This weekend was the annual church fathers and sons outing at Ensign Ranch. Ensign Ranch is a church property in the Cascade Mountains with camp sites, a lake for fishing and canoeing, and horses to ride. With a weekend forecast predicting rain, I elected to stay in the bunk houses rather than pitch a tent that would have to be dried when we returned home.

After work for me and school for Thing One, we quickly packed our sleeping bags and coats to go to camp. Thing Two was excited as he got to pile his coat and mini sleeping bag (a Christmas present) among the gear. Thing Two seemed a little bit concerned that we would leave him behind and made sure he was ready to go. Because the mini sleeping bag is not really made for real camping we had my old sleeping bag available to put the mini sleeping bag in.

We loaded our gear into the new SUV and picked up a couple of other campers, filled the tank (with the new car I had to find out the highway mileage) and then drove for an hour at 30 miles an hour to get out of the city. (Maybe next time I will really get the highway mileage.). The drive over Snoqualmie Pass was beautiful as usual. The snow pack looks great for the summer.

We arrived at camp, unloaded our gear and claimed our bunks. Then it was time for burgers in the lodge and playing pool, foosball, and shuffle board. Thing Two wasn’t too sure about the noisy activity, but enjoyed playing catch with Thing One.

Fortunately, the weather report was accurate and soon after dinner the heavy rain let up and a slight drizzle replaced it. In the Pacific Northwest this means we can go outside for a campfire. Thing One roasted marshmallows and made s’mores. Thing Two and the Gimlet ate the chocolate and Thing Two ate unroasted marshmallows. Thing Two was pushed over by a boy one month older than him. The other boy’s father was appropriately chagrined and Thing Two recovered quickly. After the campfire there was more playtime in the lodge.

The Things were now tired and it was time for bed. I slept in the bed next to Thing Two with Thing One in the top bunk. Thing Two moved over during the night and reached out to grab my hand in his sleep to make sure I was there. While he was quiet when we were in the lodge, with the lights off he kept saying over and over that he was in a sleeping bag with Grover and Monkey.

We ate a hearty breakfast of pancakes, sausage, orange juice, and hot chocolate. After that I signed the boys up for riding horses. Thing One got the one hour trail ride, and Thing Two got the ride in the meadow with me leading the horse. Thing One rode Jackson, and Thing Two rode Micah. They both enjoyed it immensely; Thing Two has been telling everybody he sees about his ride on Micah.

After the horseback riding, it was time to head home. The fishing and canoes will have to wait until next year. Upon the return home I determined I got 20 mpg. Not bad considering the traffic at the beginning of the trip.

May is almost over, and it’s finally starting to feel like spring:

Lilacs! They bloomed about a month later than usual, and didn’t stay long, but we loved them while they lasted. Thing Two had to stop and smell the lilacs every time we went outdoors. Now when Thing Two sniffs the flowers, they crumble and shower him with little blossoms. He thinks that’s pretty funny.

Baby birds! A sparrow family has been visiting our seed feeder several times a day. The two babies wait none too patiently in the nearby rhododendron (we know they’ve arrived when we hear their insistent chirps) while the parents fill up with seeds, which they then feed to the kids. It seems like the parents spend all day doing this. We feel for them.

Other new stuff! To finish off May, the Gimletmobile shrugged off its mortal coil (or more precisely, its air conditioner compressor) and ascended to Valhalla with a tremendous death rattle and thick white cloud of freon. The Gimlet returned to his roots, or as he said, “This time we’re buying a car that’s reliable.” (We loved the Gimletmobile, but the past few months of expensive repairs have been less than endearing.) The new and improved Gimletmobile has plenty of room for everybody (especially the Things) and will be a welcome addition to summer Scout camp and family outings.

This spring Thing One landed a spot in the school musical, Bye Bye Birdie. He played a policeman with one line, but made appearances in several scenes and even shared a quick dance with Rosie in the “Spanish Rose” scene. (Family blogs are for bragging. Repeat as needed.)

All the cast, orchestra, and production positions were filled by middle school students, who all did a fantastic job — and gained valuable experience for future school plays and musicals. It’s been a challenge balancing the rehearsal schedule with homework and other activities, but Thing One survived and had a lot of fun in the process. We’re all a bit sleep-deprived though, and looking forward to less busy days … at least until the auditions begin for next year’s winter play.

