Our trip to Seattle

Cohen "being brave" on the first flight to Seattle!

Little sister taking a turn in big brother's seat on the airplane!

Early bird!

Cohen checking out the view from our hotel of downtown Seattle on Saturday morning!

Not a bad view!

On Saturday morning, we had breakfast at the cutest little cafe in Seattle - Luna Park Cafe!

Those eyes!

 

Walking along the pier heading to the Seattle Aquarium!

Just breathtaking!

Warm and cozy in the stroller on the way to the aquarium!

Getting an Orca whale painted on his cheek!

 

LOVE this picture of our little family!

The fur seals were out of the water sunning themselves - and who could blame them?! It was kind of chilly!

Cohen's a GIANT octopus!!

A real-life Pacific giant octopus! I had never seen one so big!

Cohen doesn't quite measure up to a Sixgill shark!

Eleanor had a great time at the aquarium!

Listening to whale calls that were actually recorded just outside of Seattle!

Cohen pretending to be a sea lion scientist!

Giving his sea lion some medicine!

All tangled up in the octopus tentacles!

Scuba Cohen!

Watching the seals swimming!

 

Our view from the Ferris wheel!

Cohen and Mimmy going around the Ferris wheel!

The view from the other side of the Ferris wheel!

Lunch on the pier!

This girl loves straws! In fact, on the flight out to Seattle, she figured out how to drink some apple juice out of a straw! I was impressed! Ha!

Just one of the MANY street "performers" in downtown Seattle!

Poor things - I'm sure they hated every minute of this...

Cohen by the bronze pig statue at the entrance of Pike's Place Market!

The tulips were AMAZING and so cheap! If I could have figured out how to bring back some fresh tulips, I would have! I could have spent all day just looking at all the different varieties of tulips they had at the market.

Playing (when they should have been napping)!

This one finally conked out!

The next morning! Sleepy eyes, but dressed and ready to go!

Our view from the top of the Space Needle!

Daddy holding Cohen up so I could get a picture of him under the Space Needle!

 

This picture cracks me up! It looks like that salmon is going to eat Eleanor up, and she is obviously not amused!

Inside an Orca whale at the Seattle Children's Museum!

Cohen and his daddy leaving their mark on the wall of the SCM!

 

Climbing the wall!

Exploring the giant tree they have inside the SCM!

Sad baby!! She didn't want to sit in that chair for one second! "Pick me up now or I'll scream!"

Firemen!

Sharing some popcorn outside of the museum beside the coolest fountain! It was freezing cold, but Cohen was so fascinated by this fountain. He spent a long time running around and climbing up and down the hills of this fountain! Thank goodness he never got sprayed!

We actually got to see Mount Rainier before we left! This is the peak high above the clouds!

Mount Rainier from inside our airplane! Goodbye, Seattle!

Will went to Seattle for the Specialty Coffee Association of America's annual conference. He spent several days there learning all sorts of neat things about coffee (and chocolate, yum!), and then we went out to meet him on Friday to spend a long weekend with him! We had a lovely time, and although we were under the impression that it rains all the time in Seattle, it didn't really rain on us one time the entire time we were there! We had a lovely time visiting and seeing lots of the sights and sounds of Seattle. I would definitely want to go again and spend a day or two more - I wish we could have gone to the zoo and perhaps done a whale-watching tour - but now we have reason to go back!

I learned a lot about myself and both of my children during this trip. Well, actually my husband, too.
1. I am NOT a good traveler. I hate to fly. It makes me nervous and nauseous and that's not a good combination.
2. I am also NOT good at handling plans going awry. If it wouldn't completely drive Will bonkers, I'd make an itinerary for every trip we ever went on. That way we'd know what to do, where to do it, and what time it was happening - for EVERYTHING!
3. Cohen and Eleanor are surprisingly good travelers. They must get that from their daddy. Eleanor is much better at "going with the flow" than Cohen is, though. But, when she's tired, she doesn't waste any time letting you know it.
4. Will is a patient man. I will not go into detail, I'll just leave it as it is. The patience of Job, that man.
5. Sometimes I'm a little hard to deal with. I promised Will I'd work on that! ;)

All of that being said, I can't wait for our next family vacation! I'm so grateful that Will works so hard to allow us to do these kinds of things with (and for) our children! I hope one day they'll look back on trips like this and remember all the great times we had!