Trip to Mt. Rainier

Malachi and his family invited us to go with them on a day trip to Mt. Rainier.  We got to use our National Park Senior Pass for the first time and so we got in free.  The cost for a car was $25 so we already more than made up the $10 we paid for the lifetime National Park Pass.

 First we stopped for a picnic lunch.  The weather was beautiful.

 Then we went on the Longmire hike called Trail of Shadows.  It's a very short hike (.7 miles roundtrip), paved, and level, around some interesting hot mineral springs.

 There were plenty of fallen logs alongside the trail for people to climb on.

 We love it out in the woods.  Washington is one of the most beautiful states in the country.

 It's fun for kids to be outdoors in the woods and away from the city.

 We wanted to do another hike so we went up to Cougar Rock to do a hike there.

 It starts out with a foot bridge across a stream from one of the glaciers.

 This hike was uphill and kind of steep.

Here we are at the waterfall lookout.  It was a very enjoyable day with Malachi and his family.

Sculpture Park in Olympia

Last week we drove out to Olympia to get our National Parks Senior Pass before the prices go up.  Afterwards we stopped at this Sculpture Park that turned out to be nothing like what we had expected.

 It was kind of weird.  All the sculptures were more than a little strange.  And the more we saw the odder they got.

 It was out in the country and not close to the city.  Strange place for a park and it was a little overgrown and not totally well kept.

It's privately owned.  I think some one just had a lot of land so they set up this park and let any odd-ball artist that wants to set up a sculpture to come out and do so.

 At least it was free.

 Some were pretty good and some a little too odd for my taste.

 This flat looking lawn is actually the top of a pond that is totally covered in small little water algaes.

 We had fun walking around.

You call this art.   I'm not trying to explain any of this.  You can judge for yourself.

 It was interesting, I can tell you that.

 I think some of these artists might need a little help upstairs.

 My favorite.

That's the end.  Afterwards we got stuck in traffic.  The traffic was so bad we were not moving at all.  It looked like it would be hours getting home and we passed a movie theater so we stopped and watched a movie.

We saw the new Spiderman.  It was good.  The Spiderman character in this new version is a teenager like in the comic books and is funny.

Grandchildren Visiting

We watched Andrew and Mallory this week while Malachi and Layne went up to Canada for a vacation.  They were here Sunday evening, through until late Wednesday.

 We had a lot of fun doing all kinds of activities and getting to spend time together.

 The big thing they wanted to do was go fishing.  So one morning before Andrew's baseball camp we went fishing.  It started out really neat when the kids found a big turtle up on the shore trying to get some sun.

 We fished at Bradley Lake Park out on the dock.  At first Mallory said she wasn't touching any squirmy worms, but before we were done she did stick one on a hook.

 We didn't catch any fish but we saw some in the water and they got some nibbles.  However the sun was out and the weather was sunny and the lake was gorgeous.  It was a great start to the morning.

 They did want to play some games on the computer while they were here.

 But not too much.

 Can't forget to mention Bruce.  He was here too.

 One day Doranda came up with her children so they could play with their cousins.

 We went to the park by the library.

 Leon and Penelope doing gymnastics on the grassy fields.

 Scarlett and Penelope.

 Mallory.

 Then later in the week James and Ashton flew into town and we had some overlap where we had all four.

 Of course Caleb had a lot of fun playing with the children.

 Ashton made us a dinner one night.  He took cooking lessons and made an Italian meal with Alfredo noodles and buttery bread rolls.  It was delicious.

 Mallory was the first to want to shoot arrows.  She learned quick.

 Andrew had no trouble at all and took it right up.  He's very athletic.

 James got a dead center bullseye on one shot.

 Then later in the week Tianna came up also.  Ashton made us cinnamon rolls.

What a week.  Lot of fun.

Hiking with Doranda and her family

Doranda invited us to go on a hike with them earlier this month.

 It was fun.  The trail was out in the area near where they live, Gold Creek Trail up Green Mountain.

 Some of our group decided to take a shortcut and we got separated for a while.  We thought it was a switchback shortcut but it never did connect back up.

 Rest stop.

 Interesting views.  There was one area where the lumber had been harvested and they left behind huge piles of debris.

 Tucker climbing a tree.

 Up at the top enjoying the view.

Feeding the hungry birds.

We love being outdoors with family on a hike.

Ashton Evan and Thomas

Guess who we ran into at the airport the other day?

Thomas Rawls, RB for the Seattle Seahawks.

Here's a picture I took of Thomas Rawls taking a selfie with Evan and Ashton.  He's not very tall (I looked it up, only 5'9"), but he looked like solid muscle and was a very friendly guy.

For those that don't know what a RB is, that's the guy they give the ball to, and he has to run past the monster sized tackles and giant linebackers.

Another picture of Evan and Ashton's new buddy on an average work day against the Chicago Bears.

 Ashton and Evan were at our house for a few days on a short but fun visit.

We had a good time and enjoyed their company.