Sightseeing

One of our adventures took us to the Boeing plant...way cool! We were strictly forbidden to take our cameras inside so I got a few snapshots of the outside of the building and the lobby! We were able to see lots of airplanes being built and learned lots of interesting facts about the plant; like it's the biggest structure under one roof in the world and you could fit the entire theme park of Disney Land inside it and still have 20 acres of covered parking left over...wowser! Plus we saw real airplanes being built, also very wild! We even got a sneak peek at the new Dreamliner aircraft which is made from poly-carbonate material and has all kinds of high-tech stuff on the inside for the passengers, like touch screen shades for the windows--crazy!

The peanut gallery posing for pics outside (including Zoe's friend Natasha)

Bored already? The tour hasn't even started yet??

Charlie testing out the seats for the new Dreamliner

Oh, this picture has a great story to go with it! This is an actual engine that was being built in the 80's. The engineers began work on this engine because of the current fuel crisis. Once attached to the airplane this engine saved the plane 30-40% of it's gas per flight. Why, do you ask, is this engine sitting in a museum??? Well, Boeing ceased production and development because the fuel crisis ended. Ya don't say? And big business has nothing to do with the government right??? Yeah.

After a long day at the plant we headed to Ivar's on the water, a Seattle landmark. We noshed on very yummy fare while Charlie and George entertained each other with a very serious battle of Thumb Wars.

The following day, Charlie, Sophia, and I headed downtown for some family time. We ate lunched walked around and headed to the space needle.

I really had no idea about the history of the Space Needle, and in case you didn't know either, here's the scoop. Seattle was picked to be the next stop for the World's Fair (don't remember the year) and so they needed a show stopper, so to speak. So a committee got together and started planning to build a structure. It was around the time that space travel and science fiction were making an introduction, so they wanted something to follow that theme. The designer wanted it to look like a space ship about to take off. When it finally opened, after many designs, arguments and delays, it cost $6 to ride to the top and enjoy breakfast in the revolving restaurant. The city made back their money by the end of the Fair.

Sophia was VERY interested in peering off every ledge possible!

In the gift shop she was absolutely entranced by a bucket of colorful pens shaped like the Space Needle! I could barely wrestle her away from them!

Fun at the Park

More fun vacation pictures...hooray!

I love Seattle for so many reasons, but one of them being that they are so much greener than we are here in the Midwest! Even though it was a pretty urban place there were so many parks, trails, people biking, and there were even recycling bins placed right next to the public trashcans...what a concept?!

This park was literally right outside their front door and had tons and tons of fun stuff to do for kids of all ages! My favorite three pictures from that day are the first three here...

Somebody is just hangin' out

Too cute!

Sophia was very interested in watching George play soccer while she ate a snack...

You can imagine by the blur in the picture just how fast Charlie had that thing going! (Eileen, remember the Tea Cups of Death?!) His speed and agility at spinning the merry-go-round attracted the rest of the kids lingering around the park, although Charlie did slow it down b/c he was afraid of hurting someone else's kid!

Sophia, and everyone else, loved the swings...

Shopping at Pike's Place Market

Of course you can't visit Seattle without a visit to famous Pike's Place Market, the home of the thrown fish! We had a great time, as the weather was absolutely gorgeous and there was PLENTY for Sophia to eat and see!

My favorite way to eat is to literally graze along through different snacks and meals, which seems odd that I absolutely hate a buffet, but there's other factors that go into that! Anyway, we walked along and sampled some of Seattle's finest from the various vendors throughout the market! We had mac-n-cheese with cheese that was made right in the store, some yummy Greek food that Sophia absolutely devoured, jumbo pastries and more! Plus, we had to visit the original Starbucks! Charlie wasn't that impressed, but I gotta have my Starbucks!

We only saw one fish being thrown b/c you actually have to BUY the fish for them to throw it, which makes sense, but I must say it's kinda pathetic the way people hover around these poor fish mongers waiting to see some action. There was a huge crowd and they literally just stood there, cameras poised and ready.

