Pacific Northwest 2021: The trip out

After having our outbound flight cancelled twice (once 5 days before departure, once 9 hours before departure), we were excited to finally be on our way. Even if it did involve a layover in Boise. (When U asked the gate agent in Phoenix about our tight connection in Boise when the flight from Phoenix was delayed, she said, "You have a connection in Boise? Nobody connects out of Boise." Which is probably why there was availability for us to connect through Boise.) Thankfully we did make the connection with enough time for a stop at the bathroom on our way to the next plane. We had some nice views on our way into Seattle including seeing Mount Adams, Mount St Helens, Mount Rainier and the Space Needle.

The plane for the first leg of our flight.

Megan and Sarah on the Boise to Seattle flight.

U, Me and Matthew on the Boise to Seattle flight.

Mount Adams

Mount Rainier

Mount Rainier and environs.

Question asked by Matthew in the days leading up to the trip:

Matthew: You know the area where you can put your bags that isn’t over your seat or by your feet that’s in a separate area of the plane? What’s that called?

Me: Checked bags?

Matthew: Yeah. Have we ever done that?

Our kids are used to travelling carry on only. Although when they saw the lines for checked bags, they were glad we did not need to wait in them! Ditto for when people were waiting at baggage claim.

June Happenings

 June is the magical month where the kids do not have school. Sarah was quite busy between Girl's Camp, Youth Conference, appointments and time with her friends. Megan, Matthew and Me did a bunch of science projects.

Growing crystals

Baking soda crystals on charcoal (with food coloring)

Salt crystals

Sugar crystals (aka rock candy)

Matthew and Megan built the astronomy tower.

Sunshine was very interested in the Kindle. It definitely looked like she wanted to read.

We did a number of puzzles that a couple in the ward loaned us.

Old McDonald's Farm

San Diego

Independence Hall

Atlantis

Salt Lake City

Megan and Matthew playing Twister. U trained them to be quite aggressive in their moves.

We build a compass by making a nail magnetic and then floating it in a bowl of water. We did lots of other activities with magnets and with electricity.

Megan, Matthew and Me made a trip to the Science Center.

Megan and Matthew playing with bubbles.

What a big bubble!

See the red bead? It represents the sun amidst all the known stars and possible earth-like planets. Megan patiently spun it around until she found the red sun. 

Matthew perfectly balanced in the swivel chair.

Matthew and Megan having a wheelchair race.

One of the many weird reading positions of Matthew.

We visited the dentist a lot this month. All of us had check ups. Sarah had two additional trips for tooth repairs (one missing filling, one new cavity). However, it was Matthew who had the most interesting story: He had a filling come out and so needed it to be replaced. Once they got him numbed up and were getting ready to fix the tooth, the tooth came out. So instead of a filling, Matthew got a visit from the tooth fairy.

Matthew with his tooth.

See where the filling used to be?

See where the tooth came from?

The set up for the tooth fairy. Megan helped him with the food. They put extra food in the pantry. Megan and Matthew even sewed blankets and pillows for the tooth fairy.

Matthew's note. He was happy to learn that the tooth fairy did take a nap on the bed.

U signed up for a cookie decorating class through work. Matthew and Megan joined him in decorating the cookies.

Matthew and Megan with the suns they decorated.

Happy saguaro.

All the cookies.

Sarah holding a snake they found at youth conference.

Megan, Matthew, U and Me went to the Lego Discovery Center while Sarah was at Youth Conference. We went on Kingdom Quest, watched some 4D movies and rode Merlin's Apprentice Ride multiple times. Here are some of the pictures from Merlin's:

Megan and Matthew loved the Lego City Play Zone. They spent around 3-3.5 hours running around playing with each other and some other kids.

U made this bird.

Matthew celebrated his half birthday. He was happy to receive a Hexbug Spider.

Megan loves to read!

Couple quotes:

At the pool, Megan befriended a girl who had the same swimsuit she did.

Dad: Do you know your friend's name?

Megan: Well, she is acting like a dog so I just call her "flower."

Matthew met us with this news as we came in from our morning walk:

Matthew: When I was putting the maple syrup away, it spilled. On my head.

A Visit from Family

 Me's brother and his family visited us for a few days. The kids were super excited that cousins were coming to visit and U and Me were happy to see family. They happened to come during a heat wave (115+ temps). Unfortunately Kinley got heat stroke on the day they arrived and she had to go to the ER. Thankfully, she recovered. We made sure that everyone drank a lot and no one else got sick. We enjoyed our time with them. 

A great horned owl sitting on the fence by the park. Aspen spotted it and pointed it out to us.

Marci, Me and the 6 youngest kids went to AZCEND Thursday morning. The kids especially liked restocking the shelves and putting cans in the carts. They also flattened a lot of plastic bags.

Back row: Josie, Aspen, Megan
Front row: Zach, Matthew, Quincy

Matthew, Zach, Megan and Josie playing Twister.

We enjoyed cooling off at the pool.

Megan and Aspen

We went to the zoo Friday morning. Because what better thing to do when the high is 117??? We did arrive early--around 6:30 during member hours.

Me, Matthew, Megan, Zach, Kinley, Sarah, Quincy watching the elephant.

Megan riding a bucking bronco.

Cute squirrel monkey

Zach and Matthew

A trip highlight was petting and feeding the stingrays.

Zach, Kinley, Matthew, Marci, Quincy, Josie, Aspen

Sarah and Megan pet the stingrays while their cousins look on.

Our plan had been to walk part of the zoo and then take the Safari Tram. This allows us to see some of the less shaded parts of the zoo from the comfort of a moving vehicle. However, when we went to buy tickets, we discovered that the trams were not running. We slathered on the sunscreen, filled up water bottles and walked quickly along the African Trail. I was quite impressed with our speed!

The fennec fox. I fully expected it to be sleeping since it's nocturnal and is usually sleeping. But it was awake and alert. Zach was excited as it is one of his favorite animals.

Quincy, Aspen, Zach, Josie, Kinley, Matthew, Megan and Sarah on the treehouse bridge at the end of our trip to the zoo.

More games!

Zach and Matthew playing Castle Panic.

U playing What's Up with Quincy and Josie.

Josie and Aspen riding the ATV around the yard. The ATV was very popular!

The whole fam: Kinley, Jon, Zach, Josie, Marci, Aspen, Quincy

Jon and Me