Washington Trip

We just got back from an awesome vacation in Washington! It's always great being with my family and visiting "home" again. We did so much it'll be impossible to write all of it down here... so we're bullet-pointing it up!

• King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center 
• Experience Music Project (EMP) to check out the Icons of Sci-Fi exhibit 
• Pike's Place 
• Underground Tour of Seattle 
• Dark Knight Rises with my family 
• Oregon detour 
• Cannon Beach 
• Rose Garden 
• Tillamook Factory 
• Visiting friends down there 
• Multnomah Falls Hike 
• Family BBQ 
• Kyle sang in church 
• Took a scuba diving class (which was awesome!) 
• Chipotles- Duh! 
• Went a little too nuts at the Nike outlet store... 
• Found one of the last Starbucks to still sell chonga bagels! 

I'm sure I'm forgetting nearly a billion things... but here's a just a taste of it all. It's quite odd realizing how much your home town/area shaped you growing up. I have a deep and abiding love for seafood that I'm sure wouldn't have been there had it not been for my close proximity to the ocean! Can't wait to go back already!

rhythm of rain

Something about rain and cloudy skies helps forces me to think thoughts I've tried to repress. Those hard questions with no definite answer because every answer is right, the awkward choices coming up with even more awkward solutions, getting to the bottom of my random, discontent moods... it all emerges with the presence of the grey sky.
Saturday I spent some time in my garden while it rained.
getting my hands dirty
weeding
pruning
picking...
It was amazing. The raindrops created the music of the living as they hit the leaves of all the plants. The deepest, hardest questions I have were hammered out by the rhythm of the rainfall.


Moments like these make me glad to be alive.

Fourth of July

Obligatory "4th" post.... here it goes.

Mom im'ed me Friday afternoon asking what our plans were for the 4th. We didn't have any at that point. She then tells me that they are going to Silverwood in Idaho for the week and watching the fireworks show there.

BOOM.

Idea hits me. Why don't Kyle and I surprise the living daylights out of my siblings by just showing up there.... AT THE SAME TIME?!

So we did.

Favorite quote of the vacation: 

"Fireworks- bad for the nose, good for the soul." - Daniel (cousin)