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!