Our Southwest Visa allowed us the wonderful opportunity to fly the entire family to Seattle for under $400 total! Visiting Grandma and Grandpa Dunlap (aka "Red Grandma" and "Lego Grandpa") was definitely the highlight of our summer! Seb and I last visited Seattle two years ago for a friend's wedding (Ray + Tara). And before that, one-year-old Hudson went with us for Josh and Sethrina's wedding. We were especially excited to have all three kids get to see where Sebastian grew up, sleep in his old bedroom, and spend quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. Sebastian planned the entire trip, and boy did he jam pack it with fun activities:
Tuesday, 7/26
- We're Off! My good friend, Pam Tracey (who has SIX kids!) dropped us off at the airport in her monstrous 15-passenger van! What a wonderful friend to do that at 5am! We started our vacation off right with Keva juices before getting on the plane.
- Happy Flying Seb sat with the boys in one row, and I sat with Hannah in the row behind. One of Hannah's "fans" from school was in the same row as us. Hudson did exactly what he loves to do the whole plane ride: play Heroes of Might and Magic on the iPad with his daddy. Beau napped and watched movies. It was pretty smooth flying! Whew! We had a layover in San Diego. On the second leg of the trip, Hannah and I got to sit with a man who "never wanted to have any kids." Hannah screamed, kicked him, and crawled up onto his tray table. He had three Bloody Mary's and offered me one as well. I'm hoping we may have changed his mind about having kids, but I'm thinking we probably reinforced his former decision.
- Home Sweet Home Grandma and Grandpa picked us up from the airport in their matching CRVs. We always visit with G+G on our turf, so I thought it was extra special that the boys got to ride in G+G's cars! Our first destination was the Dunlap home. We were greeted by Langley and a brand new swing set in the backyard! The kids had fun stretching their legs and running on the soft, mossy grass. Mama D always makes us feel special - there were fresh-cut hydrangeas in the kitchen and our bedroom, brand new sheets, a new rug in the bedroom, and other special touches. Now my kids finally know where the ABC caterpillar lives that hangs out with Lego Grandpa when we Skype.
- An Evening at the Waterfront G+G treated us to dinner outside at the Cactus restaurant (AMAZING!) in downtown Kirkland. We followed dinner with a walk (and plunge!) at the waterfront and yummy ice cream cones. Somewhere during our adventure, Beau lost his favorite teddy bear. Papa D and I spent a good deal of time retracing our steps, but we determined that Brown Teddy wanted to see Seattle on his own. Beau was pretty heartbroken.
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| First plane ride with his favorite Brown Teddy |
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| My bite-size travel companion |
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| Please excuse the "Beauty Mode" - I didn't know how to turn it off. Do note, though, how I look totally different, but Hannah looks exactly the same. Ha ha! |
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| Aw - look at those love birds holding hands! |
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| Let's wade in the water, Beau! |
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| That's not what I meant by wade!!! |
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| This guy's looking so grown up! |
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| So excited to see Grandma and Grandpa |
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| Popsicles and baths after a long day of travel |
Wednesday, 7/27
- Food Baby Almost every morning of our trip started out with Papa D's famous omelettes, donuts, and sometimes pancakes. I had such a huge food baby one day that I literally convinced myself I was pregnant!
- Canoeing Our first morning took us to the University of Washington for some canoeing. Mama D so kindly watched Hannah, while Seb headed out with Hudson in one canoe and I rode along with Papa D and Beau. What I thought looked like a hippo in the water turned out to be a bloated beaver crawling with maggots! We also got up close and personal with a Heron as well as some ducks and turtles.
- Woodland Park Zoo We had lunch at Pagliacci's then hit up the zoo. Beau was already so tired, he spent half the zoo trip conked out in his stroller. The animals weren't too active, but we did get to see the beautiful jaguar, a hilarious zookeeper calling each of the penguins by name, and a giant Flemish bunny rabbit. That evening, we bought dinner at Teriyaki Madness and watched The Cokeville Miracle once the kids were asleep. (An awesome movie, if you were wondering!)
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| This guy was SO excited to get in a boat! |
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| Yay! |
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| Look at the joy on Beau's little face - it kills me! |
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| My cute little explorers |
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| Every day, Beau insisted that he was a baby cheetah named Troy with both ears and tail cut off ... he'd repeat this description of himself probably 20 times a day! |
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| Ready for some fun! |
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| Excited to head out on the water |
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| Beau looks so tiny and scared in there! |
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| We ventured close to the beaver corpse and were blown away by the stink! |
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| My desert kids soaking up all the water |
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| While we were on the canoes, Grandma taught Hannah how to point at the boats |
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| Baby cheetah Beau with no ears and no tail |
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| Beautiful exotic birds |
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| Daddy's girl |
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| Oh yeah! |
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| This girl's such a ham |
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| Loving her some cotton candy |
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| We love Grandma Dunlap! |
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| Climbing the same tree daddy climbed as a boy |
Thursday, 7/28
- Aquarium Thursday was spent in downtown Seattle starting out at the aquarium. We especially loved watching the octopus feeding, feeling the sea creatures in the touch pools, and oohing and aahing over the darling sea otters.
