The Rest of My Trip

More fun Spokane events:

We meet my dad at his office one day (he got to show Carson off a little bit) and then we all went to Manito Park. We had planned to feed the ducks - as is the tradition - but the parks in Spokane all just posted signs disallowing the feeding of birds. So that idea was out, although we toyed with the idea of Carson building his criminal record. So we looked at the ducks, Carson tried to go swimming, and he also found the only spot of mud in the area. So then we went over to the gardens (another part of the same park). We enjoyed looking at the huge rose gardens while Carson just ran around. It is always a pretty park though and I was glad to go back. Here is a pic of Carson trying to join the ducks and then two to show the pretty rose gardens.

My friend Sarah (pictured at the lake cabin) works at a children's science museum called Mobius. So one afternoon Sarah, Jessie, Carson, and I all went down to the museum. The place was awesome. If only I had been 10 because I would have been in heaven. Carson loved it and just ran around crazy. They had a stage with costumes and instruments, water feature tables where you could direct the current, a little mini city with little child size cars to drive around the streets, and a billion other things that are way too many to list. Sarah helped Carson with the water tables (which were his favorite). There were also really cool bugs there. The stick bugs look so much like sticks it's crazy.

One afternoon we decided to rent a bike trailer for Carson and go out to the Centennial trail for a bike ride. The centennial trail follows the Spokane River and goes all the way to Idaho. I thought Carson would love it...but like so many other things, I thought wrong. He just sat back there crying. So after a while of biking I stopped and took off his helmet (gasp). This seemed to help for a while but then he decided he still hated it and started crying again. So we turned around and biked back to Riverfront Park to go to Pig Out in The Park. (I know a lot of names there).

First, Riverfront Park...it was the site of Expo '74 (and yes...people in Spokane still talk about it). It is really green and pretty, the Spokane River runs right through it, and there are lots of cool things to do there (the giant wagon, the garbage eating goat statue, Imax, ice skating, etc.) All those from Spokane are nodding right now saying "yes, I love that garbage eating goat." It's a statue of a goat and if you put garbage up to its mouth...for example a napkin, it just sucks it right up. Talk about entertaining a kid for hours and the kid is picking up all the garbage with out even realizing it. One of the park's events if called "Pig Out in the Park." They hold it every Labor Day weekend. Tons of food vendors set up stations, there are live musical performers, and then other random vendors (like at a fair). Pic of the huge wagon (which kids climb up into and then slide down the handle. The other pic is the Spokane River with the back of 1/5 of the food vendors. Back to the story -

So we biked to the park and then all got food. It was delicious and I was disappointed I didn't have two stomachs so I could try more options. Especially since they had elephant ears and funnel cakes...how could I choose? Once we all finished we started to bike back to the bike shop to return the trailer. I was hearing this weird grinding sound but decided to ignore it. It didn't go away though so then I finally got off my bike to check it out. Oh...hooray! I had a completely flat back tire. So we all walked our bikes back to the shop. We returned the trailer and fixed the tire. Not that this caused the flat, but the store owner informed me that the bike frame was much to small for my height. I informed him that was because it was my bike from when I turned 12. Somewhere in the ride with Carson crying and my flat, I handed Carson my phone to calm him for a little longer. As I did it my dad said "oh, honey, don't you just think he'll throw it out?" I replied, "nah, it should be fine." Well...now I don't have a phone and I'm pretty sure it's somewhere along the Centennial Trail.

I got to be in Spokane for my dad's birthday and my aunt Jenny's birthday so that was really nice. It was a really nice trip and I was so glad to be there. Thanks again Mom and Dad! Here is just Carson in our backyard. He ate a zucchini straight from the garden (gross). He also loved the swing my dad made.