Tacoma Rainiers Game #8

Since our last of the 7-pack games at the Rainiers was such a disappointment, we decided we had to go to another game in hopes of a victory.  Well, the Rainiers definitely did not disappoint!  We went to see them play last night against the Round Rock Express.  Round Rock scored 5 runs in the top of the first inning, but we responded with a run, then TWO grand slams at the bottom of the first!  It was incredible!  We had lots of hits and by the end of the 3rd we were up 14 to 5.  We ended leaving at the end of the 6th inning because it started pouring rain (even though none was forecast!).  The Rainiers ended up maintaining their lead and winning 15 to 9.  What a game and what a season! 

Troll, Tea & Tentacles--a Fun Day on Bainbridge Island

I was supposed to go to afternoon tea with my friends Jennifer & Clarissa for Jennifer's birthday celebration on Sunday.  Unfortunately, Clarissa got sick and couldn't go, so I asked Corey & Nova to go in her stead.  We headed out around 10am to drive first to Sakai Park to visit the new troll that was recently installed.  It was huge & so cool.  Unfortunately, it was also pretty packed, so we didn't get to explore it as much as I had hoped, but we did get a few photos.  Then we headed into the downtown area of Bainbridge Island and had our afternoon tea at the Bainbridge Apothecary and Tea Shop, which was really cute.  The owner was very attentive, and when she found out we were there to celebrate Jennifer's birthday, she gave Jennifer a Happy Birthday tiara and a special muffin decorated with a candle.  The staff also sang happy birthday to her. So fun!  After we ate our fill, we walked around to check out some of the local shops;  Nova got three books from the little toy store we found.  We didn't linger too long, but we did get a photo of Nova & Corey with the Kraken Arm sculpture.  It was such a fun day and Corey was quite impressed with this sleepy little town.  She hopes to come back soon with Terrell and explore more of the downtown area. 

We sat in a booth which worked out great for Nova because she had her own space to sit.  

The birthday girl!

Making a birthday wish. 

Happy girl! She enjoyed her first afternoon tea!

Fun fact!

Some cool giant art--metal baskets.

For such a small place, they have lots of hiking. We have hiked at Gazzam Lake before.

Curran Apple Orchard Park

While we were hiking in Lacey, Nova and her parents went on an adventure of their own to do some apple picking at Curran Apple Orchard Park in University Place.  Here is Corey's write up & pictures.

Today we took Nova to Curran Apple Orchard Park for her first experience apple picking! We have driven past this orchard loads of times on the way to Chambers Bay, but this was the first time we’ve actually stopped and visited! It is free to enter and to pick apples. However, there are trees that are “adopted” and have been taped off and the general public isn’t allowed to pick from those trees. I’m not sure if we were too early or too late, but there weren’t very many apples on the trees we were allowed to pick from! It was also hard to distinguish if the apples we saw were green apples or red apples that just weren't ripe yet. We left with only one tiny apple because we weren’t sure what to pick. It was still a fun experience though and we had beautiful weather! I think we will make it an annual tradition! Fall has always been my favorite season and I’m so excited to do all the fall activities with Nova this year!

Nova seems fascinated by the apple!

This was the first time Nova was front facing in her carrier and she really seemed to like being able to explore the world around her.

Hike @ Tolmie State Park

On Saturday morning Scott & I drove down and met up with Teresa for a hike at Tolmie State Park in Lacey. It's been a couple years since we last hiked HERE. We hiked the 4 Cedars Trail, getting in a total of 2.13 miles per my watch.  The most exciting thing about the hike was that Scott noticed some orange mushrooms, which ended up being Chicken of the Woods, a variety of mushroom that Teresa had hunted for but never found; she ended up picking them to cook & eat later.  We also found some oyster mushrooms.  The trail was unusually dry which was nice; we are usually tromping through the mud at this park.  Afterward we enjoyed a delicious lunch at one of our favorite places-Meconi's.  Such a fun start to the weekend.

Teresa, Scott & Aspen

The oyster mushrooms.

Chicken of the woods.

Foraging!