Flight #5

Checking out what goods Allie has

Pulling the 38 year old telephone by his teeth;-)

Kayden's 5th flight was to Seattle, WA. We left on August 30th to Seatac for a week long vacation to show Kayden Seattle and have him meet some of my family he hadn't yet. Kyle and I love Seattle, we went there 3 times to visit after we started dating, lived there for over a year and love going back to visit. This was our first time to return since we moved to AZ and it was hard to imagine that we left. When we were moving from WA to AZ I told Kyle we shouldn't and was sad that we did but it was a great career opportunity for him so we decided to call AZ home for awhile. Going back to Seattle made us wonder all over again why we left. We love it there, we love the bay, the culture, the urban life, the green landscape, the ferries, the smell of coffee on a cloudy day, basically we just love it;-)

-We arrived in Seatac on Saturday around 11am and were suprised to find a huge wait at the rental car location, I guess everyone wanted to escape to the NW for the long weekend. After getting our car we went to Auntie Irene's house and headed to Metropolitan Market to grab some lunch. I love MM, it is kind of like a Whole Foods but w/ more character and I grew up going there w/ Auntie so it is a favorite for me. We also met up with Helena and Allie at MM and it was exciting to meet my cousin Troy's new baby and her mommy. That night we went to dinner at Sakura's, a local hon machi resteraunt and the babies loved watching the cook make our food in front of us and the big fire glowing.

I LOVE fire hydrants!

Adventures at the bay...so this is what 3 kiddos feels like;-)
-Sunday we started the day with Starbucks (you can't visit WA and not hit up Starbucks everyday, they might send you back to where you came from;-) and then helped Irene get ready for the bbq we were having that night at Troy and Helena's (okay mostly we played in the backyard with Kayden and Allie but I did help a little:-). Then Kyle, Katelynn and I took the babies to the waterfront and Allie decided she loved the Ergo and napped in it and Kayden enjoyed seeing the boats coming in and out, the waterplanes flying over the water, the train driving by and seeing the fire hydrants-to his surprise they were silver instead of yellow but he recognized them quickly and was so happy to see them! That night we bbq'd at Troy's and Kayden loved exploring the new backyard.

Allie & Kayden at Point Defiance Zoo
-Monday-Kayden's 2nd labor day! We went to the Point Defiance Zoo for the day. This is the zoo my grandpa always took my cousins and I to when we'd go to WA to visit so it was fun taking my own baby there and seeing all the new changes at the zoo. It made me a little sad that my grandpa wasn't there to watch Kayden discover his zoo but I was glad I took him there, it brought back lots of memories. Kayden liked most of the animals, but the walrus scared him to tears! I was amazed at how smart a walrus is, he followed the trainers commands, such as shaking his head yes and no, blowing his nose when they told him to, going in and out of the water when told to, all things I had no idea a walrus could learn. But I think the shear mass of the walrus was too much for Kayden and Allie too, they both wanted nothing to do w/ them. That night we had pizza at Troy's and watched a movie in his "theatre room". Now daddy thinks he needs one of those....thanks cousin Troy!

Kayden spotting an airplane in the sky.
-Tuesday we headed to downtown Seattle for the day. We went down to the waterfront and walked along, ate fish and chips and visited Pike's Place Market. Kayden loved all the bright colors in the market and people watching all around him. Onward to Westlake Center to shop a bit and then down the Harbor View steps. After we had our fill of downtown we headed out to snoqualimie falls while Kayden slept. He awoke to us in the mountains and loved watching the waterfall, running through the grass and riding in his Ergo as we hiked to the bottom of the falls. Mill Creek was our final stop of the day, this is where daddy and I lived while we were in WA. It is about 15 minutes north of downtown and has a cute little downtown of it's own that we loved walking through. We took him to the park we would always walk Fifi at and then to Mill Creek's new downtown (crazy that this historical area has a town with a "new downtown").

Owen Beach....he wanted to JUMP in the COLD water! Mommy had to stop him!
-Wednesday we decided we would stay by Aunties house, Kayden was a little sick of the car so we thought we'd have a day for him. We went for a morning walk along the waterfront and had a picnic at Owen beach. Kayden loved all the doggies there and throwing rocks in the bay. He was too interested in the surroundings to sit on our blanket on the beach to eat so daddy and I took turns eating while the other walked with our curious little boy. After lunch and play at the beach we went over the Narrows Bridge to Gig Harbor and had ice cream and went to Gig Harbor's cute little downtown. Some guys about daddy's age were docking their boat and loved Kayden and kept telling him he "had good genes and was the cutest little stud they had ever seen", just what I need, a little boy with a big head;-) That night we had dinner at Auntie's house with the family.

Watching the islands pass by on his ferry ride, heading back to mainland from Orcas Island.

The sunset we got to see b/c we missed the earlier ferry.
-Thursday was another adventure day, we woke up early and headed north to Anacortes. In Anacortes we got on the ferry to Orca's Island, one of the San Juan Islands. Kayden loved the ferry ride and watching all the boats drive by and the planes flying. We spent the day on Orca's island eating on the waterfront, going up to the top of Mt. Constitituion to the observation tower, hiking on Mt. Obstruction and then returned that night on the evening ferry. We had tried getting on the 4:20 ferry but missed it.....saw it driving off, we were a little bummed but took the opportunity to spend more time on the island and it let us ride home with a gorgeous sunset on the water so we couldn't complain! Kayden LOVED the ferry ride home, he was running all over, pointing to everything he saw and the people on the ferry couldn't get enough of him.

Touching a starfish at the Seattle Aquarium
-Friday Auntie Irene took the day off of work to spend with us so we stole Allie from her mommy and went to the Seattle Aquarium, both of the babies loved watching the fish in the tanks and Kayden even got to touch a starfish. We spent alot of time at the aquarium looking at all the marine life and then walked along the waterfront and had lunch by the bay. It is so nice eating by the baby, it keeps the babies entertained with the boats coming in and out and the seagulls and planes, like a little tv for them! Friday night was our last night in WA so the family all came over for Auntie's famous carrot cake and drinks and then Auntie watched Allie and Kayden while Troy, Helena and daddy and I went out for a drink at Katie Down's on the water. The 3 of them had to head out before me b/c for some reason whenver I have plans to go out Kayden can sense it and takes a long time to put down. Luckily after I got him down Uncle John wanted to keep visiting b/c Kayden woke up while I was in my car chatting w/ UJ and he freaked when Irene got him out of the packnplay. So I had to go in and settle my hysterical baby and then took off down to meet up with the 3 of them. Thankfully Kayden slept while we were gone because I think Auntie would have had to call me to come home had he woken up.
-Saturday was our travel day, we hung out around Auntie's played in the backyard with Kayden, went to Starbucks and the Procter district farmer's market and then out to lunch with Auntie, Helena and Allie and then were on our way. Kayden was a champ and slept the whole flight home!!

It was a great trip, Kayden loved Washington, he loved the cool air and all the green. Every morning he woke up and brought daddy his shoes to let him know he wanted to go outside and then went and waited at the backdoor for him to take him out. He was a huge mama's boy on the trip, didn't let anyone really hold him but daddy or I, I'm sure this will change as he gets older and he'll want everyone but us, so for now we soak it all in. He found a new love for airplanes while on the trip so we get to add that to his fire hydrant and bus facination, such a little boy we have! When we returned from our trip he was SO excited to see Fifi and all his toys and I could tell he was glad to be home.