July 4th, 2010

This Holiday weekend started out with a fizzle.

1) Weather: Despite early prediction of a sunny and warm Friday, the weather stayed cool and overcast through out most of the day.

2) Work: Despite it being a firm Holiday, I was trapped on the 35th floor of the Wells Fargo building, until seven.

3) Shannon: She had been out of town all week, and wasn't getting home till 11:oo PM. :(

After getting home from work, I came in to find amped up children running chaotically around the house. Rajeev, who had brought us fireworks from the Tulalip reservation, and Grandma had concoted a dinner using taco meet and crushed Fritos and were happy with their creation.

With the help of tranquilizer darts I had found in my Chuck(tm) spy kit, I was able to get the kids to bed. I sat down (around 10:00) to enjoy a few moments of silence before running to the airport to pick up Shannon. However, the phone rang, and it was Shannon informing me she was in Seattle. I later learned that when Shannon rounds up, she really rounds up (her flight was scheduled to land at 9:55, and rather than round up to 10:00, Shannon goes all out, and told everyone her flight was landing at 11:00). With an extra hour of time together, and the children already in bed, we went to watch Iron Man 2. Good movie, lots of action.

Saturday things began to Improve. Zach went to his First In-Theater Move (Toy Story 3). Work progressed on the yard and patio. The weather improved, slightly. Zach and I had an adventure Saturday afternoon in search of the unique, rare, Double Holland brick needed to complete the remainder of the patio. Alas, after visiting 3 Home Depots and finding no bricks, we settled on eating panda for dinner. (Shannon wants me to point out that the Panda Express is really an economically viable chinese take out solution.)

After dinner we went outside for a while and enjoyed various displays of light, color, and sound. In Renton fireworks are prohibited by law, thus I must sadly inform you there are no pictures of the evening festivities. Zach enjoyed, for the first time in his life, fireworks. Rajeev had worked with him and snaps, to get over his fears. (Tyler was asleep and was not awoken by the quiet tranquil evening the rest of his family was having outside.) Zach enjoyed the sparklers, the fountians, but most of all the Roman Candles.

Sunday was church day and Zach's first prayer in primary. Tired from staying up the night before, he was not at his best. Sunday was cold, with clouds hanging oppressively low, and blocking all but the grayest of light. The BBQ was cooked between falling rain drops. This evening Zach enjoyed jumping through the smoke of the fireworks and kept asking for more. Tyler enjoyed the fireworks, but feared the tanks.

After a quick jaunt to Seattle, we arrived back at church, on top of a hill in Seattle, to watch the Renton 4th of July show occurring at the park below us. The experience was surreal, explosions were taking place all around us, close to us, on distant hills, and then the Show started. It was good, Zach loved it. We stood in the wind and the rain for about twenty minutes before everyone was wet and shell shocked.

Despite the wind and the rain, in typical Seattle Fashion, Summer finally starts this week. Seattle Weather

Monday we went for Hike at Squak Mountain. Short Hike, but fun. The sun came out in the afternoon, and we spent the time playing in the yard. Below is Tyler helping out during my (mostly failed) experiment with concrete. It's hard to see, but he has concrete on his face. He is hiding the shovel in his other hand, and was beating it on the wheelbarrow.

Long digest of the weekend, but now you can consider yourself in the know! Ellis Out.