Olympic Penninsula

Over Mothers Day we met Steve and Jackie in Gardiner and had a really nice visit with Grandma and Grandpa Howe.  During our stay, all of us traveled to Bremerton, Washington where there is a Naval base that Evie and Joe Coleman are stationed out of.  He is second in command on one of only 3 nuclear powered "fast attack" subs in the US fleet.  It's the most advanced and sophisticated sub in the world and his boat is called the USS Connecticut.  Normally these are not accessible to the public but Joe has clearance to give private tours when they are in port (only 4 months of the year).

You can see the conning tower in the background but we weren't allowed to just take pictures of the ship.  When we arrived there were sailors with machine guns, shotguns, and pistols patrolling around and Joe noted that they were on high alert due to the killing of Ben Laden.  We had a couple hours in the sub and it was just plain mind-boggling.  Only 15% of the sub is above water when it is on the surface and during our tour we went 4 levels down to the torpedo room.  The hallways were too narrow for two people to pass and they have a crew of 140 but only enough beds for 2/3 of them since there is always 1/3 on duty so they share beds to conserve space.  Every square inch is packed with equipment, tubes and cables, etc.  The torpedo room is all mechanized to shift torpedoes or Tomahawk missiles in place to be shot out of 8 different tubes and they carry up to a hundred of these very large weapons.  They stay under for months at a time and are only limited by food supply as they can make their own water, purify the air, and have endless fuel due to the nuclear reactor. Just amazing.  You can find more about the Connecticut online.

We took Steve and Jackie back to Sea-Tac airport the next day for their flight to Denver.  We crossed the Puget Sound on the ferry and had someone take this shot (sorry about the eyes Jackie!).

On the drive up to Gardiner, Mom (as you know) is always with a project.  Here she is in the car trying to do a "rushing" seat on a stool.  Tight quarters and difficult working circumstances since she had to soak the rushing (in a bucket of water she brought along), and then work with long strands as she turned the seat with each wrap.

Previous to the trip, Mom had studied internet resources to learn how to do this amazing home craft of "rushing."  We redid one of the bar stool seats and it came out amazingly well:

After arriving home last Wednesday, we were delighted to have Jared, Laura, and Isla arrive the next day.  Jared is in Portland for a conference and we get Laura and dear little Isla for a whole week.  Emi & the girls are even coming down tomorrow to join us for the rest of the week.  It's so good to get acquainted with Isla and see Laura doing such a great job as a mother.  Mom was mowing when they arrived and Isla had no qualms about jumping on the tractor with her!



 
Here's a few more shots of the past days:

Can't wait for Emi, Sage, and Mila to arrive tomorrow night!