The Frumps Go To Seattle

Somehow, in all their lives (much of which has been spent in Washington) our nieces had never been on a Washington State Ferry.

We simply had to remedy that situation for them.

Here we are in Bremerton in a parking garage that had this funky blue window (that came out more aqua) that looked like a blue screen. They were making fish faces since it looked like they were underwater.



Because we still had some time to kill before the next ferry, we went to the nearby Naval museum.

This picture of early ship-building in Bremerton showed the rich diversity among the oringinal Rosie the Riveters during the First World War. While the men were off to war, the women handled as many jobs as they could. Several of these women went on to become influential members of Bremerton society up through the 2nd World War.



I loved that they had this hands-on room for the kids to play in. There were helmets and hats and other equipment that were used by the U.S. Navy, which the kids could try on and play in to their hearts content.









Here was a beautiful large-scale model of a boat. As I understood it, these were often built in advance of the full-size boat to show the 'client' what their completed ship would look like. The attention to detail was amazing.



Just around the corner from the museum was this cute little place, Bremerton's Harborside Park.



Loved these fountains. They look like they might be representative of submarines or something, but the water that would explode out of the top every couple of minutes made a really cool Jellyfish shape.



Finally, we headed for the ferry terminal to wait for our departure.



Judah kept asking questions about the ferrys, and the puzzled look on his face told me that he was a little unclear that the ferry was a large boat that you ride in.

I think he may have been thinking that 'catching a ferry' involved these:



Here are the boys and their cousins aboard the ferry at last.



I went to the upper deck to get this picture.



And this of the Seattle skyline on our approach.



The kids with another portion of the skyline in the background.



Would you believe we even saw Spiderman aboard this particular ferry?



When we arrived at the pier, we browsed through Ye Old Curiosity Shop, where they have an odd collection of real mummies, real shrunken heads, a Jackalope and other taxidermal marvels. I get easily grossed out, because the shop smells really musty, and I could hardly bear to think about breathing the same air that passed around those yucky, dusty shrunken heads and such. Eww!

Then I turned around and saw this!

It doesn't look a thing like her, but it was my niece L, scaring a few minute off my life.



Who would have thought that a mere $5 per kid for souvenier money would result in hours spent going in and out of thsoe shops trying to find just the thing to spend their money on?

Here they were outside a candy shop on the waterfront which had a large stuffed bear as mascot.



I loved this cool sign for all the elements of design that went into it.



Here we saw a bum with a rather bizarre gimmick to get money (click to enlarge).



There were a lot of panhandlers in this particular area, many already a few shades to the wind.

Big sister protectively took hold of little sister's hand.



Finally, we headed for the Pike Place Market. Having been unsuccessful in the previous shops, the kids were hoping to find something better to spend their money on there.

Mind you, we had heavy backpacks on filled with bottled waters because it was so hot, so the prospect of the thousands of steps up wasn't exactly thrilling...but it was nice to know that it'd be all downhill on the way back.



Here is the backside of Pike Place Market, which I understand has looked mostly the same for decades.



This is the back view of the infamous Public Market sign.



Here is the fish market where they toss the fish around, finally landing the wrapped fish in the customers hands.

There are usually oddities spread out on the ice here. Last time we were in Seattle, Jericho was startled by a Monkfish whose mouth had been rigged with fishing line and would be pulled open by one of the employees whenever a child got close, much to their surprise.

This time, Judah was fascinated by the 'opticus' (meaning octopus, but never quite getting it right because he also calls a character in the Transformers movie 'Opticus' Prime. In Judah's mind, Octopus + Optimus = Opticus. Who am I to argue with his logic?

Interestingly, the suckers on this specimen looked like white lifesaver candies. Mmmm.



It's a toss-up to me, which says "Seattle" more...the Space Needle, or this particular corner of the market.



Whew! It was hot! We were all dripping with perspiration about this time...the heat radiating up off the sidewalks was a force to be reckoned with.

Here is the brass piggy bank at the entrance to the market.



