Seattle Pics

So I got really behind on updating about my AWESOME trip to Seattle. :) If you want great details see my sister's blog here. For my pictures, sit back and watch all 488 of them (not sure how to minimize the photos in the slideshow...will work on that)!


Day 1: We arrived and hung out at the house and ate some awesome grilled Salmon that Jeremy made. That is saying alot from me because I do not like seafood, especially Salmon. This was also the day that we played ball with the boys out in the backyard. So much fun! The blurry picture had to be added because it was when Jonas and I hit the ball right at Brandy while she was taking a picture. Very funny!
Day 2: We got up and went to Bremerton and took the ferry over to Seattle. It was a lot of fun to see the skyline from there (this is why we opted out of the Space Needle's view) and fun for Josh to ride his first ferry! :) What a big boy! Then we we loaded up (the boys carried the boys) and walked around the Elliot Bay area and then headed towards Pike's Market. We watched the fish throwing and yelling and clapping and everything and thought it was great! I am not sure why, but I thought it was captivating. After the fish market, we cruised down and got some GORGEOUS fresh flower arrangement and then the best thing in the world, dried strawberries. If you have not had them, you are truly missing out. I am obsessed! We even went back and got more later (see Day 6)! After walking around for quite some time, Ronan so kindly informed us that he was ready to be taken out of his carrier (Josh was not opposed either). I took the liberty of comforting my adorable nephew and he promptly fell asleep! We then drove down to the Space Needle where we boarded the "Ride the Ducks" Seattle tour. It was awesome! No kidding! It was really interesting and our driver was really fun. Jonas was ready for nap time so he was very calm the whole trip (and played with our ears in true tired Jonas nature). Ronan was pumped! He loved it and told everyone on the trip how much fun he was having! After the tour we grabbed some yummy grub at a nice seaside restaurant and then gave ourselves a self-guided tour of some private docks to catch a glimpse of the Wizard. The Wizard, for all of you who don't watch The Deadliest Catch, is a kick-butt crab fishing boat that is featured on the show. We looked for others, but were unsucessful (that was definitely a high light of the entire trip...loads of fun breaking the law!).

Day 3: We got up today and took our precious time getting ready. We then went up to Ft. Lewis to see Jeremy at work. We got to use the simulator training to practice shooting military guns (AWESOME!!!!) and I fell in love with a gun nicknamed "The Pig". It was this huge gun that rattled my brain when I shot it. Super neat! We even got to all shoot together to fend off some bad guys. I was terrible at shooting anything that moved. :) I guess its safe to say that I will not be out hunting soon! We then got to practice flying helicopters! I got a little sick sitting in the back while Josh and Brandy flew, but I survived and ended up having the most fun flight out of all of them (I got to crash us into the air traffic tower)! We then grabbed some lunch at their local pub and did a little grocery shopping. We were so tired that we voted to eat out that night instead of cook. We ended up meeting up with Jeremy's cousins at their pizza place in town. They were super nice people and I'm glad Jeremy and Brandy and the boys have family so close!

Day 4: Today was a LONG day full of HARD work! Okay, so I probably worked the least out of all four of us adults, but man I am out of shape! We drove up to Mt. Rainier today and spent the whole day hiking from Paradise Lodge up to over 6100 feet. Josh carried 27 pound Ronan on his back and Jeremy carried 37 pound Jonas on his back and Brandy carried all of their food, water, and diapers. I carried Josh and I's food and water... :) I'm a dud! It was beautiful up there. I think I took about 200 pictures of just scenery. I also took a few pics of Brandy's see through shorts after sliding in the snow with Jonas. HIL-A-RI-OUS! I nearly fell off the seat I was sitting on laughing so hard. Great memory! We got back and ate up some yummy shish-kabobs while resting our tired little feet!

Day 5: Josh and I got up early this morning and drove 2 hours up to Pt. Townsend where we caught a whale watching tour. The trip was fun...sort of. I was nervous about the size of the vessel so I decided to try out some dramamine. I have never taken it before and will never take it again! I am not sure why, but it made me feel very drunk. My head was flopping around and my speech was slurred. Josh found it absolutely entertaining, which was good since we rode on the boat for 1 1/2 hours before we saw any whales. We did however, see some whales. It was freezing cold when the boat was moving, but only sort of chilly when it was stopped. Apparently its the law to stay at least 100 yards away from the whales and if they come towards the boat, we have to get out of the way. So that sort of sucks. So all of our pictures are way zoomed in and we are bundled up! We got home pretty late and ran to the grocery store and grabbed some Dungeness crabs to bring home and steam. I am not a seafood fan, as previously stated, but dunked in butter, this crab was delicious! I was shocked! That night we had a new adventure in the backyard! We got the pool out and slid up the slide to the pool and watched little Jonas go up and down and up and down! It was so cute! See the video at Brandy's blog!

Day 6: Today we got up early and drove into Seattle. Josh and I jumped out at Mary's house! Mary is a very dear friend of ours that moved from KC to Seattle last September to pursue her career as a traveling physical therapist. Mary took us on a walking tour of downtown Seattle and took us back to Pike's Market where we reloaded on dried strawberries! We then met up with Jeremy and Brandy and the boys back at REI. REI is an awesome outdoor sporting goods store. It's not team sports, but more like kayaking, climbing, running, biking, camping type things. It was very cool. Amazingly enough, Josh became a member while we were there. Who is surprised? That night we met up with Mary's main squeeze and hit up a Mariners game. It was a beautiful field and we had great seats! It was a great ending to our trip!

Day 7: I don't want to talk about it. I hate leaving from vacation. It really makes me mad! However, we did get to pick up our girls from Camp Bow Wow. You may be asking what that is (that is, if you are still reading my really long blog)... well visit www.campbowwow.com/olathe. It is an awesome kennel/day camp for dogs. We can actually check on them during the day online through a video camera. It was very cool!

Okay Kendell...what do you think? :)