Baptism and A Miracle

Two weeks ago we had the pleasure of meeting this little guy.

Wyat is the newest nephew, and yes that is W-Y-A-T. Don’t go thinking his parents are into generating unique names just so their kid has one no one else has. Truth be told it’s an acronym of sorts in honor of his great-grandfathers. Walter, Delvin Fay (for the Y), Alvin, and Ted. Pretty neat if you ask me.

Anyway, we went up to Spokane country for little Wyat’s baptism on the 22nd. We took the Montana route hoping for a change of scenery. I understand the country around Dillion is very scenic, and I’m sure that’s true. The valley bottoms were very nice and I’ll take people’s word that, beyond all the smoke, there were some gorgeous hills and mountains. I think I may have even glimpsed an outline a time or two. So much for the scenic route.

Wyat’s baptism went off with out a hitch. He was surrounded by adoring fans…aka grandparents. After the ceremony we had lunch at Wyat’s paternal grandparents place. Now understand that Aunt Julie and Uncle Cory and his folks all farm together so that means farm equipment. Translation: Jack was in heaven, especially since Uncle Cory was willing to take him for a couple of rides. He rode in the Stiger, and got to plow a couple strips in the crawler. He declined to ride in the combine though, stating, “The field is already harvested.” I mean, what’s the point in riding a combine if you don’t get to harvest anything?

Emilie was pretty excited too (yes, she rides the tractors as well), especially after she realized little bunnies rest in the shade under the equipment. She just had to find one! He only disappointment was being unable to hold Lola, Cory’s Mom’s Cockatoo. Lola is, shall we say, selective in her ‘friend’ choices. Even after explaining to Emilie that the bird can bite hard enough to take off fingers she was still bummed to not be able to give her a cuddle, but satisfied herself by sitting in a chair and talking to Lola across the room. Lola does like to be part of the conversation. Jack has dubbed her, “The Grouchy Bird.” By the end of the visit both kids were happy, tired, and absolutely filthy, so we loaded them up in Grandma and Grandpa’s van and sent them off to Moses Lake.

This is where the miracle comes in. Kevin and I also went down to Moses Lake for a day, but then we took a trip over to Leavenworth & Cashmere…. kid-free. We were trying to figure out the last time we had an overnight without kids. It would seem that last occurred when we went to Plain, WA the night before a cousin’s wedding and Kevin’s folks watched Jack (Emilie was not in the picture). That would mean we hadn’t had a night without kids in over 5 years. This really was some sort of miracle and long overdue.

We enjoyed the sights of Leavenworth. Marveled at how every other shop there seems to have turned into a wine tasting room. Enjoyed sampling brew at the Icicle Brewery, took a little walk around the National Fish Hatchery nature trail, dipped our feet in the appropriately named Icicle River, enjoyed a quiet dinner on the patio at Gustav’s, then had a rousing game of Mini Golf followed up with a trip to the convenience store so the loser (me) could purchase ice cream. We were in bed by 8:30pm. Yep, wild and crazy in our no-quite-old-age.

Next morning we were up with the sun and took a nice long walk along the Wenatchee River. Then we tootled on down to Cashmere and explored their massive antiques galleries, took the Aplets & Cotlets factory tour, and visited the Cashmere Museum & Pioneer Village. Then we mosied on down to Pasco where my Dad was doing a NASDA training for his next set of NASDA surveys and took him out to dinner before heading back to Moses Lake. It was a wonderful whirlwind trip.

When we got back home the following Sunday we found the Garden bursting at the seams with beans, tomatos, raspberries and carrots. There is even a decent crop of parsnips, which is fantastic since we didn’t even plant those this year (all volunteers from last year’s plantings) I planned to have this posted sooner, but vegetables don’t keep and canning took priority. Now that everything I picked last Monday is put up I have a little time. That said we picked another box of tomatos yesterday so I return to being a slave to the stove for another day or so.