To market, to market

 

Is there anything better than Seattle on a sunny day?



One of my favorite views in the world

 

"Aunt" Kendra joined us to play hometown tourists

 

 

Another favorite view IN-side Pike Place Market

Eli asked if the packing ice/snow was cold (red flag that we're Californians, I know)
and the worker gave him a snowball

 

Kendra with the world's best-priced bouquets

 

 

Millie taking a sniff

 

After walking the market

and grabbing my favorite gyros for lunch,

we rode the monorail over to the Seattle Center.

 

 

And what to our wondering eyes should appear,

but the International Fountain!

 

 

Eli, Kendra & Bennett had fun trying to outrun the ever-changing, dancing water jets

 

 

 

This little piggy stayed dry,
although she did enjoy dancing to the music

 

 

 

Unlike her disobedient older brothers who were admonished: "Don't get soaked!"

 

 

 

That didn't stop him from monkeying around near the Space Needle, however

 

 

Next up: the Waterfront and the Great Wheel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And what better way to top off a day in Seattle

than a soccer game with Uncle Jason?

 

Seattle Sounders vs. DC United

 

 

 

In a packed Century Link Stadium
(the same one the Seahawks use for football)

 

 

 

Hallelujah for a retractable roof to see Mt. Rainier

 

 

 

Ball park food + professional soccer = recipe for pure happiness for this child

 

 

 

Uncle Jason and "E-Dawg" as Jason has dubbed him

Slip slidin' away

When the going gets hot

the hot get slip-and-sliding with cousins.

Ready, set, slide!

Sprinkler pose




Benito loving the action

Eli hitting the end

True to its name, a whole lot of slipping

Wahoo!

Growing-up-way-too-fast cousins

Stephen and his sister

Pit Stops

Back up.

Just a bit.

To the drive up to Seattle.

 

Stop #1 = Redding

to swim and BBQ

with Stephen's cousin Katie and her kids.

 

 

The next day we ended up on the freeway at the same exact time

as Stephen's sister and her family.

An unplanned but fun coincidence

that made the long drive feel not quite so long.

 

We caravanned most of the way together,

stopping at rest areas

and lunching at one of Oregon's abundant Dairy Queens.

(God bless the land of DQ!!!)

 

"White Salamander" as Uncle Mike successfully renamed Millie's stuffed pink hippo

 

 

Stephen snuck up and got a shot of his camera-shy niece before she ran for the trees

 

 

Pit Stop #2 = Portland

 

We also stopped to see my sister and her family for a night.

Portland was having a heat wave,

so we hit a local park to cool off with all the kiddos

and then had root beer floats back at Jenae's place.

 



How do I get to the bottom of this thing?

Millie catching some air

The adorable twinners!

Four boys sitting on a porch

Nothing other than a treat could keep them that still for that long

Already feeling the float high!

Thanks, Aunt Nae and Uncle Bret!

Hometown Love

Revisiting my Seattle roots:

 

Day One = Ballard

(where I was born and raised until age five)

 

The Locks

The Salmon Ladder

Lots of water

Ship Canal or "boat elevator," where the boats are raised if they're returning to lake water

or lowered if they're heading out to the ocean water of the Puget Sound

Bridges being raised for sailboats

We could have stayed at this place all day, watching the salmon jump and swim through the ladder

or the water rush to raise or lower the boats

Golden Gardens

 

 

My first memories of any beach anywhere are here

We were blessed with gorgeous beach weather, too

The view of the Olympics and sailboats on the Sound can't be beat

So fun to watch my own kids play on the very rocky sand I remember playing on as a kid

 

 

 

Molly Moon's Ice Cream

 

Little sis, Kendra, recommended this spot

Lemon dill, honey lavender, balsamic strawberry

Homemade waffle cones--hooray!

Oh man, so yummy... especially that lemon curd topping

Sadly, they are a local, organic place that we'll never get to eat in Cali