gets to be with them when it's time to talk and play at least.  Mr Brown is known for his Utah trivia and likes to challenge his students.  I think that's why they matched Sam up with him.  Sam's teacher last year had to give him extra work to keep him busy while others were finishing up. 

Seth woke up this morning and did his own thing for a while.  After some breakfast and getting dressed he asked where all the kids were.  He didn't believe me when I told him they were at school.  He's in a defiant stage.  I if say anything he immediately contradicts me.  I'm getting tired of it, but I remember that my others went through a stage like this too...

 

Tea party

Our friend Pips was visiting from Washington so we played lots of games including Tea Party. They were practicing International manners making sure that they burped to say it was delicious and slurpped every cup.