Dale and Sonnet's House: And on to Spanaway, Seattle, and Spokane

After Carson City, we headed over to Redding, CA through Lassen Volcanic National Park and then up Interstate 5 to Ariane's house. It was such a beautiful drive. I would love to go there again and spend more time exploring.

While we were visiting Ariane's family, we all went to the Tacoma Children's museum. If you're ever in the area, the TCM is definitely worth the trip. Admission is donation-based, so they accept anything from 25 cents to $25 per person, or more if you want to give it. This is the best children's museum that we have visited, especially for kids 3-12.

This area was really fun. There were waterfalls, spigots, shower-heads, and more fun stuff for kids to play in the water. They had aprons to keep the kids (mostly) dry. All the children played for a long time here, but the boys spent an especially long time here.

This giant bird flying ship was really cool. On top the kids could flap the wings by pedaling,

They could steer the ship out in front.

And underneath the ship were some bunks (not pictured) and another steering wheel. (I swear, give a kid under 6 a steering wheel, and he'll be happy for an hour or more!)

Kydee really enjoyed building ramps and buildings and then sending balls rolling down the track.

Elora was happy at every station. Here she is digging in the 'dirt'--recycled tire bits.

I had a lot of fun with this thing-a-ma-jig. People put scarves in one hole and then can adjust the air flow to make the scarves go flying through the tubes and out various holes.