Last weekend was Memorial Day Weekend and we tossed around several scenarios for what we wanted to accomplish. In the end, we filled the weekend with some spontaneous fun! The weather on Saturday inspired us to go down to Tacoma to Camp 6, the old logging museum next to Fort Nisqually and the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. Our plan was to go see the old trains and logging equipment and then go to the zoo. The zoo was so crowded when we were finished with Camp 6, that we decided to scrap that idea. Finley enjoyed discovering all the huge, dangerous looking old steam donkeys, spar poles and skidders amongst the trees. One of the docents opened up the work shed and let us look at an old Shay engine. Todd and I have fond memories of this little park. One of our first dates included walking around this old equipment where Todd introduced me to his love of trains and logging history. I guess I showed enough interest that I passed the girlfriend test! That was almost 16 years old now and I can honestly say that I, too, have a fondness for old rusty things and stories of how our northwest was shaped and developed by the logging industry and the ingenuity of humans and their machines. It's a bittersweet tale with both destruction of the environment and human suffering and loss in such a dangerous profession as logging and locomotives. Fascinating nonetheless.
We got to go on a little train ride around the exhibits which was really fun. While we waited for the train ride to start up we walked over to the Fort Nisqually exhibit and checked out all the old pioneer buildings and the lookout tower. They have some new buildings in the works and some nice interactive exhibits.
After the train ride and deciding that we could skip the zoo we looked for a place to have lunch. Feeling ambitious we chose one of the nice restaurants on the Tacoma waterfront on Rustin Way. We had a lovely lunch at CI Shenanigans and the kids did great! It helped that we were seated on the outdoor patio on a warm, sunny day with a parasailing service going back and forth with a huge yellow and black striped parachute with people waving to us from up in the air!
The service was fantastic and the food was good. Afterwards, we let Finley ride his bike on the waterfront path. That was a little nerve racking as we simultaneously tried to keep him from getting too close to the water and keep him from running into joggers and other bikers. ARGGHHH! It was still fun though. Evelyn fell asleep on my back in the baby carrier. All in all it was a really fun day.
Sunday we went to church and then Todd had a reunion committee meeting in Auburn. I hung out with the kids and played outside on the back deck. Todd set up the white awning last week and we have just left it up since it makes such a great outdoor room to play in. Shady on hot days and dry when it's sprinkling. We've been grilling a lot and playing outside as much as possible.
Monday we frantically cleaned up the house and then had our friend Tim, the guitar player, come over to play music for a few hours. Todd watched the kids so I could have this time to myself. It was wonderful! After that we went over to Grandpa and Grandma Sargeant's house in Issaquah for a really nice barbecue and time with family. Cleo's two daughters were there and we enjoyed getting to know them better. Alex joined us and Finley got to sit in Alex's new motorcycle with a sidecar. He has to wait until he's five to actually have a ride in it.
Grandpa Sargeant and Auntie Erica with Evelyn on her first Memorial Day out of the womb!
Uncle Alex has cool stuff.
Grandpa and Grandma Sargeant, Finley, Erica, Alex and Todd at the house in Issaquah. Oh yes, and Trini got in the picture too! Thanks for all the good food and such a nice visit out on the back deck. The rhodies were out and Erica's begonias, impatients and columbines were beautiful.
Evelyn is down there in the sidecar as Finley enjoys sitting on Alex's newest find: refurbished Chinese police motorcycles with sidecars from the 1980's I think.
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