Trip to Seattle

Because my most recent business trip to Seattle fell on my birthday, I decided to take the family with me.  Unfortunately I had to work all three days, but Graham and the kids had a blast venturing around, and I joined them in the evenings.  It made for a great mini "vacation."

"Pillow fight!!!"

Riding the carousel at the Point Defiance Zoo

Hanging out in the cozy hotel bed

The second day at the zoo

Out on the town with Daddy

Enjoying some yummy Seattle ice cream!

The first ever Starbucks location

The famous fish market at Pike's Place

Graham's favorite Seattle site (though we aren't quite Mariners fans yet)

My birthday dinner

The best dam tour ever!

During Mom and Harold's visit back in April, we had the pleasure of getting a full blown tour of Wanapum Dam where my co-worker's (aka "Farmer Nicole") husband, David, works.  

The dam is one of 16(?) along the Columbia River, about an hour east of Ellensburg.  It produces hydro-electricity not only for parts of Washington, but California as well.  For more info, check out the website: http://www.gcpud.org/resources/resEnergy/wanapum.htm.

An outside view of the dam

Hard hats required!

Above is inside the upper section of the dam.  Notice the large crane at the top.  This crane travels along the entire length of the building to transport the equipment in and out.

It just so happened that the day we were there they were replacing one of the turbines.  This is what I called "the space ship", but is really the propeller that was being replaced.

After touring the upper level and getting wobbly knees from looking down into the hole where the turbine fits in, we took an elevator three stories down.  At this level,  we could see where the water came in and was directed into the propellers to maximize speed and flow.  We also saw the massive tubs of hot grease needed to keep the 16 turbines lubricated.  It was unbelievable.  The gauges were uncountable, but are monitored by just one person 24 hours a day.

For the next part of the tour, we continued another three stories down at which point we were 60 feet under water and could look up at the propellers.  Apparently there was one more story below that wasn't accessible to visitors.  

We walked down a long hallway with little stairways and doors as seen below.  We had to wear earplugs to reduce the amount of noise created by the thousands of gallons of water rushing through the turbines behind each little door.  David said we'd be under water in about 10 seconds if any of the doors were opened.  Freaky!

That being said, he proceeded to lead us through the door of the room to the turbine that was in the long process of being replaced.  It was the coldest, darkest, dampest place I had ever been in my life, yet a half a dozen guys carried on their work, not thinking anything of it.

A crane from the outside moves along the top length of the dam to provide this wall, if necessary, to block off any of the turbine rooms.  This picture doesn't do justice, but it's what's holding back the 60 feet of water above us from coming in.  Because it's metal, it doesn't seal completely, allowing just enough water to make us a little nervous.   For perspective, you can barely see the top of David's head (at the bottom of the picture) who is about 6"5'.  Graham says it was like being inside some gigantic Indiana Jones temple. 

Grandma Sara and Hannah enjoying the tour

If you have time, read through the history of the dam and how amazing it was that 1.  someone came up with the idea and design, 2.  the amount of man-power it took to build it and 3.  just how incredibly HUGE it is.  It's hard to impress me, but boy, was I impressed!  I have such a new respect for engineers and all those folks who work "down below" to keep this place running.

And thanks, David, for taking the time to show us your "office" on your day off!

Down on the farm

During her interview process, we learned that my now new coworker, Nicole spends the better part of her day as a farmer! She, her husband and her still-very-German mother live about 11 miles out of town on a ten acre farm. Since her niece and nephew loved the farm so much, she thought it would be fun to have Gideon and Hannah visit, too.

Going out to see the animals

The "gobble gobble chickens" as Hannah calls them

Chicken pen #1

Apparently chickens like apples

Here comes...

...the piggy (a.k.a. Amelia)!


Collecting the eggs


Gidders was amazed at all the different colored eggs

Miracle of miracles... Gideon pets a dog! ("Tripper.")


Nicole's favorite chicken, Gracie


One of three "guard" dogs on the farm, Hector. Graham's favorite.


Cruisin' the farm with one of my students from Kenya, Kate who visits/helps out on the farm almost every weekend



Feeding the cows "cow cookies"


Duckies! Big duckies!


Feeding the chickens in pen #3


Nicole has about 200+ chickens whose eggs she sells as her business. Apparently "the girls" hadn't been laying due to the cold weather, but once it warmed up, she was inundated! She gave us about 3-1/2 dozen to take home, but said she gave her sister 30 dozen and still couldn't fit them all in her storage fridge.

The geese were roaming free that day, and the funniest part of the day was when Gideon and Hannah came running around the corner with terror on their faces. Then about five feet behind them were the geese running and squawking like crazy. It was hilarious!

Happy Birthday, Gideon!

Gideon's big number 5!

We can't believe it's been five years (Jan. 8) since Gidders came into the world. Not only that, but five is a huge milestone with starting school, being more independent and going from a preschooler to a "kid."

To celebrate his birthday, Gideon chose to go bowling. We thought this was a great idea since we hadn't been bowling in a while nor had we been to the alley in Ellensburg yet. Thursday nights just happened to be "Glow Night" where you bowl in black light which makes everything glow (hence the fuzziness of some of the pictures).

In the end, Gideon got a 105 on his first game and 80+ on his second game.

Ellensburg's Rodeo Bowl

Gidders was so cute. He'd carry the ball like this, then run up to the line and hurl it with all his might. Hey, it worked! He got at least two strikes!

Graham in action!

