Vacation Part 1: Spokane

This is the first installment of our summer vacation out west: Spokane. My brother and sister-in-law (Will and Courtney) live in Cheney, Washington (near Spokane) and we flew from Rhode Island to Spokane to visit them. It was hot there but dry, so much more bearable than the east coast humidity.

We went to Old Country Buffet for dinner. If you are unfamiliar with the buffet style restaurant, you might be susceptible to doing stupid things, like sitting too far away from the food when you have to fill up plates for three people. The last time I went to a buffet like that I didn't know what I was doing either, and I ended up leaving with Jello all over my pants. And I made lots of rookie mistakes this time too...mostly involving Jello. I brought Matthew a plate of food with Jello on it, which caused him to ignore everything else on his plate and keep asking for more Jello. He did try some fruit salad when someone told him there might be Jello in it. Then he got a free balloon, which meant the end of any interest in eating food. Oh well, at least he was happy.

My other little Jello eater. I kept bringing her plates of food that got universally rejected. She did eat some Jello...and then squished it up and wiped it on my pants. Nice.

She wiped it on her own pants too, which, as you can see, were white to start out with. Why did I dress her in white pants to go to the buffet? Another rookie mistake.

The next day we explored Riverfront Park in Spokane, the site of the 1974 World's Fair. Yes, it's true, Spokane, Washington hosted the World's Fair. Believe it. My mom actually attended the fair that year and can vouch for it.

Here's my brother, Will, and Matthew at the carousel in the park. Matthew and Anna rode the carousel and Anna was only a little terrified. Oddly enough, this carousel was made in Rhode Island.

The big red wagon. I loved this. You could climb up the back side and the handle was a big slide. So fun.

Anna and my mom looking at the geese in the park.

And no summer outing is really complete without a sno-cone. We got good sno-cones from a little stand in the park. Yum. Anna didn't get one of her own, but she cruised around to everyone else for tastes. So clever.

There were a lot of runners at the park and also these runner statues. Because I have been running so much I was totally able to beat these runner statues...except that guy in the front.

And here is a picture of some of the falls on the Spokane river. We didn't take the gondolas down to see the falls up close, but we still had a nice view from up above. We had fun exploring Spokane.