Seattle- Part 1

 When our good friends moved to Seattle last summer, we knew a trip was in our future.  It was planned for July 2015....then they ended up having a baby due the same month.  So we moved back our trip to September.  And yes, the girls had to miss a few days of school.  But traveling across the country to see things they have never seen seemed like a pretty valuable learning opportunity.

I know a lot of people are scared of flying, but I LOVE it.  My first flight was when I was 18 and I thought it was AMAZING to feel the plane lift off the ground and see the world from a different perspective.   The only thing better is watching my kids get excited about flying.  This was the second time in an airplane for the girls, but the first one they don't really remember.  They both loved everything about the flight.  Even reading the plane rules.  And they kept themselves very busy.  SO much easier than flying at ages 1 and 3.

So we were visiting the Vroomans.  Tyler lived with Steve in college, he was in our wedding, we were in his wedding, Sarah and I were pregnant at the same time with our first kids, and I cried when they said they were moving across the country. Their second daughter, Willa, was only 10 months old when they left and now she is a walking/talking two-year-old!  They were equally amazed that Olive is a big girl now.  It seems like we missed so much, but with good friends you can just pick right up where you left off.  So we had 5 girls ages 6 and under all under one roof.  And they had a blast!  Here is their house (with Steve on the patio).

They can see Puget Sound from their front patio.  And if they walk half a block, they can look out over the Space Needle and downtown. 

Okay, let's go sightseeing!  First stop: Monorail Man and the monorail from the 1962 World's Fair.  Notice we are wet from the lovely Seattle weather.  We quickly learned our lesson and put on some raincoats.

looking up at the Space Needle

Next stop: Chihuly Garden and Glass right under the Space Needle.  I wish it could have been sunnier, but it was neat to watch the rain run down the glass walls.  

Pike Place Market- oldest continuously operated farmer's market in the US

At the famous gum wall

Seattle Central Library- admittedly a strange place to visit on vacation.  We went because of the architecture.  It is one of the weirdest buildings I've ever seen.

The next day we were playing in the alley behind their house.  Hannah was zooming down the hill at about 20 mph.  I said, "I don't think this is a good idea" since it was right before we were leaving on an island adventure.  Sure enough two minutes later this picture turned into...

this one.  We had an ER adventure instead with 5 stitches and a fractured jaw.  This is actually Hannah's 3rd time in an ER and second time with stitches on her chin.  So I'm thinking this probably wasn't our last visit.

We missed our ferry, but luckily made it on a later one.  We were rewarded with a rainbow.

to be continued....