Weekend Fun - Saturday

Saturday morning was pretty rainy, so we decided to wait until after lunch to see if it cleared up enough to go out to a pumpkin farm.  It did stop raining, so we headed out and theses are the pictures of our time at the pumpkin farm and one before we left..

 Annika tried on our Groucho Marx glasses.

 So far, so good!  No rain, the walking area was pretty good and there's a wagon full of pumpkins that's a good place to take pictures!

One of the nice things about this pumpkin farm, was that they had a play area for the kids in a barn.  The black tube, Saben is getting ready to go in, was a slide into a...

 ...pit of dried corn kernels, that both kids enjoyed playing in.

 There was also a rope swing, that provided a lot of fun!

 2 grandchildren and 2 grandparents sitting in a barn.

 Another fun thing this pumpkin farm had was a pumpkin cannon.  Annika chose the pumpkin to go in the cannon and Saben got to push the button to launch the pumpkin.  The pumpkins really went a long way!

 Riding the hay wagon down to the corn maze and pumpkin patch.

 Getting ready to enter the corn maze.

 Unfortunately, all the rain last week had made the corn maze very muddy and slippery.

 We explored it a little, but even though Saben and Annika wanted to continue, Ken and I were ready to quit after 15 minutes or so of dealing with the mud.

 Ken's muddy shoes and ...

 ...the kids muddy boots.

After leaving the maze, we went to the pumpkin patch, where Saben found the pumpkin he wanted.  Annika already had 2 at home, so we just got one for Saben.  After riding the hay wagon back up to the barn, we washed some of the mud off of our shoes and boots, spent a little more time playing in the barn and got some pumpkin spice donuts for a snack on the way home.

Weekend Fun - Friday

We took care of Saben and Annika over the weekend, while Kari & Kyle headed out to do some bike riding before the weather gets worse.  Since there was no school in Bellingham on Friday, they arrived at our house on Thursday evening.  Friday is the day that I work at the Arlington Food Bank, and I usually tell Kari that I can't take the kids until I'm done with that.  Kari wondered if there was anything, the kids could help with and as I thought about it, I thought I could probably find some things they could do, so they came with me to the food bank.  They helped put desserts and bread on the shelves, then helped fill the boxes we were giving out, with food.  I assigned them each a couple of items they were in charge of putting in each box, and they did a good job handling their assigned tasks.  I regretted that I hadn't brought my camera to take a picture of them helping, but I didn't think of it until to late.  I had thought about bringing the camera, because we were going to the Children's Museum after the food bank, but since I already have lots of pictures of us there, I decided to leave my camera at home.  I should know better by now, if I leave the camera at home, I'm sure to want it!  As we left the food bank, both kids were saying how much they enjoyed helping.  We also had a good time at the Children's Museum and there were actually a couple of new things to do there, which is always nice when it's not the same old thing.  After leaving the Children's Museum, we had time for a quick bite to eat, before I headed to a Women's Bunco night at church and Ken took the kids home to finish watching an old Disney movie called "The Apple Dumpling Gang."  We had started it Thursday night, but ran out of time before bedtime, so they finished it Friday.  They both really enjoyed it also.

Meagan and Mike Come to Town - Day 2

 Sunday morning, we met Kari and her family at the ferry dock in Anacortes to ride the ferry to San Juan Island.  We had told Meagan and Mike that we needed to be at the ferry dock at 8:30, but didn't mention that the ferry we wanted to get on didn't leave until 9:30.  We drove in separate cars, so that Mike and Meagan could take one of our cars on up to Kari's house after we got back.  Mike and Meagan were going to walk on the ferry while we drove on, so when we arrived at the ferry dock at 8:30, they hustled over to get their tickets and proceeded to board the ferry.  Luckily, Meagan sent Ken a text, saying, "We're on!"  I said, "On what, on board?"  Ken called her and found out they were on board the ferry, so we had them get back off the ferry, which apparently caused a commotion among the ferry workers.  People aren't supposed to get on and off the ferry like that, ever since 9-11!  Anyway, it all worked out, and we were able to ride the ferry together out to San Juan Island and had a great time.

 We spent part of the afternoon on the beach.  Saben wanted to build a fort, but first he needed to dismantle one that had fallen down.

 Kyle decided to build a small square shaped one.

 Kari stood on the side of it, to see how secure it was.

 After it was built, it was to tall to get into without walking a board to the top.

 Kyle in the fort.

 Annika making her way up the board to she could get in the fort.

 Kyle and Annika in the fort...

 ...with Saben on his way.

 Later, we went to a different area and took a walk.  Saben climbed up on this rock and we persuaded him to pose for a picture.

 We spotted a couple of bald eagles in the top of a tree.

