Schilter Farm - bringing back memories of my childhood on family farms

I grew up playing on the family farms in Michigan.  I got to build forts with hay bales in the barn with my friends, and we'd make tunnels, too.  One of my friends got beaned with a bale of straw that dropped from the conveyor when we were helping the farmers load it into the barn. He was fine, but it was funny.  I used to test my courage by climbing the ladders to the topmost windows of the barn, and sit on the flower-box like benches to stare out the windows.

There was the giant rock that had been dug up from one of the fields (about 8 feet long, five feet wide and four feet tall - it was fun to climb on and laze in the sun).  There was the old storage building that was falling apart - fun to climb through and imagine myself exploring an ancient ruin.  Later, I got to help tear it down.

Schilter Farm, in Olympia, takes me back. They dressed the place up for the Halloween season.

They also have a Facebook page.

The Washington State Fair

Www.thefair.com

The wife and I never made it by ourselves. Okay, maybe once or twice, but now with the Little One it's an annual event.

Lots of food, and animals and rides, rides, rides.

It's fun :)

Wild Waves

Wild Waves amusement park, Federal Way, Washington.
Very nice park. Obviously the signature attraction is the wave pool and water slides, but they have plenty of dry rides for kids not yet into getting soaked.

Warning: LOTS of hills. The park is built on and around and over uneven terrain. Great if you want to get some hiking exercise, but rough if you have bad knees.

Kiddo is so over the "just goes in circles" rides, and is eyeballing the things that spin, or get some altitude.

Unfortunately, Kiddo's dad is too big for everything but the carosel and ferris wheel, so Kiddo's mom is doped up on Dramamine and gritting her teeth.

Orting Summerfest Festival

Orting is a tiny town in Washington. Practically bucolic. They have a gorgeous little park, and since it's close to home, we come here often. Today, they have a festival.

Kiddo is loving the bounce houses, and now we're off to find the pony ride.

I admit, everything is more fun with a kid.

JBLM Freedom Fair 2015

They put on a good show here, at JBLM, and it's cool they open it to the public like this.

Sure, it's a fair, complete with a thousand ways to spend money, but it feels different being on a live military base.

Although, for the second year in a row, it amazes me how bad they are at providing directions to the handicapped parking, and how much of the base they'll apparently let a plain white Dodge Grand Caravan roll through. Then again, I really didn't try to leave the residential section, so I blended in pretty well.

The kiddo is loving the bounce houses, and this year she's really into face-painting.

The crowd here is a thousand times more physically fit than a fair like the Puyallup (whatever it's called now that it got sold to the private sector).

Fresh coat of paint on the old blog

Slapped a new template on the blog. The old one dated to 2010 - when I launched it as a requirement by my employer to be given two weeks leave on five minutes notice -  and it was hideous even back then.  I'll probably change it again, but at least this template is not painful to look at it.

(Okay, it was technically a week notice, and it was because it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to get a vacation in New Zealand for the cost of airfare, but it was still crazy generous of my employers to agree to it, which is one reason I'm still so very, very loyal to them today.  And, yes, it actually was a requirement - they wanted to live vicariously ;-)

Children's Museum at the Armoury

In the Seattle Center. Never had a reason to visit before, but the place is huge. K and I spent a couple hours there while filmmaker mommy did the SIFF events (talent scouting for the project she is working pre-production on).

http://thechildrensmuseum.org/