Tie-Dye with Dad

Today, Liza, Nick, and I went over to my Dad's house to make some tie-dyed shirts! Dad's tie-dye is the best you can find, so we thought it would be a lot of fun to learn how to make some of our own! We each took turns first tying and then dying the shirts (after learning how it is done, of course). It was a lot of fun, and I hope that the shirts turn out well!

Nick decided to make a black spider shirt:

Finishing up the shirt with rubber bands.

Adding color to one side of the shirt, the other will be black.

Liza had three shirts to make, but it all went well!

Dad helping Liza get started.

Dad and Liza tying her first shirt.

Liza's second shirt.

Liza's third shirt.

Liza adding color to her spider shirt.

Nick's shirt is the upper right, and the other three are Liza's shirts.

I decided to do a nice green and blue ribbed shirt:

Checking the edge to keep it straight.

Tying my ribbed shirt.

Dad helping me with the sleeve of my shirt.

Adding color to my shirt!

The (semi) finished product :)

Tie-dying is so cool and very pretty! We got to see Dad work on a bunch of different shirts as samples throughout the day! Overall, it was really fun!

Dad's example for a ribbed shirt.

A bunch of the dye bottles lined up in rainbow order.

The clean white shirts after being tied.

Dad adding dye to the white shirts.

The finished first side of some rainbow ribbed shirts.

The second side of the ribbed shirts before adding more dye.

Dad adding dye to the second side of the shirts.

Tillicum Village

This morning, Nick and I joined David (along with some of this family) for a trip to Tillicum Village on Blake Island. However, when we first arrived at the pier we had about an hour left before boarding and took the time to explore some of the shops.

Nick and a giant otter!

David and a kinda silly animal hat :)

When at last it was time to board, we found nice seats on the ferry and enjoyed a nice scenic trip to Blake Island, accompanied by some information regarding the area and the Native American tribes. Upon arriving, we were served steamed clams (none for me, though) and headed into the longhouse for lunch.

Our salmon being prepared in the lobby.

After the meal, we were treated to a new (but authentic) show. It was not the best performance I have seen, since it took advantage of a projection screen for a lot of it. However, the dancers in the wooden masks were extremely impressive. The masks weighed somewhere along the lines of 45 to 55 pounds! After the performance I spoke with one of the performers to ask about what it was like to work with the masks. He told me that in the case of the longer one (seen below), he spent 2 weeks practicing with it! Not to mention that they are just exhausting costumes in which to perform!

This mask weighs about 45 pounds.

This mask weighs about 55 pounds.

After the performance, we had about an hour of free time on Blake Island in which to explore and enjoy the fairly nice weather. So, we started out by taking a nice (short) walk along a wooded trail, before returning to the longhouse and the nearby harbor.

Red Elderberries

The conclusion of the trip consisted of the ferry ride back to Seattle. At this point, the sun had really broken out so we had a wonderful cruise back on the front deck accompanied by a beautiful view of the city skyline.

The Fremont Fair

I have been looking forward to attending the Fremont Fair for a while, but this morning I woke up to the sound of rain, and it suddenly seemed much less appealing. However, Nick and I decided that we still wanted to attend, since it only happens once a year anyway. So, we quickly got ready with the hope of making it in time to see the parade.

We invited David along, and some how made it just in time for the start of the parade. There was a huge number of naked bicyclists this year, way more than I remember (though I have not been to the parade since I was a kid). Although it was cold and drizzling the whole time, the parade was still energetic and fun to watch, with a huge number of people attending!

The best float at the parade was definitely the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Not only was it cool to begin with, it was extremely well done!

After the parade, David, Nick, and I joined up with Mom and Pat for some food and a walk around the fair. It was really crowded for a cloudy and drizzling day, so after we made it to the far end of the park, Mom and Pat left to head home.

At this point, David, Nick, and I headed to the another great part of the fair - the decorated cars!

On the way out of the fair, we came across a ridiculously large booth promoting Camel cigarettes. It was exciting looking and easily attracts attention, yet it still had to promote the danger of the product. While I was taking pictures, one of the people working there ran up and said it wasn't allowed. Why exactly is still unclear.