Electric Cars and Fireworks for Ichiro

My parents are in town visiting. This puts me in an interesting position because I've already given them the grand tour last time. So... now what the heck are we supposed to do?

Check out the Lucid dealership at University Village I guess?

Next we headed over to check out a Mariners game but first I had to grab a Seattle dog outside the ballpark.

This guy was a professional. He had a friggin caulk gun full of cream cheese.

Winners gonna win.

Fireworks Night was officially part of Ichiro Mariners Hall of Fame Weekend. I don't think I ever got to see him play because he was sort of a big deal. He was ten-time All-Star & Gold Glove winner, three-time Silver Slugger, and 2001 Rookie of the Year & MVP award winner.

Zeke, my friend and Phi Alpha Literary Society pledge dad was in Seattle for a work thing so we brought him along for the fun as well.

Hiking Rainier National Park

We have visited Rainier National Park once before, when we were visiting Seattle for the first time, but it was covered in snow and we couldn't do much hiking.

We saw a few hoary marmots while hiking. They were very hungry little hippos.

We saw some people walking around with crazy shoes and big ice picks, which I guess are the implements you'd need to actually climb to the top of Mt. Rainier. I think that would be a pretty cool challenge for us to tackle someday. Lydia seems less enthused.

I think this speedy devil was a chipmunk.

We were back in Kirkland in time for one of my favorite activities: sunset over Lake Washington.

Lydia and I have been trying to construct a zygote for the last couple of months. I was mentally prepared for it to take a long time to happen or maybe never happen. Well apparently we are both in working order because Lydia handed me an open Amazon shipping bag and said something like "I accidentally opened this but it's for you." When I looked inside there was a little "positive" pregnancy test at the bottom of the bag. Let the games begin.

First WA Horse Race

We invited a few friends to join us out at Emerald Downs for some horsey racing in Auburn, WA.

It was a bit more of an upscale experience than southern Illinois' Fairmount Park. For one thing, the prices were multiples higher. Sad.

Lydia and I's first trip together(2012!!) was to the Kentucky Derby so she gets all romantical when she sees those sweaty horses galloping around.

Washington is a big garlic producer, and garlic fries are a local favorite.

Them pinchy cheeks are also a local favorite.

We definitely came on the wrong day, unfortunately. Apparently sometimes they have a bunch of people in t-rex costumes race on the track instead of horses. Much more hilarious. I wonder if they still allow betting?

We took a peek at the local mall, the Outlet Collection Seattle.

They had a this fun store called Gotcha! where you pay to shoot your friends and enemies with Nerf style guns. Being able to shoot a million shots at each other and not have to worry about finding them and picking them up afterwards is priceless if you ask me.

When night fell we checked out something little bit off the beaten path. The LUSIO Lights Festival at Mary Olson Farm in Kent, WA was billed as an immersive experience showcasing several light up art installations. It was very cool and sometimes strange. It was also free which is a rarity for anything in the Seattle area so I had no complaints.