The Blue Bridge

Today Vanessa found a video on the Tri-City Herald of some workers replacing the flag on top of the Pioneer Memorial Bridge, aka the "Blue Bridge". The video wasn't too exciting (or high quality) but the Blue Bridge is one of Asher's favorite local monuments (that and Badger Mountain..."Dad!!! I see Badger Mountain with the radio towers and the TV towers!!! Dad!? You missed it!") and he loves American flags, so he thought it was awesome.
So this evening after work and dinner we went to walk across the bridge. The kids loved it. Madeleine kept saying "I see the river! It's beautiful." Asher soaked it up with his typical stern intensity. For Asher real fun is a very serious thing. You can see it in this picture of him dragging Vanessa, refusing to stop for pictures. Vanessa and I enjoyed the walk, but were less comfortable. I wouldn't have thought twice about being on the bridge by myself, but its different with your wife and kids. Having Madeleine straining to free herself from her stroller seat didn't calm my nerves as I carefully eyed all the gaps in the railing to make sure she couldn't fit through them. Still we made it out to the middle of the half mile bridge to see the new American flag in all its glory.From the Blue Bridge we could see the "Cable Bridge". I was already planning that to be our next Tri-Cities "adventure" and on our way home across the Blue Bridge, Asher said"Dad, I want to walk on that bridge too."
Now, two unrelated topics. First off, I was going to link to our post about climbing Badger Mountain last fall, but in searching through the archives I realized we never finished that post. So I have finished it up and posted it, and if you are interested it is linked here, as well as above.

Also, I wanted to give some more thanks to Jeromy Riggs for his plant recommendations for our landscaping. When we came back from the Blue Bridge hike we found our Rose of Sharon's first blooms. Not only is it beautiful, but it is growing to perfectly fill its space in the yard and it blooms right after all our other flowers have disappeared. Thank you Riggs. We miss you guys (and your Oreo cake).