Seattle

On July 1st the 4 of us boarded a plane and flew to Seattle, WA for a much anticipated vacation. Bill's mom and stepdad Tiger had planned this trip with Tiger's brother Frank and his wife, Terry. Frank and Terry live just outside of Seattle and have recently bought a house that sits on Lake Washington. Bill told Aaron about this trip on our way home from Redding over Christmas vacation. No joke, Aaron has been asking every single week since, "When are we going to Seattle?" Bill's brother Sam and his family were there, Tiger's boys Bob and Bryan and their families were there as well. It was such a great vacation. We flew in late Thursday night and came home Tuesday afternoon. The weather, even though July was cloudy and cool... perfect. I can't wait to do it again!

The kids were soooo excited to go on a trip with Dad. The airplane made it even better. FYI: Livi's hair for the most part fell out again. Instead of being baby smooth like before, it started growing back before she had completely lost it all. But there were just a few shaggy chunks, so... Wednesday evening, I sat her on a barstool in the driveway and used the clippers down to a six. Our goal was to leave it as long as possible but to even it all out. SHE LOVED IT! She kept moving her head back and forth in front of the mirror and rubbing it. We are so blessed. If we could all have a little bit of her attitude about all this cancer junk... (sigh).

It was fabulous to have everyone together. The kids love being together but then to have Grandma and Papa T and Uncle Frank and Aunt Terry and the aunts and uncles... WOW! At times all the excitement and bodies flying around the room was a little too much for Grandma, but she relished in seeing everyone together.

Aunt Terry took us to Ivar's Seafood on the pier by Pike's Place Fish Market. It was quite the experience and we all got a crash course on how to YELL our order and how many to the cooks on the other side of the tall counter outside. We loved it. Terry made sure that Grandma made it through the experience.

Aaron, Livi, Josh, Cody

We couldn't resist buying something at Pike's Market. The kids picked out a great sized crab. Aaron ended up eating most of it. Josh had wanted one too, so Sam and Nikki bought one for him to carry as well. Little did we know that he thought he was getting a pet. When it came time to eat it you could just tell on his little face that that was not OK!

I don't know if it's because we live in the desert, but I could not get over the vibrant color of ALL THE FLOWERS! And the amount of them!!! My goodness, and so CHEAP! I love Seattle.

The honest to goodness original Starbucks.

Aaron took a little ride on the golden hog for luck, while Livi slept in the baby stroller.

Aren't we cute?! This particular market is Pike's Place Fish Market became known for their "fish throwing". Unfortunately we didn't really see the long bombs we were hoping for, but I did like how they would shove the money in a tennis ball to chuck it to the cashier.

Sam and Cody posing just in front of the Market with the bay behind them.

A stop and tour of Uncle Franks retirement "hobby", Eight Bells Winery.

What little boy could withstand the urge to jump off a dock into a lake? Who cares if the water is in the 60's. Aaron wanted to get in badly and even when we let him feel the water he said, "Oh, that's cold! Where's my swim suit?" Boys will be boys. Dad was a

great sport and jumped in first to catch him. His face when he came up out of the water was priceless. Aaron did not need any convincing. He couldn't get enough. After his first submersion he came up and was so shocked the poor kid couldn't even breathe. All he could do was grasp for Dad and

say, through tightly gritted teeth, "COLD!" Yeah, you said it. Olivia does not like to be out done. But she is much more like me... cautious, we'll call it. Bill patiently waded in the water waiting for her to jump. The more people encouraged the more scared she became. "Oh dear" was muttered many times. In the meantime, Aaron jumped in a couple more times by himself. After a good 3-5 minutes she asked, "can I do it?" To which I replied, "Girl, you conquered cancer, you can do anything." She nervously rubbed her bald little head sighed and took the plunge. (I got video of both.) We did go kayaking the next day. I missed the blooper of the century while I was inside getting into my swimsuit. From what I heard Bill was in the kayak and Aaron was getting in or vice versa... anyways, their kayak tipped and they both went under. Classic. Livi paddled around with me while Bill took Aaron. Very relaxing.

