The Beans moved out near Seattle this past January and we thought it sounded like a great place to visit! We went to visit them for a whole week before school started back up.
We got to spend lots of time with our sweet niece Piper. She can now stand up but prefers to do a bear crawl to get around. She is a very happy and easy going baby. She also loves music!
Our first day on our trip we headed out to the Northwest Trek which is a zoo with local wildlife animals. Gabi and Finley decided they wanted to try out the ropes course. I was worried because Finley has a bit of a fear of heights, but having Gabi there with him made him more adventurous! We did a beginners course and they both did great!
When it was Finley's turn to do the zip line he started to get a little nervous and seemed unsure about going. The helper told him to lift his feet up and she pushed him and off he went! It's probably a good thing she didn't give him more time to think about it!
After the zip line we explored the rest of the zoo!
One interesting thing we found is that a lot of places out there sell water in cartons instead of bottles. I guess it is better for the environment and easier to recycle.
We took a little tram ride that was like a safari only with prairie animals.
The Caribou were my favorites.
We also saw bison too.
Finley was getting very tired by this point in the day and started to nod off on the ride. Poor little guy!
The Beans have a very large cat named Maple. She just loves making herself at home on your lap!
Our second full day visiting we headed to downtown Seattle.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous there! Dry and the high was in the low 70s the whole week. It felt amazing!
We visited the famous fish market and watched the workers toss fish around.
The kids were most interested in going to a joke shop to buy things to prank the parents! They were pranking us left and right all week long.
What are we going to do with these two?
After the checking out the fish market and eating some amazing homemade yogurt at Ellenos, we headed over to Century Link Field to watch a Seattle Sounder's MLS soccer game.
Piper decided to throw up on her clothes so that she could get her very own Seattle Sounders swag to wear! Doesn't she look pleased with herself?
The Sounders ended up winning 1-0 off of a goal from Clint Dempsey! It was such a fun environment to watch the game in. The fans are really into soccer and everyone was in Sounder gear. We felt slightly left out!
After the game we headed over to check out the Space Needle. We let the kids get some energy out on the playground behind the Pop museum instead of going up inside it.
One night after Finley went to bed Gabi decided to do my hair.
Here was the end result! Oh la la! Ready for a night on the town for sure!
The Beans live very close to the sound.
The beaches are very rocky and filled with pebbles, but the water is crystal clear.
It looks like a lake but is salt water from the ocean. They often see dolphins that come into the sound and occasionally a whale!
Uncle Greg waded out into the water to collect some cool muscle shells for the kids. The kids thought for sure they were sand dollars. Not so much!
One night while we were there we headed over to visit our friends the Sherwoods in Maple Valley.
Right behind their house there are some huge blackberry bushes. They grow wild out there and are everywhere! I have never really liked blackberries until trying ripe ones right off of the bush. They were amazing!
The Sherwoods cooked us an amazing Salmon dinner and of course we had blackberry cobbler for dessert! It was great to get to see them one more time this summer and see where they live.
Finley loved reading to his little cousin Piper!
Another fun trip we made was over to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.
The aquarium was the real reason we went there.
They have great touch and feel tanks and even a shark tank you can go inside!
Part of Finley's belated birthday gift from the Beans was going into the shark tank with cousin Gabi.
I was really nervous about how they would do.
Finley did pretty good, but poor Gabi stayed up near the top of the shark cage the whole time and didn't stay underwater much. I think they were a little young for the experience, but they still had fun!
I think it was hard for them to use the breathing apartuses.
What a neat present though!
Thank you Beans!
The rest of the zoo was also really fun.
These two cousins certainly have a lot of fun together!
Sweet little Piper loved getting to nap on Uncle David.
Gabi insisted on picking and making homemade blackberry jam. Again, I could not get over how amazing the blackberries were out there! And plentiful! So of course I volunteered to help!
Our last day visiting we went to a fun water park and then we celebrated my birthday by eating at my favorite restaurant in the world Cafe Rio! We don't have any in NC so I was so excited to gorge myself on a sweet pork salad! Yum!
All week long David and I had been trying to get a good picture of Mount Ranier and failed. Luckily we flew right past it on our way home. Check out these great shots from the plane! We had such a fun and packed week out in Seattle. We ate well, had great weather, and of course enjoyed visiting family. Thank you for an amazing time Beans!
