Spokane

Shhhhh......

Chance will kill me if he finds out .... but here he is after his surgery. (Tonsillectomy and deviated septum repair) I've never seen him with a beard before. Too bad I don't have a picture of the rest of his outfit. He's been wearing circulation tights for his legs and a gauze strip for his nose that looks a little like Michael Jackson's old mask. Doesn't he look strange? He's absolutely miserable and in pain, but I couldn't help sharing this anyway. He really deserves a much better wife.

Mud Mountain Dam

The 4th

Chance was in his element last night. He spent more than 2 hours blowing things up. We invited a few friends over for a July 4th BBQ and firework show at our house. The food was amazing - steak, ribs, roasted corn, roasted vegetables, fruit, jello cake and more! Much better than the spread we found from the vendors last year at Kent's firework show. No corn dogs or cotton candy this year thankfully.

Although I was unconvinced that Chance had enough fireworks to create a show to match his extravagant boasting - it turned out I was very wrong. In fact, I informed all our friends not to expect more than 20 minutes of excitement. It seems I know nothing about fireworks.

Happy Independence Day!

Rhododendron Gardens

Tyler recently became a cub scout. One of his wolf requirements included a visit to a botanical garden, so I called up The Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Federal Way and asked them to let us in for free. Not that I'm against paying for botanical gardens, but usually Ty's scouting field trips are free. Plus, I had no idea if it would be a dud.

It wasn't a dud. The park is run by Weyerhauser and is actually quite nice considering it is right next to I-5. Not many rhododendrons in bloom, but that wasn't why the kids were there anyway. They threw rocks in a pond, climbed some old growth logs (which they probably shouldn't have done), rolled down the hill in the meadow and posed for pictures.

What did they like the best? As we were leaving, a lady invited the kids to a private retirement party at the small pavilion for some cake. There was tons of it leftover and the kids were more than willing to help out a good cause like that.

Recap:

Distance to Federal Way: 15.4 miles
Hours spent exploring nature: 2
Entrance fee to Botanical Gardens: $0
Free cake: Awesome