(Now before I really get going on this post, it is going to be a long one, since it really covers the last month and a half. There are a lot of pictures however, but I'm just warning you... it's gonna be long.)
With the record heat this summer, no one wanted to spend much time outside, so we mostly hung out at the condo, wandered the air-conditioned malls, and squeezed in a trip to an indoor pool nearby.
We did manage to get out and do some fun outdoor activities, though. Towards the end of July, Lakes Stevens had their annual Aqua Fest. For those from the Northwest, it's pretty equivalent to Issaquah's Salmon Days or Renton's River Days, but falls in between the two in terms of scale and activities.
Since Derek's hectic work schedule has kept him working even on the weekends, I took the kids to check out Aqua Fest '09. Only one aspect of the festival drew and kept the boys' attention. Can you guess what it is?
It wasn't the opportunity to row canoes on the lake, or to watch the Idol-style talent show, or to watch the various water races or pet show.
Here's a hint:
It was "What rides can we go on?"
Mitch rode on the Orbitron (seen on the edge of this photo) first. You go inside and stand against the outer wall, which has inclined mats on rollers. As the ride speeds up, the outward (negative) centripedal forces flatten you against the mat and the mat will slide up the wall, lifting your feet off the floor. Due to his size, Mitch said he was the first one to slide up when he rode it.I remember riding this many a time growing up. Maybe it's my age, but I have no interest in feeling so squished again. Juliana and I rode the ferris wheel (seen in the central background of the photo above). She was okay on the ascent, but the feeling of the wind on the descent worried her. Or maybe it was the open top of the carriages.
Mitch rode on some other spinning, dizzying rides, while Jonah opted for the vertigo-inducing rides like this Pharoah's Revenge.
He convinced Mitch to ride it with him once, too. Jonah is in the lower part of the photo below (he didn't want to sit at the very back), and Mitch (as per his usual) is making goofy poses for the camera.
We also spent an evening in July catching up with some friends.
Juliana loved hanging out with Claudia (above) and meeting Samwise (below).Sam is a Bull Mastiff breed, and Juliana was a mix of curious and nervous around him.
Derek managed to get one day off after working too many days straight, which happened to be on a Wednesday, so we took the kids down to Federal Way to hang out at Wild Waves Park & Enchanted Village.It turned out to be the hottest day this summer, with record-setting temperatures for most of the Northwest. (Highest temps recorded since they started tracking them in the late 1800's)
Juliana's enjoying the shade, where it was a balmy 95 degrees. The thermometer on the stroller said it was 116 degrees in the parking lot when we left that afternoon.
While Derek and Mitch waited in line to ride a roller coaster (in the background), the rest of us hung out in the shade to wait. Juliana loves her brothers, and was particularly attached to Jonah this summer.I'd post a picture of Derek and Mitch descending the loop-de-loop, but I posted one roller coaster picture already this summer. The only difference is that Derek cut off most of his hair some time between the coaster ride earlier this summer and this one.
Then the boys rode on a few other rides, like Disk'O', which spins around while rocking back and forth along this track:
And this hanggliding-type ride:
See the short hair on Derek? And Mitch's goofy pose?Juliana went on her first ride alone (sitting in a miniature car that went round in circles). I had left the camera with Derek, so couldn't get a picture of this. She enjoyed this for the first two revolutions, then started to show signs of getting nervous. The operator stopped the ride after 6 revolutions before she could start getting herself worked up.
The kids brought their swim trunks and got to take a dip in the wave pool (Juliana stayed in the shallow areas). It was packed in the water, and (par for the course this summer) I forgot to take a picture of it.
As per our annual tradition, we spent SeaFair Sunday (first Sunday of August) at a friend's house on Mercer Island. We go there every year to watch the hydroplane races across Lake Washington, catch up with old friends and watch the Blue Angels fly overhead.The streets get more and more packed every year. This is a picture of the bottom of their driveway. There are at least 6 more cars parked behind, stringing up the hill, that you can't see. I say at least 6, since cars are squeezed in side-by-side in some areas of the driveway.
There's always a ton of food there, and thankfully, Juliana was content with snacking more on the carrots than on the potato chips... unlike her mother. I did, however, eat more fresh vegetables than I did potato chips. I think.
