Just a Crabby Summer Afternoon

Since Uffens are rather landlocked in Vegas & Mike has declared that they will not be returning permanently to WA after graduation, we decided that Annie needed as much exposure possible to ocean & its natural beauty. So we ventured to Owens Beach (near Pt. Defiance Park) for junior version of crabbing bearing in mind that we thought we were only an hour away from low tide?!
















Hmmm...still found a dozen or so lil' crabs but took almost an hour! Rachel wanted nothing to do with handling the crustaceous creatures, but Annie cuddled right up to 'em:)













& had fun collecting shells & throwing rocks with her cousins...In fact, following 'em around & copying them to the best of her ability seems to be "all she wants to do-oo-oo-o (Sugarland song:))"
















Just as we were leaving some other sea searchers found a starfish & shared with my boys 'cuz otherwise not our most exciting outing.

Trekkin' through the Great NoWest

Took Rach, Annie & Cait with us on another outing, this time to nearby NoWest Trek for another zoo experience au naturale. We met our friends Kristie with Seth (Cole's buddy from preschool) & also shared the adventure with new friend Allison who brought her 2 boys Abe & Henry. Had about an hour to wait before the next tram ride, so we said hello to the bald eagles...& spent quite a while in the Cheney Discovery Center. Cole & Dane love it there 'cuz there are skins from lots o' animals, books, puppets & skeletal features to make it up close & personal. Here they are pretending to be "in the rut":















Probably not the manliest accessory, but they all wanted to have ladybug headbands too:) Should've gotten a pic. of the whole group together-oh well!













I'm always amazed by the working beehive so I made Dane pose by it with his wings on:)I was most excited for everyone to become one with the wildlife as we drove through right next to 'em 'cuz the boys & I were the only ones who had done it before. Unfortunately we got separated from the other two families on board, but we still had fun...

What a relief to hear that they got another male moose in the park so the ladies weren't so lonely:) I was seriously sad after we were told last time that a big wind storm killed the only one they had a couple of years ago:( I'll probably leave out some of the stars of the tour, but I can remember seeing caribou,mountain goats,buffalo,deer & elk (sorry latter not pictured instead 'cuz their sheer size is more impressive than something we can see on a city st. in WA:))

You can't see 'em very well, but I was trying to capture a couple swans (obviously white in back) & a heron (on logs in front) too?!Our driver/guide was a bit cheesy, but we're never disappointed with the animals who come out to play with us! Made the rounds afterward to greet the bears (you could tell that one of 'em knew he had fans & took a dip for us:))plus usual foxes/wolves, beavers (though just huddled together in their den this time vs. hard @ work-even lil' guys-on a dam!), wolverines & other small four-legged friends. Skipped out on the owls-seen one, seen 'em all, eh?-& called it a day considering it was after 4p anyway!

