Seattle

Just got back on Tuesday from our little vacation to Seattle. I was most worried that LittleBuddy, who was missing three days of school, would be really behind, but his friends sent him his assignments via text and we had his school books packed in a suitcase, and he was able to get everything done just fine. Whew! Normally I don't take my kids out of school for trips but this was special, their cousin was getting married and we were all so excited. 

I have a lot of photos, so I'll keep my captioning brief.  These aren't in chronological order, just some of the faves of the trip. Suffice it to say, it was cold, it was fun, and it was WET!

 My Sister-in-law, Rebecca, Kayla, the new bride to nephew Adam, the groom, and my brother just outside the temple after they were married inside on Valentines Day. Sweet stuff!

 My boys with their cousins. They love every opportunity to be together.

 Snoqualmie Falls. It only rained off and on the first day we were there, so that was nice.

 All my family that came with me, trying to get their own photos. Good thing for MyGirl who knows when to smile :-)

 We took a free walking tour of the Pike Place Market. It should have been called Costco 2 - they were giving out free samples and it was FABulous!

 Here we got the best, most freshest hunks (think baseball size) of smoked salmon I've ever had . . . to die for good!

 Loved all the tulips found in Feb. Amazing.

 Dried chili wreaths and hanging ornaments. We got free apple and pear samples here.

 The fresh fruit was wonderful as was the dried. I loved the dried okra and green beans - who knew?

 Pickle juice shots were offered. I sipped. Bigbuddy chugged. He regretted it the rest of the day.

 However, he was the hero of our tour as he was the one that caught the large fish thrown by the fisherman.

It was a large salmon. Unfortunately we didn't get to keep it.

Still, all the fishermen were really proud of him and he just couldn't stop smiling.

 He had to hold it up for the rest of our tour group to take a picture. Way to go buddy!

 There were totem poles around. Mike found a way to keep his hat from blowing away. I forgot to mention that I also went with Mike, Littlebuddy and my dad to see the Museum of Flight in Renton on Valentine's morning. I thought it was a fun activity my hubby would like, as I was the itinerary planner for our trip and he liked it a lot. One morning we also went to Microsoft headquarters to their visitor center and that was interesting also.

 This is the gum wall. Be grateful I didn't get it in full focus. Its huge and disgusting but part of the culture.

 We drove by Seattle Center and the Space Needle, but it was pouring and we didn't have time to go to the museums there, as we had to be back for the reception in North Bend by 5 for pictures, so I just hopped out at the red light and took a quick pic.

 We got a better perspective of the height of it compared to everything else from Kerry Park up in the Queen Anne Hill area.

 We visited the locks hoping to see fish climbing up the ladders there, but instead saw a boat being raised and that was cool too.

 Back at the reception (You can see the purple bridesmaid dresses on the left) there were burlap and lace table runners with candy, dried flowers, and sayings the bride and groom shared about each other. That was my favorite part. Really cute.

 The gym at the church was covered in white plastic tablecloths with white lights behind them giving it the look of a canopy for a lot less expensive, I'm sure.

 We visited my old stomping grounds. Here was the house we lived in when I was in high school. Its gray now and looks pretty small, but has five bedrooms and a great big living room.

 On President's Day we were up early and out on the ferry to Southworth, heading to the Olympic peninsula.

 You can see the white capped mountains in the back. When we were up close, the clouds were so low it was hard to see them fully, but we knew they were there.

 We decided to hike to two different falls. This was Madison Falls, with a nice paved walk to get there. It was pouring hard rain by this time, so we'd see it, take a picture, then turn around and head back to the car.

 There were so many unique things to be seen. Look at the size of this giant tree, that is now hollow and growing another tree inside it.

 Of course everything was covered in moss. Creepy kind of, but cool.

 We went to the shoreline of Lake Crescent, a large freshwater lake in the middle of the forest.

 The second falls we visited was Merrymere. This was a mile plus each way, a lot steeper and only partially paved in gravel, but fascinating for us still. We saw several other people out enjoying it also, even kids groups.

 Finally, by the time we got back to the Ferry again, at 5 o'clock, it was sunny. We stopped at Vashon Island along the way, where they K2 was headquartered (it still might be - don't know). We had also seen a bald eagle earlier in the day in Port Angeles, a vivid rainbow, and waterfalls coming out of the rocks along the side of the highway. Water truly was everywhere!

 We enjoyed eating out every night. Love these cute kiddos, even though I probably shouldn't call them that as they're all taller than me.

 Arriving back in Colorado, we saw a magnificent rainbow in the sky, but not rainbow shaped. Never seen anything like it before. I like the green trees in Seattle, but I really like the sun and the interesting clouds in Colorado.