old ruins on top of a hill.

Holyrood palace

The queen still entertains here and knights figures such as Sean Connery.

Also Mary Queen of Scotts endured much drama here.

Hiking Kind Aurthers seat. An erupted volcano that practically looms over the city and offers all sorts of trails and views

awesome vintage shops!

Ghost tours.....
Edinburgh is known for it ghosty hauntings and we had a blast on the night tours.

please feel free to double click and enlarge so you can see my nostrils even better. This was taken in the Edinburgh Dungeons. An underground tour using actors to tell the tales of Edinburgh most ghastly past and rides to scare us as well. THis one is the hang man's noose and it's in the pirch dark. I laughed so hard when I saw this that I cried.

Summary of Spain

Spain started with a walk down the famous La Rambla to see the ware and the living statues

La Boqueria was in incredible market, one of the best I've seen. We enjoyed lot's of tasty treats here.

If you want to see all our pics go to Facebook in a few days and I'll have them in their gigantic quantities waiting there for you.

we rode to the top of the columbus monument to view the city in an elevator for 3

a speed boat ride gave us a view from another angle and we caught some pretty good air. Behind Eric is a ship that is on the show "Whale wars" which Liam loves to watch. They were just docking to stock up and we got a few pics.

The magic fountain was built in 1992 when Barcelona hosted the Olympics. It much more gigantic than the picture shows and they play ethereal music while the fountain dances in this gorgous location.

Some of our friends from Washington just so happened to be in Barcelona at the same time we were. We went to lunch and drown ourselves in the english language that we missed so much.

spanish village on top of the mountain Monjuic. We took a gondala to this spanish village built in 1932 for the world expo.

La Sagrada Familia. This gothic cathedral was never finished. Work was begun to finish it 20 years ago and it will finally be completed in 2026. When the designer by the name of Gaudi died, he left no blueprints for continuation because it was all in his head.

Mr. Gaudi dominated the art and archtiecture scene in Barcelona until he was struck my a tram in 1932. We saw several buildings he constructed and I'm convinced he was a genius.

we did night bus tour our last night and ended at the magic fountain for dinner and a show. BTW pizza cones are where it's at.

Lemonade Stand

Liam made his first Lemonade stand and it was serious business. He even made a list of all the things he needed and checked them off as he set up.

He made the signs all by himself and taped them on the table. I helped him make the lemonade. He was really professional and held back his excitement while whispering to himeself, "I've got to hold the cup steady and not over fill it" when he was preparing his first customers drink. After each purchase he would say, "Thank you for your business".

He made $4! Which has turned on the light bulb in his head spreading light on the fact that he can make more money selling lemonade than he does for doing his chores the whole month. "Cash" is his new favorite word. We may have created a monster.
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Movies in the park

Our area parks do movies at night during the summer and they are always magical. I remember being a little girl and going to outdoor movies in our small town. But they were projected onto the side of a brick church building with the old film strips. Now a days they have blow up screens and sound systems. Some of the screens are bigger than theatre screens.

We watched "The Princess and the Frog" the other night and they had a jazz band playing new Orleans jazz and the kids ran around and danced and had a blast.

Imagination Station

Remember this guy from the late 80's, early 90's? He had a public access television show called The Imagination station". Now he tours the country and does Art camp for young kids.


Liam just finished art camp with Mark Kistler and here is some of what he learned.

I like the giant bowl of cereal with LIam jumping in.

Mark Kistler has a website with

'How to" videos for kids as well. They are funny and really easy for the kids.

going for a ride

marshmellow man!

Birthday cake with mouse hole, marshmellow with singing eyeball, flying pancake, and more marshmellows.

jet powered dinosaur

birthday surprise!

Camping at Mount St Helens

We went camping with Grandparent's Elton, The Mann crew and Jen and Ben.

I couldn't quit taking pictures of Anna and Kira. They were so cute together.

THey played "Chef" for most of the trip.

Kenna riding around..

These two were really into this gun.

Jen and Brennan making some dinner. Speaking of which, thanks for the dutch oven baked Brie Evan. Seriously good.

Inside the Denali