Mt. Rainier

We took the afternoon off from dirt yesterday, and drove down to Mt. Rainier for a little hiking and sight-seeing. The weather was not the best; temps in the low 40's and cloudy at Paradise, which is where the visitors center and several trailheads are. We took a modest hike, and saw a beautiful waterfall and meadows blooming. In the picture above, (where Andrew and Sam are balancing on the path) imagine the summit in the background, because that's where you would see it on a clear day.

Dirt

We've been filling in the spot in our backyard where our big tree used to be. The play chips are gone, and hopefully in a few weeks we'll have grass (i.e. expanded baseball/football/soccer field). When we first got the dirt, Andrew and Sam made up a game that involved drop-kicking a ball over the pile. Since then, they've been really helpful hauling and raking. We're almost done as of tonight. Tomorrow, more fun in store...power-washing the driveway.

Summer Lego Project

Here's Andrew putting the finishing touches on a Lego ship that's been about 2 months in the making. Here's what he has to say about it:

Name: Death Star 2000

• the commander is Darth Vader
• 2 Storm Troopers are his guards
• Indiana Jones is just there for looks because he's cool
• the skeleton Soldier guy is one of Darth Vader's sidekick commander dudes
• the Aqua Raider and the other Storm Trooper are the guards of the other commanders
• the Mars Mission astronaut is the driver
• on top of the ship is a mini ship, and it's called the Mini-Star. It detaches and flies special missions
• the Knight guy drives the Mini-Star

(In case you are wondering, Andrew has been taking a vacation from wearing shirts this summer.)

Quote of the Day

From Sam in the car today, very solemnly,

"Andrew, you're nuts."

And he's right.

The joys of Mariners baseball...

...which include...

• Blue cotton candy


• Kid's run around the bases day


• A win! I think it was the first win we've witnessed since opening day.


• Watching Felix Hernandez pitch, and counting his strikeouts on the "FeliKKKKKKKs" sign

This time, it was me, Andrew, Sam and their friend Evan. Alan was drafting his fantasy football team at our neighbor's house.

Soccer Family

When Alan and I were growing up, the kids' soccer craze was still in the future. I remember knowing kids who played (including future Olympian Tiffany Milbrett, who went to my jr. high and HS....try being in PE with her), but it wasn't a big thing. Now, it is, and we seem to have at least one soccer-crazy family member. So, we spent the weekend watching him play, and used his tournament as an excuse to visit one of our favorite Washington state locations.

Andrew's team is good; they play hard, and have a great coach. They went 3-0 in the tournament in Lake Stevens. Andrew scored a couple of goals, and made a couple of assists, but he really prefers to play defense (not goalie, though he did that in one game).

Yesterday, we spent the day on Camano, and explored a new beach park. We were lucky enough to run into two of Alan's colleagues from Highline, who were staying at a waterfront home. They let us explore the private beach that stretches out along their property, and we found lots of beach treasure.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Spicciati!

We had fun bowling with the birthday gift card!

Sam's newest skill

...and obsession. We've been going through A LOT of gum around here this summer. He's getting pretty good at it!

Kansas City, Here We Come!

We're back from our final summer trip, an epic journey to middle America. Neither Alan or I had ever been to Kansas City before, and we loved it. It helped that we had great weather - clear, cool, not humid - not typical for KC at all in August. We were pleasantly surprised by how green and lush it was, which we were told comes from the normal summer humidity.

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The reason for our trip was the NFA (National Flute Association) convention, where I played a recital with my colleague and friend Donna Shin. It was a big honor for her to be asked to perform there, and I was happy to go along. Around 5000 flutists go to this convention, which was crazy! You couldn't walk anywhere in the convention hotels without hearing someone practicing flute or piccolo. I was able to catch up with a couple of flutists from Eastman that I haven't seen since I graduated.

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Alan came along on the trip for baseball. He attended two games (I went to one). Kaufmann Stadium was a great place to watch a game. The fountains in the outfield are a nice touch (there are fountains everywhere in KC). Our other baseball destination was the Negro League Baseball Museum, which was really interesting and inspirational.

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After the convention, Alan flew home and I kept Donna company driving back. She had her car there because she had come straight from a music festival in Michigan. I had been in the mood for a road trip, and we had a blast. The first day, we went from KC to Rapid City, SD, and saw the Badlands National Park (pictured above) and Mt. Rushmore at night (tough to get a good picture, but awesome to see). Second day, SD through a little bit of Wyoming and a LOT of Montana. We ended up in Sagle, ID at Mom/Grandma's, then drove home yesterday! The boys had a great time with Grandma, Aunt Kelli, Uncle Dave, Nate and Ian.

As Seen on TV

Before tonight's Mariner's game, we met the Giant Adrian Beltre Head Guy by the concessions. He gets quite a bit of air time on the Mariner's TV network. He sits right behind the M's dugout, and holds up the head when Beltre is batting. He also got several features on the scoreboard big screen tonight.

It was trading card night, so when we came in we were handed a set of 27 cards, 20 of which were different and 7 of a single player. The idea is to trade with other fans until you get the full set. It took us a while, but we each got them all. The trading around was fun!

Oh, and the game. M's lost to Orioles, 3-1. Nothing new there. It was cool enough for jeans and sweatshirts. Nothing new there, either. Where is our summer?? I know it's Seattle, but come on!