Here is another piggy. There are several scattered around Seattle.



One of the colorful produce stalls in the market. I love how this corridor is lit. It looks so retro.



Not finding anything for the kids to spend their money on, we headed back for the cool of the waterfront. The kids wanted to go back to the Pirate store and that gross Mummy place again.

We spotted this way-cool rooftop garden atop one of the buildings. Full out trees on that roof. (Click to enlarge)



This is an old-folks home highrise on the way back to the waterfront. I loved that someone had taken the time to put up windowboxes and fill them with flowers. It totally cheered up the whole place.



Oh, we also found this cute spot. Everywhere you go along the waterfront around the Puget Sound, it seems that folks have large displays of petunias in hanging baskets. I love it best when they are mostly the same color.



Yet another pig, with a sign pointing folks to the Market. The kids couldn't resist posing.



Almost back to the waterfront, we passed a big planter with some interesting occupants. Yes, two guys were taking a nap in the ivy.



Then, it was back to the Pirate's Plunder store to try and find a way to spend that cash burning a hole in the kids pockets.



The hat was a bit out of his price range.



The kids finally all found some dumb trinkets or toys and we stopped off for lunch.

That was when we learned what our son had wasted spent his money on. Yippee.



No sooner had the waiter delivered our food, then this guy swooped in.



He was a very patient seagull, but alas he flew away when nobody took pity on him.



We had to race to catch our ferry, but made it.

On board, we saw that a local Yacht club was having some sort of regatta. There were 88 sailboats within sight of the ferry.



Loved that evening lighting.



It was a little tricker to get view shots with the setting sun in the background. Loved that the sailboat was in the golden sun path on the water.



Looking back the other direction, we got another sailboat with the skyline behind it.



And a self portrait of ourselves in that golden hour lighting.



Here we were inside the ferry...and this is my favorite photo of the cousins from the entire trip. Not posed...it just happened. Love that.



Here was a sign I spotted outside, and realized there HAD to be a reason behind why it was there.



And yep...there's one good reason.



This was a beautiful view of Bremerton, Washington on our return.

The camera didn't quite do the brilliant pinks and golds justice...but it was beautiful nonetheless.



Last, but certainly not least, we arrived home that evening utterly and completely spent.

Cousin E immediately flopped onto her bed and fell right to sleep.

Incidentally, that's not blue kryptonite beside her...just some plastic things that you put on your hands to give great back massages.



As I was taking this photo, Fredo the Chihuahua looked up as though to say, "Did you need something?"

Fredo joined my mom's household while we were there...a shivery, rib-baring little stray with long toe nails, which was found in a parking lot far from civilization one day by my youngest sister and was obviously in need of some TLC.

He came to the right place! He was taken to the doggie spa vet, and is now well on the road to recovery.

Though there was much protesting at first, he wormed his way into everyone's hearts in no time, and is now happily ensconced as the reigning prince of the animals in their household, much to the chagrin of their tomcat Stewart.

And that concludes another wonderful day of vacation.

Our Trip to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium

As our vacation was fast drawing to a close, we met up with my dad to go to lunch and then to Pt. Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.

While waiting to meet up with my dad for lunch, we stopped off at a playground for Judah to burn off some steam.

Everytime he goes to these places, he suddenly transforms into Spiderman.



The restaurant we went to was on the waterfront, and the view outside our window included this darling little place.

It would have been a completely lackluster building had they not added mirrors (made to look like windows) with shutters and flowerboxes. Such simple additions really made a statement.



Though not native to the Washington, these Monkey Puzzle (also known as Monkey Tail) trees are a favorite landscaping tree around the Puget Sound area. The older these trees get, the longer the 'tails'. They consist of very sharp, firm pointed leaves all layered together like scales along the limbs. It'd hurt if you grabbed the branch.



Once inside the zoo, we went to the Meercat exhibit.

I've always gotten a real kick out of Meercats funny behavior, and Judah was really enjoying their antics.