In the background there are giant cranes that load cargo onto ships, but more importantly, in the foreground is the Seattle Real World House! It was somewhere near the yellow awnings!

You can just make out the silhouette of Mt. Rainier in the background! It was absolutely beautiful to see mountains and ocean every day!

Although I REALLY wanted to eat one of those donuts, I decided against it. Instead we opted to share a chocolate, cream cheese cinnamon roll that was slightly less big, not sure if that was a better choice, but oh well! In case you can't tell, they are literally the size of your head.

We found a store displaying walls and walls of Fiestaware. Charlie and I both went screaming, but for seemingly different reasons! ;)

I had to take this picture because a few friends of ours hunt Morels every year and bring them home and fry them up for us! They are so yummy! I was astonished at the price they were going for...thank goodness we get ours for free! Thanks Neil and Jason!

Sophia gets the best view of all the action!

How cute is this, need I say more?!

We actually purchased this hat for Sophia and decided against mine b/c it really was a little kid hat and a bit snug, but as it turns out we lost the bag that contained said hat (and some pretty adorable sneaker, no less) somewhere in the market that day! Booooo!

PS...thanks to Kathleen for giving me the skinny on the picture uploading!

Having a Gas!

Okay, this was too funny not to share. Those weak-stomached or just generally against toilet humor should not read any further!!!

Sophia has been unusually gassy the past few days and has been tooting her way from room to room. Today she was sitting on the floor playing and she let a string of toots go so loudly that even she turned around with a puzzled look wondering where on earth that sound was coming from!

LOL!

Lake Side Festivities

She's got the whole world in her hands.

Sophia has taken up badminton. She is most skilled at eating the birdie.

Big Cousin Zoe running interference.

Steph and Charlie takin' a break and having a beer (when Bud was still American, that is!)

Learning the finer points of football

We were lucky enough to tag along to a lake side party hosted by good friends of Stephanie and Jonathan. They live on beautiful Lake Washington, where it was a little too chilly for those of us over the age of 10 to boat, but there was yummy food and fun activities. The kids played all kinds of sports while the adults mostly supervised the games and the grill! We even saw a bald eagle flying overhead, very cool! It sure wouldn't take much for me to pack up and move lakeside, I'd order a big fat yacht and have a grand ol' time!

A side note to all you bloggers out there...how the heck do I get my site to post more than 5 pictures at a time! GRRRRR! I know it can be done b/c I've seen it on your blogs! Help!

Walter's Vacation

I know that I've said it before, but doggy day care is seriously the best invention ever! Walter had quite an action packed week of fun and folly while we were away and enjoyed his own private vacation. Any of you dog parents here in the area really should try out Pawz at Play...they are all so sweet and caring, and you can't beat the photography either! ;)

Peas in a Pod

George, who is going on 10, turned out to be one heck of a playmate for Sophia! It was just too cute to watch them together. He had a great time playing with her, and he's a bundle of energy anyway, so it was a perfect match. But, even more was the fact that she absolutely adored him! She would light-up and giggle every time he came in the room.

Here we are on our first morning at this very yummy breakfast place called Pancake House or something. It has a similar name to IHOP, but the food is waaaaaaay better! Sophia and I were supposed to share some banana pancakes but she enjoyed them as much as I did. They were by far the yummiest pancakes I've ever had! After she plowed through one whole pancake I made Charlie start sharing his breakfast with her so I could monopolize the cakes for myself! Isn't that horrible! But it's oh-so true...;)



Here George graciously lets Sophia play with his old garage toy. Luckily Stephanie had lots of baby toys that she kept for occasions just like this! Thank goodness because the tub-o-toys was a life saver!

After breakfast, Stephanie and I went out to run some errands and left the guys in charge of the kids. Here's what happened...

Well, I suppose corralling her in the trunk is better than letting her crawl into the streets??? Silly Uncle Jonathan! I think he may have even put some toys in there for her!

Lastly, I put on this video of Sophia and George because I absolutely love it! I think it is a true display of George's sweet and caring personality and I think he's just a crack-up!