Chapter 296

Happy Birthday to Chelsea and Scott

As you may or may not recall, Reagan and I (and Grampa) made tissue paper butterflies for Carissa for Mother's Day. I forgot to take a picture of the end result so you could see her handiwork.

So here are the fruits of our labors. 

Reagan and I had differing visions for the end result of this project. I had pictures little pieces of tissue paper daintily being stuck to the contact paper. Reagan preferred to stick her hands on the contact paper or try to pull the tissue off of the contact paper immediately after sticking it down. Thankfully I planned ahead and taped the contact paper to the blanket chest or it surely would be stuck to her hair.

 Early in the week I decided to go to the Tri-Cities to visit my parents and to put my stamp of approval on their new digs. As I traveled along the endless roads of Eastern Washington (in my rental car), I saw lots of hop(s?) crop(s?) growing. Someday maybe I will be reunited with one of these lucky hop(s?) in the form of a nice cold microbrew.

What a cute house. It's a perfect post-Oklahoma home.

It is bright and open with a nice view of the valley.

I helped unpack boxes while I was there, some of which I packed in Oklahoma last January.

Since Dad can't work on cars because of his newly installed back, he's decided to revive his model airplane hobby. Here a plane is parked in the garage waiting to get some wings and take to the sky. 

On the way home I stopped at a rest stop being watched over by these wind turbines. The are huge and I think they get huger with every new generation. 

When I got home I looked out the window to see that things had really gone downhill since Bear was here patrolling our borders last weekend. Bear would never allow either the squirrel or the crow by the fireplace to even think about crossing into his turf.

Saturday Chris rode the ferry to Edmonds, handed me the car keys and I rode the ferry back to Kingston to spend the day with Carissa and Reagan.

 Most all ferry docks have the same pilings and seagull poop around but I like to think they are so picturesque.

After Reagan's swim lesson we stopped at the Kingston Co-op Preschool for a fundraising rummage sale. Reagan spotted the pirate castle climber with a ship's wheel on top and it was love at first sight. Carissa did some great Tetrising and the Pirate ship was taken by Port Ford. 

Once the castle-ship landed on home soil, Captain Reagan took the helm with a huge smile. I say it needs a beepy-horn.

While we were out running errands we stopped and had some Thai food. Add Thai food to Reagan's list of favorite foods. As you can see, she ate with gusto even from my chopsticks. 

After lunch Carissa, Reagan, and I took a walk on the Clear Creek Trail in Silverdale. We enjoyed looking at the birds, plants, and whaaaa? A random painted plywood elephant strolling through the clearing? Why? Who's Silverdalian idea was that? On the other hand, it's probably the one thing that Oklahoma might not want to take away from us.

After a busy afternoon of Thai food and plywood elephants Reagan was up for a quick kip (British for nap) before heading home.

While we were having our day in Silverdale, Chris and Bob were at the Paine Field Air Show and Car Show. There are a couple of museums on the field, Flying Heritage Center (owned by Paul Allen), the Historic Flight Museum, as well as the Museum of Flight Restoration Center. Chris had lots to look while he was there. If you want to see airplane pictures, click the links above. 

These are the jags from our club line up on the grass. The crazy man in front of our Jag in the center of the picture is Ray. Ray is trying to reenact the picture one of the girls took of Reagan sitting in the sugar scoop of our Jag, shown below.

Reagan looks cuter sitting on the Jag than Ray does. Ray wrote an article for the club Jag Mag about Reagan going to the Weyerhaeuser Bonsai and Rhododendron Gardens. If you want to read the article click HERE  and go to Page 20. This is the Jag Magazine that I edit each month. It's a huge job that I offhandedly volunteered for having never seen it before. When a "newsletter" editor was needed I thought they meant a two-page PTA style NEWSLETTER, not realizing that that it really is a MAGAZINE! Not only do I have to design the cover, collect the articles, even write a few, I have to find material to put into it as well as harass the potential writers to get their articles to me on time.

 At the end of a fun day, I line up for the Walla Walla that will take me across State Highway 104 (yes, the ferry route has a highway number) to give Chris' car keys back and head home. People watching fellow passengers is always entertaining. Here two ladies are dressed up for an evening out while a St. Bernard patiently waits his turn to get on the ferry. By the way Chris, thanks for sparing me having to spend the day at an airport trying to figure out how to entertain myself. 

The ferry docks at the Edmonds ferry terminal. 

Since we are remodeling our school, I did not get a chance to get my usual load of dead starter plants  after the horticulture class threw them away so I crossed my fingers and started my plants from seed in mid-April with plans to plant the finished plants in late May.

Much to my surprise the plants were ready to plant a couple of weeks ago and I started putting them out in pots, these being the last ones I did today. 

The nasturtiums I planted a couple of weeks ago are well on their way to being productive potted citizens. I like the variegated leaves on the left side.

I did buy 3 plants from the horticulture class this year. They did not grow them at school since they are between greenhouses, but sold them for $2.00 over the cost their wholesale price. These baskets are humongous!

They look right nice hanging on my porch, I must say. 

Bath hair Reagan.

Reagan at the Red Sox game today. Her parents sprung for the Baby Box so she can watch the game.

Have a great week, Everyone!