Even Hannah had a few good throws (apparently not this one, though).

Gideon doing the happy dance.

Sure! I look like I know what I'm doing. :)

Enjoying his present from Grandpa and Grandma Moes.

The next Saturday we had a few friends over for a birthday party. It was a "Cars" movie theme, but included a fishing game, a racetrack cake and a "happy birthday" train banner.

Gideon with David Hudson (back), Emily McReynolds (left), L.J. Kincaid (middle) and Bailey Baumgaertner (right)

Graham's hard work in making the magnetic fishing game.

The "pond"

L.J. caught one!

Opening gifts. He got a slinky, a racetrack, a racing Xbox game, a bubbles set, a "Cars" poster and some Play-Doh tools. Thanks everyone!

"...and Lightning McQueen rounds the last corner with Chicks Hicks close behind! Guido and Luigi cheer him on!"

Happy 5th, Gidders. We love you!

Christmas (with a surprise at the end!)

Since we were away for Thanksgiving, we decided to spend our first Christmas in our house at home. Mom and Harold were planning to spend it with us, but unfortunately Mom required emergency surgery that did not allow them to come (no worries. She's just fine. :) )


We had to go for a much smaller tree than previous years since our living room space is a bit limited, but it turned out to be a great little tree.

Gideon Claus

Decorating the tree (while listening to "A Christmas Carol" then the Amy Grant Christmas album in the background, of course).

Oh, Christmas tree!

No need to "dream" of a white Christmas anymore!
(view from out our front door)

Christmas Eve meal before heading to church: pigs in a blanket, raspberry jello, Risgrynsgrot and Julmust (two traditional Swedish Christmas treats).

Opening gifts: lunch boxes for the kids and new p.j.'s for Mommy!

A "princess dress" from Grandpa Moes

The 1977 Chronicles of Narnia collection. Just what he wanted!

Look and find books from Tante Marijke

Yay! New placemats!

Fishing sets from Uncle Brook and Auntie Tonya

Laser tag!

"What? It's not candy?" (peppermint spatula. Thanks Kinneys!)

A baby doll!

Trying out the gifts

Art easel from Grandma Sara and Harold

'Twas a long, busy night. :)

Although our gift opening was over, we still got one little extra Christmas surprise. We found out we're expecting! Come September, we'll be a family of five, making this grandchild #12 for the Moes', #11 for Dad and Ann and #5 for Mom and Harold.

We hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas, too!

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving, we decided that a year and a half was too long to be away from family, so we made our first trip back to Cali since we moved to Washington.

The photos below are only a glimpse of everything we did and everyone we saw. You can see more on either my or Graham's Facebook accounts.

Hannah, Gideon and cousin Eden reading a book with Grandma.

A musician in the making!

Grandpa's newly renovated home theater

Watching Charlie Brown Christmas

Great Grandma Moes had a tradition of giving the kids Thanksgiving cans filled with treats and toys. Grandma Moes has kept the tradition going.

All of us ladies making the Thanksgiving feast!

Doing a Thanksgiving craft while waiting for dinner


Worth the wait!

Cheers!

What would we do without the Murphys Camp dining hall?

Choices, choices, choices!!

Miles' first Thanksgiving


The kids loved their Thanksgiving cans

Digging through the popcorn to get the toys

Uncle Dave and Miles (the newest member of the family)

Taking professional family pictures at Ironstone Winery

That hottie can't be "little" Marijke??!!

Please can I go in??


Staying warm while waiting our turn

Some of the cousins: Brynja, Gabriel, Gideon, Acadia and Hannah

First Christmas presents of the year

Gidders and cousin Acadia

Admiring the Christmas tree

Hot tubbing with Grandpa!

Precious girl!

After Thanksgiving we drove down to Fresno to see friends and visit our old stomping grounds. About 15 friends met us at our favorite Fresno restaurant, John's Incredible Pizza for yummy food and catching up.

Thank you, Naomi, for letting us stay with you!

It wouldn't have been a trip to California without going to In-N-Out.

Back in Murphys, going on a tracking ride around camp.

Our last night in Murphys. Murphys Christmas Open House.

Brook, Victoria and Ethan helping spread some Christmas cheer (and making an unexpected $22 in 15 minutes!)

Grandpa Moes and Baby Miles

Boys will be boys.

Getting in one final game of Ticket to Ride


A rousing game of "chess"

Taking a walk to the top of the hill

One final spin on the tire swing

Fall fun!

One of the reasons we love Ellensburg so much is that it has four seasons. As October came to a close, more colors in the trees began to appear, the leaves started to fall and pumpkins were appearing all over the place!

A few Saturdays ago, Graham decided to look for any fall festivals that might taking place that day. He just happened to find a festival going on in Suncadia, a resort about 20 minutes north of Ellensburg. It said everything was free, so we figured it was worth the drive. And boy, was it worth the drive!

The festival included a tractor-pulled hay ride through the resort, a bounce house, two pumpkin patches (one for regular size pumpkins and one for little pumpkins), a hay maze, pony rides, a mechanical bull, a pumpkin carving station with tools and stencils included, apple bobbing, a pie eating contest, carnival games and vendor booths! The food we had to buy, but they were huge portions for very little cost.

The lady manning the pumpkin patch said it was the third year they had done it, and the crowd gets bigger each year. The small crowd was one of the reasons we enjoyed it so much, but we felt we can't keep a secret like this away from our friends. We hope to go again next year and for many years to come!