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The Little Barney Summer Adventures: Take One

Hi, everyone!

This message is brought to you courtesy of Gail's internet and viewers like you.

We've been having a grand time ever since school let out two weeks ago - they began with some amazing ribeye steak courtesy of Mom and Pop (and the veggies.... Mmmmmm. *wipes drool off the keyboard*), which was a perfect way to start the festivities.

Then Emmett was born, and I would like Daniel and Lindsey to know what a treat they are in for to meet him; he's a special little boy. I'm already in love. :) Bridger was a trooper to spend a week being spoiled and loved by Grandma and Grandpa (and Uncle Josh. I tried, but he doesn't seem to be that interested in his Auntie Morgen unless there was a sprinkler in the vicinity). I made little peach pies. They were a huge success!

They look a lot like this (read: picture has been spirited away from an unknowing website).

And they are delicious - we took one to Kourtney in the hospital, but she may have not gotten any... *cough* Ben *cough*

:)

The rest are sitting in Mom and Pop's freezer - feel free, they just have to be baked at 375 for 40-50 minutes. Don't eat them all :) .

Anyhow.

Then Nathan Clarke got married, and the highlight for me was spending time with some of the Clarke (and Salas) cousins - I have never had cousins my own age, and I finally get what all the hype is about. It's fun! They were great, and I realize again how little I knew when I married into this family. I had zero idea about the blessing

s and joy that would come into my life - and I do mean zero.

Then Saturday (July 30) came around, and Josh and I packed up Bertha

and set off for the great unknown.

Awww. There he is!! :)

Okay, to be completely honest, we weren't really setting out for the great unknown. We knew exactly where we were going. Kirkland, WA (just outside of Seattle), by way of Spokane.

After a grueling eight + hours in the car (yay for amazing gas mileage. It's seriously incredible), we finally arrived in Spokane. We stayed there with Andrea and Adam (Andrea was my Maid of Honor at our wedding, and she was the first one besides Josh to know we were going to get married. She knew before I did.) for the weekend, and had a fabulous time.

Highlights:

~Adam and Joshua hit it off. As my dear husband likes to say, "He speaks nerd."

~Andrea is an amazing cook. We ate really well, and I snagged a few good recipes :)

~Church; for the third block, a specialist from LDS Employment Services came in and told us all about the services they offer. It has grown by leaps and bounds in the past year, and is not even recognizable.

~Picnic. We had a great picnic out in the park in the center of Spokane. What was most interesting about it was that it was a cheese picnic. Now, I am not supposed to eat cheese (slaps wrist) but Andrea had some really nice ones. :) So I did. And we walked around the central area - it's a very nice place.

Points of interest:

1) This bridge was inspired by Roman architecture, and has been standing for 100 years. It is well-used, too.

2) Blogger keeps changing whether the text is centered or to the right. Oh well.

On Monday, we said "So long," and hit the road. This, too, was filled with unexpected adventures.

And we arrived at Aunt Gail's house in time for dinner - we went out for Pho, which is a Vietnamese soup in which they give you the broth, meat and noodles, and a plate of herbs and sauces. The neat thing about Pho (pronouced "Fuh") is you get to customize it, and decide how much of the various additions you would like. I am happy to report that Josh liked it.

We have been spending the week on lots of different adventures. On Tuesday, we went downtown and rode the duck, which is a boat that you can drive on land. They use it for tours around downtown Seattle, and then you go out on Lake Union.

QUACK!!!

Point of Interest: Lake Union is where Tom Hanks's house boat was located in the movie Sleepless in Seattle.

We saw lots of interesting things that day!

We went up the needle - a must-do, according to Gail

And to a local culture museum that featured rock and roll

and Starship Galactica

On Wednesday, we stayed home except for a quick trip to the grocery store: Gail's parking lot was being repaved, and that made things difficult. But on Thursday, we took the ferry and drove over to Port Townsend - So fun.

Here's Josh, thinking he's fly.

We found the house we want to live in someday

and we had the most amazing lunch ever.

We were right on the back porch, about 15 feet from the edge of the water. And the food was incredible (Pop, these pictures are for you!).

Crab Louie Before:

Crab Louie After:

Mmmmm.

We did some shopping, drove through Fort Worden (pretty awesome - it's an army post from WWII that has been preserved, and is no longer commissioned.) and while we were there on the beach, we also collected a genuine Fort Wordien Love Stone for our rock collection. Sorry, no pictures of that :)

And then we took the ferry back! It was cool to just drive up, pay the guy, and then drive on the boat and take it over for half an hour.

Windy though.

Yesterday we took a harbor tour of the Seattle harbor (fascinating), and then we went to the aquarium. Aunt Gail has been known for spoiling my sister and I, and also for taking us on lots of adventures. I think the aquarium might be one of my favorite things we have ever done, because it was exceptionally well put together.

I even got to practice speaking whale!

Whale is not Josh's language.

Then we had fun playing in the gift shop. :)

This one is for Kourtney:

Josh's Favorite T-Shirt:

My favorite T-Shirt:

This afternoon, we went over to Pikes Place Market, which is essentially on the waterfront in a very busy part of downtown Seattle, if not the busiest.

It was incredible! It's the biggest farmer's market I have ever been to (and it's permanent). The closest thing I can compare it to was the market in downtown San Jose in Costa Rica. They had these amazing bouquets of flowers for five dollars each (the flower stands seemed never ending! You couldn't see the end of them), and next time we come to visit Aunt Gail, I'm getting one. :)

This time, we spoiled ourselves by getting two great big wild Alaskan sockeye salmons. They filleted them for us, and we went straight home and packaged them and stuck the fillets in the freezer. I am excited for all the salmon we can have over the winter; it will be like being home again.

Tonight, we are cooking up the crab and mussels Gail got at the market. She is excellent in the kitchen (we made curry earlier this week, and it was so fun to cook with her), and tonight ought to be the cream of the crop.

We've had a great time with Aunt Gail: The adventures are where the pictures are, but our hearts are with all the time we've spent with her, and the great talks. We played cards the other night, and she whipped me royally at Gin Rummy, but I beat both Joshua and Gail at Hearts. We have a few more days of adventures left here in Seattle before we set our sights for Spokane to spend a few more days with Adam and Andrea.

Plans:

Leave Seattle on Tuesday, head out to Andrea's place. Spend a few days with Andrea. Get home on Friday, where I have to go get trained for volunteering in the Temple on Friday nights from 10-12. Then on Saturday, we'll get in the car again and head down to the Salt Lake City airport to pick up my mom. She is flying in for the Stark family reunion in Provo Canyon. We'll go to that - I think my grandparents have rented a castle or something. Regardless, there's a place for everybody to sleep. And then we will have a week to recover before we go to Island Park for the reunion with all of you. We are looking forward to that :)

We love you, and we hope you are all doing well! We are having fun, and playing hard. Gail is really good at fun. :) Can't wait to see you!

Love,

Morgen and Joshua