Seattle- Part 1

July 3rd, 2011-

We made it to Seattle (with a minute to spare)!  We went to Sean and Emily's lovely house up on the hill and got to meet sweet little Eloise Beatrice.  She is as beautiful as her name.  We visited with Sean and Emily, and Emily's mother for a while and enjoyed some lunch (fresh from their garden!).  The kids took a little nap and then we went down to the waterfront in Leschi to see the boats and have a bit of coffee and muffins.  Then we headed over to our apartment to check in.  We met Anna, our "landlord" and were thrilled with the place- a master bedroom, kitchen and living room with futons for the kids.  She even seemed pleased to have little ones staying in her place- phew!

After checking in, we went back to the German's house and put the kids down to bed so we could spend the evening together.

July 4th, 2011-

This morning came EARLY, thanks to a 2 hour time change.  We snuggled in bed for as long as we could before heading out to Pike Place Market.  Thank goodness that drinking coffee is a big part of visiting Seattle!  We arrived at Pike Place before most stalls were open, but the old fashioned donut maker (think Homer Price) was already up and running, so our breakfast consisted of fabulous, freshly made donuts.  We followed this by a walk along the waterfront and piers, and our childrens' first glimpses of mountains, across the sound.


After a quick stop at the local food coop for some staples and lunch, we took a little tour of Volunteer Park and the resevoir there.  The trees are just so grand and tall here.

Later in the afternoon, we joined Sean, Emily and Eloise at the Volunteer Park Wading Pool.  It was a BIG hit with Matias and Violet, who poured cup after cup of water on themselves, each other and our feet.  Even Eloise seemed to enjoy the outing.

We came home to a dinner of delicious burritos and put the kids down in the basement so that we could visit and play a game of Settlers of Catan.  Though we didn't officially go to the fireworks, we enjoyed ample fireworks in the neighborhood well into the night!

July 5th, 2011-

Morning came a bit later this morning- closer to 5:30am than yesterday's 4.  We got up and hopped the bus to downtown (okay, we are traveling with children- there were about 15 intermediary steps in there, but that is the gist of our morning).  We had heard rumors that the Lions Club, who is holding their International Convention here this week, was going to have an International Parade along 5th Avenue, but we had no clue what an event it would be!  We enjoyed some donuts and, yes, more coffee at Top Pot Donuts before finding a place along the parade route, underneath the monorail tracks.  The parade was led by the Ohio State School for the Blind marching band...yes, a BLIND marching band....impressive in so many ways!  Then came wave after wave of international Lions Club delegates from all over the globe.  Who knew this was such a huge organization?  The kids were quite a hit and collected quite a bit of swag- flags, fans and pins galore from all over the globe.  The Asian delegates seemed especially taken with them, and I believe that Matias and Violet will be showing up as "cute American children" in hundreds of people's pictures around the world!

After about an hour, we began to walk towards the beginning of the parade route, towards the Space Needle, and never ran out of parade!  We decided that rather than pay just to visit the observation deck, we would pay a bit more to enjoy lunch in their rotating restaurant.  It was a great choice- the view was wonderful, as was the food.  Matt had a vegetable gateau and I had Dungeness crab macaroni and cheese.  The kids shared some chicken strips and fries.  The view of the city, the sound, the mountains...and the continuing Lion's Club parade were impressive.  After an hour or so, we came down from the top to see the very end of the 3.5 hour long parade.  We made out way back to our apartment for naptime.

In the afternoon, we met Sean, Emily and the baby at the Chittendon Locks.  Emily and I sat in the shade while she fed Eloise, and the kids went with Matt and Sean to explore the locks and the fish ladder.  The salmon were returning to their breeding grounds, and you can see them jumping up the little water falls, heading upstream.  Matias and Violet were quite taken by the viewing windows.  We also got to see a train bridge go up and down, and a few very short freight trains go by.  Matt and Sean walked to a local restaurant and brought back fish n' chips and clam chowder for dinner and we all enjoyed that in the shade.  Then we all headed home for early bedtimes after a very full day!

photo by Matias