Seattle 2014

Gum wall under Pikes Place Market

This was a highlight of the trip when asking the kids their what was the best part of the trip on the way home.

Noah figured he'd probably chewed that much gum in his live and wished he'd started his own gum wall back home.

I never did spend time to get the camera settings correct for the glass museum.

  Top of the space needle.  It was cold up there.

 

The kids all crashed a little after a yummy lunch.

I loved the snow capped mountains surrounding Seattle. 

Arwen found her name.

The other winner, the troll under the bridge.

Time For A Haircut

Noah negotiated this photo shoot in agreement of a haircut tomorrow.  

He just added "And a treat, something like a giant candy bar."  

Though I don't recall that being in the original deal.

 Noooo, I changed my mind...

 At peace with the idea of a haircut.

He's sure going to miss that hair.

Hot Saturday

Arwen and Sarah were out at her soccer game, Larkin was at a friends birthday party and the boy's were playing video games so I had them come out back and help with the yard.

 After the lawn was mowed and the boys collected some sticks for our "recreational" fire on a 100 or so degree day we set up the sprinkler and cooled off. 

 Noah wanted to make clear that he was not standing on his brothers head.

 This one only hurt for a few minuets. 

Birthday Fun

I started off my birthday coaching Larkins U7 soccer game.  The girls came up with a name last practice, "Dark Princesses" and we have a fun little cheer. 

When we got home I practiced falling off my highline.  It was pretty scary but I got the hang of falling and think I'm ready to hook up a long one next.  

We all went out for some yummy Thai food for lunch. Then Sarah took me shopping for a new suit and some clothes.  Larkin tagged along.

We ended up on 23rd street in portland and got some fun clothes at Prana then walked down the street for some ice-cream at Salt and Straw.  There was a long line but it was good.

I got Almond brittle with Salted Ganache, Sarah got Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper, and Larkin got Oregon Rocky Road.  They were all really good.  While standing in line our server kept giving us sample spoons of other fun flavors.  We'll have to head back with the rest of the kids.

We were watching a Discovery Channel shark show earlier and we figured that Sharknado was no worse and the kids have been wanting to watch it since we had Sharknado night at the Dickinsons.  So other than Joshua who's asleep next to me the other kids and Sarah are watching sharks fall from the sky and eat people. 

Oceanside

We dropped by the Tillamook forestry center on the way to the beach and found out that Larkin was named after a meat grinder.

The kids did quite a bit of swimming.

Of course we stopped by the cheese factory on the way home for some ice-cream.

Here are a few videos of the fun.

Day at the Gorge

Kelly, John, and the girls Annabelle and Lucy have been here this week for a visit.  We all went up to the Gorge for a fun day at the waterfalls.

Larkin behind Latourell Falls.

Joshua found a fun hiding place on the way up to the bridge at Multnomah Falls.

The kids all made it over the log jam at Oneonta Gorge without much help this year.  They're getting so big.  We startled a snake eating a salamander.  Noah thought it was pretty funny when the snake pooped on me which was pretty entertaining for all the people around as well. 

We got to the falls pretty dry having scaled the walls, but all got wet swimming at the falls.

The kids trying to get to the falls.

After trying to talk the kids into it I figured I'd better do it.

Some guy took some awesome photos of the kids dancing under the waterfalls.  I gave him my email and hope he gets around to sending the pictures.