Celebrations!

Hi, everyone! There are a lot of birthdays in our family this time of year. I’ve been busy helping everybody celebrate!

Right before Uncle Steven’s birthday, I helped Grandma make his presents. We made four batches of party mix! I made sure we had all the ingredients out, then I helped stir the cereal into the seasonings. I thought there was a lot of party mix in the cooling bowl after one batch. Look how much there was after four batches! We made a batch of “Grandma cookies” for Uncle Steven, too.

Uncle Steven said he wanted his birthday dinner at the bay, just like James. After he opened his presents, we started to play a board game. It took so long for everybody to learn the instructions that we never finished the game! On Saturday morning, I hung out with James while Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara took the kayaks down to the boathouse. Then Uncle Steven’s family had to leave because James had a taekwando test!

Grandma did take me back to Highland Park one more time to see if the pink buckeye flower buds were ever going to bloom. I don’t think that’s going to happen! The buds were falling off the tree unopened. Grandma says I’ll have to wait till next year to see the pretty flowers. I did make friends with some late-blooming peonies, and my rhododendron friends were in full bloom.

Grandma got some jigsaw puzzles for her birthday that said they had a mystery to solve. We figured it out! Once all the pieces were put together according to the picture, big parts could be moved around to make a hole in the middle. Then there was another envelope of puzzle pieces to fill in the hole!

Last Wednesday, Grandma got me up very early to go to the airport. We flew to Seattle to celebrate Grandpa’s birthday, Uncle David’s birthday, and Bill’s high school graduation. I knew we were almost there when I saw Mt. Rainier out the airplane window.

Uncle David and Aunt Emi have a new cat! I was happy to make friends with my new cousin Mugi. After breakfast on Thursday, we went to the Pike Place market. First we walked out on the outside deck facing the bay. There’s a new walkway that connects with the Seattle Aquarium. I made friends with one of the market pigs.

Then we visited the stalls along the street. There were lots of local products: peonies and sweet cherries and seafood and vegetables. This is the time of year for Copper River salmon, too!

I helped Uncle David and Aunt Emi pick out vegetables for Saturday dinner. Then I helped pick out pasta and prosciutto. I’d never seen potato chips packaged in a paint can before! We passed the famous fish market where the clerks toss fish to each other, but there weren’t any flying fish while I watched. We worked our way to the street front of the market, then had lunch at a French cafe. On our way back to the car, we bought a watermelon for Aunt Emi. I helped carry it!

Thursday afternoon, Grandpa and Grandma and I drove to Snoqualmie, to stay at the Salish Lodge. It is built right on the brink of Snoqualmie Falls! The falls have been a source of hydroelectric energy for over one hundred years. After dinner, Grandma and I went out to watch sunset from an overlook of the upper falls. The sun set into a cloud bank, but not before it made a rainbow on the edge of the falls!

On Friday, Grandma and I hiked down to the overlook for the lower falls. On the way, I learned a lot about converting the energy of falling water into electricity. There are very big pipes, called penstocks, that divert water at the top of the upper falls and send it down to a power plant below the lower falls. The penstocks run right under Salish Lodge! Our hike down to see the lower falls ended at a boardwalk around the bottom end of the penstocks and the power plant. I got to see a water turbine and pieces of penstock that were replaced when the plant was expanded.

There are rapids in the river just below the lower falls. I made distant friends with the yellow flowers growing on a boulder in the middle of the water.

On the way back up the trail, I learned about the plants and trees in the area. Tree seedlings often get their start in the decaying wood of a stump or fallen log. As they grow, their roots surround the host. In the exposed areas under high voltage power lines, Puget Sound power company removes invasive plants that could grow tall and replaces them with native low-growing plants. There are some very tall trees in the forest!

After we hiked back up the trail to the lower falls, Grandma and I walked into Snoqualmie town to find some lunch. There’s a section of a very big tree in the local park! When we crossed the bridge on the Snoqualmie river just above the upper falls, it was hard to imagine all the wild water just beyond!

Now we’re back at Uncle David’s house, ready for the next part of the celebration!

Love,

Lion-san