Seattle Temple

Today was a very, very special day. My siblings, along with Ken and Damien, got to go to the Seattle Temple and seal my dad to his parents. My dad has been waiting decades to be sealed to his parents. It was a very, very special day. Words can't describe it.

The kids who could go and do baptisms went and did baptisms. It was Olivia's first time! Audra said it was really special experience for her as well.

Also, as a side: I hadn't been to this temple since I took out my endowment. This temple is huge! I was told it's the fifth largest temple in the world. It has 4 endowment rooms, each holding 120 people. The Denver Temple only holds 48 per endowment room. There are 11 sealing rooms. The Denver Temple has 4.

It was really neat to be back at the temple where I got my endowment. And to share it with Audra.

It is days like this when you remember what is important in life- and eternity.

Dash Point

Since it rained the first time we went, we knew we had to go back. We only got to stay for a couple of hours, but I'm so glad we went. The kids absolutely loved it and had such a great time. This really is one of the kids favorite places on earth. And, I love it too.

Friends

I was so grateful to be able to see Danielle after not seeing her for a year! Good friends are the best!

Claire was so excited to see Austin. It was really sweet.

Redondo Beach: My Happy Place

Vashon Island

The girls really wanted to take a ferry right. Specifically, they really wanted to go to Bremerton, but I didn't want to drive to Seattle. Traffic is so horrible here!!!

So, I said we could go to Vashon Island. Vashon is actually a special place for us: it is home to one of our favorite Christmas books, "Red Ranger Came Calling." We headed on our trek to find the treed bicycle.

We found the bicycle in the tree!

Then we headed to the lighthouse. It was beautiful.

 I read the impossible to read ferry schedule wrong and we ended up at the ferry an hour early. There were lots of fruit bushes and trees, however, so we spent the time picking fresh fruit. We found theses amazing cherry plum things that were delicious! It was wonderful, and tasty!

Then we went with Ilea and her kids to the Tacoma Children's Museum.

Oh, and we stopped for our free 7-11 Slurpees!

 After the museum, we headed to the new Chutes and Ladders park- a series of slides and stairs. The girls had a great time.

While there, Ilea and I found $50 on the ground. That's a pretty significant amount! We walked up and down the park asking everybody we saw if they dropped any money. After 15 minutes, we realized our search was futile. One lady gave us a great idea, though. When we asked her if she dropped money, she said, "Take the money and toast whoever it is who paid for your drinks."

Since we don't drink, we decided to take the money and go out to dinner. Taco Time courtesy of a stranger who probably got home and was pretty upset for losing $50.

Toy Story 4, Ice-Cream and Illahee

Tabatha got her first job- at the local theater. She was so excited for us to go to her workplace to go see Toy Story 4, and I'm so glad that we did! It was a super cute movie. Bonus: We never go to the movie theater, so it really did feel like something special for my girls.

Then, Olivia treated us all to Cold Stone ice-cream. She had a botched oral surgery on Monday. so her peace offering from the clinic was a gift card to Cold Stone. Absolutely not worth having a botched surgery, but it was really tasty.

Then, we went to tour my old junior high: Illahee. Oh, the memories! I actually didn't hate junior high. I think I had a pretty positive experience. It really hasn't changed a bit in 25 years!

Wild Waves

What would a trip to Federal Way be without a trip to Wild Waves? And, what would a trip to Wild Waves without some rain?

Well, we got both!

Claire better not complain about her Birthday- a slumber party, homemade ice-cream, and Wild Waves- I would say it was all pretty great!

We sent Audra, Aubrey, Katie and Olivia off by themselves and they had a great time. Every once in awhile, though, we would catch up with them.