Mitch and Jonah brought swim trunks this year and managed to keep their shoes off whenever they went in the water. In all honesty, only one of them waded into the lake with their shoes on last year. (*Ahem*, Jonah)
Here's the view of the I-90 bridge after the Blue Angels had made a few passes already. They always close the bridge for the duration of the airshow (about 3 hours total, but that also includes other planes that were demonstrating their stuff that day)
Some people like to time their crossing of the bridge to try to get "stuck" and watch the airshow from the east and west highrises, as you can tell by the crowds of people who have left their cars to watch.The Blue Angels are always the last to perform, and always lead in with a few fly-bys from their Lockheed-Martin C-130T Hercules, affectionately known as Fat Albert Airlines:
And then they make their entrance... rumbling through the sky. Juliana kept her hands over her ears for almost the whole show. Even now, when she looks at these pictures, she covers her ears, looks at me and says "loud!".I think I took around 30 pictures of the F/A-18 Hornets, but these are probably the most clear. There is only a limited amount of adjusting that I can do with my point-and-shoot camera. Maybe one day, I'll get a digital SLR.
Towards the end of the day, Juliana had made friends with Avery (a friend's son) who is just a year older than her. (The festivities were held at his grandfather's home)When it came time to get ready to go, we went looking for Juliana and found her playing in the closet with Avery! And the door was mostly closed.
I can see we are going to have to have a little talk, young lady, about proper behavior...
Caught red-handed:
Other exciting news of the summer... we got a grill for the back deck. My sister's boss had one that they no longer needed (their new home has a built in grill on the patio), so he graciously allowed us to take it off of his hands for a reasonable amount.One of the first things we made on it was grilled chicken and hot dogs, but then we branched out and experimented with grilling pizza!
Granted, it isn't the prettiest pizza, but I forgot to photograph a pizza until after the first two were already consumed. The first two were much more photogenic.... really! Even so, this photo was taken when I first put it on the grill... and then I forgot to take a picture of the finished product where the cheese is all melted and crust so nicely browned.Given a choice between making a pizza in the oven or on the grill... I would pick the grill for flavor any day. The main difference with making it on the grill is that you must have all the toppings prepped and ready beside the grill before you start.
We had quite a bit of pizza towards the end of the month of July, since that is Jonah's favorite food, and he had to fly back to Utah earlier than we planned. Originally, Jonah and Mitch were to both have flown home on August 13th, since school starts on August 20th for them.
Due to his good grades, Jonah was nominated for the Leadership Council at school, but would not be able to participate unless he attended some training session which started on August 4th. He was very jazzed about this opportunity, and didn't want to miss out, so flew home on August 3rd.
On the way home from the airport, Mitch, Juliana and I stopped by the Ram Restaurant and Brewery for some dinner. Mitch was wanting something meaty and ordered the ribs. I think the preparation of the ribs might have influenced his decision a bit. Being a brewpub as well, they use their beers in some of the various dishes they offered. In this case it was this:
He found it particularly amusing.Ten days later, we found ourselves at the airport again (I think this was my 7th trip there this year) to bid adieu to Mitch ("Mischee"). The traffic was rather lighter than expected and we had plenty of time to spare. We let Juliana burn off some energy at the children's playroom in the airport (at the head of terminal B, in case you're wondering).
I swear she spent the first 5 minutes straight just running around and squealing. Then she settled down to a pattern of bursts of squealing/running interspersed with a few seconds of quiet contemplation.
She saw me taking pictures, and sat right down for this one. I didn't even say anything to her.
She climbed up on top of this airplane structure all by herself... twice!
Notice Mitch in the background?
He looks like such the intellectual. I'm amazed I actually managed to get a picture of him when he's not making a face. But then again, he didn't know I was taking his picture just then. He's playing sudoku on his DS, in case you're wondering.After 20 minutes of running around the playroom, it was time to head to the gate.
Mitch is trying to explain to Juliana that it will be 4 months before they see each other again. I don't think she was buying it, especially considering the fact that she was calling his name later that evening at home.Oh! And those pictures on the camera's clipboard? Our camera has an internal memory that holds around 3 pictures (at the current resolution settings), and I remember Juliana "clicking" the camera while I was in the middle of swapping out the memory card in Utah.
We were in the car driving back to St George after touring Zion National Park and I didn't want Juliana accidentally erasing any images, so I was swapping out the memory card for a blank one.
I finally remembered this when I could actually do something about it. After I was done uploading this summer's photos, I took out the memory card, saw the two photos and clicked the upload button:
But then there was a third picture that uploaded. Where the heck did this come from? It wasn't in the playback of the camera's internal memory. Then I found it hiding in the Clipboard. It seems that this picture was taken in Hawaii last summer when the camera was accidentally set to Clipboard instead of Outdoors.
Mental note: check the camera's clipboard more frequently... just in case.
