First thing on
arrival at the house in Sultan was a walk around property by everyone. After returning to house Jaxson wanted to
find monsters with Opa? Seems he had
been allowed to watch a Scooby Doo episode last night in Houma & now wanted
to hunt monsters! First he had to be
armed with a flashlight even in broad daylight & a sword (no swords here so
we improvised with an elk antler). After
killing numerous monsters, uncle Joe then gave Jaxson a ride on the lawn
tractor. After all this activity it was
finally time for an al fresco dinner on the deck; followed by fire in the fire
pit & smores. At 11PM Louisiana time
Jaxson was still going strong while the adults were crashing. Having the RV definitely helps in providing
beds & privacy – we keep our master bedroom; Rebecca & kids are in the
spare house bedroom; & Joe & Tasha get to have the conveniences of the
RV:)!
Thursday morning the
ladies & grandkids took off to get a new car seat for Mason. Turns out the brand new car seat already
purchased for Mason was not suitable for infants under 30 pounds. Meanwhile, Joe & Dan headed to the barn to
install a pulley/hoist system to lift the heavy “hayloft” ladder Dan fabricated
in May. After that they then transferred
all the heavy boxes from the loft they built in 2012 into the Toad & transferred
them to the shop/RV garage.
After the ladies
returned everyone (but Corrie), headed to Sultan to find a park for
walking. They discovered Osprey Park
& hiked two miles of trails. Jaxson’s
favorite pastime was wading in the ice cold water & throwing endless rocks
into the Sultan River. Then it was back
to the house for another al fresco dinner & smores around the fire pit,
before we were chased into house because of rain. The adults, except Dan, then played Rummy
(after discussing the rules for an hour with Oma).
Friday the 13th Dan,
Joe & Tasha headed into Seattle to EMP.
EMP was created by Paul Allen (the silent partner of MicroSoft with Bill
Gates) & is based on his extensive rock & roll, sci-fi, & 60s
cultural collections. In addition EMP
has many different areas where you can actually use modern electronic
instruments or recording sound equipment.
Dan thinks the Sci-Fi portion was more interesting; & that the Rock
& Soul Museum in Memphis was much better as far as rock & roll history
goes.
Sunday it was off to
the Mukilteo ferry to go to Whidbey Island, with Joe & Tasha on the Harley following
the mini-van. We were supposed to meet
up with Shawn & Cindie on their Harleys, but they cancelled. First stop Fort Casey State Park & then
Coupeville for lunch. Then straight back
to the Harley dealer via Deception Pass to return the rental bike; meeting
Shawn & Cindie there. Then everyone (including
Shawn & Cindie) headed to the house in Sultan for a spaghetti dinner.
Meanwhile Oma,
Rebecca & the two grandkids headed into Everett & its Children’s Museum.
Later in the day everyone came back together
at the house in Sultan & it was off to Ixtapa for Mexican dinner. Back at the house Joe tried to teach everyone
dominoes. Once again Opa & Jaxson had
to battle the monsters on the property.
Opa also showed Jaxson the edible salmon berries & huckle berries
growing on the property. Jaxson liked
them even though he calls all berries grapes?
Saturday morning Dan
& Jaxson took Joe & Tasha to a Harley dealer; so Joe can rent a Harley
& go bike riding with Dan’s brother Shawn.
Shawn showed up & the Harley riders took off for Leavenworth,
WA. While there Dan set Jaxson on one of those "penny arcade" rides that was a Harley replica. He was fine until it started & then he definitely not happy (see first pic below)! Meanwhile Dan & Jaxson headed back
to the house to pick up Oma, Rebecca & Mason. Then it was off to Dan’s cousin Paul &
Shannon Peters for a graduation function for their oldest boy Ryan. From there they took off for Snoqualmie Falls
so Jaxson could see his first “real” waterfall, he was enthralled! Early that evening everyone got back together
at the house for an al fresco pizza dinner, & another fire in the fire pit
with smores. During this time Jaxson
headed over to our neighbor’s fence to talk to the cows for half hour or so. Not sure what the subject of conversation
was, but the two cows seemed very interested.
