August days are for...

:: playing in the backyard dirt (digging tunnels never gets old) ::

:: getting cleaned up afterwards ::

:: play dough making ::

:: finishing projects ::

:: celebrating Annie's Birthday ::

We're loving August here!

Family vacation ::part four::

Another full day in Seattle, WA. This time we went to the Pacific Science Center and took a mono-rail ride through downtown of Seattle. Well, we were completely exhausted at the end of that trip. We thought we'd be able to explore the whole Science Center in just one trip, but ended up spending a few hours at the Tropical Butterfly House, Insect Village and looking at a few more indoors and outdoors exhibits, without even leaving that one part of the huge building. You could definitely spend a whole week in Seattle area going to the Science Center alone and not get bored at all :)

:: I'll spare you of photos from the Insect Village (and all their giant cockroaches), but butterfly house was pretty amazing and HUMID ::

Elijah was asking butterflies to come and rest on his hand. if only they listened...

:: this was the room where we had to make sure that there weren't any butterflies on us after leaving the butterfly house ::

:: and then we had some more fun at the exhibits floor ::

:: back to the monorail ::

Family Vacation :: part two ::

This was day 3 of our vacation (first two days were spent on the road), which consisted of a trip to the Farmer's Market (previous post) and taking the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry back across Puget Sound, after which we stopped to spend some time at the beach.

Elijah, being his usual self, was having the ride of his life on the ferry, after which he declared that when he grows up he wants to be a ferry driver and transport Grandma's car on it. Ironically, I didn't get any photos of Elijah having the ride of his life and dreaming about being a ferry driver because Lisa took him on the upper deck while I stayed with Mark and the girls. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to do it again some day...

:: and then we all enjoyed cool breezy beach ::

:: and even managed to get a semi-decent family photo at the end, the only one of all 5 of us ::

We had a long full day, and unfortunately for us, Elijah decided to take a nap on the way back which translated into him not wanting to go to bed at the normal hour. He stayed up with grown ups in the living room for a bit, trying to find a comfortable spot and at some point he finally got quiet. We peeked out of the kitchen and saw this:

doesn't he look cozy sleeping on top of the power strip, covered with yoga mat? :)

Family vacation :: part one ::

I've been working on the photos from our trip whenever I get a break and I'm still only half-way done. Which can mean two things - I'm either too slow/don't have enough time or I took too many photos. In my case, it's both.

Stepping over our usual piles of unfolded, refolded and misplaced laundry everywhere, the thought of us having just returned from our family vacation seems almost surreal. Maybe it was just a very realistic 3D movie I watched? Thank goodness for the photos, one look at a snapshot and my brain gets overloaded with all the imprints it got from that particular moment, the sounds, the emotions, the smell, everything.

So here I am, feeling overwhelmed with the achievement of traveling and HAVING FUN with 3 little ones and at the same time yearning for a change, the kind of change that moving to one of those two states would bring. Yes, my worst fear was confirmed, I LOVED Oregon and to my surprise, I enjoyed Washington just as much, if not a teeeeeny bit more.

somewhere in Idaho

:: final stretch before arriving to Edmonds, WA ::

:: first order of business in Edmonds - Farmer's Market in the morning ::

eating fresh crepes while sitting by the curb, a vacation must right there

probably a good place to stop, since I'm getting attacked by naked goblins. Ferry ride and our first trip to the beach coming up next...