April and May have been the months of visits from John's family. First his mother came and two weeks later his brother arrived. Kevin flew into Seattle and together with John, decided to book end the trip with visits to their dad.  However, there was plenty of stuff to do between visiting their dad. One of the things we did was to visit Vancouver.  Kevin had never been there and just happened to bring his passport.  Our second stop in Vancouver was to the Blodel Plant Conservatory and Aviary.  When we arrived, they were filming a music video. The dancing was amazing and it was fun to watch.  I could have stayed longer but we headed inside.  The minute we walked in everything steamed up.  The plants and birds were mostly tropical although the mouse that was eating the bird food definitely was native to the area.  I felt like I was on a scavenger hunt looking at the various birds that were either flying from branch to branch or weaving through the foliage on the ground.  After leaving the conservatory we wandered the grounds admiring the trees and flower in bloom.  Finally hungry we went in search of good food and then home.

Every now and then an activity comes our way that is too crazy to turn down. It's something that can't be made up ever.  One day John came home talking about a coworker who had lost 3 cows.  They were wild cows, not the tame ones farmers have but very wild. In fact so wild that they broke out of their pasture and took off different directions.  In fact, this guy's father-in-law bought some wild cows at the same time and those cows took off too.  Technically I think they are steers but whatever.  He captured two of his three and helped his father-in-law gather his bovine as well.  But he still had one in the back 10 acres, fenced in but not in the cow pasture.  John offered to help and that is how we were roped into this bovine experience.  Show up with rainboots we were told and work gloves and long sleeve shirts.  Two of our kids declined but Isaac was willing to help out.  Hopping in the truck, John pulled out the directions to the guy's house along with a "plan" on capturing the cow.  Yep, it was written down.  Upon arriving we met the" two cows in pasture with the horse and their dog.  Originally they were thinking of using phones to communicate but we didn't have coverage so they resorted to shouting.  They guys decided I would man the gate and keep the other cows from wandering into the woods while they flushed the cow out.  Once the cow was in the pasture, I was to shut the gate and call out to them.  I promptly found a stump, pulled out my camera and waited.  Soon, I could hear the guys calling to each other, followed by lots of clapping. Then there was the loud crashing of a large animal tearing through bushes.  Turns out this 750 pound cow decided not to use the paths in the wooded area but would just storm through the brush trampling anything in it's way.  At one point I decided to pull out my phone and start taking notes.  I was overcome with laughter at the whole situation.
"Isaac! Isaac!  What's the cow doing?"
Response:  "I don't know, I don't have eyes on it."
"Fall back! Fall Back!"
"Fall Back? Oh Shit!, AHHHHHHH."
"Where's the cow now?"
Clapping sounds coming from the woods.

All I see of the cow was it's rump as it turned at the last minute and instead of running into the pasture towards the other two cows waiting, it plunges into the bushes of black berries running along side of the fence.  Meanwhile they are still in the back trying to drive it forward, not realizing that it is looping around behind them.  After 3 hours we gave up, had pizza and then left.  My stomach hurt from laughing so hard.  I knew this was going to be a good story.  True ones usually are.

Cow update:  a week later the cow was tired of being a maverick and joined the heard by walking into the pasture.

So the day of the prom arrived. She started getting ready. A friend came over to help with makeup and to hang out. Alex showed up and we took photos of pinning the boutineer and slipping on the corsage.  Then they were off to Brenden's house for photos.  Taylor's dad took photos and I took photos and the parents laughed and the kids felt awkward and laughed too.  The standing joke was 3 bibles between the girls and guys at all times.  They were a fun group to photograph and were silly and goofy and I love the care-free attitude of that and how it shows up in photos.  Taylor and Brenden are a couple in waiting.  They are waiting for Taylor to turn 16 so they can date.  Lona and Alex are friends so there was no pressure for them, just fun.  I think that is how prom should be - fun, no pressure, dress up, learn how to behave in a formal setting, and also be relaxed.  They went to dinner, went to prom and then back to Alex's house.  Job joined them there to watch movies and then drive Lona home.  I went to crawl in bed the next day to see how it went and it wasn't Lona in bed.  I almost crawled in and cuddled Taylor!  I had no idea that she was going to sleep over.  Hilarious.  They came in the back so they wouldn't disturb John's mom and she thought they were burglars.  Then Taylor not knowing that John's mom was here, almost crawled in bed with her. That would have surprise.  Fun night but exhausting.

 Lemons become lemonade when seen through the lens of rose colored glasses.  Having to check out of our hotel earlier than planned, we quickly looked for things to do in South Seattle area that didn't involve going to a mall.  It was too nice of a day and I already felt like I had spent enough money on the hotel. Luckily, Kubota Garden is a free park, being part of Seattle Parks Department.  It has an amazing history from starting in 1927 by a man from Japan, who designed many Japanese style gardens all over the Seattle area, and was later place in an interment camp with his family to rebuilding his business after WWII.  The 5 acres became 20 acres and streames became ponds, swamp lands became beautiful areas that now are available for weddings. 

One thing I love about my daughter is her sense of adventure and to enjoy the moment and be a little goofy.  At first she was ambivalent.  Not really caring but willing to humor me.  When we first started traveling for Rangers I would plan some kind of outing like this each time and then we started carpooling and they just wanted to go and come back unless shopping was involved. This was my opportunity to sightsee and explore our neck of the woods. Lona and I went alone, and I was determined to make this a fun couple of hours. I gave her my camera and was goofy, posing for photos, jokingly teasing that we were going to find seperate places to sit quietly and reflect with a journal.  She might actually have done that and then we got into the groove of exploring, talking, and being comfortable, taking photos.  The camera on her phone takes some amazing photos, I might be a little envious! We ended up cutting our time in the garden short, we were hungry.  This is a place I'd like to come back and explore some more.