We stayed for a while watching them dive into the safety of their hole whenever a seagull flew overhead. Here they are creeping out again when the coast was clear.



I couldnt' resist imitating the seagull's sound just to watch them dive in again.

What amuses me so much is that after taking refuge, they always send out a scout to be sure everything is clear.

The little scout looks around and signals to the others in their hole, and suddenly they all come rushing out again. They remain cautious for a while afterwards, but manage to still live fairly normally in their little habitat.



Here's my little hermit crab...looking rather crabby. It was 103 that day. In a climate that rarely gets up into the high 90's, and it was well past his usual naptime.



Cousin E retreats into her shell for some shade.



Meanwhile, Jericho was nearly consumed by a giant sea anemone.



In the bug exhibit, I came across the stuff of nightmares.

Lots of la cucaraches.

Hissing cockroaches, no less. **shudders** They just kept scurrying around in there, too. Ugh.



This poor lemur was trying to beat the heat on a shaded rock. His expression kind of reflected how we were all feeling right about then during the heat of the day.



Here was a gorgeous artichoke in bloom.



This is a sculpture I've loved since I was a little girl. It's called Family.



We sought air-conditioned refuge in one of the aquarium buildings.

They had an area where children could try on all kinds of sea creature costumes.

Judah went the route of Starfish.



Cousin E loved the filmy, floaty jellyfish costume.



And the octopus.

It was all so novel, the kids were entranced...and I let down my guard, totally oblivious to the danger lurking about.

See the aquarium employee behind her?

I looked up just in time to see her FREAK OUT right then, shrieking and clutching her chest, then drawing up a leg and covering her face and then mouth as though witnessing a train wreck, and continued to pat her chest as she calmed down again enough to speak. "Oh, my gosh...oh, my gosh" she said over and over.



She gasped, "Oh, man...I thought I was going to have to call someone to fish that little boy out of the shark tank!"

My heart seized suddenly, as I'd just seen Judah running towards my dad and Jeff somewhere behind me.

I turned around just in time to see Jeff lowering him to the ground and scolding him after snatching him back from certain danger.

The circular tank walls are low enough that younger children can peer over the edges and look down several feet into the large, deep shark tank...but Judah had been running and when he'd leapt up to the edge of the wall (just as he does on our sofas at home) he very nearly toppled over...into shark infested waters!

My dad's mouth dropped open, astounded at how quickly that had happened and how quickly Jeff managed to react, his own heart pumping overtime.

Jeff said he would have jumped in after him had he gone over, though we all felt certain that a ruckus like that in their tank might have incited a feeding frenzy among even the well-fed but bored sharks.

Yes, that was Judah's second and final brush with danger on our vacation, and though it was all over and done before I saw it, I have no doubt I'll be sporting a few more grays.

On the way downstairs, we stopped by this exhibit where my dad and the kids re-enacted what could have happened.



Next, we made our way to the touch-tanks, where Judah and Cousin E manhandled touched everything in sight.



They had quite an array of different starfish, sea cucumbers and sea urchins in their tanks.



Due to the heat and humidity, many of the exhibits were all steamed up.

Naturally, my kid had to leave his mark for me to find when I finally got to that portion of the exhibit a couple of paces behind him.



We finally located the much publicized Lorakeet (?) exhibit. They called them Budgy Buddies or something, but I never did make the connection as to why.

For the astronomical price of $1, you could 'rent' a popsicle stick that had a dab of peanut butter and bird seed stuck on the end, which you could then hold up and the birds which flew around loose in the aviary would land on the stick where you could see them up close.

The birds were aggressive feeders, but the kids enjoyed it.







"This one has teal feathers, mom! " Yes indeedy, there were birds of just about every color in that exhibit.





Later, we found one of my own favorite childhood exhibits. My mom has pictures of us somewhere visiting the same exhibit (and I think the same elephant) back when we were little.

Judah really wanted to see them up close.



They had just finished giving themselves dust baths in an effort to cool off.