Monday, 16JUN, it
was back to Deception Pass for a Jet Boat tour under the bridges & thru the
narrows of the Pass. Followed by a beach
walk in the State Park & lunch at a seafood shack on the main road. After lunch we dropped off the kids &
grandkids on the State Park beach so they could hike up to the Deception Pass
bridge, while we waited for them at the top.
Tuesday everyone but
Oma headed to Cedar Falls Watershed Education Center next to Iron Horse State
Park (an old RR right of way stretching from North Bend, east to the Columbia
River) to go hiking. It is a great area
for hiking, but the most interesting thing was the Watershed Education
Center. One exhibit uses tennis balls
moving thru pneumatic tubes to show how water evaporates off the ocean, forms
clouds, rains on mountains, collected by streams, into rivers & back to the
ocean. The neat thing is you take the
tennis ball & put it into the air tube & watch it go from the ocean
into the clouds; then you go to the cloud station, get the ball, put into the
rain tube & watch it go thru the air pipe & fall as rain on the
mountains; & so on. Jaxson thought
this was amazing & would run from station to station to get “his” tennis
ball & send it on its way to the next station.
http://www.seattle.gov/util/EnvironmentConservation/OurWatersheds/CedarRiverWatershed/CedarRiverEducationCenter/HoursLocation/index.htm
Wednesday, 18JUN, everyone
headed into Seattle for sightseeing. As
usual Dan was the tour guide & followed his standard route of – ride the monorail,
Pikes Place Market, waterfront, lunch at Ivars, Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe,
Pioneer Square, Occidental Square, Waterfall Park, & then back to the Seattle
Center on the monorail. Since it was
good weather, we took time to play in the International Fountain before heading
home.
Early that evening
Dan’s nieces (ie Rebecca & Joe’s cousins) Aimee & Marissa came over along
with four of their children (2 each) & Marissa’s husband Dave (see below
BLOG for their last visit). They brought
all the fixin’s for some great carne asada tacos cooked by Dave on the BBQ
grill. A great visit was capped by
smores prepared around the fire pit.
(Note – the last time we saw Aimee & Marissa & kids was back in
August of 2012 during Joe & Rebecca’s last visit; see previous BLOG link
above also)
Thursday Joe, Tasha,
& Rebecca headed to Cashmere, WA, in the TOAD, for white water rafting on
the Wenatchee River. Opa & Oma
needing a rest, stayed at the house to baby sit the grandkids. Dan & Jaxson did head into Monroe for
some errands & spent a couple of hours at a local park enjoying the good
weather. Oma had some quiet time with
Mason since he took a nap. The “kids”
returned safely from the raft trip, even though Rebecca screamed they were
gonna die at the first rapid?
Friday morning (the
day of departure) we all headed to Sultan Bakery for breakfast, unfortunately
they only make their world famous cinnamon rolls on Saturday/Sunday. After breakfast Joe, Jaxson & Dan headed
back to the house; & everyone else (Oma, Rebecca, Tasha & Mason) headed
to Snohomish (the antique capitol of the northwest). During this time Jaxson decided to have a meltdown,
which Opa ignored. After 15 minutes of
tantrum, Jaxson fell asleep on the floor; so Opa covered him with a blanket
& Gumbo curled up next to him. After
everyone else returned from Snohomish, the rest of the day was spent packing
for tonight’s departure & an impromptu mustache growing contest courtesy of 7/11!
All too soon it was
time to make the drive to SeaTac airport for their late night departure back to
Houma. Once again it took a couple of
tries to get all the luggage & two car seats into the minivan! This year’s visit was longer than past
visits, but it seems it was over in flash.
And as usual we were physically & mentally exhausted!
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