Washinton DC Trip 2010

Well, here we are in the Washington DC area visiting Teresa's sister and her family. We got here last night and are already having a great time. Here are some photos from the trip so far.

Kate is ready to check into the Red Roof Inn, where we stayed the night before flying out early the next morning. It was nice not having to race up to the airport from Puyallup at O'Dark-Thirty.

We ate at the Bahama Breeze Restaurant at South Center before hitting the hay...

Cole is ready for dinner...

Jack informed us that he is NOT ordering off of the children's menu...

The plane had a little condensation problem before we took off on our connecting flight from North Carolina. Can you say 95 degrees and 95% humidity?

Before going to bed, I just had to see one of those LOUD locust up close. I wish I hadn't looked! This one was attached to my shirt and then ended up in the house. Nathan's cat got a hold of it and ate it slowly as it made a horrible noise. Our first exposure to Maryland entomology.

The next morning I took the 5:30am train with Buzz to work. He spent half a day in the office and I spent the morning walking around the city in the monsoon. That is Buzz waiting for the train to stop and pick us up. It took us about 30 minutes to get into downtown D.C. from the station by their house.

I took a trip up the Washington Monument. It's awsome because almost every attraction is free!

The view of the Mall was really cool, but a little cloudy and rainy...

The bad weather kept the crowds away. I am not kidding when I say I was the ONLY person within view on the mall...

I loved the WWII monument. So beautiful and well designed. I will definately be coming back here when the weather breaks...

Here is part of the Korean War Memorial. There were dozens of Korean tourist, including a 8th grade from South Korea that looked a little bored as their teacher told them all about it...

I meant it when I said MONSOON! Here are the steps of the Lincoln Memorial actually flowing with rain water....

Some buildings seemed smaller than I imagined, but old Abe was as larger than I expected!

Her is a shot of the statue at the Vietnam War Memorial...

The White House! Much smaller than I imagined, but also much closer to the street than I imagined! However, I am sure I was being watched by no less than a dozen people as I was digging through my backpack looking for my other camera lens!

I was NOT impressed with White House lawn. I have a better lawn than Barack! Time to fire the groundskeeper!

The view from Buzz's office building, the Department of Justice. Wouldn't that be cool to see every day going to work!

Buzz and I had lunch near Ford's Theater before heading back home...
When I got back from my morning adventure, what did I find the cousins doing? Watching a movie of course! I know that they will melt in the rain, but lets go outside, eh!

Whistler 2009

Wow, nearly one whole year since the last posting on our blog. Oh, well... never look back!

We arrived for our (nearly) annual Whistler trip on Friday. We have had fantastic weather so far, and we are looking at 80 degree days for the rest of our trip. The Taggart family came up Saturday and we have been having a lot of fun with them so far. Here are some photos from our trip so far:

We started out the fun with a trip to the Upper Village, where we usually stay and where the Taggart's are staying. When we made reservations, they were booked at the main IntraWest Resort so we ended up at the Creekside area in another resort called Legends. It is almost identical to IntraWest, but they have air conditioning!

Here are the boys on the "Spin Cycle". Kate took a turn too.

We took a stroll to the main village.



There was some sort of major mountain biking competition going on over the weekend. There were LOTS of young people here over the weekend. By today, it was comparatively a ghost town!


Nintendo had a booth set up during the mountain biking competition. The kids got a chance to play the Wii Resort game.



Here are the kids in some heavy competition.





It wouldn't be Whistler without the famous IntraWest slide.

Kevin, Jack T., me and Cole took an ATV trip near Blackcomb Mountain. It lasted about 3 hours, and our group did so well that the guide took us on the intermediate course instead of the beginner's course. It was a lot of fun, and us four made friends with a family from Scotland. They were really nice and we all were fascinated with their very THICK Scottish accents! Here is Kevin and Jack ready to head back down the mountain after our morning snack.

They even let Cole take the quad through a big mud puddle. This was no problem after all of the practice he gets at his Uncle Adam's place.

Here is a shot of some of the easier trails we went on. The most fun was climbing over rocks and logs and "catching a little air" over some of the dips in the road. It was a lot more exciting than we expected!

