PLANS

Today I am home and excited to be caught up with the after trip jobs so that I can work on these projects to name a few!

I am still on Washington time--I can't fall asleep at night until way too late and then I sleep in come morning--not my usual self at all and a waste of morning temperatures!!!  I hope my body catches up soon!

 

A SET OF DOTZ!

While in Tacoma, I finished the set of coasters.  It was great fun to work on these while the girls did dolphins and cats.

 I have purchased a sealant for these so that the dotz can't be picked off either by accident or on purpose! lol

 Since I didn't want to be done with the Dotz, I ordered another project. There are four different hummingbirds in this set;  I did one, Krystle another and the girls are still working on theirs and will mail them to me when completed so I will have the full set for a souvenir!  I think I will be mounting these on wood to look like canvas art work...I will work on what I have in my mind to do it!

IT'S BEHIND ME NOW...

Travel takes a lot out of you on the best of trips....how about a last minute cancellation on the last leg of your trip so that you have to stay overnight with no change of clothes or toiletries, etc.  Thankfully, I did have my meds and knitting with me! lol 

 So after being up and down for 36 hours

 we are down and home! 

 I managed to knit this sock 

and part of the mate just Thursday and Friday! 

 First on the agenda for today is to go and replace the new IPhone I lost after the flight from SEA to PRT first thing!  Grrrrr.

Did I mention that travel is hard?! 

 

FOND FAREWELLS....

We played outside for a long time yesterday; 

 the sunshine was such a treat!  

The cherry tree is coming alive--it will be giving fruit in late June!

While I filled my grandma-tanks as full as I could yesterday, today I am off to the airport for a long day of travel back home.  Tears abound, hearts are full of gratitude for the wonderful visit!

 

DASH POINT

We went to a pretty beach along Puget Sound.

The sky and water are beautifully reflecting each other instead of grey of the last week!

We had a slow leisurely walk looking for beach glass.

And lots more rocks very much the ones we could find along the creek!

There were driftwood, stones and sand in abundance--we all found treasures!

I found a lot of sea glass and Bill even found a sand dollar!

This guy is a trooper and dozed and talked most of the walk.

There were housing and marinas all along the roads...

And amidst the steel scrap yards and dock yards there were pretty parks tucked in for the calm among the busy--very refreshing!

We ended our walk with a visit to this ice cream store where we all enjoyed a treat.

This guy was duly impressed with some ice cream!

After a quick flurry of texts with my parents-we got the address to the first home I was brought to and this park, Wright Park,  which was only a few blocks away where I enjoyed buggy rides.  It was nice to see the lions were cared for after all of these years!

And this was my first home--my Dad was in the army so they rented the upstairs here.  It is undergoing a bit of renovation which is encouraging because just a year ago it had a row of tents in front of the houses on this street.  Tacoma has done well to disperse the 'homeless' that squatted in every nook and cranny of this city bringing filth and crime to the area.  It was nice to see so much improved along those lines!

 

A CAR MUSEUM!

Since we were all getting a bit cabin fevered, Jared took us to a car museum just a few minutes from their home.  The girls weren't sure they were going to like it but they sure did-we had a wonderful time!

Krystle 'lined' me up with the steering wheel so I could look like I was resting my arm on the car even though it wasn't 'allowed'.  

I'd never heard of this-a 1946 Tucker....

and it had 3 headlights!  Can you imagine him driving at you?!

There were lots of interactive areas--I did manage to get everyone in this picture--and for the record, Bill's car won!

The girls (and grown-ups) loved sitting in this one cuz when you pushed the dash buttons, there were sound effects--great fun!

This one is for Dee--it was pretty ornate!

And I hope you can see the info on it, too!

I would love one of these--they are all the rage around here--of course, there are a lot of people who are reliving the 70's in their 70's! lol

Look at this boat--just what a car should still be like in my opinion! 1970 Olds, if I remember right.

And this was the view out the entrance--I love the arch!

 

A HOLIDAY SHARED

Oldest son and family!  

Three generation of men!

Since it was pouring out, we had an inside egg hunt!

Checking the stash together!

Sampling the goods!

The guys retired to the golf game

 and the ladies to do some Dotz!

We thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful day together!

RESURRECTION SUNDAY!

 

After church we are gathering for an old fashioned Sunday dinner and then a birthday celebration for Noah, who turns 1 next weekend but we will be home by then,

 so he gets to celebrate it one week early!  

JOY UPON JOY

After a morning of watching Noah while dil had to go to doctor's, we took advantage of the little bit of sunshine and headed to the creek.  Since there had been two days of drizzle, the creek was flowing a lot more this time-we all ended up with wet feet!

Some of the rocks are boulder size...

while most are football sized.  We look at the center where the smaller rocks are because lugging around large ones isn't as much fun as a bunch of pretty SMALLER ones! lol  One of the science lessons that get discussed during our rock hounding!

This is a beauty but I couldn't barely pick it up so I just petted it and left it behind!  It really is a deep green!

There are also lots of large red jasper

 but green is the dominant color!

Some of the areas we have to transverse look like this! 

 Yup, under, over and through is our motto!

And when we are tired, thristy and wet we still have to climb the 300' bank to home-which you can see at the very top of this picture.  After the rain, the bank is slippery and hard to get a good foot hold--there are a lot of sliding back down when you hardly have any oomph left!  I did a lot of sitting and resting but was determined to climb it all the way myself! 

 I'm slow but definitely determined!

It's fun to unwind for a bit before dinner and then savor the joy of bathing this guy....he has a tub of toys and what does he want to do?  Figure out the faucet and shower button! lol 

 The men in our family are all mechanically inclined 

and Noah is well on his way to 'figuring it out!'

 

SLOW DAY FUN

Since we bought a new phone plan and IPhones now, I needed to paint a new insert for a new phone case!  I haven't played with watercolors in a long time and it was wonderful.

I added another page to my Landscapes journal from Kim--I have another layer to add but ran out of time since we needed the table to eat!  It rained today and kept us indoors but we played at Dotz, games and enjoyed the slower pace together.

Breakfast with this guy is a trip--just keep the food coming! lol

 

BLISS

First snuggles after a very hard day of travel...helped to melt away the stress.  (I'm showing them pics from our flight-from beaches to snowy mts!

Grandpa enjoyed playing with Noah, newest grandchild (#9) who will soon be one-it's been a hard year to schedule a visit 

but we are making up for it now!

Noah is busy and curious about all gadgets and how things work.  

Yesterday morning, we enjoyed crafting Dotz after breakfast.  

We woke up to 34* temps which are a bit of a jolt but is not going to deter us!  This is the view from the big picture window 

just to the left of the dining room table!

When you see trees like this,

 you understand that this area is a rain forest!

At noontime, it had warmed up into the 50's so we ventured down the hill to the creek bed below to rock hound!

  What a blissfull few hours we enjoyed! Some of the creek was open and enjoyable to walk and then in other areas, we had to duck up and over branches which was quite a work-out!

Through the tough terrain, the girls were very helpful

 and we shared a ton of laughter!

We are sitting on a ledge here swinging our feet out 

so you can see the drop! lol

We haven't yet cleaned all the rocks we hauled up to the house but so far, this one is my favorite!

  It is a large piece of green jasper--there's tons of it here!