Monday, September 12, 2011

Mt Rainier

A few weeks ago we decided to meet up with the Leonards and go for a hike on Mt Rainier. Before we could go though, we had business to take care of. There was no way we were missing the Olympia Pet Parade. I sometimes run into people here that have never gone. To that I say, You. Do. Not. Live. In. Olympia. There is no way you can understand living in Olympia until you have sat on a curb downtown and watched your friends and neighbors march by with their ducks dressed as Harry Potter, or their dogs as superman or.... Guineazilla!



After the parade we had ice cream in the park with the rest of the town, and then on to Rainier.



The weather was perfect, but there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. This wasn't a real issue until about halfway through our hike when it covered the trail and made things a bit more exciting than we would have preferred. The kids hiked like pros with no complaining, no one fell off a cliff, and the wild flowers were beautiful.



Point Defiance Zoo

Michelle and the kids have been to the zoo a hundred times, but somehow always without me. I finally convinced them to take me this weekend.

The aquarium was our favorite part. It's organized geographically from the North Sound down to Olympia. The sharks and sun starfish were highlights.



Mim loved this puffin until it swam right up to the glass and tapped at her finger. Then she couldn't get away fast enough.



I saw a kid crying at the playground and he told me he couldn't find his mom. We finally found her after about 15 minutes with the help of zoo staff. Not 4 minutes later, another kid came up to me crying and saying he couldn't find his parents. While we were calling his dad's cell phone (memorize those numbers), he actually walked up, yelled at the kid for not keeping up and left. I told Michelle it was time to get out of there before we ended up having to take any orphans home.



Evie spotted reindeer in the artic tundra exhibit and was worried that they actually belonged to Santa. I assured her that Santa would hear about this and come free them from the zoo, riding on a polar bear and destroying everything that opposed him. This seemed to comfort her.



Mim got hungry and started licking her leg clean of some flat fruit she had stuck to it. We took that as a sign that the kids were hungry and it was time to go.


Sunday, September 11, 2011

Sailing

Our friends, the Johnsons took us out on their real sailboat. Unfortunately, there was no wind. We motored around the inlet to Gull Harbor or so and watched a couple of replica tall ships have a faux battle, complete with booming, smoking cannon.

The kids loved spotting seals and were completely unafraid to wander the deck and sit on the sides trying to drag their feet in the water. I can't say I was as comfortable with their daring.





Saturday, September 10, 2011

Sunflower

Grant went to Lil' Luffer's sailing camp this summer in Bud Bay.



We have always felt like we weren't taking advantage of living so close to the water, so after watching Grant sail around Bud Bay, we were inspired to buy our own little boat. It is a Snark Sunflower. It's perfect for us. It is cheap, light, and simple. We can throw it on the roof of the car and even Grant can help me carry it into the water.






We have no idea what we are doing, but have managed not to capsize yet. We have stuck to lakes for now, but we hope to take it out on one of the inlets once we are a little less clueless.