Seattle Aquarium

Today we left the small comforting town of Sequim and headed to the hustle and bustle of Seattle. Tom and I have been planning on taking the kids to see the Seattle Aquarium since the plans to head to Seattle started to surface. The plan was to head out early and grab a ferry (I kept my eyes peeled for McDreamy!!) over to Seattle.



We finally made it to the landing at 11, just in time to miss the ferry and had to wait 45 minutes for the next one. This was the first ferry ride for both Lucius and Maggie. When I tell you that they were excited, you just have to imagine them running around screaming in circles!!!
They were also very impressed with the mountain in the distance (Mt. Rainier). Lucius kept telling me it was the top of dragon mountain (some of you might recognize as a Backyardigan show....and now I have the song stuck in my head!).

And of course I couldn't resist taking a picture on a Seattle icon: The space needle.


Finally we made it across and set off on foot (and stroller) to find the aquarium. After making a couple of u-turns, we finally found it on pier 59.

The first thing that we HAD to go see was the octopus. Lucius is learning about the letter 'O' in pre-K and they are drawing/coloring octopus' just about everyday.



The highlight of the day was seeing Nemo, Marlin and Dory all in the same tank!!! The movie Finding Nemo comes in a close second behind her ultimate favorite, Tinkerbell.

The kids had a great time looking at all the sea life. There were a couple of exhibits that had divers that would feed the fish. The kids really got a kick out of waving to him and high fiving the diver through the glass.

Afterwards, we wanted to grab a bit to eat. Of course this was a little bit of a struggle. I felt like the kids would do better with something like McDonalds. BUT Tom and I both wanted get some AUTHENTIC seafood. (I mean, we can eat McD in Dothan!). End the end, we chose a very over priced restaurant on the bay. I'm sure that we would have enjoyed it more without our wonderful hungry, well behaved no nap children. Maggie is just started on that lovely stage called the terrible two's. And I just not really sure how to handle her. We will def be rethinking the entire eating out situation for a while!

After lunch, we hightailed it back to the ferry, and OF COURSE, missed the ferry. I mean it was still sitting there, but full so we couldn't get on it!!!!! Another hour wait. So Tom and I amused ourselves with the camera and the self timer! All in all it was a great day. The weather was amazing and the kids had several firsts!

Washington, Day Three

Can you believe that Abbie Grace is five months?

We have been in Washington now for three full days. The kids are having a blast. Today was very low key. We stayed at the house and the kids played outside most of the day. Tom and I tried to take a short sight seeing trip to Port Angeles, but the weather didn't agree with us. So we ended up heading to Wal-mart to pick up some items and came back home.

Who needs expensive toys when there is a plastic cup and rocks around?

The weather is so nice......In the upper sixty's most of the day.

Everyone took a turn wearing Grandma's gardening hat.

Meeting the Family

Lucius is having a ball hanging out with his Grandma and Grandpa. They are quickly becoming his 'best-friends'. He is especially enjoying heading out doors with his Grandma and playing in the gardens with her. I am amazed at how easily the kids can open up to someone that they have not had a chance to get to know. I think that as we get older, it is harder and harder to really let someone in. I am so thankful that they are now getting a chance to spend some time with Tom's parents.

Today we were supposed to be heading to the park for a family picnic, but the rains came and we had to head indoors. We had a small little family reunion over at the In-Laws house so that they could meet the kids. Sue (MIL) had her mom (Grandma GG) and both her sister and brother. Also there was Tom's sister, Becky.

(I must get better about picking up the camera. This is one of the only pictures that I took)

Do you ever wish that you could hire a zap guy to just follow you around?



Tom, Sue, and Maggie

Can you believe that we are all smiling and looking at the camera?

Still up for this week: Tom and I are going to get a date night on Tuesday. And we are taking the kids to the Seattle aquarium on Thursday.

War Eagle Baby!

Just had to share our first Game Day pictures.

Auburn won their first game of the season and we were very excited!

I was quite concerned that the game would not be shown over on the west coast, but IT WAS!

(it is so hard to get a good picture of everyone!!! Esp when you are always the one behind the camera.)

We are still hanging out with the In-Laws in Washington. The kids are having a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. They have a small 'orchard' of sorts in the backyard. Lucius spent all day Saturday outside picking fruit of the trees. There were apples, pears, plums, tomatoes and blueberries. They also have a peach tree and grapes, but those weren't ripe.

Totally makes me want to get some land and plant some trees. What a great way to have fresh food at your fingertips (while I know that this is not a NEW concept, it's totally new to me!)

The kids also got a quick ride on the tractor!

Lucius met two of his cousins for the first time. (Maggie was sleeping.) Kyle and Sarah are several years older than Lucius, but they played outside together and had a great time.

Flying on Friday

So on Friday we had the wonderful experience of flying for 5 hours on a plane with three kids under the age of four. If you think that this was a stressful time for me, then you are absolutely right!!! (thus the lack of pictures). I probably would have been stressed out if it was just Tom and I, but worrying about car seats, formula, apple juice, and keeping three kids entertained was a major source of stress.

I really struggled with the formula thing. I read on-line that they had become more lax with the liquids that you could bring on board....but in some places it looked like 3oz was the maximum amount you could bring. And how on earth am I supposed to keep a five month old happy and fed with only 3oz. I called Delta and the lady told me that I could bring a reasonable amount of formula, but to pre-mix it and find some way to keep it warm.?? (I decided that this particular lady had no clue about how formula actually works.) AND that I would have to taste each bottle before going through security. So after fretting about it for days, I went to the store at 11pm the night before our trip and bought a small can of powder formula and six small pre-mixed bottles. I also brought some powder formula and empty bottles. As it turned out, this was overkill. I told the security guy that I had formula in the bag and he was like, 'okay, thanks." and that was the end of it.

And gone are the days of bringing two bags per person and carry-on items. I thought that I was doing good to pack only five suitcases and one garment bag. When we got to the baggage drop off, Tom found that we had to pay $15 for the first five bags, and that garment bag cost us a whopping $25!!! Needless to say, that garment bag will be folded up and stuffed into a suitcase for the return flight.

But that was the end of my complaining about our flight. We were able to check both car seats and our large double stroller at the door of the airplane free of charge! And the flight attendants (an all male cast) were a great help. The carried Abbie Grace to her seat, and grabbed my bags from me. You would have thought that we were first class or something. Once settled, they continually came and offered us beverages and tried to help entertain the kids. I was VERY impressed with their attentiveness.

As we sat down in our seats (we all five had our own seats. There is NO way that we could have held any of the kids for five hours straight) Tom and I noticed that there were TV screens on the back of every seat. And it wasn't just an in-flight movie. They had local tv shows, pay-per-view movies, and even games.

The kids did great for the flight. Abbie Grace slept most of the flight, and only had one bottle (even thought it seems I packed enough for about 20 bottles). Lucius was entertained by SpongeBob and coloring books. Maggie slept a little and then entertained the passengers around us by running up and down the aisles.