Family Re-union, Pacific Northwest II

Yesterday, we left Mt. Rainier and drove back to Washougal, WA.  Tomorrow, Jeremy, Doris, Vincent, Edda and Donald are leaving for Washington DC and San Francisco.  Time really flies.

Picture 1 is the two cabins that we stayed at Lake Crescent.  Picture 2, Donald helps Edda to walk along the lake shore of Quinault Lake.  Jeremy, Doris and Edda on the Ruby Beach, WA along US route 1 are shown in Picture 3.  Picture 4, Rena enjoys her boat ride in Lake Quinault with her long time boy friend and husband.  Picture 5 is the family boat guide tour in Quinault Lake.  Vincent Posts a picture with Mr. Rainier in Picture 6.  And Donald says hello to everyone is in the last picture.

In short, Jeremy is a good planner and we have had fun together.  And, we are planning for more family re-union gatherings.

Family Re-union, Pacific Northwest

This Tuesday, we started our family reunion tour in Seattle, WA.  First, we visited the Boeing Factory and posted for a reunion picture.  Edda looks like someone asked her to be a test pilot.

After that, we took the ferry and went east toward Olympia National Park.  We have stayed at Crescent Lake, Sol Duc Hot Spot and Quinault Lake. After two nights here, we are heading to Mt. Rainier, Washougal.  We have had good time together. 

Parking cars.

Why are we so busy this weekend?  Well, it’s because we are parking cars at the MoCo fair.  We meaning Jeremy, me and Vince.  (Edda somehow gets a pass on this.)  This isn’t valet parking, it’s directing traffic in a large grassy field – finding empty spaces and getting cars in and out as efficiently as possible.  The scouts run the show.  As they get older, they get more responsibility so by the time they are seniors in high school, they are dispatching crews and ordering adults around.  The scouts themselves are suppose to work at least 35 hours during the fair, but a lot of them want to work way more hours than that because it’s kind of fun for them. They get to hang out with their pals all day and eat fair food and actually tell people what to do.

Grown ups have to put in 40 “family” hours.  They put the grown ups in critical spots – those spots where you have a greater chance of being run over, which is what I felt like I was doing all day – that is, on the verge of being run over.

The scouts have done this for 60 years and it’s because they get paid handsomely for their services.  In turn, we have no dues, no selling crap, no paying for camping fees.  Therefore, I have reframed this experience from “OMG, I can not believe that I’m parking cars in the hot, hot sun.” to “I’m so glad I get to park cars so that I don’t have to sell popcorn to raise funds.”  So much pleasure can be derived from reframing things this way.  I have turned my car flag-waving duties into performance art in which each oncoming car is a brand new audience to win over.  I actually have a little dance routine which culminates into the instruction “turn right”.  I’m usually rewarded about every third car with a thumbs up, or a smile or some funny comment.  All the kiddos in the backseat wave hello.  Time passes quickly.

We also get to catch up with the parents of Vince’s friends.  Here’s David, professional video/photographer – trying to get me to use flash and shoot in RAW and do post-processing.  Sounds like a lot of work.  I acknowledge that I’m only half a photographer – I take the photos and I download them and put them on this blog.  I don’t crop, I don’t edit and I don’t curate.  Am I a real photographer?  Maybe.  Maybe not.

Family Re-union Prelude

Just two days before our family re-union in the Pacific Northwest, Rena and I hosted a small college classmates re-union.  We went to Skamania Lodge to have a brunch together.  Rena was the only girl student among all these boys, including these three in the picture.  The one on the far left at the back was a higher-up Ford Executive when retired many years ago.  The lady on the right was a Boeing Fellow before her retirement 6 years ago.  
We had fun and look forward to have our own family re-union.  Can’t wait.

Petsitting.

I’m pet sitting this weekend.  Two dogs, three cats and two rats.  It’s more animal than I’m used to but that’s OK because – OK I can’t think of a reason that it’s OK, but it’s really OK.  We are extremely busy this weekend, so these poor guys are getting the minimalist treatment so I hope they forgive me.  Their parents won’t be gone very long.   I’m thankful that I don’t have to take care of the snake, lizard, frog and fish that they have as well.  Whew!

Seussical!

Tomorrow is the last day of camp for Edda.  So tonight Edda was in the Suessical musical and she was fabulous.  It can be an unpredictable time for Edda as it’s close to her bedtime, but she did great – walking across the stage in her purple shirt.  During the performance, she lost a shoe and always wanted to exit stage left, but Kara handled it all with grace and style.

Here we are post-performance with Kara and one of Edda’s castmates who could not resist posing in a photo with us.

Thank you Kara for a wonderful summer!!  (Jeremy is making chicken noises.  Edda often will laugh a a good chicken impersonation.)

Sleeping Edda.

We’ve moved Edda’s OT to Saturdays for the summer.  She’s usually too exhausted from camp to see Deb afterwards during the weekdays.  I don’t have a set time on Saturday, I just wait for cancellations and Deb’ll email me last minute.  Because Nat usually doesn’t work on the weekends, I get to hang out with Deb for an hour on Saturday while we encourage Edda to move blocks with her hands or play piano keys.  I love spending some time with Deb since I so rarely get to see her during the school year.  This Saturday, Edda was sound asleep when I pulled into the parking lot so the first 15 minutes of the session involved me and Deb chatting out in the middle of the parking lot and gently nudging Edda to wake up from her nap – hoping for cheerful Edda instead of grumpy Edda – you never know who you are going get when she wakes up.