Amy finished her lathe project before lunch and my dad helped (*read* took the piece off the lathe, did some finish work, and did a lot of the staining in order for it to be dry by the next morning) take the small vase off the lathe. She was pretty proud of her project.
We ate a quick lunch of leftovers and headed in to town. Our first stop was at the brand new Bishop's storehouse. My parents served a mission at the old one and knew a lot of the people working there. We were able to take a short tour of the new facility.
We then headed over to the River Bottom. Its claim to fame is the longest and tallest high level train bridge in North America as well as being the longest and highest steel trestle bridge in the world. Pretty magnificent. Chris pulled off in to a parking lot as we drove down to the river bottom and he, my dad, and I hiked up a short pathway to get a better view.
I snapped a picture of one of the humongous bees buzzing around the flowers, but it was moving so much I couldn't get it in focus. Chris offered to walk back down to the car and meet us at the bottom while my dad and I followed the path down. I was able to get almost under the bridge to take some more pictures.
We went looking for our peeps and spied Misha's red shirt a short distance away. We met them at a small playground area equipped with climbing walls and climbing rocks. I don't know quite what got in to Kristen. She had finished climbing up onto a rock and looked over at Misha and stated, "Misha, what the hell are you doing?" Makes me laugh to even type it because it was so unexpected and so not appropriate for a seven-year old to say. I admit we laughed in shock and then explained that she shouldn't say that again. Ever. She looks all sweet and innocent.
We continued on to the Old Man River for a little rock skipping. My kids have always been impressed that I could skip rocks, now they could learn from Grandpa as well.
The rocks were smooth and rounded, and many were just perfectly flat for skipping. Mom and Amy had remained in the car while we explored the park. Amy wasn't feeling great and my mom has three blood clots in her leg and tries to be really careful. She was happy to sit and knit and watch over Amy.
Snacks all around when we returned to the car and then more fun. Bowling. Five pin bowling, no less. Holiday Bowl was completely empty when we arrived at 5 pm. Completely. So we had fun practicing and messing up. Five pin bowling is a lot harder than you think. Though you might be able to grasp the smaller bowling balls a lot easier, their swath of destruction is a lot smaller. The pins were attached to strings and to reset, they'd often go flying from the end of the alley and when you looked back again, they were standing up straight as can be. Our scores were mighty poor. Except for my dad. I didn't know he had such style in bowling. The things we learn....
Kristen had a pretty hard time with it and kept throwing gutter balls. She turned back after a dismal turn and said to Misha, "No comments." Chris replied, "She didn't say anything." Kristen countered, "I know, but she's thinking something."
Our next stop was at a brand new IHOP. My parents had never been before, but I think they might even go back despite the slow service. Our second to last stop for the evening (or so we thought) was at Home Depot. The garbage disposal that my parents had installed in the kitchen sink 30 years ago had finally given up the ghost. Chris helped them price match through Amazon and they scored an extra $50 off. They were pleased. While they shopped, Chris filled up the gas tank and bought donuts at Tim Horton's. My peeps don't eat them too often anymore which makes them a fun treat when they do.
My mom realized while at Home Depot that her VISA card was not in her wallet. Rightly worried, we drove back to the grocery store which was the last place she remembered having it on Tuesday and went to see if it was there. No luck. Fortunately she did find it upon returning home in the clothing she had worn on Tuesday. Whew.
Surprisingly the sunset wasn't too spectacular and we didn't race off to photograph it.