Aaron could not get enough of Uncle Bob, and his food, or Great Uncle Frank and his boat. Or perhaps, just Uncle Frank himself. Frank had a little shadow all weekend that continually asked if

they could go out on the boat or check on the boat. I don't know who had more fun with it, Aaron or Frank. No matter to Aaron if nobody else was going out on the lake, he wanted to go. Frank took us down to see Bill Gates' house and Aaron was so at peace that he fell asleep on the floorboard. It was a good 20min drive. He then went BACK when Frank took Sam to see the house. (That's how we got this picture.) At one point the boat had started acting up and so Frank docked it and would fiddle with the engine and constantly check the gas gage when out on the lake. Aaron took charge of this task very willingly. Frank even showed Aaron how to skip rocks. Little boys find heaven on Lake Washington. I told Terry that I'm going to have to send

Aaron up to stay with them for the summer when he's old enough.

Aaron's love for the boat does not discount Livi's excitement for the experience one bit. She loved helping Frank look after the engine and drive. Frank was so great. He would let Olivia sit with him and drive. Actually, really DRIVE! More than a few times I would start to worry

that
we were getting a little too close to shore and Frank would casually place his hands back on the wheel and guide her back on course. On the trip out to Gates' house Livi was literally falling asleep at the wheel. We motioned to Frank and he took over from there. Surprisingly enough it was Olivia who kept wanting to go faster on the float when it was being towed behind the boat. That too is like me. Don't try to get me to jump into the water if I'm high up or it's cold, but once I'm in I am very much in my element. Bill got in

on the action and wowed us all with his wake boarding abilities even if he did it in furry black boots with hot pink piping!

Fourth of July was done right, starting with a wonderfully patriotic breakfast. And ending with an incredible meal of fish tacos, a la Terry and fireworks out on the lawn, a la Uncle Bryan.

Most nights were spent with the four brothers reliving their childhood days. I learned a very important lesson that weekend... my husband while he may be quite and seemingly well reserved is quite the instigator. Tall tales of shooting bulls in the balls with bb guns, "Code Reds", and stringing rope across the river to clothesline boaters... oh yes, my husband's ideas! Grandma could not believe all that went on. It was great!

Left to right; Bryan, Bob, Bill and Sam

On Monday, Bob and DeAnn flew home, and Bryan and Krista and their new little on Edyth drove back home. So with the rest of us it was off to see "the narrows". It was such a great

place. The boats came in from the ocean and the gates closed. The water lowered and then they were let out to Lake Washington. The boats coming in from the lake waited while the waters raised and then they were let out to the ocean. We saw a ginormous yacht complete with hot

tub and all. Next to it was a tin fishing boat with a dad, mom, and two kids. It looked like it could sink at any moment. But, everyone was happy. Quite the dichotomy.

We ate our picnic lunch, watched the fish at the ladders and saw a magnificent coast guard ship.

We were very lucky to attend a Seattle Mariners baseball game with Frank. Nikki, bless her heart, stayed with Mom and Terry to watch the kids while Bill, Sam and I went with Frank and planted ourselves in the seats he's had for over 20 yrs! Just past 1st base 3 or 4 rows back. SafeCo field was beautiful.

Tuesday, Sam and Nikki and the boys, as well as Grandma and Papa T. left early in the morning

and our flight was later. Terry took us down to the beach to see the ferry. We took her out to lunch in a little mexican restaurant, visited their house (the lake house is going to be torn down to build their "dream" home) and then took a quick stop at the space needle.

Bill got out of the car to take our picture and then back in the car to go to the airport.

Looking back on this last day, I think Aaron was a very sad little boy. He wouldn't smile for any pictures... he did NOT want to go home. We are so grateful to everyone who made this trip so fabulous. Even all those we didn't get pictures of. (I need to be better at that.) So to Whitney, Taylor (Frank & Terry's girls), Nikki, DeAnn, Krista, go figure all us women... we love you. Thank you!