Shed and Nikki's Graduation

The very next weekend on the 6th of September, Curtis did some mudding and filling of holes in the ceiling. There was also a bump in the ceiling where the trusses didn't match up exactly because they went different directions. Curtis was able to mud over that gap and make it look nice and smooth. While that was drying, he and the boys went outside to work on building a new shed. They invited Jack's friend, Cam, over to help as well. They only got as far as building the base of the shed. As much as I want a shed, I also wanted our living room fixed up and lights back on, so we're now focusing on just the inside of the house.

In this picture he's working on that bump in the ceiling.

Trying to break that big rock into smaller pieces so they could move it. It didn't work so well, so they just moved it over enough to get out of the way.

Next spring we'll get rid of that chain link fence and build a new wooden one that goes further up the side of the yard and house.

This is as far as we took it, then they covered it with black plastic to protect from the weather.

The following weekend of the 13th was Nikki's art college graduation from Northwest College of Art and Design. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in motion design and media arts. Basically, 3D and animation. Curtis took Friday off so we could drive over early and do some activities, however, I had been sick that week and was still not feeling well and feeling very weak. Tuesday night I had had chills and a fever. We did leave on Friday, just not as early as we hoped. Curtis had wanted to go golfing with me, but I don't really like to golf, and I definitely was not going to do it the way I was feeling. We checked into our hotel and rested for a bit before meeting up with Nikki to get dinner at The Olive Garden. It was good but we ordered way too much food and so we sent our leftovers with Nikki. I was careful not to give her portions with any of my germs on them. 

It turns out that her roommate, Cyrus, was also sick with fever that day and wasn't feeling good the day of graduation. I guess it was just going around. He stuck around as little as possible and I don't blame him. We were able to get a couple of pictures before the graduation started, but the lighting was terrible. The building we were in had glass walls and the sun was coming right through. I had planned to get more pictures after the graduation in better lighting, but Nikki was in a hurry to leave and take off her cap and gown, so that didn't happen.

The graduates. There were about 40 total.

The graduation was at 10am and by the time it finished, it was time for lunch. First, I wanted to go change my clothes and then we walked across the street from the convention center where there was a food truck and got food there and ate outside. The grilled cheese sandwich with pulled pork was pretty good, but the mac and cheese was just okay.

After finishing our lunch, we hit the road to do some fun things up in Seattle. It's about an hour drive from Tacoma. Our two main activities were doing the Seattle Underground Tour and going for a sailboat ride. When we had some time to kill, we walked around the piers.

We walked by this street performer and stopped to watch. He was juggling different things like tasers that were on. Then he would throw an apple into the mix and take a bite out of it a couple of times. It was entertaining.

Ferris wheel right by the water.

Looking from the water back towards the city and seeing the new playground. Nikki said it wasn't there the last time she was there.

Walking around the town and saw these lights strung up across the street. They look like bubbles.

The beginning of the Underground Tour. He was talking about the Indian chief in the big picture. He was who the city of Seattle was name after, and it was the only picture he ever allowed to be taken in his life. His eyes were purposefully closed in the picture, and he took off as quick as he could after they snapped the picture.

Some of the underground that used to be the main level of Seattle.

Sometimes they found old items to display on the tour. This is an electric box.

After the tour, we walked around and got something to eat. Then Nikki and I went to this toy store where she found a plush pigeon that she really wanted, so I bought it for her. She loves pigeons.

Our sailboat ride was scheduled for the evening and so we walked around the pier some more while we waited for our time. The ship we sailed in was called "Bay Lady". They were in need of some passengers to help with the sails and so Curtis and Nikki both volunteered. It was a beautiful ride and nice to relax. 

Pulling the ropes.

There's Seattle and the Space Needle is on the far-left side.

The colors in the clouds were so pretty.

Mt. Rainier in the background. It almost looked like it was erupting because of the clouds above it.

Sunset

Looking up at the sails and the American flag.

We saw a couple of seals swimming.

I love this shot of Seattle at nighttime.

We got us some fish and chips at Ivar's and then took a picture with the statue of Ivar feeding the birds French fries. It was pretty good.

It was a great day overall and we were exhausted at the end. We drove Nikki back to her apartment in Tacoma and then we drove to our hotel in Auburn. It was too late to drive all the way back to our home, but we wanted to make a small dent in our drive and didn't want to stay in Tacoma again, so we drove about 30 minutes or so to Auburn. We woke kind of late the next morning and barely got something to eat before they closed the breakfast bar. Note to self, double check the hours of the breakfast the night before. Anyway, it was a good trip and we're so proud of Nikki for sticking it out and finishing her schooling. It was hard with her mental health and introvert challenges, but she did it! The difficult part will be trying to find a good job in her field. For now, she's just going to get a job wherever she can to pay the bills and hopefully something will come up later on. 

She was able to hire on with Home Depot bringing in the carts from the parking lot and keeping it cleaned up. She started the week after graduation. The first week wasn't great just because she had to call in sick for 2 or 3 days. But now that she's well again, things are going really well and she's enjoying it. The only problem is that it's going into the slow season and she's not going to get the hours she needs, so she might have to get two jobs for now. After 6 months at Home Depot, she can apply for higher/different positions.