The Gimlet is away on a business trip over Valentine’s Day, but with Hawaii in our recent past (so recent that I haven’t finished writing the travelogue posts), and dates to see two Jane Austen stage plays (Sense and Sensibility and Persuasion) in our near future, it’s hard to complain about his absence this weekend. Very easy to tease him mercilessly about it, to be sure, but hard to genuinely complain. After all, when you’ve been married as long as we have, holidays make up only a small part of life; there are more important things to worry about, et cetera.

So on the morning of the 13th, this tall box appears on the back porch. I’m not expecting any large packages, so at first I assume it must be for a neighbor. But no! Anticipating his absence, The Gimlet ordered three dozen red roses — making this the first time he’s ordered flowers for Valentine’s Day — and even more impressive, this is the first time he’s managed to keep a secret!

After nearly eighteen years of marriage, The Gimlet can still completely surprise me. And that’s pretty neat.

The Friday before Christmas, GimletBlog HQ received its much-anticipated advance visit from Santa. Or to be more accurate: most of us look forward to Santa’s arrival, but Thing Two is still reserving judgment. He did better than last year, though, accepting a candy cane and sitting (very briefly) on Santa’s lap with Thing One for pictures.

This year’s family Christmas Eve party was held in our new family room, which proved to be as well-equipped to host a large gathering as we had hoped. Thing Two decided he needed a break from all the unfamiliar faces and noise, so he retired to the stairs where he could watch the festivities from a secluded spot.

It snowed the afternoon of Christmas Day, which has not happened in Seattle since 1990, and only five times in the city’s history since 1891. The boys made a nice big snowman which took all week to melt.

Best wishes to you and your families for this holiday season and for 2008!

Aside from hiking reports, we haven’t blogged much about Thing One lately. This has been a very busy school year for him, especially because he decided to audition for this year’s school play, The Princess and the Pea. The drama class is an after-school elective for 7th and 8th graders, and we were all pleasantly surprised when Thing One was cast as one of the lead villains! He has been attending rehearsals twice a week (and lately three times) since October, and the two performances were last weekend. Here’s the synopsis:

Come enjoy an evening out with this great story and wonderful cast. Full of humor, fast-paced action, laughs, great costuming and a HUMONGOUS, multi-mattress bed, this classic tale is set in a kingdom somewhere on the Royale Isle. However, not all things appear as they truly are and getting a good night’s rest proves to be more complicated than eating your peas.

Thing One played Edgar, the scheming younger brother of Prince Harcourt. His goal, assisted by his wife Princess Greta, was to prevent the choosy prince from finding a true princess, even resorting to sleeping potion to counteract the effects of a pea in a stack of mattresses. Villains often steal the show; Thing One’s evil laugh may have made Thing Two cry, but he earned lots of laughs and applause. As he was on stage for most of the play, he had a lot of lines to memorize, and he did a great job. A few more photos of the cast are posted in the Gimlet Gallery.

A local theater company loaned a nice set of costumes to the production, and the multi-mattress bed was especially creative. It was a fun play, performed by an enthusiastic and well-prepared cast. Thing One has been bitten by the acting bug — he had a wonderful experience and is eager to audition for the spring musical.

This year’s Halloween was very mellow. As usual, the first frost took place about a week before, making for lovely, chilly morning walks through the leaves with Thing Two. The Trunk or Treat party we attend was held the weekend prior to Halloween so we could hand out candy at home on the holiday.

Thing One had a little difficulty choosing a costume this year; the stores were full of pirate costumes and very little else. It seemed like piracy would be our only option until we found a Viking costume. And sure, Thing Two looks cute and cuddly, but the venom of a blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena lunulata) can kill an adult human in minutes. Even so, it’s hard to decide which is scarier: Thing Two’s costume, or the fact that his mommy is enough of a fish nerd to make this connection. Thing Two was not very cooperative for pictures, but there are a couple more of him in his costume in the Gimlet Gallery.

The Gimlet spent Halloween finishing the last major task of our remodelling project: carpeting the staircase. He’ll be posting a project wrapup soon (hint, hint) so for now we’ll just say that the hours of hammering and staple gun noises lent a poltergeist effect to our home for the evening.

Thanks to recent dental work still in progress, I’ve been saved from eating too much candy, but I thoroughly enjoyed this little limited-edition Halloween treat from Valancourt Books. Like the tiny goodies Thing One brought home, this “fun size” Gothic short story was cute and sweet; just the right amount of skeletons and witches to finish up our quiet holiday.

Editor’s note: My pictures didn’t turn out very well, so watch this post for (hopefully) many better photos, courtesy of Bestemor and expert photographer Aunt H.

