 1 We decided to make a trip out to Spokane to see Leslie and Chad and their three kids. Leslie is my cousin, and we last saw her in Maui in 2009. It was high time to see them again! This is what most of the trip looks like once you cross the Cascades. |
 2 And this. Lots of this. Many farms. |
 3 Sam was reading and cubing. Somehow he doesn't get sick. |
 4 Ben and Mr. Purrfect kept up a constant stream of chatter except for the 6 minutes Ben was hiding under a pillow to "nap." |
 5 6 hours and 280 miles later we were there! Sam is helping build a marble tower for CJ who is 3. |
 6 Goal was to get it taller than CJ - done! |
 7 Off on an adventure to Livingstone's Rock Ranch - so excited! |
 8 They are sweaty from playing hoops already :) |
 9 On the way out - some pretty countryside. We had to moo at cows, of course :) |
 10 They looked up and listened! |
 11 Even ones far away! Leslie and I were pretty loud :) |
 12 There's cousin Leslie and Ben chomping lunch at the Rock Ranch. |
 13 We had lots of picnic supplies thanks to Leslie's pantry. Too funny Makena! |
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 15 CJ and Makena |
 16 Grabbing my guy :) |
 17 Listening to Mr. Livingstone before going out on a dig. |
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 20 Black light is really cool - shows the fluorescence! |
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 22 Going down to the dig site now, bags in hand and wondering what we will find. |
 23 Mr. Livingstone's mine. He is actually mining through his earth. |
 24 He enhances the soil with rocks of all kinds for the kids to find. 61 schools have been out on field trips in the last 6 weeks! |
 25 First finds! |
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 27 Peacock ore - we all liked that! |
 28 CJ got into it, too! |
 29 Sam was so excited with his finds! The kids were all whooping when they found something, and raced to see each others' treasures. |
 30 The big find of the day - calcite! |
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 32 Sam and Jordyn collaborating! |
 33 These guys were really hard to get back up to wash off their rocks. They didn't want to stop! |
 34 Look at my feet!!! |
 35 Washing up. |
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 37 Mommy's |
 38 Sam's finds |
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 40 Look how dirty! We all loved it and didn't want to wash off the dirt! Sam, you look so cool! |
 41 Happy boys! |
 42 The view from the parking lot. |
 43 We were pretty high up on a hill, actually. |
 44 Ice cream afterwards!!! |
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 46 Yum! |
 47 Ben and CJ LOVED shooting hoops in the lower hoop so they could DUNK! They played for more than an hour in the late afternoon heat. Wow! |
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 49 Again and again they shot! |
 50 Look at Ben's feet! |
 51 Makena can do this, too! |
 52 See you soon, guys! That was an awesome visit! Chad - no pictures of you, how did that happen? :) |
 53 On the way back home we stopped at Grand Coulee Dam. I loved the drive out on route 2. |
 54 Lots of very small towns. |
 55 Lots of red barns. All the same color red. We wondered if there was a regulation "barn red" - probably! |
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 57 Finally at Grand Coulee! Immense! Second biggest dam in the world (biggest is in China). |
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 59 Inside on a tour. These pumps push water out to irrigate farmland. |
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 62 Now we're up on the spillway. |
 63 Pretty far down there! |
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 68 Trying to have a picnic lunch before driving on and we were SWARMED by bees! They got this chicken thigh from Sam! We used it as a decoy but we were bummed, man! |
 69 Dam in the background. Met a nice family who had just moved there from Port Angeles. Her husband is the archaeologist for the dam. |
 70 You know we had to go to the huge sand pile - dredged up during the building in 1936-1941. 12 million cubic yards of sand. Sam scampered up soooo fast. He is way out there! |
 71 Off to get a sample of the sand! |
 72 I'm partway up, only about a third of the way to where Sam is. You can see how high we are compared to the truck. |
 73 And there's Sam! |
 74 He's got his sample and we're on our way down. Dam in background here. |
 75 Very steep! |
 76 Nice going, Sam, getting that sample of finer sand from up higher. |
 77 Yup, dirty again! |
 78 Yeah, Hobbit feet! |
 79 That's how high this sand pile is. Can you believe it? Sam was more than halfway up I think. Or about halfway. |
 80 Especially handsome when dirty and sweaty :) |
 81 Boys were very happy to have visited this. |
 82 Neat butte formations made when water rushed out from a glacier which had caused a dam. When the water rose high enough, the glacier floated up on the water, and the rushing water eroded the underside of the glacier, allowing a massive torrent of water to flow through. |
 83 This is route 155 - taking this back down to route 2 so we don't have to backtrack. Very glad we did. This is Banks Lake. |
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 85 Then through Leavenworth on our way home. Starting to sprinkle. This is route 2 over the Cascades again. |
 86 Stream alongside the road. |
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 88 Whew! Tricky going over Steven's Pass in heavy rain and fog, but we made it down through Seattle to the ferry, grabbed chowder for the ferry ride home and caught a nice sunset. Tired boys, but we had lots of fun. This was 7 hours of travel plus 2 hours at Grand Coulee. Long day but worth it! |
 89 Looking out to the Olympics. |
 90 Happy guy - had a great time with you two! We actually had so much relaxed chatting time that we only listened to music for maybe 20 min during the whole trip. They are excellent companions. |
 91 Showing Daddy all the loot from the Rock Ranch! Welcome home, guys! I love you! |
