Seattle! (TEA Days 33-44)

6/30

After Redding, we drove the 600 miles to Seattle in one day. It was a 10 1/2 hour drive, counting stops. It was a long day, but worth it. We noticed some interesting town names, such as:

Weed…

(Oregon!)

Talent…

and Merlin.

Washington!

There’s Seattle! We stayed with the DA’s the whole time. We were happy to see them and the other cousins again.

 

7/1

July 1st was just relaxing and hanging out with the two families of cousins we have in Seattle. In the evening we went over to Mrs. Christie and Mr. Jeff’s house and also met up with Mrs. Gail and Mr. Doug. Mom knows Mrs. Christie and Mrs. Gail from grad school in Iowa.

 

7/2

July 2nd was the aquarium day. We went to the Seattle Aquarium with both cousin families and Mrs. Christie’s and Mrs. Gail’s families.

Back row, from left to right: Gabe, Marty, Hannah, Audrey, Joey, Eddie, Miles.

Front row, from left to right: Charlie, Simeon, Leah, Naomi, and Megan.

After the aquarium, we took a ferry out to Bainbridge Island to have ice cream.

 

7/3

More relaxing!

 

7/4

Happy July 4th, everybody!

Here’s Felix, Aunt Monica and Uncle Michael’s then week-old baby. He’s now 3 weeks old.

We had a water balloon fight, a water balloon toss, and a water balloon spoon race at Aunt Monica and Uncle Michael’s house.

These were the dessert after dinner, called “Corn on the Cobcakes.” (Marty helped Hannah make them.)

These were other decorated cupcakes (Marty came up with the idea for them. Hannah insists that we mention that she helped execute the brilliant idea).

 

7/5

This was a day of much relaxing. At this point Charlie and Gabe both had strep throat.

Uncle G took us to Top Pot, a most excellent doughnut shop that is also a palindrome.

This is Uncle G eating his doughnut. That is Griffin. He likes food.

 

7/6

In the morning Eddie and Marty went to Mass at Blessed Sacrament, the cousins’ parish. Mom, Aunt Pam, and Audrey went the previous evening.

Gabe and Charlie were feeling better, so that afternoon we went to a park.

The park had a  fun zipline. We all got pictures going down it.

 

7/7

More relaxing!

These are the B’s ducks. They don’t fly, and they eat slugs and the like. So they are useful for gardens.

Here’s Aunt Monica with Felix.

Here’s Mom with Felix.

Here’s Aunt Pam with Tess.

 

7/8

More relaxing! Marty started to feel pretty bad this evening.

 

7/9

Marty had a fever on the morning of 7/9, so he did not accompany the others to the Seattle Space Needle. He was pretty bummed about that. The other kids had a great time.

 

7/10

Marty was diagnosed with strep on 7/10, so he again did not accompany the other kids to the market. He was again really bummed.

 

7/11

This was 7/11, which means: free Slurpees at the store 7/11. So we went with all the cousins to get Slurpees.

Yum yum!

That evening, Dad arrived. Here he is with Felix. We were also joined by Sr. Maria Pio.

We finished filming our new film with the cousins just in the nick of time.

 

We really had fun in Seattle. Aside from hanging out with the cousins, it was very relaxing and a nice change of pace from the hectic vacation we’re on.