Scenes of Summer

WATER WORKS: On the way home from yoga camp this afternoon, we swung by Christian's workplace. I think it's the first time we've been by since they turned the fountain on for the season.
The kids love the fountain. A shiny stainless figure-eight shape and really powerful, pumping hundreds of gallons per minute. The thing they love about it most it they can turn a wheel that controls a valve and so they can effect the waterflow.

Nearby is a big ol' section of the former Cedar River water line.

Incredibly, it's made out of wood. It's hard to fathom that a pipe made from pieces of would would be watertight enough to carry such an enormous waterload, but obviously its builders knew what they were doing! (And now that I think about it, pieces of wood have been lashed together into casks and barrels for eons to hold liquids like wine, whiskey and more.
This particular water line was buried in June of 1930 and removed in 1985. It has an outside diameter of 7 feet.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Now, let's rewind to the day's first major activity - yoga camp at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center.
Today's theme was outer space - a subject CJ and Annabelle know a bit about!

Annabelle reports they sang a "Mister Spaceman song," and that they moonwalked when they were outside.

CJ recalls they played "Sunlight/Moonlight" a twist on the old "Red Light/Green Light" classic game.

QUICK STOP: On the way back to Magnolia, we swung by Safeco Field to exchange our Starbucks "We Love You Seattle" vouchers for real live free Mariners' tickets.

I swear, even just standing outside that building makes my Happiness Index rise a bit.

The stadium holds so many fond memories for me (and yes, a few bad ones, too!), and I just love the structure's architecture.

Tonight we sat in the cheap seats (but hey, we're not complaining - the tickets were free after all!). It was kind of nice for a change - it gave us a different perspective on the field and we saw the stadium from different angles and the kids were facing the scoreboard/big screen, which makes them happy.

When we got to the seats we had tickets for, of course there were already people sitting in them. (I swear, that happens to us EVERY damn time we go to a game. Why can't people sit in their own seats?)

And not only were they squatters, they were rude - one woman asking if its "a big deal" if they sit there. Rather than cause a scene or have to summon security, I just said 'forget it' and told Christian to keep climbing. We were already nosebleed, I figured we might as well go all the way up top, where you could see the game and have a great view of the Sound behind you. So that's what we did.

The view was really pretty come sunset.

Of course, sitting that high up, the players look a bit like ants scurrying around on the field, but since the Mariners didn't score any &$%%^#^@ runs, there wasn't much to see anyway. Sigh.
Of course, we still have lots of fun even when people steal our seats and the Mariners lose. :)