On Saturday we ventured into Seattle to the “Bite of Seattle”. Despite more tempuratures in the mid 90’s, we had a great time. We brought swim suits for the kids and they played in the fountain for an hour or so. I gave the camera a rest, but brought it along to our trip into Seattle on Sunday. Steve and Cindy treated all of us to a tour of the Ballard locks. We started out in Lake Union and travelled through the ship canal to the locks and out into the Puget Sound. I snapped a bunch of pictures during the 2 1/2 hour trip. As always, click on the picture to view the entire slide show!

I took the day off on Friday and we drove to the south side of Mt. Rainier. I had forgotten how beautiful the Paradise hikes are. We normally visit Sunrise to the North, but the Paradise route is much closer to the mountain. The temperatures in Seattle were horrible (mid-90’s), but 3 1/2 miles or so into our hike up the mountain we came across a large snow field. I think the kids were a little perplexed given how hot it was. It was great watching floridians having a snowball fight on the side of a mountain in late July in 90+ degree heat
We couldn’t have asked for a better day! Click on the picture to check out a number of the better shots that I took!

It has been a busy but surprisingly relaxing week. Erin’s brother Steve, his wife Cindy and their 5 kids flew out here from Florida last Wednesday and visited until this evening. Thursday evening was low key; we walked down the street to Pine Lake park and took in the music and let the kids run wild
Click on above picture for a slide show!

It is definitely summer in the Northwest! We loaded the kids into the car and took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. After lunch we visited Fay State Park. Although the water was cold….verrry cold, the kids didn’t seem to mind. I think they would have competely submerged themselves if we would have let them.

I took this picture of Erin last night when she was relaxing in the hammock. Click on the picture to visit the rest of the gallery from today. Notice that there are some pictures of me! Erin took hold of the camera today and captured some great shots! She definitely has a good eye for framing.

Enjoy your 4th!

I love the 4th of July! We just finished a big push at work, so we’re taking Monday off and turning this into a 4 day weekend. I wasn’t very productive today and that was kind of the point (no honey do list this weekend!). Last night I picked up some Copper River King salmon and grilled that out this evening and while the fish was cooking I snapped this shot of Cole.
Click here for the large image

After dinner I was checking out the shots I took and I noticed a reflection in Cole’s eye. Here’s the color crop of hia left eye.
You can actually see me standing there with the camera and the sky in the background as a reflection in his eye! Pretty cool.

I’m sure there will be more posts over the 4th. I may take my gear to whichever fireworks show we end up going to. It’s a good opportunity to try out some different techniques. Have a safe and fun holiday!