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Weekend in Spokane; Jan/Mike Coming to Town

Sunday, October 18th, 2009

So first the J&M news…they are moving to Seattle. Jan accepted a job offer in Seattle and they have decided to relocate. She starts work on November 16th but Mike will be staying in Eugene working at his current job until their house sells. Auntie Jan will be moving in…Zach and Nate are very excited.

Before I get into our Spokane weekend, here is a shot of the two completed pork shoulders I smoked last weekend.

They tasted as good as they looked.

Last Wednesday, Steph headed over to Spokane for some attorney conference. I held down the fort with the boys until Friday morning. I got them up at 5:30am and hit the road in the Pilot for Spokane. The boys were great on the ride out. We were making record time until mile 236 – that’s where I got my speeding ticket. I probably shouldn’t have been doing 85. It was cool while it lasted – no one (and I mean no one) passed me on I90 from downtown Seattle to milepost 236. After that, everyone passed me. Sigh.

We arrived in Spokane at around 10:30am and headed to Riverfront Park to check out the falls. Very cool. Zach and Nate loved watching the water fall down the rocks.

First part of Upper Falls on the Spokane River.

The other side of Upper Falls.

After the falls we strolled through the park where we picked up acorns. Now this may not seem exciting, but the boys have only seen acorns in the movie Ice Age. So when I introduced them to real acorns – well that was a big treat. We never went anywhere without our acorns the whole weekend. We took them to breakfast, lunch, and dinner…and to the movies.

We met up with mommy at noon and had lunch. Following lunch we had afternoon naps and then we headed back to the park with mommy and then we did some shopping. For dinner we ate at the hotel (We stayed at the Davenport – very nice place) restaurant. We had awesome service, good drinks, and a good meal. On Saturday we ate at Frank’s Diner – a converted railroad car so Zach loved that. We then drove out to Idaho just so the boys could say they’ve been to Idaho. We stopped at Cabela’s which had a bunch of stuffed wildlife. The boys loved that – it was basically a still-life zoo for them. Cabela’s also had an aquarium and a shooting gallery that the boys liked. From there we drove to Cat Tails Zoological Park to check out the 40+ cats (ie, tigers, lynx, pumas) and two bears that were there. It was a small place but fun none the less.

After lunch and naps we went to the movies and saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. The boys were very good during the movie which meant they were extra surly at dinner (again at the hotel). We drove home early Sunday.

Playing at the park.

Nate still not certain about riding the carousel.

Another happy customer at Frank’s Diner.

Space helmets made at nursery school!

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Trip to Remlinger Farms and Pork Butt

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

First, our trip to Remlinger Farms. Today we did our annual pilgrimage to pick out some pumpkins. In past years, we’ve headed over with the PEPS group but this year our soccer schedules didn’t allow this to happen. So today the four of us drove over so we could arrive when it opened at 10am. In past years we’ve just visited the pumpkin patch but this year we decided to go inside of the harvest festival where all of the kiddie rides exist.

Nate and Zach loved it. We first took a ride on a little train around the grounds of the farm which lasted about 20 minutes. We saw scarecrows, pumpkins and a river.

Excitedly waiting for the train to leave the station.

Someone likes the train.

Next up, the dreaded slide. This is a tall bouncy slide (probably around 20′ tall). You walked up the middle and slid down either side. The middle section was very steep with these tiny flimsy steps. Zach was OK on his own but Nate would need help. So good ole dad stepped up to the plate. I quickly realized this task was going to be very difficult. These little flimsy steps did a horrible job at supporting me, let alone me trying to push Nate along. I kept throwing Nate upwards, then I’d hold him in place while climbed up farther. It also kept getting steeper. We were about 2 steps shy of the top when I couldn’t hold Nate anymore. He slid into me taking out my feet, then I slid down taking out another kid…the three of us tumbled to the bottom. Nate and I gave up. Later in the day I learned there were handrails going up the steps…duh! That would have helped.

Next up, Zach and mommy went on some spinny ride. I have no idea how to explain this. But here is a photo of Zach.

After this we went into a large bounce house and then through a hay maze. Daddy had to crawl through a large tube as he chased Zach around. While this alone isn’t a big deal, I was still feeling the affects of my failed attempt on the slide.

Now we got to the fun rides. Remember the lobster at the fair? Well, we had a similar ride but you rode in pumpkins. Zach went with mommy and Nate went with Daddy. Now we get to dad’s next mistake. The ride starts and everyone else’s pumpkin goes up into the air, but not ours. I couldn’t figure out why – I just assumed our pumpkin was broken. Nope, daddy was broken. With about 30 seconds left in the ride I decided to pull this lever sitting in front of Nate and I…guess what? Our pumpkin went upwards. Not very bright daddy. Immediately after the pumpkin fun, we rode the tea cups. Again, mommy and Zach rode together while I got Nate. Fortunately daddy understood how these work and definitely got the tea cup spinning very, very quickly. Nate giggled for a while…then he stopped. That bothered me as I didn’t want projectile vomit coming out. So I slowed down the twirl in the cup.

Next door to the tea cups was a junior size ferris wheel. Zach and Nate waited patiently. This was a kid-only ride. They would be locked in a cage (a good babysitting device actually). It was at this ride we realized we could leave them here for an hour or two and get some food. Not exactly, but if they sold beer…hmmm.

Waiting for the ferris wheel.

Caged, like criminals. Hopefully this is the only time we see them behind bars.

Next to the ferris wheel were these horses. Nate was concerned about riding these – his look, posture, and grip never changed. Zach seemed pretty relaxed on them.

Our final ride was on the roller coaster – the mini twister. Unlike some of the other kids, ours loved it, laughed, and even held their hands up. On the train before ours, a few kids came off screaming and crying – guess they don’t like roller coasters (I can understand this as I was one of those kids).

Some silliness.

Before leaving we went and saw the sheep, goats, chickens, and rabbits. We also did a spin through the pumpkin patch. We found two very nice pumpkins for our doorstep. On the way out we had lunch at the Fall City Grill (another tradition) and then came home.

So what’s better than 7 lbs of brisket? 13 lbs of Pork Butt! Yep, I got a special on Pork Butt – buy one get one free. So I’m smoking all night tonight – both pork butts. One has a basic rub on it while the other just has salt and pepper.