Spanaway

I didn't take too many pictures at Ariane's house. Here's a few of the highlights. 

The kids liked trying on Uncle Matt's vest.  It was pretty heavy, even without anything in it.

 Elias could barely lift it; he didn't want to wear it.

 How many people does it take to break into the van? 

The keys got locked in the van and we had to get creative to get them out.  Ariane called her friend, Angie, who has done this several times before.  A neighbor saw us working on it, so he also came over to help.  We used Matt's blood pressure cuff to pry the door open, and after trying several different things, I bent a garden stake, slipped in in the window, and unlocked the door.

 Later that day, Angie hosted a neighborhood backyard mud party.  There was an obstacle course.

We had a lot of fun with Ariane's family.  We were sad to leave.  But, we're already saving up for our trip to visit them in Texas next summer!

Last time to Seattle

As I was looking at these pictures, I realized that this trip was probably our last one to Seattle.  That kinda makes me sad.  We've had a lot of fun times there. Here we are at the famous gum wall in Post Alley, right be the Pike Place Market.  We actually remembered gum to add to the wall this time.

 I thought this tiled wall was cute, so I had to take a picture. It's downstairs at Pike Place.

 Ariane and Matt were extremely generous and paid for all of us to go on one of the famous Seattle Duck tours.  We all had a lot of fun.

 The bus driver changed hats throughout the tour and bounced up and down and danced a lot. Noah was very intrigued by it all.

 I'm not sure what Dale was doing for this picture, but I think it's hilarious and he hates it, so of course I had to post it!

 Back at Pike Place.

 We had to eat at Ivar's before leaving Seattle.

 And feed the seagulls.

 Here's Ariane's family at Gasworks Park. (Nice smile, Matt!)

 And here's me and my fam.

Isn't he just too cute?!

 Matt, thanks again for the great expression!

 Dog pile on Uncle Dale!

 We couldn't ever find this troll on previous trips to Seattle, but luckily our duck tour drove by it, so later we had to go get some pictures with it.  Notice the beetle bug in the troll's hand.  Elias was sure that it was going to drop the bug, pick up our van, and eat us.

Here's a few more pictures, from Ariane's camera.  I took some, she took some.

 

Goodbye, Seattle!

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.

 Noah liked riding this cute little boat.

 All of the children enjoyed the art room with stencils, stamps, acrylics, and watercolors.

 There was also blocks (check out the castle behind Elias that some kids made),

 and a specimen examination station.

Lots of fun!

(I'll write about Seattle for my next post.)
Update: Here's pics from Ariane's camera taken by me and her.