Dear Orcas

Thank you for coming out to play on Saturday. Visiting you in the San Juan Islands was the #1 thing on Nate’s to-see list for our summer in Seattle, and we had been looking forward to our boat trip for months. Thanks for inviting your friends to come out too: the bald eagles, sea lions, and harbor seals were fun to see (although you were definitely the highlight of our 7-hour tour around the islands). We think you’re pretty lucky to live in such a beautiful place with the sparkling blue calm water and islands poking up everywhere. Thanks again for surfacing so we could get a glimpse of all 20+ of you!!

love, us

ps – if we ever come see you again, it would be greatly appreciated if you would jump all the way out of the water rather than just surfacing. It was pretty cool when you rolled over and flapped your fins and tail though!

bald eagles: the boat went right over close to the cliff face so we could see them (if you’re having a hard time spotting the one in the tree above left and the two in the tree below left, look for the white heads)

yes, this is the best one we got of Bennett.

  

  

the sea lions

turtleback mountain…see the resemblance?

Let’s Go Fly a Kite…and Row, Row, Row your Boat

We took a little trip out to Alki Beach last Saturday in West Seattle. It actually ended up being warmer than expected. We started out by walking down the path so we could look over at these views of the city:

We walked back to the beach area and Nate and Bennett went down to walk in the water for a little while, then we pulled out the kites they had made on the 4th of July (which we hadn’t had a chance to fly yet). Bennett loved flying his, and Ryan even did a pretty good job with his (he insisted on holding it himself rather than letting me help). The weather was nicer than we thought it would be, so we enjoyed hanging out for a while before heading home for naps.

 

That evening, we took advantage of a discount card Nate got at work and took a rowboat out on Lake Union for an hour. I was nervous about Ryan attempting to dive over the edge, which he did (attempt. unsuccessfully.) but after a few minutes he mostly sat down because he realized he would fall down if he tried to walk around. It was fun to be out on the lake – we rowed over by the houses that are on the water, which are pretty interesting. Nate made fun of my (lack of) rowing skills – we both had blisters on our hands by the end – but it was fun, and Bennett thought it was great.

  

We went for a Sunday drive Sunday evening over to Snoqualmie Falls since Nate didn’t come with us the first time. It was a little disappointing because the construction going on at the top seemed a lot more apparent than last time, but it was still beautiful.

Visitors from Oregon {July 14-15}

My family made a quick trip up to visit us last weekend. My mom (dad is in France working for a few weeks), brother Jake & his family, and sister Jessica & her family all came up on Saturday afternoon. We tried to make the most of the time we had with them and spent a fun day together.

We started out by walking along the waterfront and stopping for Fish & Chips at Ivar’s.

 

The kids all had fun on the little octopus statue outside the aquarium. We made our way up to Pike’s Place, where the highlight for the kids was picking out a little fabric animal that grandma bought for them. Bennett picked a snake – I think because it was orange. He has since said that next time we go there, he wants to get a turtle instead because snakes are scary.

  

The highlight for the adults may have been getting pastries from Le Panier – the French Bakery. Yum. I may not ever be able to go back to Pike’s Place without making a stop there.

  

Stacey’s picture of our little troop of matching strollers (ignore my weird facial expression), and I finally got a picture of the wind-blown umbrella:

  

We drove over to the Seattle Center to see the Space Needle, and the kids had fun playing in the big fountain. We posed for a few family pictures before picking up some pizza and eating it on the grass at Kerry Park as the sunset. It was a great day!

Bennett stayed awake long enough to eat pizza and then said he was tired and collapsed on the blanket – a late Friday night and no nap finally caught up to him.

 

I was hoping we could get a cute family picture from Kerry Park, but Bennett was asleep so I had Stacey take one of just Nate and I.

Except for Jess & Shane, everyone took off after church on Sunday (Jess & Shane left in the late afternoon after we made a quick trip to the Ballard Locks and salmon ladder with them). It was a fun weekend – thanks for coming to visit us!!