Seattle: Wrapping Up

(Note: we’ve been without internet for our first 10 days here in Luxembourg. Since I can’t do anything online, I decided to get our blog all updated. Lots of new blog posts below if you scroll down!)

The first two weeks of November were pretty crazy as we tried to take care of everything before we moved. My mom came up for a few days and was a great help in getting organized, taking multiple loads of garage sale leftovers to Goodwill, playing with the kids, and packing. I just looked through and I didn’t take a single picture with her!! I can’t believe I didn’t take any.

The day after she left was Bennett’s last day of US Kindergarten. He would have had a couple more days, but the following Monday and Tuesday were the school’s Veteran’s Day holiday. He had a great experience even though it was only a month and a half. I wasn’t able to get a picture with his teacher, but did take a couple in front of the school.

Bennett’s “All About Me” poster from his last week at school. Favorite animal: lion and giraffe. Favorite color: Gold. Favorite Food: pizza and spqide (spaghetti). My friend’s house is my favorite place. When I grow up, I want to be an artist. My favorite thing to do is play soccer and draw. If I had one wish, I would wish for 6 gramos (grandmas).

The first weekend in November, my brother & sister-in-law were in town for a recruiting trip, so we got to hang out with Jake and Stacey and baby Annie for a short time before they headed back to Utah. Camille & Avery came with us, and we all walked through Pike Place (where Nate snuck back for some Daily Dozen Doughnuts – yum!), past the gum wall (Nate was the only one who hadn’t been there) and down to the waterfront. It was a warm-ish evening, and we saw a beautiful sunset as we came over the hill at the top of Pike Market.

After the craziness of packing, movers coming, cleaning, etc. we were going to try to go down to visit my parents for a couple of days before flying out, but decided at the last minute that it just wouldn’t work out very well. We still hadn’t sold our van and had a lot of other details to take care of, so we invaded Camille & Bryce’s couch for a couple more days. We tried to take advantage of being there and in between phone calls, errands, and van test drives made it on a ferry ride and on the Seattle ferris wheel, which Bennett and Ryan had been begging to go on for at least a year (‘when it’s my birthday, can I save all my monies and go on the ferris wheel?’). They were so excited to finally go!

 

By the time we left, I think Camille & Bryce were so glad to have us not staying with them anymore that they weren’t sad we were moving away from them :) A few random pics from our last few days. Avery started to really like Eliza. She would start smiling and say “Iza” over and over when she saw Eliza. They were mostly cute together, but had their moments of fighting over the same toys.

Eliza filling the pumpkin bucket with her brothers’ Halloween candy; “helping” pack

 

Eliza & Avery sharing a snack; Ryan getting ready for the day; Eliza’s fight with her oatmeal

 

A rare moment of quiet at Camille & Bryce’s while the boys learned about snakes; all packed up and ready to go!