A Visit to Seattle

Well, we dropped everything and took off to Seattle to visit my sister, Amanda. It was way last minute, but we were excited to have the chance to go and see her, and it's always fun to go someplace we've never been before. So we loaded up our van (praying it would make the trip ok) and drove the 14 hours to Washington, through Idaho and Oregon.

The kids were thrilled to see Aunt Amanda, Uncle Drew, and to meet their cousin Olivia for the first time. As we got there pretty late, the first thing they did was go to bed.


The boys on the awesomely comfy couch!

And Lindsey in the bed with Chris and me. Three's a crowd, girlie. (Not like we aren't used to that already!)


It was fun swimming in the pool at the apartment complex, though (no matter what Manda says), IT WAS COLD!





So we warmed up in the sauna.

One way cool thing about Seattle is riding the ferry. Although it is quite expensive -- like $15 for car and driver, plus $6 for each additional passenger or something like that -- it was a neat experience. I love boats, so any chance to ride on one of any type is good with me.

The Beautiful Beach

Having spent several of my childhood years in Florida, I got enough exposure to beaches to realize I didn't care for them. The sticky, humid air, the heat, the yucky (and I mean YUCKY) sand, and that gross feeling after you get out of the water. Blech. And yet, I was to find that a west coast beach is a different experience altogether when we visited Seattle. We found a great beach at Port Townsend; it was simply gorgeous. The view was amazing, with Canada off in the distance. The water was so blue, and though the wind was a little nippy, the weather was comfortable. Obviously there was to be no swimming in that ridiculously cold water, but we had so much fun just sitting on the sand or walking along together. My kids had a blast.

The boys loved skipping rocks into the waves. This is a new hobby of Nathaniel's that he has passed on to Bradley. . .



. . . who was more than happy to show Lindsey the proper methods.


Bradley found this cool heart-shaped rock which he gave to Mel with the proclamation, "This is so you can always remember that I love you." I tell you, that boy is so amazingly sweet and kind.


Uncle Drew buried the boys in the sand. This picture is so funny to me.



Bradley "making fire."




Lindsey really had a good time, though we couldn't get her to keep barrettes in to keep her hair out of her face.

Nathaniel running along the shore.

Later in the week we went to another beach at Deception Pass State Park. That was truly beautiful, despite the "bridge of terror" we had to drive over to get to it.

I got these two great shots of Lindsey and Chris, together in the late afternoon light.




Mom and Granny, don't worry. Yes, she was leaning over the edge of a bench on a cliff that was 50 feet above the rocks and water, but she was perfectly safe. :)

Woodland Park Zoo

One of the coolest places we visited in Seattle was the zoo. Lindsey had not been to a zoo since she was about 6 months old, and she was in heaven; all those wonderful animals. Here she ponders a pool of ducks -- not that she hasn't seen pond after pond of ducks in Provo, but she can never pass up a duck without a look.



Just a shot of my handsome boy having lots of fun.


Another one of Lindsey enjoying herself.



The boys spent more time clowning around on these statues of animals than looking at the real
thing.




They were all super impressed with this neat gorilla. She was so cool. At first she was just lying in the sun stretching, but eventually she came over to check out all the kids who were watching her. It was cool to see her interact with them.



So yeah, fun times at the zoo. I have never been a big fan of zoos; it has always seemed wrong to me to keep animals caged. But this zoo, and so many like it, stress how much work they are doing for preservation and conservation, so I guess that makes me feel a little better. Anyway I am torn because I love for my kids to have the chance to see animals up close that they could never see otherwise. Hmmmm.

We had a great week in Seattle. Many thanks and much love to Manda, Drew, and Olivia for hosting and taking care of us!