The Great Grape Mystery

Imagine my horror @ receiving a phone call following Ward Conf. wrap-up mtg. that Chris was en route to the ER with Cole who hadn't choked but seemed to have gotten a grape stuck in his throat during dinner @ Shaws'! Thank goodness my mom is a nurse & my husband was remarkably calm 'cuz they decided (although he could still breathe) that the impact on his voice & his crazy cough was enough to make them concerned that he might not be able to swallow on his own...Cait & Dane got to join them @ Mary Bridge since convenience care in U.P. was closed for Sun. night-Too bad I was without a car 'cuz our Jetta decided to malfunction right after I got a new car & we were back down to one-ugh! So my dad had to pick me up after he dropped off my brother-in-law @ the airport & soon Rach, Annie, & I were there as well! So hard to see my son with an IV in his arm, pale & with voice that was barely audible, but I know that was so minor compared to what some kids experience in the hospital! They had been seen by a doctor right away 'cuz of his difficulty breathing & he'd had an x-ray already, but they wanted to be safe than sorry & opted to do a bronchoscopy/esophagoscopy (the bill clarified the spelling of procedure-ugh!) that night to make sure nothing was still lodged in one of his tubes. He had to have anesthesia & everything for a scope & 20 min. in surgery?! Notice Iron Monger was his trusty sidekick in the hospital:) By then it was 9P, so we sent Dane home with grandparents & aunts while we were in waiting room. We hadn't really unpacked from cabin that weekend 'cuz we'd had sleepover @ my parents to bond with Mike on his last night in town until Aug. So I guess t'was handy to have pillows & overnight bag-Cole picked Chris to stay with him overnight per dr's recommendation, but I still stayed until about midnight...Once we knew he was okay, he thought he was @ a resort or something (again not to belittle others' trauma there). Did we mention that the infamous grape was never found so must've swallowed somehow after all?! However Cole thought it was fabulous to spend the rest of hte night maneuvering the bed & using the remote on the TV (though he wanted to inform the nurses that nothing for kids was on @ that hour-um, 10:30P?!) There was no way he was going to bed when he could have all-you-can-drink choc milk, ice cream, jello & popsicles:) So he was apparently cured despite remnants of bad cough! He even tried on hospital pj pants & wanted to use the call button for the nurse until we informed him that was only if he was in pain?!? That's going to be one expensive sleepover but better safe than sorry!

Splish Splash

Apparently we're the late-comers to this spray park phenomenon, but the boys have enjoyed a couple of outings this summer to Jefferson Park.
We want to try Stewart Heights next & I understand there are a couple of others...see what I mean about not really venturing out into my own city? We invited Annie & Cait of course,then grabbed Cole's buddy Seth from Puyallup & met a friend of mine from high school (Mikaela Hochstrasser-->Griggs) who was here for her sister's wedding with her 3 sons (Britain, Benjamin & Anderson). I wanted reassurance that there was life afterward:) She seems to have it under control but did have help from her husband Christian while visiting WA. T'was great to see her, even if for a short n' sweet visit while the boys played in the water!

Another 4th @ Fort Vancouver

After breakfast @ Hawks Prairie en route to Woodland & a cloudy day @ Lake Merwin, we ventured further south for fireworks!














Of course we always have to rock out during the cool concert prior to the real show:) I must admit I was disappointed yet another year re: recorded patriotic medley selections...no Proud to be an American or Coming to America? Are you kidding me? Those are classics!
















Oh, can't forget second year of new tradition by buying pizza @ midnight in Vancouver to bring back to the cabin as well as lighting a few explosives of own for Parker boys-it's a guy thing, eh?


















Grandpa even got in on the action this year!God bless America:) Only thing that could've made me happier would've been a little cooperation from the weather-ugh! We didn't let it dampen our spirits though!!

Exploring Tacoma-By Land & By Sea

Sometimes I feel like I haven't even taken full advantage of the Great NoWest let alone nearby Tacoma despite the infamous aroma. So even though we missed the Farmers' Market, I still took the boys downtown on July 3 to enjoy Children's Museum (btw free on Thurs. in summer until 5P even though FM is only open until 2P-oops!)

Since we didn't have to pay for entertainment, I also treated 'em to a gourmet hot dog @ a place that Chris has been eying for months even though he didn't get to join us until later. We always pass it when it's closed, so decided it was worth a try!

Meanwhile we also indulged @ Tacoma's own Hello Cupcake!














I also wanted to see what all of the hype about the tall ships was about while we were closeby. Chris thought it was for old folks:) but I convinced him to just check it out for fun with the fam & the boys thought it was great! We didn't pay to board any of the ships, but watched Cole & Dane transform into pirates right before our eyes also free of charge! Hard to believe how serious some people take that interest-apparently there are clubs in the area for die-hard wannabes!
Not sure we should be encouraging tattoos either, but plenty of the temporary ones available:) Of course, they had to have a cold treat to make the night complete & Chris enjoyed some BBQ as usual @ one of the stands.