Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Caleb is back home on break from college.  The weather was great and we decided to go on a hike.

 We walked across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and back.

 We picked up Andrew and Mallory on the way and they did the hike with us.

This is me.

This picture shows how high above the water and coast the bridge runs.

 Just starting the hike here and you can see the bridge spans.

Andrew took this picture - Jacquelyn, Mallory, Doug, and Caleb.

Grandchildren visiting

We had some grandchildren visiting over the weekend.

 Mallory and Andrew spent the night Saturday night.

 The Abels were here for two nights, Friday and Saturday.  Dallen, Evan, Ashton, and James all came.  Tianna and Jim were here too.  Here's Ashton taking aim with a compound bow out in the backyard.
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 Bullseye!!!

Evan taking a turn with the bow and arrow.  He was really good.

Maze in Mt. Vernon

Doranda and Bob invited us to go with them to a hedge maze up in Mt. Vernon.  It was at a place called the Berry Barn.

 We got up early on a Saturday morning and were there when it first opened.  We had the whole place to ourselves most of the time.  This is Tucker followed by Penelope heading into the entrance.

 The sign says "You are here, now get lost."  It was easy to do in there.  Leon kept trying to run off and his parents had to keep a close eye on him and chase him down several times.

Here we are working our way through the maze.  This is supposedly the largest hedge maze in North America.  You couldn't see through the walls at all and they were about 10-12 feet tall.

 They had various signs to try and find and learn things about the different berries they grow at the farm.

 Tucker was great at finding his way through the maze.

 Penelope wasn't always sure we were going the right way.  Except when she was leading of course.

 Leon had a great time.

 In the middle was a ramp that led up to a platform that overlooked the maze and had a slide.

 Penelope going down the slide.

 They also had a rope maze that was very hard to get through and reach the middle.  It was confusing which turn to take.

 After the maze we stopped at MacDonald's for ice cream and then parted our ways going home.  Jacquelyn and I stopped at Steward Park in Seattle and went on a beautiful 3 mile hike through the woods alongside the waters of Lake Washington.

 Here's a shot of the water.  It was beautiful out.  We had a wonderful day.

Mom's birthday

We celebrated Mom's birthday a few days early while I was in Mesa.

Mom will be 86 on the 11th.

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I made her a cake, which was harder than I thought it would be.  I knew they didn't have any cake pans so I got 2 at the store when I bought the cake mix and icing and oil and eggs.  Then I made the  cake with Dad's help but we didn't have any mixing bowls or mixer or measuring cup.  We mixed it by hand in a pot and cooked it in the oven.  Then we didn't have anything to put it on.  We improvised with a shelf out of the refridgerater.  It wasn't pretty but we got it made.

Mom opening her present.

 

I got her a bird feeder bell to hang outside her window.

Happy birthday Mom.  You a are special to all of us and we love you!

June Birthdays

We had a lot of birthdays to celebrate in June so we picked one day and got together to celebrate all the birthdays and also Father's Day.  Happy Birthday to Talitha, David, Jacquelyn, Tucker, and Dallen.

 Malachi, Tucker, and James with one of the cakes.

 Another cake, my favorite.

 Jello watermelon was a huge hit, especially with the children.

 Andrew, Dallen, Tianna, Tucker, James, and Jarom.

 Mallory, Layne, and Dallen.

 Jarom home for a rest from college.

 Dallen, Evan, Jarom, Jim, and Ashton.

 Mallory, Layne, Malachi, and Andrew.

 Evan and Molly.

Leon. We didn't get any pictures of Talitha or David even though we were celebrating their birthday.  I also didn't get any pictures of Doranda or Bob.  And I didn't get any pictures of Jacquelyn or me either.

 One night I built a huge fire in the fire pit out in the back yard.  Here are some pictures.

Happy birthdays!  And happy Father's Day to all the fathers.

Ball season, what fun

Spring and summer are here and with it ball season.  The grandson's that are old enough to play ball sure have a lot of fun and we've been able to attend some of the games.

 I'll go in order of the ones we got to see the least, which was a function of distance this year.  Ashton's soccer team won first place and he's really good.  I've played soccer with him on some visits.  We didn't get to any of his games this year and this is the only picture I have.  See previous year's blogs for some.  Evan was playing soccer too and is the star of his team and scores the most goals.  Also James on a sports team.  Maybe next year can get to some more of their games.
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 Tucker was playing his first year of T-ball.  We only got out there to one game but at least we saw him play.  He seemed to be really having a lot of fun.

 Tucker running the bases and heading for home.

 Tucker's dad was the coach which really made it special for him I'm sure.

 Tucker warming up to bat.

 Tucker at bat.

 Tucker's two sisters Penelope and Scarlett came to his games to root him on, when they weren't distracted by playing in the dirt that is.

 Andrew played baseball also.  His team got second place, see here with trophy.  They were playing pitch baseball and had a league with playoffs and everything.

 Andrew out in the field throwing in the ball.  We went to a lot of his games.  They played in Puyallup right down the street from us on Shaw Road.

 Andrew had his sister Mallory there to root for him also.

 Andrew getting ready to bat.

 Andrew takes a mighty swing.  He was one of the big batters on the team and has a good eye for hitting.

It's so much fun.  I really miss the days when I had little ball players at home.  Hope you grandson's, and granddaughters too, that are not playing now are practicing with your dads so you can play when you get older.