Lattin's Country Cider Mill with Mom

We brought other guests here to the Cider Mill and we had to do it again with Mom because she had never been here before. It's a Washington experience everyone's got to have. :)

Mom came to Washington to spend Thanksgiving with us. Jaime and Huck are showing her around the capitol.

Ohanapecosh Water Falls on Mt. Rainier

This picture is entertaining because notice Peitra flipped her ponytail at the perfect moment?
Ohanapecosh means "looking down on something beautiful." Fitting, isn't it?
See that rock to the left of the waterfall? That's where we're about to eat our lunch 5 minutes later.

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Bigfoot on Mount Rainier?

Hot springs along part of the trail we chose to hike around part of Mount Rainier.

Whose footprints are these?

Huck tried to taste the warm water and didn't think much of it. We wouldn't want him drinking from it anyway just because we don't know the composition of that water.

Grove of the Patriarchs

These trees were already 500 years old when Christopher Columbus came to America.
This tree had fallen over many years ago. Peitra was able to climb inside the rotted out center of it. There were too many spider webs for her comfort going inside too deeply.
We couldn't resist climbing trees.

Soccer Life Continues Despite Rain

 We watched our friend, Tyler Mould, play soccer tonight at a game. He's quite nimble! Some scouts were sitting next to us, watching. Good job, Tyler! His brother, Roxxie, also plays soccer.
 

By the way, they had a dramatic win. Good job again!

In Washington, if every school waited for a dry day to play soccer, it would take 8 years to complete one season, so these guys all get accustomed to playing with wet shoes and hair plastered to their heads. That is the norm around here.

Worth Running Away for This

World's largest clam bed. (That's all shallow mud there.)

You and Me ... and the Road Ahead

For President's Day weekend, Jaime, Huck, and I packed our overnight bags and without a plan, we just started driving off. We picked some random location on our GPS device and we ended up in Long Beach, WA three hours away. We saw one of the self-proclaimed "Largest Frying Pan in the World" displays. This was actually a functional frying pan before.

"Huck, how much bacon do you want? This or that?" (Now that's a serious pan fit for a giant dog!)
[Dramatic music]For all you breakfast lovers, this is a dream come true. Jaime and I had to stand in line outside to work our way in for a table (it's worth it!). The menu is about 5 pages of creative breakfast foods only. Jaime had a Country Platter with eggs, hash browns, and biscuit with sausage gravy. I had the Johnny Appleseed Omelet with baked apples and cheese inside of it. Before you wrinkle your noses, we'll tell you that the flavors are actually delightful together! I'd come back to Long Beach just for breakfast.

Washington State Capitol

Jaime, Huck, and I visited the Capitol grounds of Washington one day for a walk. We didn't go inside it yet. We'll save that for another outing.

Yep, true to his namesake character, Huck rolled up his pant legs and got muddy playing on the bank of the river, I mean lake.

All dirty little boys get baths eventually (even Huck Finn).

Grayland Beach Picnic

We went to Grayland Beach on MLK Day and watched the clam diggers arrive with their bright yellow waders, buckets, shovels, and what looked like milking stools for ease of stooping down low. At about an hour before low tide is the best time to dig for clams and we happened to still be there at 2:45, which was the right time for the fishermen to show up. Instead of eating clams on our beach picnic, we had tortellini pasta and chopped up veggies. Huck and Nikki would have loved to help dig, but no one needed their help at the time. The sand was soft enough for the men. We'd get a picture of them, but our camera battery died by that time. :(

Winter Hike

While Brittany was here, we decided to go snowshoeing up Mount Rainier. We filled a thermos with some freshly cooked tomato soup, cut up some cheese to eat with our crackers, and made rice krispie treats. We picked up some snow shoes and drove up the mountain. The dogs thought this was the greatest idea! Since we were in a public area, we had to keep them on a leash the majority of the time. They didn't understand why no matter how many different ways we tried to explain it to them. When we got half-way, we plopped down in the snow and had a picnic. The soup was still hot, so it warmed us up somewhat. We loved being able to defy the cold by getting outside anyway. One lady in Isla Mujeres was from this area. She said, "You've got to get out and do things because if you wait for good weather like you're used to doing in Florida, you are going to get depressed so fast!"

