Monday, September 1, 2008

Seattle

disclaimer: Friends, I took a lot of pictures over two-and-a-half days. 281 to be exact. I filtered through them as best I could and put them on this here blog for you to see. However, I understand if only the most die-hard readers stay through to the end. With "die-hard" I mean Nana and Grandpa, and Grandma. If anyone else makes it through to the end. . .well, you probably have a lot of time on your hands. And I love you.

Day One:

Wednesday afternoon we drove to Kansas City and stayed overnight with my dear friend Amy and her husband Dave. Amy and Dave recently moved to a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood and it hit me: my friends are living in their grown-up houses now. When did this happen? We've all reached the stage where we've moved out of our starter homes, filled with hand-me-downs and college remnants, to our real homes, filled with furniture that we've chosen and actually like. It's a strange transition.

I was so happy to see Amy and Dave and my friend Gina, who sweetly came over for a little bit, and the chance to chat and laugh. The kids were soooo excited to sleep on the floor at Amy's house. G loved sleeping underneath a train blanket and Little Missy slept underneath a KU blanket. That hurt a little bit, but what are you going to do?






Day Two:

We drove to the airport and barely made it on time. But we made it on board and we were on our way!

The moving sidewalks in Denver were a big hit.




Loading up on sugar made the flight go faster.




And then we arrived in Seattle. Hooray! Amanda cooked a delicious meal of stromboli, then we went to cousin Gabe's soccer practice. On the airplane I wore a comfy dress that doesn't wrinkle. Pretty smart dressing, right? Well I should have changed to go to Gabe's soccer practice. Let me refer you to stuffwhitepeoplelike.com #87: Outdoor Performance Clothes. Little Missy and I looked a little strange because we were wearing dresses and sweaters outside, not North Face with capri pants. See Amanda? She's now a native.




The three younger kids played on the playground while Gabe practiced soccer with his team.



Then we headed down to the beach to look for some shells and to take pictures.



Day Three:

We rode on a ferry! Once on Whidbey Island the kids played in the sand:

Gabe found a femur while beachcombing:



Then we headed to the mountains. There aren't many places where you can be on the beach in the morning and the mountains for lunch. It was a beautiful spot with a rushing stream of clear water.


Then we headed further into the mountains and let the kids run around at a ski resort. G is not in these pictures because, as I said in a previous post, he tires of me taking so many pictures. Little Missy is not tired of them, and Gabe and Grady are used to their mom taking lots of pictures, so they are good sports about it. They know that we moms need to put cute pictures on our blogs.

Day Four:


We wanted to ride the train into Seattle but we didn't make it in time. Here are the kids on the way into the train station:





Our main purpose was to go to downtown Seattle to see the Space Needle and the Market. There was a massive amount of people down there for Bumpershoot (swpl #s 7, 18, 33, 41, 97). After making it through all the people trying a little too hard to be cool we got to the Monorail:


The kids on the Monorail looking at the Space Needle:




Then we got to the market (where they throw fish! Like on the Real World!). See: stuffwhitepeoplelike #s 5 & 6. The Market is STRESS-FUL. Lots and lots and lots of people, pushing against each other, all while trying to hold on to two little ones and stay with our family. This picture is before the stress.
Once in the market we headed to a cafe for some food (swpl #63). I heard some giggling behind me and caught the cousins being cute. I had barely taken the picture when Grady smacked his brother on the head. Brothers. What are you gonna do?

Little Missy decided to clean the table before we ate our lunch. Or rather, before everyone but her ate their lunch. But it was nice of her to clean the table for us.

Here's a picture for my friend Jessica: the first Starbucks. Also, stuffwhitepeoplelike #1.
At the market we bought blueberries (which Little Missy loved. I mean, it's okay she doesn't eat a whole lot of foods, right? She eats blueberries [superfood], bananas [superfood], oatmeal [superfood], and milk [not quite superfood, but pretty darn healthy.)
Then we watched some masked men armed with a camera harass the Scientologists.
Then we headed home to rest for a little bit before heading out with Hubby and Shawn's high school friend Nate. We ate more yummy seafood down by the beach we had been at our first night.

Day Five:

The flight home. So sad. Not necessarily the flight was sad, but leaving our family who are our dear friends.

Finally we landed in KC, loaded up the car and headed for home. Hubby and I got to talking and missed our exit BY 27 MILES. We took a 54 mile detour. Not what you want to happen when you're anxious for home. But the kids fell asleep, Hubby read his book while I listened to my music. It was nice to be in our beds.

Today we woke up late and it was so sad not to be in Seattle. It is a big place up there but we had a great time with our family. SAGG, we'll see you soon!!!

4 comments:

Farm Chick (at Heart) said...

Love it! Looks like you had a great time! I especially like my Starbucks picture. Heck yes!

Glad you are home...it sucks here without ya! :)

Fox Family said...

kinda sad waking up with the sound of only 2 kids cracking up!!! we are so happy you came up...you're welcome back anytime!
love ya!
amanda

Gina said...

I'm glad you had a fun time, I love the pictures! Your family is so stinkin cute and extended family too! Someday I hope to go to the market and see the fish throwing! How fun!

Angie said...

So glad you're home- looks like you had a fabulous time!