West Coast Vacation

Last week we visited Jason's parents in Washington on Jason's week off. It's nice to have a week off every other week. The weather was wonderful--not 95 degrees, like here in Utah. It didn't rain one time, and we could always see Mt. Rainier from the back deck.

Clara picked her first blueberries from Grandma's garden and ate them right off the bush--they were delicious! She thought so, too.

We also picked apples and made apple juice on an old apple press. Clara helped us sort the apples, and tried to eat some unsuccessfully. We were glad that Clara was napping during the apple-pressing.



Jennifer is putting the apples into the press and holding a lid on them while Jason is turning the wheel that grinds them. Then the apple pieces fall into the bucket. Then we put the lid on the bucket and screw it down so it presses the juice out of the apples, which drains out into a bucket. It was hard to turn the handle, but it was fun and the apple juice was so yummy!



Lois took us to the Puyallup Fair, with Kathryn and Lily. Clara was excited to see the cows, sheep, baby chicks, and goats. She loved patting Lily on the back, giving her hugs, and walking next to Lily's stroller.


Lois entered produce and a scarecrow at the Fair; most of them got at least second place. Clara didn't quite know what to think of the scarecrow.


We went to the Point Defiance Zoo with Kathryn, Eric, Lily, and Lois. Clara didn't like to wear her shades for long, but she kept them on long enough for a picture. She liked seeing the wolf, walrus, belugas, and tiger.



One of the neighbors has two sheep, which Clara loved to 'baa' at constantly. She tried to feed them some green beans, but they wouldn't come near her and all her noise. Because we saw so many animals, Clara started to say the word animal, pronounced, "am-mul." She also started saying 'mana' for grandma.




Lois made a little 'house' out of a big box, which Clara (and Jason) liked to play in.



We had a really fun time and are grateful we could visit Jason's family. Here are a few pictures that I liked, that I thought you would, too. Thanks for reading!