Teresa and Mary Kaye took the girls and Jack to a ceramics shop and spent a couple of hours making some beautiful creations.

A day in Seattle

Today, we travelled up to Seattle for the day. Teresa had to work in the morning at an OB/GYN conference, so we drove up together and the kids and I waited for her to finish up. Then we headed to downtown Seattle, to take a tour of Pikes Place Market. We spent a few hours touring around the stores there, and the boys even got to catch fish at the Fish Market! Then we headed north to the Alderwood Mall. We ate at the Macaroni Grill and then went shopping in the Alderwood Mall. The day was lots of fun, and everyone had a great time! Check out the photos:



The boys climb the stairs leading to Pikes Place Market

The boys thought that the fish on the left was pretty ugly. They got a kick out of it, when it would flop around from time to time (the employees tied a string to the tail and would give it a yank from behind the counter_

Jack was fascinated that the crawfish were still alive. Finally one got out and chased some of the customers with it's claws out. It was pretty funny.

Caution: Low Flying Fish! Jack took a shot at catching a fish (I pointed out the fish with a red arrow). He missed about four times, but the guy wouldn't let Jack quit until he caught it. The crowd had about as much fun as Jack did!

The big catch. Maybe the closed eyes were the problem?

Cole caught his on the first try, with roaring applause from the audience.

A shot at the crowd in the market. I think everyone came here today to get out of the rain.

We couldn't pass up the chance to add to our smashed penny collections!

The World's Best Kids stand in front of the World's Tallest Man.

Kate bought a bouquet of beautiful flowers.

The kids pose with Pike Place Market's official mascot, Rachel, a bronze cast piggy bank that weighs nearly 600 pounds. They say Rachel receives roughly $9,000 annually in just about every type of world currency! Jack wasn't happy in this photo (a long story). He perked up after a good lunch.

Brace Face

Kate got her upper braces last week, and she is her way to a beautiful set of teeth. She only gets the top ones first, then some more work and bottom braces later on. Here is a shot of her, just after she got back from the orthodontist's office.

Leavenworth: Day 3

Today was our third day in Leavenworth. We got up, and out the door for breakfast by 8am this morning. We surprised all of the kids by driving to a water park near Lake Chelan. We got there just as it opened, and were able to get lots of runs down the different water slides before it got too ridiculously busy. We left Chelan around 3pm and headed back to Leavenworth. After a little break at the hotel and a great authentic German dinner, we headed to the Leavenworth Outdoor Theatre for the Sound of Music! We were surprised to see some other people from our church there, and Kate's music teacher from Cascade Christian. It was even more of a treat because her teacher's oldest daughter was playing Leisel in tonight's show! She did a great job, and this year's performance was one of the better ones. Here are some photos from today:



Lunch at the Lake Chelan water park. I'm not sure why Kate looks so unhappy?




Cole and Jack team up on one of the water slides.



Lauren and Grant come next.



Last but not least, Kate goes down the slide...solo.



Cole leads the race on the water slide.



Jacks ready for another try.



Close your eyes and hold your breath!




A view of Lake Chelan from the top of the water slide park.



Jack takes one more run down the slide.



I kid you not, it actually read 112 deg. but I didn't get my camera up fast enough to record it! This was a personal record for me. Interestingly, that is 122 degrees warmer than my personal coldest night spent in Pullman. Yikes!



There was a forest fire on the other side of the hill, behind our hotel. It made the air quality a little hazy, but made for a pretty picture.



We went to dinner at our favorite German restaurant for some Jägerschnitzel and some King Ludwig’s Oktoberfest beer. Yummy.




I said "smile" Jack, nor "snarl".




An evening view of downtown Leavenworth, under the smokey haze.



The gang's all ready for our 6th annual watching of The Sound of Music. Kate's music teacher (and family) sat right behind Heather.



A shot of the stage before the play started. No photos are allowed during the performance.



Today was Lauren's official 10th birthday. The Mother Abbess and two of her postulates sang "Happy Birthday" to Lauren.



Kate and Lauren get their picture taken with Maria and Captain Von Trapp.



Kate with her music teacher's daughter, Raevynn Leach, who played Leisel in tonight's Performance.