A string of clear skies and warm weather (the folks round here call it a “sunbreak”) often leads to spontaneous behavior.
Who was I to pass up an opportunity to watch the sunset at Richmond Beach with my mom?
These photos don’t really do the place justice. Imagine a giant opalescent sheet of glass, fringed with craggy snow-spiked mountains. Add a foreground of green grass with frolicking children . . . got it?
Getting close to finishing up with these. What is there to say about the EMP except . . .
Whoa, funky architecture . . .
. . . check out our reflection . . .
. . .Katie insisted on dancing in the Sky Church at every spare opportunity . . .
. . . I was nearly hit by the Guitarricane . . .
. . . HOLY CRAP THAT’S KIRK’S CHAIR . . .
. . . and my Mom is one righteous biker babe.
That is all.
After the home-run with the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, I thought I’d take another big swing with a ferry ride to Kingston.
The ferry ride was nice enough. Sunshine!
But what to do on the other side? Most of the businesses in Kingston were closed, but the ticket vendor at the ferry terminal recommended driving to Port Townsend, which is reportedly adorable.
And it is. But it’s also a 45 minute drive from Kingston. Which is not so great if you have to get back home before the kids get home from school at 4:00. Alas, we didn’t realize the drive time until we were almost halfway there.
But it was fun anyway. Seagulls of unusual size!
This random guy with his epaulet-bedecked coat!
And lunch beside the sea. The water is incredibly clear in the Port Townsend Bay. We saw a rowboat, sailboat, kayaks . . . and a sea otter!
Katie is quite the mealtime conversationalist.
Katie:
Grandma & Grandpa:
Katie:
The drive back was a bit of a race-the-clock white-knuckles on the steering wheel affair, but everything was chill once we got on the ferry. Popcorn from the snack bar didn’t hurt, either.
And yes, we did make it back just in time to see the school bus pull up in front of my kids’ stop. Whew!
Backing up a bit . . .
I want to chronicle a few more of the adventures I had with my parents when they came to visit last month. Especially this insane tulipalooza eye-candy freakout:
Seriously, is the level of beauty here just insane? A staggering number of the flowering bulbs grown in the U.S. come from Skagit Valley, which is about an hour’s drive north of where I live. My parents and I noticed how similar the weather and climate are to those in the Netherlands (we took a road trip there when I was 8 or 9).
We mucked about in the fields for a while (and I do mean mucked, the mud was thick):
Then we went to see the demonstration gardens. Holy. Cow. It was like Flower Disneyland, everything was meticulously manicured and gorgeous. After a while I began to get a little dizzy, even though I was loving every minute of it.
(Pant. Pant. Pant. Are you ready for more? It’s like putting SweeTarts on your eyeballs.)
OF COURSE WE HAD TO GET A PICTURE WITH THE BIG FAKEY WINDMILL! OUR HEARTS AREN’T MADE OF STONE!
By the way, all of the images in this post were taken by my mom, with her phone. I only used about 1% of the photos she took; we were all a little giddy and swept away by the spectacle. My mom loved it (home run on the hostessing front!) and I can’t wait to go again next year.
My father-in-law turns 60 today. As a present, we made him a video, in which my kids try to contemplate what life was like in 1950:
A few things to notice:
I recently took Jeffrey to a special viewing of the Charlie Chaplin film Shoulder Arms. Hence, his description of film in 1950 is of a silent film.
Eleanor is under the impression that life in 1950 is more like life in 1850.
Poor William — look at what happens to him right around 0:20. I’ve never seen such a patient, mellow kid.
Casa Camisas 