Taking Seattle by Storm

June 19

Our first trip into Seattle was so easy...we arrived before ten in the morning and we found a great parking place near the Space Needle.  We even had a discounted fee for arriving early.  We gathered all of our things so we would not return until the end of the day.  Our only plan for the day was to meet our dear friends Jane and Stuart in the afternoon.  It was a great way to explore without worry of schedules that might be delayed.

Within five minutes our walk led us to an amazing playground!  I think the children would have been happy to just remain at this wonderland the entire day!  All of the playground equipment had a musical ability.  There were wind chimes on the swings as well as around the park.  There was also a large xylophone that the children could play.  In the center of it all was a large jungle gym with different ways to move upward and slides to come down.  The boys spent most of there time on this apparatus.  Zaira found it interesting to run around a large open maze.

After almost an hour of this fun, I told them we should move on to other places.  They only left after I promised that we would return at the end of the day.  We ended up returning here with our picnic lunch as well.

We walked around the museum district but did not go inside as the admission was quite high and we knew we would want to return with Michael and the older boys.  It turned out to be a great reconnaissance adventure.  It helped that most of the museums had large glass fronts to allow us to see into the exhibits.

As we approached one museum, we saw very large metal flowers.  We passed by and I thought I had heard music.  I thought this an odd but nice feature but we continued on our path.  The music stopped once we were out of range.  Hmmmm...We wandered back by these flowers and we realized that the flowers only play when someone walked under them!  It was a lot of fun to turn the music on and off with a simple step.  Edward thought it was funny because there happened to be a protester outside one of the museums and when we had the flower play music it would drowned out the hollering protester.

After another hour of wanderings we had our lunch and played on the playground some more.

Then we chose to enter a children's museum knowing the older ones would not mind missing this place for the younger crowd.  The best part of the museum were the displays around the world and in the community.

Edward actually enjoyed playing the role of eye doctor, sales clerk, construction worker, waiter and short order cook!  Zaira was determined to have all the groceries put away for everyone in the area!  Brendan just took it slow and enjoyed the fun until it came time to making sushi!

We also enjoyed the museum's story time.  After listening to a story, the children created their own tree to put in the museum "forest" out of clay and other odds & ends.  Edward made the most original tree covered in candy canes and a tube for a trunk.

We finished at just the right time to meet our friends.  I saw them coming up the walk and it was like we had just been away from each other for a couple of days instead of several years.  We spent most of the time catching up with the lives of our children.  The children convinced our friends to return to the playground before we both went our separate ways.


Then the fun began...the nice city and easy traffic was not so easy to navigate during rush hour traffic.  It did not help that I went the wrong way on the highway and had to fight my way off the highway and back on the right direction!  What a mess!   It took me twice as long to get back to Christina and Shane...so glad they did not try to venture out with the baby.


June 22

Hey! hey the gang's all here...we picked up Sean and Henry from the airport three days later.  I was a little nervous after the trouble with traffic leaving Seattle.  However, we chose to stay the night and head to a different part of the city with the older boys.

I guess the phrase "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" is true for siblings too.  They were so excited to see each other...hard to believe what seven weeks can do...I was convinced the boys had grown a foot [We later measured and they had both grown two inches!]!

We woke up EARLY (I think we are all on Texas time still...older boys were definitely.) so we chose to skip the hotel breakfast and go to Pike Place Market.  This is a famous market that is actually in the old part of town with little shops that have been around for decades.  We loved the flowers and produce, but the children were not so impressed with the fresh fish!  We found a donut stand that showed their mini donuts being made right in front of us.  We were so early that the woman at the stand filled our little bag with almost double what we paid.  They were so hot we had to let them cool before eating them!  We continued throughout the streets seeing all the amazing fares.  Even though the donuts were great, we could not resist the wonderful aroma coming from the Russian bakery.  We each chose pastries to share as we headed back to the van.  BUT...not without one more stop...we bought a large bouquet of flowers to take back to Christina!

We then found the Klondike National Historical Site.  Normally, when you think of this era of the gold rush in Alaska, but many of the surveyors who went to strike it rich began their journey in Seattle.  This site showed the struggles and hardships of those who chose to take a chance...leaving everything behind...it also introduced the importance of those who stayed to supply the equipment needed for the journey.  It was very interesting...a great museum.  There was even a demonstration of how to pan for gold.  There was also a demonstration of how unlikely it was to actually make a good claim.  A wheel was set up with a small sliver showing those who would succeed.  We all spun the wheel but only Sean was a winner.  The park ranger told us that she spins the wheel every morning when she arrives and she has only landed on that spot once in eight years!  That would be my luck as well!


Before going back to the van, we walked to the next block over to Pioneer Park.  It was a small square with totem poles...a large chess board...and a memorial for firemen.  It might not seem like much but this is the oldest neighborhood in Seattle with restored buildings.  A nice walk before back to the van for the two hour trip back to Christina and baby.

Traffic was still hectic but I got out town quickly and we were back in time for lunch.