Everyone arrived on Thursday, July 1st. Kristen and Casey got off a plane from Australia, and Hinkle mom and dad, Cody, Esther, Esther, and Siang arrived by van. We mostly rested, talked, and played board games, since everyone showed up in the late-afternoon/evening.
On Friday, we made plans and visited Marymoor park. There, we took turns on the tandem bike, played tennis and Bocce ball, and took a nap (well, I'm the only one who took a nap, right on the grass!). That night, I made dinner for everyone (10 people!): chicken picatta with veggies, fruit, wild rice, and pasta noodles. We even had a caper and non-caper batch, for the picky eaters...
On Saturday, the boys (Kayle, Cody, Dad) went to Mt. Rainier for the day to hike. I packed them sack lunches and happily sent them off to trek in the snow. We sent them with a camera to document the day and got back dozens of pictures featuring only pine trees. The boys themselves were only in a couple. Esther and Siang went to Tukwila to spend a few days with some Burmese friends there. The rest of the girls, Mom, Kristen, Casey, Esther Khim, and I, had a shopping day in Redmond/Bellevue.
We visited the Redmond farmer's market and bought some freshly-popped kettle corn, sweet Rainier cherries, a half-flat of raspberries, and a beautiful flower bouquet. We also walked around Redmond Town Center outdoor mall where we stopped at a board game store and Claire's. I was just dying to bring Esther to the giant Asian grocery store in Bellevue called Uwagimaya. There, we bought noodles, spices, rice, metal chopsticks, and MSG in a jar (I didn't know there WAS such a thing!). Half Price Books yielded some bargain DVDs and novels for the ride home, and Goodwill was the site of long excursions to the dressing rooms. Overall, a very enjoyable and thrify shopping day.
That evening, the women rallied to cook a large vat of meaty pasta sauce and about 20 pasties. The hiking boys got home just in time for fresh pasties, right out of the oven. They were pretty pleased about that! The extra pasties were re-heated for lunch the next couple days. I don't even want to try to guess how many Kayle ate! We used the pasta sauce for dinner a few nights later.
Sunday was the 4th of July! We took everyone to the early 9am service at church before going home to prepare sandwiches and cut watermelon for a day at the park. I wanted to get to Gas Works park early to get a good seat for fireworks and enjoy the festivities. Once there, 5 of us decided to let Kayle and Cody save our spot while we bused downtown to go on an Argosy boat tour of the Seattle harbors. However, shortly after boarding the metro bus, the weather turned sour and we all felt bad about leaving Kayle and Cody to guard several coolers and blankets during 3 hours of light rain. We returned (after the tour) to them camping out in the woods, our blankets hanging on tree branches and Kayle and Cody playing frisbee amisdt the trunks. So much for saving our spot! Luckily, the park cleared out some during the rain, so we found another place to spread out our now-damp blankets. We waited for dark by playing Scum (a card game) and watching a fireboat spray water all over Elliott Bay. We also took a lot of pictures of the Seattle skyline and even saw not one, but two, full-scale pirate ships.
The fireworks show itself was the most amazing I've ever seen. They shot the fireworks off a barge in the middle of the bay, so the colors lit up the water and the skyline behind. The fireworks were also sychronized to music, which at one point struck me as so funny that I laughed uncontrollably for several minutes. We all "oohed" and "ahhed" and laughed and screamed for the entire show and found ourselved highly amused by the end. Even Kayle and Cody admitted that the fireworks were worth the wait!
On Monday, a bunch of us went go-karting at a high speed indoor track. To race, everyone needed to wear a funny, yellow head cover and an over-the-head racecar helmet. We all felt pretty authentic and snazzy.
We weren't supposed to crash or bump other cars (they had a flag for slower cars to pull over so faster cars could pass you), but, at one point, I accidently ran into the tires on the edge at high speeds. Kayle emerged as the champion on both days we went racing, and I wonder how he got to be the best while I finished dead last! Five of us also went on another Argosy Cruise tour, departing from Kirkland. We moseyed around Lake Washington with a tour guide explaining the outrageous prices of the homes there as well as some stories and special features. One of the highlights was Bill Gates' house, which apparently sports a computer system where guests fill out a survey and wear a Star Trek-like lapel pin. Then, when moving throughout the house, the art and temperature and TVs and lighting change to meet the guest's preferences. I sort of wonder what happens when you have guests with very different tastes all in the same room... Bill Gates is also rumored to have a padded trampoline room. Whoa!
That evening, we went to dinner at Claim Jumper, a country-western place with a longest menu I've ever seen. After, some of the girls stayed in Redmond Town Center to shop some more. I went to bed early so I could get up for work the next day. Kayle and his dad drove down to Tukwila to pick up the Burmese girls. And, Cody met a friend from Moody in Seattle to hang out and have dinner together.
Tuesday was the last full day of the Hinkle visit. While I was at work, everyone went into Seattle for the day. Kayle, Cody, Dad, and Kristen rented bicyles and cruised around to several parks, Ballard Locks, along the Puget Sound, and past the sports stadiums.
Meanwhile Mom and Casey went with the Burmese girls to Seattle Center where they went up the Space Needle for a spectacular view of the city and mountains. Then, the girls walked around the International District and settled down for a gigantic lunch at an authentic Korean restaurant. Upon return to the Eastside, we all met at Grasslawn park for a few family pictures and a nice stroll and some frisbee-throwing in the beautiful, sunny weather.
Afterward, Esther, Esther, Kristen, Casey, and Cody (?!?!?) walked again to RTC to shop. The rest of us lounged at home. We enjoyed a final night of board games and a dice game from Pirates of Caribbean II (except we weren't betting our souls or anything!).Despite grand plans to be driving by 7am, everyone was still packing and mingling at 8:00 when I left for work. We said our last goodbyes, and they were off, calling me only once to confirm some driving directions. Kayle and I recovered with extra sleeping and less activity for the following week or so, but we sure do miss our family already...
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