Tomas and Me

Hanging out with friends all over town we are keeping busy. 

Art class is fun with friends 

Penguin watching at the zoo and storytime. 

Getting cultured at a performance of the Ugly Duckling. Pyper with "Beauty", the ugly duckling. 

Out in Seattle Again

Benaroya Hall Debut 

We had tickets to see the Preservation Hall Jazz Band at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, but we also had a some time to kill between dim sum and the 2pm show. We took the the bus and the monorail to Seattle Center and watched kid dancers perform at Whirligig. Then we hit up the Children's Museum before taking the Monorail back downtown to see our show. 

"I'm so excited!" She exclaimed to the patron next to us, who was more than happy to have the youngest guest next to her. She fell asleep about one minute into the first song while tapping her foot to the beat. She woke up during intermission and hung on till the end. We then fueled up on chocolate gelato and had no problem walking a mile back to the car to stretch our legs. 

Pyper's view of Dim Sum

She did say she wanted to be an astronaut...

Getting out of the House

With warmer weather, longer days, and a new four person tent, there was no reason not to get out in the woods for a couple of days. We headed to the little town of Belfair on the West side of Hood Canal for the occasion. It was nice to dust off the gear since it hadn't been touched since packing it up in Greenville. 

Luckily we had everything we needed except a text, which took a turn for grave right before we left the South. 

The main reason to head to this part of the world was to get Andy out on some dirt bike trails. He has a big trip planned in July, so she had to test out his gear and systems. On the part he was successful. Pyper and I hung out at the State Park and the surrounding wetlands. 

Camp life is always good. Check out our new 4-man dome in the back. 

In the morning, both kids were ready to ride!

Checking out the wetlands, Pyper trying to catch swallows without success. 

At camp with a busted lip. 

Happy as a Clam

Every year, or two, or three, we manage to get out to the family clam digging spot. Now that there are so many grand kids there is even more reason to go. Usually it is very hard work looking for the clam pockets and then digging out the clams, but we had help this year. They have always seeded oysters here, but now Taylor Shellfish is also seeding clams.  This means that they are making the beach soft, and the harvest shallow and plentiful. Today at low tide the Taylor folks were out harvesting and they let us fall right in line. Pyper and I actually fell in right behind grabbing the tailings of their work, which meant lots of clams and little work. It was a super fun time. We got our fill and headed in for lunch without feeling completely drained by work or weather. Perfect day for digging with the family.

Out in the salty mud and sun.

We proceeded to feast upon the harvest at Aunt Lora's while also celebrating Eddie's birthday in the coming week. Eat'em while they are fresh.

Can't complain with good food and cake.