 We found another bigger rock, that several people tried to climb.  Annika needed some help at first...

 ...but eventually was able to make it all the way to the top.

 Looking thoughtful.

 On top of the rock!

On our way home on the ferry, we were parked next to their car.

Meagan and Mike Come to Town - Day 1

 Our niece, Meagan and her boyfriend, Mike arrived in Seattle Friday evening.  Betsy and Seth met them at the airport, then we met up with them at Todd and Betsy's house.  We had yummy pizzas and salad for dinner at their house, before heading back to our house.  Saturday morning, even though it was raining pretty hard at our house when we left, we headed down to Seattle to show them the city.  Meagan has been to Washington before, but it was Mike's first trip here.  We were going to meet Todd's family at Westlake center, so while we waited for them to arrive, Mike ran through the waterfall tunnel.  By the way, by the time we got to Seattle, it wasn't raining, and we even got some sun, part of the day.

 Meagan and Mike, in front of the trees with blue trunks by Westlake.

 After Todd's family arrived, we hopped on the monorail and headed to Seattle Center.  We were the first ones on, so we got to sit up front by the driver.

 The driver was very friendly and asked Seth if he would like to push the button to blow the horn as we left the station.

 After arriving at Seattle Center, we split up for awhile.  Meagan and Mike wanted to go to the EMT/Science Fiction museum (emphasis on the Science Fiction portion), Ken and I went with them to that, while Todd and Betsy took Seth to the Children's Museum in the Center House.  Anyone recognize this chair that's in the Science Fiction museum...

 ...or this spaceship?  (Answers at the end of the blog.)

There were some costumes to try on, to make you a part of a science fiction film/picture.  Here I'm pretending to be scared of the creatures in the picture.

 In the EMT portion of the museum, there was a display of leather jackets and who wore them, etc.  You had an opportunity to put on a jacket and sit on a motorcycle.  I was smiling during the pictures, until Mike said I shouldn't be smiling, but I should be looking mad or mean.

 This is my mad/mean face, but I think it looks more like I'm going to start crying any minute!

 When we met up with Todd, Betsy and Seth, we found out that he had gotten a free cake pop after learning a phrase to say at the Children's Museum.  For lunch, we decided to go back to Westlake center on the monorail, then we walked down to Pike Street Market and looked for something to eat.  We all tried a couple of different entre's  and enjoyed them all.  After walking around the market awhile, we headed down to Pioneer Square...

 ...where we went on the Underground Seattle Tour.  Here we are underground.

 Meagan and Seth playing with Seth's stuffed elephant, Chai.

 Seth couldn't figure out why this old bathtub was sitting around underground.

Answer to the Science Fiction items - The chair is the one that Captain Kirk sat in on "Star Trek" and the little spaceship, is one they used in "Independence Day"

Fall Colors Rafting Trip

 Groupon had an offer for a 2 person fall rafting trip a couple of months ago, so we bought one, made a reservation for a Saturday, and hoped it would be good weather on the weekend we chose.  As it turned out, the Saturday we chose, which was yesterday, was a rainy day, the first one in months, of course.  Luckily, we had been watching the weather forecast, so I borrowed some water repellant gear from Kari and Ken bought some pants to wear with the jacket he already had.  While we were getting our life jackets, getting loaded onto the rafts and getting started down the river, it was raining pretty hard.  (We did consider backing out, but we weren't sure when we'd be able to go again, so we decided to go ahead and go.)

 Rafting down the river, with our guide manning the oars, behind us.

 You can't see the moss hanging from the tree very well in this picture, but I liked the colors of the leaves with the moss hanging in it.

 The rain did let up for awhile, so at least half of the trip was done without rain.  Luckily, the temperatures were pretty moderate, plus I had 4 layers of clothing on the top half of my body and 3 layers on the lower part, so I stayed pretty comfortable!  I actually didn't get cold until we were off the water and heading back to the car.  This is an area half way through the 3 1/2 hour trip, where we took a quick break to eat a snack supplied by the rafting company and to stretch our legs.

 An intrepid pair of rafters.

 We saw quite a few bald eagles on the trip, which we always enjoy seeing.  This is a picture of an eagle nest.

 Is he smiling or gritting his teeth?  Nice color beside the river.

 Further down the river, there was fog on the river.

 You almost couldn't see the raft ahead of us in the fog.

 Another tree dripping with moss.

 2 eagles in the top of this tree.

 A brief sun break, that made the yellow trees shine.

The cloud in the background seemed to catch up with us and we got a little more rain before the end of the trip.  We had a good time in spite of the weather, so we were glad we went ahead and did the trip, although it did take us the rest of the day to really get warmed up again.