We had a fantastic family vacation the last two weeks. We drove up to Seattle and visited with Kevin’s grandparents and then met the rest of his family at a beautiful home right along the Puget Sound. It was a lot of driving, a LOT of driving, but we had a great time. I’ll try to give you a few of the highlights of our trip with a little picture travel log.
We got a later start than we hoped, so we only made it to Burley, Idaho before needing to stop for lunch the first day. We found a great little park right along the river. The boys had fun playing and enjoyed the floating docks.
Then on we went. That night we stayed in Pendleton, Oregon. Ricky thought it was great that the town had our same name, so we got this picture of him:
We checked into our room and then drove around town before getting something to eat. While we were driving, Ricky kept talking about finding a fairy tale and we had no idea what he was talking about. Finally, we figured it out — when we said we were going to stay in a hotel, he heard the only thing that made sense to him that sounds like that, a fairy tale. The boys had their own little, tiny suitcases with a few toys in them that I made them wheel in and out of the hotels where we stayed. As we were leaving Pendleton, people just thought they were the cutest thing ever! And, well, they were!
Saturday we moved on towards Kevin’s grandparents’ home. We stopped to see Snoqualmie Falls on our way. It was a beautiful waterfall and there were a lot of people there. We did a 1/2 mile hike down to the base of the falls (or as close as we could get to the base) and Ricky did the hike the whole way down and up without complaining or asking to stop. I was very impressed by that–it was steep!
We finally made it to Kevin’s grandparents’ home and they were very gracious hosts. I haven’t had the opportunity to spend much time with them and I loved hearing their stories (I could repeat most of them back to you–since I heard them more than once). Kevin’s parents also arrived in town that night, so to help Ricky differentiate between his grandparents, we taught him to call his great-grandpa, Grandpa Dick, and great-grandma, Grandma Evelyn. Ricky adored his Grandpa Dick. At one point, Grandpa Dick tied his feet together and Grandpa Brent told him to tell his other grandpa to repent, so Ricky did. It was even more funny a while later when Grandpa Dick tied Max up and Ricky spontaneously said, “Grandpa Dick, repent!” Billy, on the other hand, didn’t NOT like Grandpa Dick, but he wasn’t about to get too close. He would walk just out of Grandpa’s reach. The look they are giving each other in this picture pretty much sums up the time they spent together.
Sunday was a slower day of church and visiting with Kevin’s Uncle Rob and his family. Kevin’s brother, and his sister and their families were also in town that evening and joined us for dinner.
Monday we spent a few hours in downtown Seattle. Ricky loved riding the monorail and a few carnival rides at the base of the Space Needle. We walked around Pike Place Market and just had a nice time. Kevin’s brother David, his wife Amber, and their son Jackson spent the day with us. We started off our site seeing by visiting the troll under the bridge. Ricky knows about the Billy Goats Gruff and their Troll, so he wasn’t so sure when we first walked up to this big statue under the George Washington Bridge, but soon it was all he could talk about.
Here is Ricky on the monorail.
Here are the boys on the rides. We tried to get Jackson to ride with them, but he wasn’t interested. Billy’s favorites were the ones with steering wheels. He would get a really intense look on his face and just start turning that wheel back and forth with all of his might. I think these are the first rides Billy’s ever gone on.
Monday night all of Kevin’s family was in town and everyone went to the Mariners game. Well, almost everyone. I took Billy home with Grandpa Dick and Grandma Evelyn and watched the game on TV while Billy slept in his bed (he slept 14 straight hours–think he was tired?). I didn’t mind, especially since the game seemed kind of duddy–I think there were only 6 hits all game and the Mariners lost. That aside, Kevin and Ricky had a great time at the game!
Kevin took this picture of the skyline at sunset from the game. I thought it was pretty.
So that is part one of our trip. I know you are anxiously awaiting the next installment, but you’ll just have to wait!