Seaside Concert in the Park

We arrived here to watch Dad play music in Seaside, FL. All the watercolor style painted buildings surrounding the area was the setting for the movie, "The Truman Show" (1998). We laid out a blanket and made ourselves comfortable.
The kids all found something to do! The little boy decided he wanted to give Huck a kiss, so he just bent straight down and planted one on Huck's shoulder.

Music at AJ's Bar and Grill

We all went over to AJ's Bar and Grill to watch Dad play music with the band. It's always quite festive when we go see him play there.
He's got an ear for music! (Sometimes he'll do impromptu performances.) Jaime and I drink frosty smoothies or lemonade while sitting on the deck watching and listening.

View from AJ's deck

Fruit and Spice Park

Is this a Jack Fruit?

Jaime and I went to the Fruit and Spice park for an outing with Huck. We rode a trolley cart all over the grounds while the tour guide explained what all the plants were and how they are beneficial to us. We couldn't understand anything he said, but we saw all the funny shaped fruits!

After touring their gardens, we went into the gift shop. Their soaps and gifts smelled heavenly! Made fresh from their own ingredients.

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Link Click here for Fruit and Spice Park web site

Coral Castle

"If you had visited Coral Castle 60 years ago, you would have been greeted enthusiastically by a man weighing a mere 100 pounds and standing just over 5 feet tall. He would have asked you for ten cents admission and introduced you to his fantasy world carved out of stone...Since it is documented that no one ever witnessed Ed's labor in building his rock gate park, some say he had supernatural powers. Ed would only say that he knew the secrets used to build the ancient pyramids and if he could learn them, you could too!"

Jaime, Huck, and I visited this place for a day trip one Saturday. This man is a BRILLIANT engineer because amazingly, we were there during the middle of the day and it was surprisingly cool. Ed Leedskalnin designed the place to be naturally cool by planting a tree in the perfect location where it would be most effective. He carved chairs and placed them in strategic corners so that he would be comfortable all day. His work is so stunning because he did this all single-handedly using laws of leverage, etc. Even the door, which is hanging by one metal bar and weighs 6 tons or something like that can be pushed open with one finger!

He built this all as if he were going to bring home the love of his life, whom he called "Sweet 16." Her name was Agnes Scuffs. She broke up with him the day before their wedding and he fled to this place and built a coral castle in her honor. The stairs up to his room have 16 steps. Ed made a table in the shape of a heart and even made baby cradles for his future children. Unfortunately, Agnes lived out the days of her life and knew about this castle, but died without ever going to see it.

I asked Jaime if he loved me enough to do something like this for me. His eyes got really big for a moment and he had a half grin on his face, sort of like when a man is panicked. Then he suddenly grabbed me, gave me a hug and a kiss, and said, "Of course!" :)
Link Click to see Coral Castle web site

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Fairchild Garden

Friends of ours, Mike McKee and Wendy Osterling, were visiting Florida at this time. We all decided to get together and go see Fairchild Botanical Garden. The artist is quite famous and was only displaying his glass sculptures for a limited time. His artwork was placed strategically in various places among the plant arrangements already there. Oh boy! All that glass and natural flowers in bloom provided a plethora of colors! It's worth seeing, if ever he comes to a place near you!

Link Click to see Fairchild Gardens web site

Huck Almost Meets Cesar Millan

Two girls near the front of the line at the book signing event were admiring Huck. Since we were not able to make it up to the front ourselves, we asked them if they would like to walk him through for us so we could get some pictures of him in front of the table. They giggled and did a great job of being brave enough to do that for us! I think they were a little nervous about controlling Huck because he's so big for them; Huck was gentle and they were fine. Cesar was pressured to sign as many of the books as possible and with all the people shoving their little dogs in his face, he didn't get to look up to see Huckleberry. Jaime and I were laughing at the irony of it all because it's pretty hard to have a Great Dane standing two feet away and not see him! (Fame can be sifling sometimes.)