We again circled through the downstairs portion of the shark tank building, which has all kinds of other sea life in tanks on the wall opposite the giant shark tank...this little reef with baby sharks was one of the exhibits on the way there.



Judah has a close encounter with one of the sharks that might have made a tasty snack out of him earlier.



Here were some shark shots I was taking in an effort to get a good photo for the painting on Jericho's bedroom wall.



Here is a shark sizing up my dad.



We finally got past the creepy stuff to these cute reef exhibits.

"NEMO!!" Judah yelled excitedly.



Here was Dorey, saying, "I speak whale!"



This was a teensy-tiny little seahorse that was secured in a piece of fan coral (?) in a dark little tank lit with a black light just so that you could spot him.

Judah looked at it for a bit and said sadly, "He needs his mommy cuz he's aw awone."



Outside, we wandered over to see the otters.

They are such fun to watch frolicking about. The darker one was doing water aerobics most of the time we were there, but held still for this photo in the same position my boys are in while lying on the floor reading a book.

The zoo keepers had put loads of ice in a nearby pool for these guys to cool off in, because keeping the water the right temperature was proving to be a challenge in the hot weather.



Here we spotted a reindeer...sometimes called Caribou, depending on what part of the world you live in. Judah called out, "DEER!".

We were beginning to rue the day we ever started the deer-dollar game.



We finally called it a day, because we'd run out of cold bottled waters, and the adults kids were getting kind of irritable from the heat.

On our way back to my moms, we stopped off to cool off in this inviting body of water.

It was crowded there that evening, but the kids enjoyed the cool breeze and wading into the cold water did help cool them off.



Cousin E spent a bit playing on this old piece of driftwood.





We realized it wasn't going to cool off anytime soon, so we took the kids to see a movie just so we could sit in the A/C for a while.



And that was the end of another lovely vacation day in Washington.

Sunday Funnies

This morning started off pretty well for a Sunday.

By that, I mean that everything went smooth in spite of my little last minute emergency just before walking out the door (in which I had to reattach the bias edging to the collar of my blouse with a stapler because the hot glue gun would take too long to heat up).

Before the sermon was in full swing, I even remembered to duck out momentarily to track down some materials we were supposed to send off to one of our Missionaries.

On the way back to the sanctuary, I dropped by Judah's second Sunday School class of the morning to see how he was doing, and was told by one of the girls working there that they had taken this off of him during his first class:



I was totally taken off-guard.

Not to mention appalled.

First off, he'd apparently snuck it into church beneath his baggy clothing.

How it escaped my notice when I'd lifted him into the van and buckled him into his carseat, I'll never understand.

Secondly, I'm sure it caused quite a stir with his grandmotherly Sunday School teacher.

She's a veteran Sunday School teacher, but I'm quite sure that in all her years she has never come across this anything quite like this. Kids today...bringing guns to church!

I laughed my head off wondering what the poor gal must have thought...and at myself wondering how in the world such a thing had gotten past my mom-radar.

Although our boys do play with guns at home, I never let them play with them in the car. Realistic looking guns being waved around to neighboring cars could incite all manner of problems best avoided.

I slipped into the service and quickly wrote a note about it to Jeff, jokingly asking where we'd gone wrong that our almost four year old was 'packing heat' in Sunday School like some common street thug.

His shoulders heaved with silent laughter.

Because as you know, everything seems ten times funnier in church where you're supposed to be quiet and reverent.

After church, we were out to lunch and I still couldn't get the incident out of my head. "What was next if our little Judah was already going all gangstuh on us?" I asked with a chuckle.

Hearing this, Judah replied indginantly, "I'm not a gangstow...I'm a COWboy!"



And you know, it's hard to be too concerned about a kid whose reply when his beloved pistol was confiscated was to look up with big smiling eyes and inform his teachers with pride, "My daddy spiked up my hair dis morneen!"

Especially one that commands such a fearsome presence as a pirate.



Yep, totally quaking in my boots here.