Entry 291: Eight for Three Hundred

It's Entry 300 [note: due to early misnumbering this actually only Entry 291... oh well], and it's coming at you a little later than usual.  I returned from a two-week vacation to Washington state a few days ago, and I didn't bring my laptop with me, so blogging wasn't in the cards.  It was a really nice trip -- just me and the little man (S is too pregnant for travel).  We went to Ocean Shores and spent a lot of time with my family in University Place.  I also was able to sneak up to Seattle for a night sans child and hang out with old friends.

Here are eight pics.

   

This is the view from the beach house at which we -- meaning my parents, my sister's family, Lil' S, and I -- were all staying.  If you look carefully, you can see the ocean in the background.  The beach was fun, but the weather did not cooperate.  The day I took this picture was the only non-overcast one of our three-day stay, and it was pretty cold the entire time (high 50s and low 60s) as well.  Also, just to taunt us, the weather in U.P. was gorgeous the entire time we were at the beach.  We left 80-degrees and sunshine and drove into a blanket of chilliness and fog.

One thing I really don't like about beaches in Washington is that cars can drive on them anywhere they want.  This is especially annoying if you have a toddler.  It's stressful enough making sure they don't drown; you shouldn't have to worry about them getting flattened by some yahoo in a pickup truck as well.  In general, Washington beaches aren't that great.  I used to love going to Long Beach as a kid, but that's primarily because I didn't know any better.  After living on the coast in Australia and going to the Outer Banks in North Carolina and even Cannon Beach in Oregon, Washington beaches are kind of a let down.

But it was nice to spend time with my family.  And the kids loved it, which, I suppose, is the most important thing.  It's funny, looking back, in none of my memories from the beach as a kid do I remember what the weather was like.  I think weather is something adults care about, not children.  My nephews and Lil' S all went in the water when it was like 65 degrees and windy.  My mom had on earmuffs and gloves, and they're just running around like it's nothing.

Here's a great shot of Lil' S trying (and failing) to keep up with his older cousins.

After the beach, I spent most the time in U.P., just hanging out on my parents' patio with the family -- a lot of cookouts.  Lil' S got fussy sometimes, but for the most part he was pretty good.  I took the "hey, I'm on vacation" approach to parenting, so I was quite lax with rules.  You want to watch a TV show?  Well, you already watched two hours earlier, but sure.  And you want M & Ms while you watch?  Knock yourself out.  The M & Ms were part of trail mix, so I justified it to myself that he was getting some nourishment from the nuts.  He wouldn't eat the raisins though.  He really only likes the peanuts and the "blue peanuts."

While at my parents, I spent quite a bit of time with my sister and her family.  Here's a shot of the Titlow splash park -- Lil' S is the orange suit; his cousins B & G might be in there somewhere also.  As my sister explained it: "B is somewhere pretending that he's peeing, and G is somewhere nearby also pretending that he's peeing."  It's a universal equation: Running water + Little Boy = Pantomime Urination.

I also spent quite a bit of time walking around my parents' neighborhood.  In the afternoon, I would load Lil' S into the stroller, slather on some sunscreen, and hit the streets.  He would get his afternoon nap in, and I would get in some exercise -- two birds with one stone.  The weather was beautiful -- literally not a single spurt of rain nor an overcast day my entire stay, which is amazing for U.P.  It might not be healthy for the ecosystem, but it is amazing.  Below is a shot of the park in Fircrest, WA where I played my first ever t-ball game. 

In that same park is a little pavilion that my friend's father designed.  He was an architect, and once another friend of mine was giving my friend shit, asking him what his dad had ever designed.  And when my friend responded with this pavilion, we all laughed, because it's just a little rinky-dink pavilion in a suburban park, and not like the Pantages Theater or Stadium High School or something historic and cool like that.  Basically, we were being dicks.  Actually, that's how we interacted most the time.  It's weird to look back and think of the way in which my friends and I treated one another in our late teens and early 20s -- we were incredibly hard on each other.  But, many of us are still friends today, 20-plus years later -- which is pretty remarkably -- so there must have been a strong undercurrent of love beneath the ostensible harshness.

Here's something else I came across -- a holistic pet food store.  I don't understand holistic medicine, and I don't understand our pet (particularly dog) crazy culture, so this is like a double bullshit picture to me.  It's bullshit on bullshit crime.

Here's another interesting sign.  Is it just me or does Chad have the eyes of a crazy man?  Maybe chose a photo that doesn't make you look possessed by a demon -- just a thought.

The next pic was taken a few blocks from the duplex in which I was born.  (Yes, that is correct, I was a home birth.)   I've it said before (and before), and I'll say it again: The Tacoma area is way underrated for how beautiful it is.  The vistas of the mountains and the water superb.  There is nowhere in the DC region that can match a view like this, and this was snapped about a quarter mile from my parents' suburban home.

And I'll leave you with that.  Until next time...