Summer is in full swing!

Now that Summer is in full swing we are finding ourselves outside pretty much every chance we get. We live in a great place for Summer fun, and we know how to take advantage of it. Here were our activities this week:

   

We went to the Spokane Pride Parade and Rainbow Festival. As we were pulling into the parking lot we saw a man walking to the parade route carrying a sign reading- "Save our Children- Gays deserve DEATH!" At the parade there was a special fenced off area that could aptly be named the "circle of righteous cruelty." In it, we saw the man from the parking lot along with others holding signs that were equally (or more) obnoxious than his. There was also a man with a loudspeaker yelling obscenities, epithets, and religious oaths at parade participants. This kept up until a van from the local Unitarian congregation parked in front of them (rather than finishing the parade route), blocking them off from their intended audience. It is crazy to me that in 2015 we still have crazies like this- and it is inspiring to me that we live in a place where even crazies can have a voice, even if that voice is completely irrational and fails miserably in the public marketplace of ideas (it is also a good thing, I think, that we build protection measures into our laws against such irrationality when it comes to public matters).

If our kids weren't there it would have been entertaining. As it was, Evelyn noticed (who told me exactly how wrong she thought they were) prompting an interesting discussion about how different people have different ideas about things like God and morality. Mostly though, the joyful commemoration of the Greenwich Village riots was mostly a fun family-centered affair, with booths and live music and games. The atmosphere definitely had a liberal feel to it, but mostly it was a place for people to just come together and have a good time.

We went camping. I have to say, our kids are awesome campers. Here are a few more pictures of our trip. The first ones are just goofing around at the camp:

This next one is a little hike we went on. Part of the trail went through a wetland, and there were these cool birds all over the place. I pointed them out to the kids and Evelyn replied "I know, Dad. Those are redwing blackbirds." I was surprised that she could identify them, and I asked her how she knew. She answered, "Because redwing blackbirds live in wetlands and make their nest in the cattails. Since there are a lot of cattails around here, and since the birds have red marks on them, it just makes sense that they would be redwing blackbirds."

Oh- of course. How could I have forgotten the nesting habits of an obscure species of bird? I looked it up, and she was right though. Seriously- where did this kid come from?

These next ones are "the cave" that the kids discovered while exploring near our camp. Evelyn and Addy orchestrated photo-shoots next to their find. Jackson, of course, was busy climbing.

 

We were surprised when we looked inside the cave and saw a porcupine! I have never seen one of these in the wild before. I tried to get it to turn around by nudging it with a stick, but it was a bit shy and just dug itself in deeper after attacking the stick. We decided to leave it alone after that.

Besides the Color Festival and camping, we also went to a carnival this past week. Jackson was at a sports camp all week, and when we went to pick him up yesterday the councilors invited us to stay for some fun. Part of this was the dunk tank. Evelyn was wearing a swimming suit and she asked if she could be dunked. They said yes, and she spent the next 45 minutes getting dropped over and over again. At the end, to the delight of everyone there, she even convinced Rachel to jump up and do it too! I love our little community!

You can't really tell in the picture, but they are both pretty wet.

Just one more. This is Jack and his hero..."The Worker." He really is a great little worker.

Well, that's about it. The kids are all looking forward to spending the next week at Grandma and Grandpa's house for some fun. Rachel and I are looking forward to spending the next week on our own (without kids) for some fun as well. It should be a great week for everyone, and I will be sure to write about it when it's all over. Also, stay tuned as I continue to highlight our kids- Addy is next and there is a lot to highlight.