Washington Part 3

This is still at Tumwater Falls watching the fish. Sophia was amazed at them too.



She would say, "Wow" when we saw a fish try to jump up the waterfall.
 

Above the waterfall, to the right, there is the fish hatchery where their final destination is.

Here are some in the water in the hatchery. Once they get here, they are killed. It's a little sad because they've traveled so far to get here, but they would die anyway. The workers kill them and take their eggs and let them hatch here, where they will one day return again. They use the fish for protein powders and things like that since they aren't very good to eat. Our next trip, Rich is bringing his fishing pole! Hopefully he catches some that will taste good. :)
 

Our last night here, we went out for Thai food in downtown Olympia. I love these girls so much! I laugh so hard when I'm with them! It's always a good time!
 

Left to right we have: Jessamyn, baby Jacob (he is 6 months younger than Sophia, but he already outweighs her!), me, Sophia, Michelle, and her sister, Anne. It's fun being with Anne too... we used to babysit her kids, who are now in COLLEGE!
 

It was sure sad saying bye to these girls! I look forward to the next time we get together!!  (Maybe Jess and her family will come to Conference in April??)

When we drove home, we didn't stop for the night...we just went straight through. Honestly, that trip home is all a blur now. Poor Sophia got to the point that when her Baby Einstein movie would almost end, she'd be in tears! She would get so bored.  Baby Einstein saved us on that trip, along with my sister-in-law's portable DVD player! After the trip she would cry when I put her in the car for an errand. She had no idea if it would be a 5 minute trip or 12+ hours. We are really glad we went though!

Washington Part 2

This is still on our 3rd day in Washington... we had just explored Point Defiance Park and decided to go get some lunch.



Michelle recommended Duke's Clam Chowder House and we couldn't thank her enough! Rich got clam chowder and I got corn chowder. We both agreed it was the BEST chowder we'd ever had! If you ever to go Tacoma... eat here!! There is a great view as well, as it's right on the water.



This is an old fire fighter boat near Duke's.
 

We then went back to Point Defiance to spend more time there, now that we weren't hungry. This is a garden there. So pretty! 

Sophia loved posing for the picture.
 

More gardens. 

The fog was beginning to clear and we could see the water.
 

There is an old fort in the park called Fort Nisqually. It used to be a trading post or something. We walked around, and tried to avoid the creepy tour guides.
 

There is a fun area where kids can play like the settlers did. There is a puppet show curtain and Rich put on a very talented show for us. There were also games and other activities. It would be fun to take older kids there.
 

One of the lookout points. (Notice Sophia kicked back again!)
 

We then went for a little hike. I love the green ferns. I was hoping to see a HUGE slug, like there usually are on these trails, but no luck on this day. 

I love this picture!
 

The next day, we drove back to Olympia and went to the farmer's market. This is my favorite market in the whole world! It's such a cute place, with good food, and good entertainment. Plus it's right by the water, which I love!
 

We bought a bunch of apples to taste test on our drive home. 

Rich eating some more chowder.

Sophia dancing on the tables.
 

We went for another hike at a park I used to go to all the time. I couldn't find the trail I usually hiked on so we went on a shorter, different one. I was cracking up at Sophia because she just wanted me to hold her. Not sure why she wasn't happy with Rich.
 

This is where the trail ended. Have I mentioned I like the water??
 

She is much happier now that we found a swing and a cracker.
 

We then went to Tumwater Falls and watched the salmon run. It was seriously, one of the best things we did there! 

We watched the fish try to jump up the waterfall. I learned a lot about the life cycle of salmon. Apparently, they will always come back to the place they were born to spawn. They swim thousands and thousands of miles to come back and have babies. Once they have babies, their life cycle is over and they die. I am amazed that they can be out in the ocean for years, but still remember how to swim back to the place they were born.

To be continued...

Washington Part 1

These posts are VERY overdue! In September, we drove up to Washington state to visit my old stomping grounds and some of my very best friends. It was a lot of fun and I loved showing Rich around again and showing him where I lived. From Salt Lake City, it is a 13 hour drive. With a toddler, it ends up taking much longer. On our drive up, we stopped in Oregon and stayed with our brother-in-law's mom. She was such a sweetheart and really made us feel welcome. One our 2nd day of driving, we stopped at these waterfalls off the freeway for a little break in our driving.



Look how tall they are!

Notice the bridge in the background...

Here we are on that bridge. So pretty!

When we got to our destination, we had dinner with my two high school friends. My friend, Michelle, let us stay at her house, which was really nice of her because Sophia made her have to "toddler proof" her house for the week. 

 

I think this is our 2nd day in Washington. We looked around the state capitol building. I wish we had gotten a picture of the grounds, but these two are all I had. I guess I wasn't in the picture taking mode yet.




Here is Sophia, lounging as usual in her stroller. It always cracks me up when she kicks her feet up and enjoys the ride. :)

This is at Percivile Landing. It's on the Puget Sound pennisula and it's one of my favorite things about Olympia. I love the water!  (Notice Sophia, knocked out in her stroller... too much relaxing, I guess.) 

That night, Michelle was nice enough to watch Sophia while Rich and I went to a Mariners game. They played horrible, but I love Safeco Field! I really miss the team the Mariners had while I was in high school... they were so much fun to watch! And they were so much better in those days!!

Here is Rich, enjoying his hot dog. I was stressed out because we had snuck down to better seats and I was SUPER worried that we were going to get caught. We only stayed in these seats for a little bit so I could relax!

We decided to explore the stadium and took advantage of these photo opp's.
 

Yay!

We then found some other seats that were not quite as close, but we were treated like VIP's here. The workers invited us in to sit, asked if they could get us anything, and took our picture. That's when we knew, we found our seats! It was a really fun night!

The next day we drove around Michelle's neighborhood in DuPont and found a PET CEMETARY! It was creepy.
 

Then we went to Tacoma where we explored Point Defiance Park. I had never been here so it was fun to experience something new. I love this picture because it has a Washington "feel" to it. Behind us is the Puget Sound. We could barely see the water and islands in it because of the fog. Weather like this makes me feel so cozy!
 

I love the forests and hiking trails here. It's so pretty!
 

Pictures don't do it justice!
 

 To be continued....

Great Grandma Clyde

A few weeks ago, we stopped by to visit Rich's grandma. Isn't she cute! I wish I had gotten a better picture, but Sophia lost it after this one.

 

Bear Lake Brawl

Rich and I did a sprint triathlon at Bear Lake last month. It was such a fun race! We plan on doing it again next year, so if anyone wants to join us, let me know!

We got a really cheap hotel room that had a "kitchenette" but no microwave. That put a damper on my great idea to eat in that night. I packed stuff to heat up spaghetti, but it was pretty gross cold.

 

Mmmmm! Cold spaghetti. Bleh!



Sophia is pretty happy to eat anything. Please notice how gross our hotel room is.

Here we are, trying on our wetsuits the night before. Wahoo! 

Bright and early on race day... waiting for the race to start. It was FREEZING cold. Next year I'll be packing a jacket for sure!

 

The beautiful Bear Lake.



Brrr! Once we got in the water, it was actually much better, but waiting on the beach... oh my! We both did OK in the race. The swim was hardest for us both, but the rest was great!

Here is Sophia, happy to go play in the water. (It looks like she's screaming, but that is her SUUUUPER excited face.)

 

 

 

I didn't want to put her swim suit on so we just stripped her down. She was a bit hesitant, but then she started having fun. 

She mostly liked trying to eat the sand. Yikes!

Dad, burying her feet.

That was pretty much our time there. We had a famous raspberry shake (best in the world!) and headed home.