100% cranky.

 

30% cranky, 70% philosophical (“At least I got Uncle Dan to carry me”):

 

80% cranky, 80% sleepy (a mathematical impossibility, but it somehow still works for him).

 

And to show he is not always like this, here’s a few more shots to balance his reputation:

I’ve been wanting to get the kids their own sling shots for a while.  Dwayne had a machete when he was growing up in the jungles of South America, so his kids need something to play with in the suburbs of Seattle.  But we don’t call Dan Dwayne’s perfect brother for nothing. He had a brand new sling shot in his stash of fun toys.  I really have to buy them a sling shot now….

 

Turtle Bay had an amazing Lego sculpture exhibit that I really enjoyed.  (Kyla & Piper thought it was cool, which is really good since they have a Lego Engineering for Girls camp when we get back home.) 

This is a self-portrait of the artist, Nathan Sawaya.

 

Seriously, how cool is this?

 

And this life-size sculpture!

 

 

Then, it left cool, and went into a new dimension of fantastic.

Digital Painting:

 

Close up:

 

The actual dress:

I know!!  It’s amazing!

 

The Legos in this one?

 

The train track!

The most famous attraction at  Turtle Bay is the world’s largest sundial bridge.  Actually, I think it is the largest sundial, and it just happens to be a bridge. 

 

The clock side has plaques like this, so you can tell the time pretty accurately, if  you can adjust for the date (it’s exact only on June 20).

 

But we weren’t really there to set our watches.  K, P, &  W were determined to catch minnows in the icy Sacramento.

I have not been a mother to these particular kids for so long for nothing.  There was a change of clothes for each child and a plastic bag in the backpack, along with enough snacks and lunch for my hobbits.  None of my preparations went unused. 

Of course, we are not in Red Bluff, CA for the minnow fishing.  We have family to be with.  Dwayne’s oldest brother & Co (wonderful wife and 3 wonderful nearly-grown children) met us there and were equal-partners in our adventures. 

And by “equal”, we mean our three got people to carry them fairly regularly.  Thanks, Isaac and Kara!

 

Turtle Bay is great fun (and, if you have that extra sticker on your children’s museum membership, free!) and we spent all afternoon exploring the exhibits. 

 

 

I can’t recommend Whidbey Island enough for the 3rd and 4th of July! 

We made the 9:30 ferry Wednesday night, which put us in Freeland just in time for the big July 3rd fireworks show. (Note to self: make it there about 6 hours earlier next year for the whole fun festival and not just the 10pm show.)

Maxwelton Beach community puts on a perfect hometown Fourth of July parade.  Buy a $1 button for every family member, come early enough to play a bit on the beach, and get back along the route in time for the 1pm parade.  So doing this again next year!

 

Here’s the grandstand.  The big grandstand.  Emceed by the grandpa who has lived there the most decades and knows every single person in the parade. 

 

Red, white, blue, and lemonade.

 

I love these people.

 

There were many creative entries, but I really liked the two gorillas who were giving out bananas.  There was also a food bank promotion that tossed out radishes.  (Don’t worry, the kids got a handful of candy, too.)

 

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please pause for the national anthem, played by —– on the saxophone.” It was a great way to end the parade.

The not-so-good ones end with frozen yogurt with lots of toppings.  Luckily, we did our first family ride close to home, so when Dwayne’s chain snapped, it wasn’t the big deal it would be if we hadn’t been a short bike ride from our car and bike shop. 

But it’s still worth a “Cheers!” with the family.

First of all, isn’t this the coolest cloud formation you have seen?  Seriously, Double Bluff beach is a kick, which is why we log in so many hours there.

 

Kyla, Piper, Wesley, Friend, Friend, and Friend spent 3-4 hours Tuesday afternoon building a teepee out of driftwood, and used kelp to decorate it. 

 

Today we went back so the kids could continue working on their fort and then they “had to” build a bridge, with more wood, sand, shells, and rocks.

 

Everyone, except Mama, who had books to read, helped.

 

I love  how the girls collected seaweed to make the teepee walls waterproof (and on sunny days, it works great!).

And after all that play, Wesley is exhausted and wants to sleep NOW!

Hi, Moms,

You know some of those handy kid snacks that are so convenient, healthy-ish, and completely disposable?  I’ve stopped getting them in my attempt to go Zero Waste (impossible right now, but I like being very conscious of what I put in landfill).  BUT, we discovered that Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle has a program to recycle Go-Go’s (the applesauce squeeze tubes), Capri-Suns, plastic lids (the ones too small for household recycle like milk jug lids), corks, and batteries.  Oh, and those plastic rings that hold 6-packs together.  When you turn them into the Zoomazium or the special cart by the new Asian otter exhibit for points.  Then, kids can spend their points on—get this—really cool shells and real fossils!   Seriously, can life get better for K & P?? 

Kids can also get points for stopping by the Zoomazium and picking up activities to do at the zoo that day, like observing the different babies behaviors, or Behavior Bingo, etc.  Anyway, we have more reason than usual for going to the zoo. 

This is the sign at the Northern Tree Shrew exhibit:

 

See, and it turned out okay.  Probably.

We’ll have to come up with a name for this beast, since we bought the naming rights from our neighbor who has been the reluctant owner of this ‘73 Dodge for a few years.  We’ve borrowed it more than we should have, and it finally kicked the bucket while Dwayne was coming home with a load of lumber.   After spending $700 to fix it—fuel filter, ignition coil, master cylinder, and brakes (because if it was eventually going to start, we needed it to stop)—we figured we needed to buy it so it wouldn’t be sold to someone else. 

 

So the good news is that you now know someone who owns a truck and a cabin.  We need to know someone with a boat and a hot tub.

Speaking of the cabin, I’ve finished (read: I’ve done all I’m going to until next winter) a website for the cabin. 

http://heartseaselogcabin.blogspot.com/

What I like best is that it has a calendar of times already reserved so you can see when it may be available.  The times we are going are not usually marked.