Washington!!

I've finally decided to conquer the beast and post about our trip to Washington. But I'm gonna have to do it in a few parts since there are SO many things to include!
Warning: this is beasty long. But it's all good stuff, don't worry :)

.:Part 1:.
SEATTLE!

Views on the drive up

This is a picture of Mt Ranier - during our 3-ish days in Seattle, we were

only able to see it a few times because it was so cloudy.

This was so cool! It was a bridge we went on, except instead of being over the water,

it was floating on top! How crazy is that?

First view of the Seattle Skyline! You can actually see my dad's old building.

It is the second tallest one with the greenish roof :) 

We were walking through all of the little waterfront shops 

when I found this sign in a sourdough bread shop.

The funny thing was, it would actually benefit our family!

We all thought it was pretty great, especially with all of the strange looks we got 

for being such a huge family.

In one of the little buildings on the wharf, we found a carousel that Reese and I

used to ride when we were little :) My parents let us ride it, so I took Ian on it with me.

It is so crazy to think that when I was his age, this was where I lived! 

I looooooove Iron Man!!!

Silly boys :)

After enjoying the wharf for while, we stopped at Ivar's for lunch.

It's a super popular restaurant there.

I thought the "keep clam" was pretty clever...get it?

I ordered white clam chowder in a bread bowl - classic right? :)

Of course we just had to feed the seagulls :)

mine...mine...mine?

I know that I am just asking to get made fun of with this one...but it is super funny :)

I have this fear of actually being bitten when an animal eats out of my hand. 

With a horse that is somewhat logical, but a seagull? yeah, I might have been a little more afraid than the situation required! 

We never had time to ride the ferries, but we enjoyed watching them come in and out.

Derek was so confused when he saw the sign - "What are the ferries? They aren't fairies?"

We had to explain to him that they were boats, not magical little creatures :)

After enjoying the waterfront, we headed over to Pike Place Market.

It was one of my favorite places, and reminded me a lot of Quincy Market in Boston.

The shops just went on and on and on and on and on....

So cool :) it was fun to watch them throw all of the fish around.

Whenever my dad would talk about Seattle or Pike Place Market, I always remember him

telling us stories of them throwing the fish. 

It was so much fun to see them do it in person! 

Super gross! But at the same time, it was kinda fascinating.

See this Salmon? A few days later it turned into this!

SO good! It was incredible to have it Seattle-fresh :)

I absolutely loved walking through the parts with all of the florists - 

if beauty had a smell, that would be it :)

Everything was so bright and colorful and happy!

This is Le Panier, a "very French bakery" at Pike Place Market.

I couldn't find the perfect souvenir, so instead I chose two Pain au Chocolats -

on two different days of course :) 

They were so near perfection, and I could practically feel the cobblestones beneath my feet again! 

OK, these just cracked me up :) I found them in a souvenir shop and just about died!

I have this thing with unicorns - LOVE them! 

But even this was a little bit of an overkill :)

still....who wouldn't loved some unicorn shaped cookies?

and isn't that shirt just 100% classy?!

(if you ever find a shirt like that, let me know because I seriously will buy it...coolest thing ever!)

Ian! He was so cute :)

We rented a giant 12 seater van (we called it Wheedle or Fat Albert), and I sat on the bench

right behind Ian's seat. I got lots of smiles and laughs the whole time!

...I also got screams too, but we try not to dwell on that part :)

This was just before his "fangs" came in - if you look super close you can barely see the tips. 

One of my favorite parts of the whole trip was when we went and saw where we used to live!

We lived in Renton and Kent from the time I was 3 months old to just over 4 years old 

Both places are super close to Seattle - think of it like Sandy and Salt Lake City.

This is the Renton Library - my mom said that we spent SO much time here :)

We would come every week for story time, then stay and play at the park, read books, and eat lunch.

Fun fact: the library actually has a river running under it! 

During salmon season we would go and watch all of the fish pass under the bridge. 

This is the river right before it passes under the library.

Right as we pulled up the library closed, so I had to take pictures through the window.

This is the children's section where we would have story time each week.

In the second picture, see the big shelves on the back wall? 

Those were Reese's favorite books - all the informational ones. 

He loved the ones abut trucks and trucks and animals :)

This is the park right by the library where we would always play.

These little ducks are one of the few things that I actually remember about Washington.

I have vague memories of Reese and I playing on them - I thought they were the best things ever!

Aaron and Derek pretending to be Reese and me :)

Our old apartment in Renton (upstairs).

See that window on the end? 

My dad threw rocks at it late one night to wake my mom up after he had been accidentally locked out while he was at a basketball game :) good thing he didn't break it! 

Our old house in Kent! So cute and little huh? :)

Temple trip!! 

The Seattle Temple was so beautiful!

Since it is so wet there everything was green and flowering.

Loved it! 

Aren't those little purple pom-pom flowers great?

They make me think of Dr Suess :)

We actually visited the temple twice - once early in the morning to do baptisms,

and again during the day with all of the little boys.

True to Seattle weather, one day it was raining and the next we lucked out with blue skies! 

one of my personal favorites

This is a neat little path that was by the side of the temple - the first time we walked on it, 

little rain drops would filter down through the trees. It felt like a rain forest!

The light came through and then just lit everything else up. 

This is my dad's old building - floor 45!

The Space Needle

I liked to call it Seattle's Eiffel Tower :)

Panoramic view from the top:

downtown Seattle

Elliot Bay -- Queen Anne Hill

Just enjoying the view...straight down!

From the top! 

who knows what Ian is looking at :)

We were at the top for maybe 15 minutes when all the sudden it started pouring!

Luckily we were able to get inside pretty quick. I was glad we got up when we did, because otherwise we would have paid all that money for a very cloudy view!

On the elevator ride up, I honestly felt like I was in the Tower of Terror in California Adventure :)

It was pretty funny, especially because all of the elevator operators kinda looked like they were dressed up to take us to the Twilight Zone!

Looking back at the Seattle Skyline.

This was such an awesome trip! Seattle is definitely one of my favorite cities :)

TO BE CONTINUED...