Fall

Mark cleaned up the yard today and the kids had a chance to do some jumping in the leaves before they were bagged up. Fun!

Negotiating

There has been a lot of trading going on here with the loot. They are pretty good at transactions that leave everyone happy.

Trick or treating

The kids raided our costume bin and got dressed up. It's hard to get Penny to stay still for very long these days.This year we went to a "Trunk-or-Treat" put on by a local church with some friends. It was just our speed. We went while it was still light out, circled the U of cars in the parking lot and were done in about 20 minutes with a satisfying amount of candy.

Pumpkin Patch

This year we headed to a new and different farm west of town. Bill's Berry Farm is a lovely family-run farm. They grow apples, pumpkins, cherries, and blueberries.Our tour started with a talk on fruits and vegetables and some of the different varieties of pumpkins by Farm Wife Julie. Then Farmer Bill gave us a hayride out to the pumpkin patch to pick our own Wee Bee Little pumpkin. Penny was pleased to find a pumpkin she could carry around. There was a hay pile to climb over and through. (There were tunnels underneath.) We rode back to pet some of the animals and (after a thorough hand-washing) had fresh pumpkin doughnuts. It was a excellent morning with great friends and good weather. They run this little animal train on the weekends. The horse behind her is named Henry.

Day trip : Dayton (and a bit of Walla Walla)

We saw a few new things on this trip to Dayton. Just outside of town there is the Patit Creek Campsite, a steel silhouette scene representing a Corps of Discovery campsite one hour before dusk. Lewis and Clark had quite the entourage! We walked through the historic Columbia County Courthouse. We stopped at the train depot to see the bronze stationmaster sculpture that had been added since our last visit. We at lunch at the Weinhard Cafe again. We did a little shopping and stepped in to see the lobby of the Weinhard Hotel. We stopped to have coffee with the goats at the fromagerie before we headed to Walla Walla. There, we walked up and down Main Street. The kids found some more bronze artwork to interact with. The kids found a fun little park to play in. It was a full day.

A scenic drive

On Saturday we drove part of the White Pass Scenic Byway from Natches and looped back on the Chinook Scenic Byway. We had a picnic lunch overlooking Clear Creek Falls. We stopped to admire Mt. Rainier. We found an alpine meadow to hike around. It's amazing to go from the desert to this and back again in one day.

Two days in Tacoma

After the Balloon Rally we continued heading west. We stopped for breakfast at the Green Olive Cafe in Sunnyside and then went on to Tacoma. We had lunch at the Metropolitan Market where the big kids were able to participate in a cheese tasting. We visited the gardens at Point Defiance. The dahlias are amazing. All of the women and Henry.After we were done walking around we took in the scenery on Five Mile Drive. We saw four raccoons by the side of the road! We stopped by the Museum of Glass before dinner. The best part was watching glass blowing in the hot shop. We walked across the bridge of glass to Indochine to eat. We ate a few entrees family style and everything was delicious. We rode the Max Light Rail part of the way back to our hotel.
The next day we toured Anja and Liisa's house. We went to the conservatory and saw the Wicked Plants exhibit. They have the most impressive pitcher plant there. There was a stop to shop at Trader Joe's and lunch at the Adriatic Grill. We did a little shopping at the Southcenter Mall before heading home. It was a longer drive than usual due to some road construction.