Us + Them

 
MIND BLOWING MUSIC: Last Saturday night, we had the rare pleasure of seeing Roger Waters (and a terrific back up band and singers) perform live.

Last time we saw Waters was about three years ago, in Wembley Stadium! He performed "The Wall" in its entirety during that show.

This go 'round, he pulled from his 50+ year catalog of music. It was a night to remember. I'll let CJ tell you more, below.  Just scroll past the flying pig photos. :)

Since 1967, George Roger Waters has been a prominent figure in the psychedelic rock music genre. For 20 years, (from 1965 to 1985) Waters was the bassist and singer of Pink Floyd, an iconic English psychedelic band.

On 25 June, I got to see Waters at the Tacoma Dome, a popular wooden stadium in Tacoma, WA. This was not my first time seeing Waters, as I got to see him during The Wall Live tour's stop in Wembley Stadium, in 2013. In contrast to last time, about 25% of this concert's content was from Waters' newest album, Is This the Life We Really Want? The other 75% was mostly music from Waters' previous work, particularly what he did with Pink Floyd.

For decades, Waters has held a hatred for war (due to his father disappearing in World War II). Waters also dislikes despots, and during the concert, this manifested in the form of scathing imagery targeted at President Donald Trump. This included a picture of Russian President (read: Dictator) Vladimir Putin holding Trump as a baby (referencing the Russian interference in the Presidential election last year), as well as a black-and-white slideshow of various appalling Trump quotes.

MORNING STROLL: The weather this a.m. propelled us outdoors. It had been waaaay too long since we walked along the Puget Sound waterfront not far from our house. 

We parked near the Louis Dreyfus grain terminal, Pier 86. From there, you could see the Princess Cruise ship parked at Pier 91, or Smith Cove.

We were surprised there wasn't a big ol' cargo ship at the grain terminal. As we got closer, we could see why.

Workers were crawling all over the structure, performing repairs and upgrades. If you look closely in the photo above, you can see a guy in an orange vest atop the tower. What a view he had!

There were also guys descending along with some sheet metal, just to the left of the tower in the photo. 

We made our way to our turnaround point, the Olympic Sculpture Park. 

We always stop to nod at the huge head. She never nods back.

 And we stand next to the naked guy statute. The fountains jets were on high during our visit, so you can't see the little boy statue opposite him. You can see the Space Needle peeking in, however.

It was a wonderful morning along the waterfront.

LIFE HACK: Yesterday, I said bad words when I realized I'd accidentally recycled the cap to a hot sauce bottle.

Annabelle, who is forever reading or watching 'life hacks' on her phone quickly sprung into action, telling me she'd seen a video where a person used a balloon to seal a bottle.

 It took about three tries, but she got it to work!

Following is a tutorial that shows the technique.
https://youtu.be/A6NY1DyePWU

Rainier Revisited

PARADISE:  Last week, the kids and Christian had the awesome opportunity to attend a camp with a bunch of friends. I'm still playing catch up (that whole house selling/house buying/moving thing). Following are some photos and memories about camp. 

Following is CJ's narration of some memories.

Pack Forest is a camp near Mount Rainier, a U.S. National Park in Washington State (located south of us). On Tuesday, my dad, sister, and I drove down to Pack Forest for a group camping trip.

On the first day of our trip, we went hiking in the woods by our campground. I spent multiple minutes doing the math to figure out how much money Pack Forest would earn if they sold a large portion of their forest's wood. By my math, Pack Forest would earn $250,000.

On the second day, we went all the way up to Paradise. As described on the National Park Service's website, Paradise is famous for its glorious views and wildflower meadows. When James Longmire's daughter-in-law, Martha, first saw this site, she exclaimed, "Oh, what a paradise!" 

The park's main visitor center, the new Paradise Jackson Visitor Center, is located in the upper parking area. Paradise is also the prime winter-use area in the park, receiving on average 643 inches (53.6 feet/16.3 meters) of snow a year. Winter activities include snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and tubing. The road between Longmire and Paradise is plowed throughout the winter.

My dad, sister, and I all went snowshoeing along with the other campers, walking for roughly half a mile across parts of Mount Rainier. I actually had to tie my coat around my waist (and wear sunglasses and a sun hat), due to the very large amount of sunlight up there. It was warmer than I expected, and I got to see some marmots (creatures that are common on Mount Rainier).

End of CJ's comments. 

Below is a marmot hole. I find it so darn interesting that there are snowy mountain "rats."

There are a number of scheduled activities during the group's stay. Following, Annabelle tells about an educational game they played.

How to Play: Predator-Prey

Setup: place six poles in your playing area. Tie a different color marker or crayon to each pole. Put a blue flag on two poles, and green on the four others. The blue flags will represent water sources and the green flags represent plant food. For extra fun, try hiding the food and water in unexpected places!

Each player will become one of three types of animal: an herbivore, an omnivore, or a carnivore.

Herbivores must collect 2 water sources and 4 plant food, and can be tagged by anyone.

Omnivores must collect 2 water sources, 4 plant food, and tag 2 herbivores to collect meat. Omnivores can also be tagged by carnivores.

Carnivores must collect 2 water sources and tag 8 herbivores or omnivores to collect meat. Carnivores can only be tagged by “Hunters”, players who use a ball and attempt to hit the “animals”.

Each player gets a slip of paper that lists their type of animal and slots to fill with water and food. This is where the different color markers or crayons come in- it prevents players from marking all of their water or food slots with only one source.
Each player also receives a number of “Life bands” on their left wrist. Herbivores receive 6, omnivores receive 4, and carnivores receive 2. Players lose these bands when they are tagged or “shot” by a hunter. When an omnivore or a carnivore tag another animal, they take the life band and place it on their right wrist as meat that they’ve collected to survive.
 During the game, players race to find the food and water poles before they lose all of their lives! This game works best with a large group in a wide and open area. To mimic real life, the majority of player should be herbivores, a medium-sized group can be omnivores, and very few should be carnivores. To win, players must fill in all of the slots on their cards and survive until the end of the game. If players lose all of their lives before time’s up, they can choose to become a hunter (who uses a ball to hit the animals and take life bands) or a veterinarian (who can return lost life bands to other players). 

All in all, it was a terrific time, and I'm so glad they got to go!