Typical Day for Wesley

Wearing an old dragon pillow cum costume, and dancing on the kitchen island with a watermelon, Wesley is just having a typical Wesley afternoon.

Brag: I FIXED the Washer!

I’m giving myself full credit for this fix!  (Though I promise to own it if it breaks next week.) 

With 4 loads waiting in line, the washer yelled at me Wednesday night with lots of beeps and F-51 codes. The owner’s manual was no help, as it just said for any codes to call for repair.  That’s not good enough, Greedy Whirlpool!  (I also calculated that waiting 5-7 days for a $200 fix, plus going to the laundromat was worth the trouble of trying it myself.)

But on Thursday, I did a search and a competent-sounding guy on YouTube came up right away. He had the same code with the exact wash machine, and demonstrated step by step how he fixed it.  

Ideally, I would have had two non-interrupted  hours to work on it, but that’s not how motherhood works.  So 15 minutes here, 30 here, and trading kitchen and bedtime duty for tools, I took the appliance apart, found and cleaned the sensor, put it all together again (correctly, the second time, I admit), reattached the hoses incorrectly, and rinsed my first load in hot water.  But I trouble-shooted my own idiocy and today, did all my laundry!  And the kids sorted and put it all away, because goddesses with these skills don’t sort socks. 

[Insert mad dance moves.]

Hurray for the Internet!

Killing our Week: Wild Waves

Like I said, the goal this week is to play it to death.  Kyla wanted a day at Wild Waves with her BFF for her birthday. But  further circumstances meant we took BFF’s lil’ sister, and if you are going to have 5 kids, seriously, bring 6 for even numbers.  So we brought one of Wesley’s friends, so that Wesley wouldn’t be the only boy for once, and everyone had a ride buddy.

I hadn’t been to WW since it was still mostly Enchanted Village…when I was in high school!  It’s as changed as you think 25 years would do to a successful theme park. 

Here, the kids are pretending they are too small for the rides…

…and then how they felt being big enough to ride!

I’m totally patting myself on the back for a successful day, 11am-8pm, all kids well and happy.  We did a ton of rides, and the kids got as wet as they wanted. 

The cost is ridiculous, but bring your own food and use PTA or Prime Card discounts to get at least $20 off each ticket.  It doesn’t make a small dish of $5 ice cream seem less expensive, though!

Breakfast with Friends

We got 1 night at the cabin as we try to play out the last week of summer vacation.  Vivian and Elle made pancakes for the Super Six.  Emily made me eggs fresh from their chickens.

Breakfast was a very small part of their morning—it was a frog catching day!

Can you guess my current pet peeve?

[To the tune of Where Have All the Flowers Gone?]

Where do all the towels go?

Wet and dripping?

Where do all the towels go?

Every single day?

Where do all the towels go?

Hang them every time!

When we will we ever learn?

Today we’ll forever learn!

Community Service Day

Look, I have two mini-me’s!  They are leveling and sorting books, just like Mama.

Wesley took on landscaping, and I never saw Dwayne, who was pressure washing the back walkway.

Dwayne Got ANOTHER Itch

Fortunately, this time it was an itch to make a Brazilian feast, significantly less costly than his usual pyramid building.

From planning to chopping and cooking, it was an all day event. He made his favorite feijoada (beans with meat and sawdust) and mine, moqueca (a surprisingly delicious fish stew).  We managed to wrangle 7 children and 4 adults total, and still had plenty of leftovers.  Thanks, Babe, for the lovely dinner!

On Our Way Home

This was our explorations for the week—I really thought we ventured further into the middle! 

Last November, we tried visiting Hurricane Ridge but we arrived dead middle between first snow and first plow.  This time we made it to the top but the smoke kept view hidden.  So I took a few  pictures that will surely not show up on our Christmas  card.  Um, thanks, Wesley.

Our last stop before the ferry ride home was the Olympic Game Farm. 

We got a full show from an amorous peacock, whose choice peahen was not having any of it.  When this angle didn’t work…

…he truly showed off his tail feathers.

Then the bread feeding/eating frenzy started in earnest.

I had to wash off the bison drool from the minivan when we got home.

I have mixed feelings about this place, as it’s clearly not certified by an reputable zoo organization. But Piper loved it.

And possibly their favorite?

Sharing a chocolate milkshake!

Whiskey Creek Beach: Beach Comber Cottage

Our last night on the road brought us to this cute little place.

While very small, it was still loads bigger than our previous two accommodations.

 

It was funny that neither bedroom had doors, but Dwayne and I claimed the loft so we’d at least hear them climb up the ladder-stairs.

I’m fascinated by tiny kitchens.  I had assumed we’d eat out, but when we arrived, I thought it might be fun to actually eat a home cooked meal.  (Grocery store was 30 minutes away, but so it goes on the Peninsula.)

The cost of this place was probably that it was right on the water (no beach, but the kids could gather seaweed from the rocks).

Going West: Cape Flattery

Coming from Forks, we didn’t have far to go to our next night outside of Port Angeles.  But we couldn’t be so close to the westernmost part of the contiguous US without hopping over there.

It was another short and beautiful hike.

At the first look out, we came across a Japanese wedding ceremony.  Didn’t call that one on Vacation Bingo!

We loved the views.

No one knows why Piper was in a snit this time, but she’ll tolerate Dwayne more than anyone else.

When I did a full zoom, I realized that we were looking at sea lions. How cool!