We just finished a fun week-long visit with our Austin (not Austen, for once!) relatives. They liked the thought of visiting us to escape the Texas summer. We like hosting out-of-town visitors because they remind us of all the neat activities around town that we could be doing. Everybody wins! During their stay, they saw the Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, the Museum of Flight, and other tourist favorites. Some of the places we visited together include:

Gasworks Park

After dinner outdoors at Ivar’s Salmon House (where the boys waved to passing boats and fed their leftover french fries to the ducks), we drove a short distance around Lake Union to this popular park. A company picnic occupied the usual play area, so we led the boys up Kite Hill. The cousins may be from “hill country” but climbing a real hill was a new experience for them. They also liked playing on the sundial and watching the sea planes land while the adults enjoyed the view of downtown Seattle.

• Wikipedia entry for Gasworks Park
• Take a virtual tour of the park

Ballard Locks

The Ballard Locks always have something interesting to watch. We arrived just in time to watch the steamship Virginia V make her passage from the city’s series of freshwater lakes and bays into Puget Sound; after the gates opened, the passengers waved to those of us on shore as she blew her whistle. (The three little boys thought the whistle was too noisy but Thing One liked it.) Plenty of salmon were leaping in the locks and filling the fish ladder’s underground viewing chamber. Above the fish ladder, the boys ran through the Salmon Waves public sculpture.

• Take the city’s tour of the Locks
• Virtual tours of the Ballard Locks and the Virginia V
• Virginia V, Last Mosquito Fleet Steamer (from HistoryLink)
  
• Learn how to navigate a boat through the Locks — complete with videos!

Puyallup Fair

Attending the Puyallup Fair has been a family tradition since Your Humble Narrator was about Thing One’s age. We’ve gone almost every year since then; in fact, Bestemor wrote a little book for Thing One’s sixth birthday, illustrated with photos from his earlier trips to the fair. Thing One loves the rides, The Gimlet loves the chocolate milk and ice cream, Your Humble Narrator loves the baby animal barn and the artisan booths, and we all love the hot scones with raspberry jam. Our guests had a great time trying out all these activities and more. The weather was beautiful and the day would have been perfect except that poor Thing One wandered away from our group and was lost for about an hour. Thankfully he was only scared, not hurt, and those new grey hairs his parents are sporting were probably imminent anyway.

• Wikipedia entry for the Puyallup Fair
• Sing along with the fair jingle (and learn how to properly pronounce “Puyallup”)
• Review the Scout Motto

Besides all the sightseeing, the cousins had a wonderful time getting to know each other by playing together. The train set was a vital part of each day, but they also enjoyed running around outside. Cousin T, age 4, wanted to do homework with Thing One every afternoon, but soon became bored. (Thing One can empathize.) Cousin P is only two months younger than Thing Two, and these two invented games mostly comprised of running, falling down (on purpose), and giggling. Aunt H is a Master Gardener, and she helped us develop a landscaping plan for our yard. Curb appeal may finally be within our grasp! The downstairs guest quarters proved to be up to the challenge of doubling our family size, and all in all it was a great week.

This summer Thing One was busy with both Scouts and karate, and his achievements were recognized in the respective awards ceremonies over the past week. First, at a Court of Honor, he conducted the flag ceremony and was awarded his Star rank. He also received several merit badges; click on each badge name to learn more about how these awards are earned.

• Art
• Citizenship in the Community*
• Citizenship in the Nation*
• Environmental Science*
• First Aid*
• Law

(* required merit badges to earn the Eagle Scout rank)

A few days later, Thing One demonstrated what he had learned over the past few weeks and was awarded his yellow belt in karate. Congratulations, Thing One!

ETA: The next Scout overnight hike is later this month at Rachel Lake (see also this Seattle Post-Intelligencer article about trail renovations). Is the troop up to the challenge?

Thing Two has discovered the joys of playing with toy wooden railroads. It was only a matter of time before Thing Two would join in the fun, as all of his cousins on one side of the family are toy train devotees. Recently when one cousin was told he would soon be visiting his Seattle relatives, he asked: “Do they have trains?”

Thing Two likes to play with wooden puzzles, and I think the connecting rail pieces are like a big puzzle to him. He seems to have more fun laying out the track than actually running the trains on it. He may have had a little help from Mommy with this layout. A few design suggestions here and there, perhaps.

While sitting on the floor with Thing Two, I happened to look up at the window. The view of the back yard from an adult’s height is pretty standard: fences, houses, parked cars; the usual city neighborhood stuff. But from Thing Two’s perspective, all you can see are these towering, majestic evergreens. He lives in a forest!