Seattle: Thursday thru Sunday

Thursday morning, we woke up, got ready, and packed the car to head back to Ryan's parents' house. We decided instead of driving down through Tacoma, we would take the ferry and spend part of the day in Seattle, since we missed doing that on Tuesday. Our ferry was scheduled to leave at 11:30--and we left the house a little after 11. I was SO nervous that we weren't going to make it! But, at 11:25, we paid our ferry toll and got in line. We only sat for about 5 minutes before it was our turn to drive onto the ferry. Although we were further back in line, we ended up being parked RIGHT at the front of the boat. We didn't stay in the car, though--we went up to the deck to take in the sights of the Sound as we traveled from Bremerton to Seattle. While we were outside on the deck, a few people started feeding the seagulls Cheezits. It was fun to watch the birds try to keep up with the boat. We were moving fast enough that at times it seemed the birds were just hanging in mid-air. After a while, (not looking forward to sunburned babies), we went inside and found a place to sit while we ate lunch and looked out the window. When we docked in Seattle, the traffic director waved us off the boat first--which was nice because we didn't get stuck behind people trying to get out.

Once in Seattle, we meandered over to Pike's Place Market. I really enjoy going there! We explored many levels--although most of them didn't interest us very much. We did find a gourmet olive oil and vinegar store and I bought a small bottle of each. (www.sottovoce.com, if you're interested. I got Olio Pomodoro and Aceto Balsamico.) The have an AMAZING cheesecake store there called The Confectional. They sell single serving cheesecakes, cheesecake truffles, and gourmet chocolate there. Ryan and I HAD to stop by and pick a few up! I got a coconut cherry and Ryan got a peanut butter chocolate. We also got a triple berry and a New York style to share with his parents. They were all SO good! I think The Confectional will probably become a regular stopping place on future visits to Seattle!

After we finished at Pike's, we decided to head back to Auburn so our girls would be able to spend some time with their Nana and Papa. We started following the signs toward the freeway, but after seeing a couple, they disappeared and we kept missing on-ramps! It happened that same way about 3 times before we finally drove past the Boeing plant and located a REAL on-ramp. That night, we just hung out with Ryan's parents.

Friday morning, we got up and got ready to take the kids to the Point Defiance Zoo. We thought about going into Seattle to the Aquarium or to the Woodland Park Zoo, but decided that Tacoma was closer and Kallie would tire of the experience long before we got our money's worth at either of the other places. We had a great time at the zoo! Kallie LOVED watching the fish in the aquariums there. She also begged to see the penguins--and then when we got to the penguin exhibit, she acted somewhat uninterested in them. Oh well! Such is the fickle nature of a 2-year old girl! She did, however, love watching the walruses, as did Ryan and I. One of them was almost swimming laps across their large pool. She would swim toward the front of the exhibit climb partially on the rock, blow out a big breath of air, and then hold her breath as she dove backward into the water and swam to the other side of the pool. It was really funny watching her! (For some reason, it reminded me of "Bobs on the Tide"--a joke from my mission about the Russian babushka's swimming in the ocean.) We also got to see a couple of Beluga Whales swimming in circles aroung their tank. At this point, both of the girls had seen enough and were ready to go home and take a nap.

After we all napped, we ate dinner and watched a movie called, "Breach". It was about the catching of Robert Hanssen, one of the most successful, and therefore, most devastating, double agents in American history. He provided Russians with extremely top secret U.S. information and was finally arrested in 2001. I thought it was going to be one of those boring car-chase, blow-everything-up guy movies...but it was nothing like I had imagined, and I REALLY liked it! It probably helped that I was reading "A Train to Potevka" at the time, which is about an American from Utah who was a spy in Russia. (I also definitely recommend this book!)

Saturday morning, we packed the car and left for home. This time, instead of stopping in Le Grande, we stopped in Boise--which was about a 10 hour drive. On the way there, we stopped at a park in Yakima and let Kallie run around and play for a while. We didn't end up stopping as much as we thought we would with 2 small kids in the car, which was an unexpected bonus. We had promised Kallie that she could go swimming as soon as we got to the motel that night. A little while after we arrived, Ryan and Kallie got their swim clothes on and headed down to the pool. As luck would have it, someone had barfed in the pool earlier in the day, so the pool was closed for the entire time we were there. Since we had promised Kallie that she could swim, and she was dressed in her swim suit...so we filled up the bathtub and let her play in the water for a bit. Amazingly, she didn't seem disappointed that her pool was more shallow and a bit smaller than the last time she'd been swimming!

The next morning, we were planning to go to church before we left town. We didn't set an alarm clock, though, because our girls usually wake up at 6:30 a.m. Well, of all days to sleep in, they both chose Sunday! Whitney woke up at 7:30 and Kallie didn't get up until 8! It was a complete shock for us. Needless to say, we didn't make it to the 9 a.m. meeting that day. Instead, we hopped back into the car and drove home. The trip from Boise to Provo seemed SO short! Maybe it was, in comparison to the day before. And, it totally helped that the girls were WONDERFUL that day and slept a lot of the way home.

I have to say, I really wasn't ready to come home. Sometimes, when you go on vacation, you're so ready to go home and get back to the normal routine that you're chomping at the bit to get out of there. But, this time wasn't one of those times for me. I could really have stayed another week in Seattle. I guess the fact that I was coming home to a few unpacked boxes, no ward calling yet, and still settling into a social group here made Provo much less enticing than Seattle. I do have to say that I know both Ryan and I wished we had been able to stay longer so that we could have visited more family members, instead of just seeing them in passing. We can't wait to go back in December and see everyone again!