- Bread in the Face For lunch, we picnicked at the ferry terminal, then took a roundtrip ride on the Bainbridge ferry. I took a croissant outside in an attempt to feed the seagulls and thoroughly embarrassed myself with a double deck of passengers as my audience. I lifted the croissant in the air, asking Sebastian if that was the best method of feeding them. I wasn't intending to feed them at that moment, but a seagull swooped over my head and tried to pry the croissant from my hand. I had no idea any of this was happening, so I did not let go of the croissant. Apparently, the bird latched onto the croissant and was tugging at it with me unaware. When I did look up, I was completely freaked out and tossed the croissant in the air. It came flying down and hit a woman in the face. She thought the seagull had pooped on her, and was pretty mad at the dumb girl who attracted the seagull to the deck. I was completely red in the face. Mama D treated us to ice cream cones when we got off of the ferry.
- Teddy Bear Reunion We grabbed Nasai Teriyaki for dinner and rushed over to the Peter Kirk Pool for an evening swim session. After swimming, Beau "found" Brown Teddy sitting on a park bench watching a baseball game! His jaw dropped in disbelief and excitement to find his friend.
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| The scuba diver was hooked up to a microphone and you could talk to her! |
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| Checking out the sea urchins with Grandma |
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| Grrr! |
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| Why are you making me do this, Mommy! |
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| Where did all these blondies come from?? |
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| Sweet little stinker enjoying the ferry ride |
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| I could eat this girl up! |
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| Look at that awesome piggy tail |
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| Hanging with his mommio |
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| Hudson and Grandpa D have always had a special connection |
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| It's so dang windy on deck |
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| Hold onto your babies! |
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| Woo! We love this place! |
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| This is just about the same view I had when Seb proposed (of course, the sun was setting back then - you old romancing dog!) |
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| Beautiful Mama D! |
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| Ice creams cones for all! Thanks, Mama D! |
Friday, 7/29
- Water Time Friday was another fun-filled day! In the morning, we took a duck tour (the tour bus turns into a boat and the guides are hilarious) then got wet at the International Fountain. That afternoon, Seb rented a speedboat and took us out on Lake Washington. This was probably the highlight for both Sebastian and I. It was rejuvenating to jump into the cold water and swim in the open water. Everyone but Papa D jumped in. Seb is a speed demon and could have driven that boat all day!
- Evening at Home That night, Mama D made us delicious angel hair spaghetti, salad, and French bread for dinner. After the boys went down, Seb left to play board games with his friends. I had a wonderful evening catching up with Mama D while we made extra Chutes and Ladders game board characters and did laundry. We stayed up until after 1am! That was another highlight of the trip for me. It was so nice having that one-on-one bonding time.
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| What a cutie pie! |
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| This girl learned how to scoot UP the slide! |
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| Not sure why this guy is pantless |
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| She's flying! |
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| Happy girl! |
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| So happy! He loves to be with his family! |
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| Again - the pants ... where are they??! |
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| Can you spot Hudson jumping in this picture? |
Sunday, 7/31
- Estherita We were lucky enough to be in town for my college roommate's fourth child's baby blessing! She and her family moved to Seattle last year, and they live 15 minutes from my in-laws house. In fact, they attend the same church building Sebastian took me to when we were dating. We attended a luncheon at the Palmer home after the blessing. It was so wonderful to finally meet her darling kids whom I had only ever seen on her blog.
- Hiking After saying our goodbyes, we drove to Snoqualmie Falls for a beautiful hike. After the hike, we met up with Ray and Tara Leidle and their beautiful baby boy. We were able to catch up while the kids played at a park.
- Sunday Birthday Dinner That evening, Papa D made delicious Teriyaki steaks for dinner and he had a friend from the ward make roll dough to complement his meal. What a treat! Mama D bought Hudson some presents and made him a spice cake for his sixth birthday! We watched one of the Madagascar movies and all passed out from exhaustion!
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| 10 year college reunion! Look how we've multiplied! |
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| Those Palmer kids are gooooood picture takers ... what happened to my kids?! |
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| Estherita and Hobbies! |
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| It was SO good to see this cute mama after so many years! |
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| Beautiful falls |
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| Love Beau's scrunchy smile in this one |
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| The whole gang! |
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| Proud mom moment: Hudson says "That's not a cake, Grandma." Jeepers creepers ... |
Monday, 8/1
- Wild Waves Mama Dunlap treated the whole family to Wild Waves! We had a blast at the Pirate pool, on the tube slide, riding the carousel, the Kangaroo ride, the kiddy roller coaster, the ferris wheel, and so much more! We went straight from the amusement park to the Cheesecake Factory (another Mama D treat)!. Hudson was passed out in the tiny umbrella stroller and the rest of us (especially Hannah) had pretty rockin' pool hair. We spent the evening packing up and playing Chutes and Ladders.
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| The original plan was to take the kids to a movie - I didn't think it would be worth it ... do you? |
Tuesday, 8/2
- As a final hurrah, we walked around the Arboretum. Mama and Papa Dunlap sent us on the plane with fresh oatmeal cookies, PBJ sandwiches, blueberries, strawberries, and granola bars. We were sad to say goodbye, but we look forward to the next visit or trip with G+G Dunlap.
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| Watch out for Hudson and his sticks! |
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| He's always been our bug boy |
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| Sweetest brothers |
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| Aww ... goodbye Seattle! |
4 comments:
I was laughing out loud while I read your wonderful Seattle blog posting! You are such a GREAT story teller, Jess! I loved the whole thing and all the fun photos! What a wonderful trip you had. Thanks for taking us along (after the fact) ;-). I love you and your darling family--that includes Peggy and Geoff too!
Cute photos. Thank you for sharing.
It was so fun seeing you!! It had been too long! I hope you come visit Sebastian's fam more often! :)
Awesome trip and post! No doubt we're deal with a magna here. Glad you had such a blast. Thanks for sharing.
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