Thanks SOOOO much Bobbie Jo and Derek!!

Bobbie Jo and Derek were the BEST hosts! They were so great to the kids and made us feel so welcome! It was great to visit, laugh, and watch baseball games with them! Derek downloaded the whole library of The Backyardigans and Dora for the kids from Netflix so they would have something to watch at night! I laughed because we watched Dora Saves the Puppies maybe 20 times on the way there and guess which episode they picked first when we watched Dora? Yep.....Dora Saves the Puppies!!

Another weird thing was we were talking about our 10 year anniv. coming up and how Pastor Ann had married us and had encorporated our baseball honeymoon trip into the sermon....etc. Well, Bobbie Jo had a knock at the door the next day and guess who it was? Pastor Ann and her husband!! We weren't there at the time, but she had heard Derek's sermon that morning and figured out the connection to Bobbie Jo and stopped by! They knew the senior pastor at the church and that is why they were at the service in the first place! She remembered us because of our baseball honeymoon! Bobbie Jo told her..."Well, that's why they are out here...10 years later and they are still doing the same trips!!" It was a really weird/cool coincidence as it is our 10 yr anniversary trip!!

*21 hr drive in 28 hrs on the way out!

*made it home in 36hrs!

*Drove 1,460 miles each way!

We LOVED Seattle and had a GREAT GREAT trip!!

On the Road Again.......

Craig thought we should take a little bit different route home (of course!)...Highway 2 that runs through the Cascade Mountains...kind of slow going with construction...but absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!

Many beautiful rivers and lakes!!


Tried to stop in this little German town, Leavenworth! We were going to have lunch at one of the German restaurants,...the streets are lined with German buildings and German shops, and all the store names are even in German.....but we couldn't find a place to park in this WHOLE town!!! So, we picked up some food at the German McDonalds drive through....that was as close as we got to experiencing anything in this town!!! Then were were On the Road Again!!

Back through Lake Couer D'Alene....no stopping this time though! Our biggest regret is that Kyle and Julie live in Southern Idaho and even though we drove through Idaho we didn't get to see them! I just couldn't add another 4-5 hours on to the trip with the kids! We would've LOVED to see their new house AND new addition to their family, Aiden! (and Braylon, too!!) We are looking forward, however, to seeing Kyle next weekend at Chris's wedding!!

Pit stop....Missoula!! We decided to break up the trip a little more on the way home! We stopped for the night in Missoula at a hotel! We left Bobbie Jo and Derek's about 10:00 am pacific time and got here about 7:45 pm mountain time (about 8 hours of driving)....the kids didn't even want to get out of the van and were HORRIBLE in the hotel!! Apparently we could've just kept going! It was nice once they finally did fall asleep and we had a nice breakfast in the morning!

*A lot of towns have their first letter on the mountain side...kind of fun...had to get a picture of the "M".

(our other regret is that My Gpa lives two hours north of here in Kalispell...and also our friend Paul...and we didn't make it up there! Maybe next time??)

So Close!!! About an hour from home and the moon was GORGEOUS! I totally didn't capture it on my camera! It was a HUGE red ball as it came up! We were so excited to be in North Dakota!! (Montana was a REALLY big state to drive through and it took a REALLY long time to drive through it!!) I was excited to have flat straight roads again! (weird, I know!) Craig drove the WHOLE entire 14 hours the last day! I think he was being stubborn and not letting me drive because he just wanted to say he did it himself....I wonder where Austin gets it?? Anyway...he did awesome! The kids did great in the van, too! They did better in the van than when when we would get out of the van! We stopped 5 times for maybe 5-10 minutes each to go to the bathroom and get food. They would climb in the back and not even want to get out!! CRAZY! They played a lot of Leapster and watched movies....I was glad they did so well! It made the long trip SO much better!

We pulled into our drive way a 11:53 pm...another goal of Craig's! (to make it home on tuesday....barely!)

Last night in Seattle! Grilling, ice cream, and Kerry Park!

This was our home for our stay....The Tronsgard's!! They were the best! Derek grilled us an amazing meal and Bobbie Jo made some wonderful food for us on our last night!!

Derek and Bobbie Jo have a tradition with their guests on their last night of their visit! They took us to this homemade ice cream shop and then to Kerry Park which overlooks the city! The ice cream shop line came outside the shop and down the sidewalk...it was worth the wait!! They were making the waffle cones right in front of us.....it smelled SOOOO good!!


KERRY PARK
All you Grey's Anatomy fans...this is where the opening shot of the show is taken! This is a hill overlooking the city....AMAZING view!! This is a wealthy neighborhood with many steep narrow hills...my favorite! These houses have pretty nice views out their windows! The movie "10 Things I Hate About You" was filmed in this neighborhood!

We were so lucky to have such nice weather and clear days so we could see Mt. Rainier popping up everywhere we went!! When Craig told me that Seattle to Mt. Rainier is about the same distance from our house to Krista and Brent's in Alex....I couldn't believe it!!!

Fun park down the hill from Kerry Park....Katelynn has mastered the monkey bars...she is very proud! Derek and Austin had fun going down slides....Derek had fun spinning Austin on the spinning toy...Austin did not have fun and couldn't get off because he was so dizzy....he says "I don't like that thing!!"
Had to get proof of my kids petting a dog!!!There were A LOT of photographers (nicer cameras than mine!) taking pictures on this beautiful night!!!

Hiram M. Chittenden Locks

These locks were interesting!

I didn't really get it at first....but once we watched a few boats go through it was kind of cool!! Basically the boats have to get from the salt water to the fresh water which are different heights...they have to go through these locks (elevators basically) where the water fills up and gets let out depending on where the boats are going! There are also "fish ladders" where the salmon are heading through the salt to fresh water to go lay eggs (I think!). Totally different from anything I've seen before!

*tonight is our last night in Seattle! Hard to believe! Derek and Bobbie Jo have just been the best! Thanks so much for EVERYTHING! We are grilling tonight at their house and then out for ice cream and sunset on Kerry Hill (where Grey's Anatomy opening scence is taken!)

Woodland Park Zoo

....yes we went to ANOTHER zoo! Best deal ever to get this zoo pass!!

Austin actually liked the carousel this time!

The kids took the lead (mostly Katelynn) in finding our way through the zoo! She would let us know what animal was coming up next!!
One of our favorites....the BEAR!

Giraffes!

We loved the Hippos too!!

Guess what?.....each of the kids pet a goat!! YAY!!

Milking Cows (like Daddy did!)...this one was pretend!

Katelynn's all-time favorite....FLAMINGOS!!

Fun time at the zoo!!

Everett Aquasox

Date Night!!

Craig and I had a date night and went to Everett, which is really close to BJo and Derek's house. Bjo and Derek were brave and took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and the park!! Thanks Tronsgards!!!! The kids had an absolute blast (I am pretty sure Derek had just as much fun at Chuck E Cheese!)!! We had fun too! Season ticket holders get in 90 minutes before the game...regular people (us) had to wait until 60 minutes before. All of 5 season ticket holders went in and got their FREE blankets....at 6:00 they let the rest of the herd in and I was so happy to get a FUN Aquasox fleece blanket! The mascot is a cute frog with a hotdog running around with him as well! The stadium is old and small with a fun view of the mountains in the outfield! Food and drinks are expensive!!

The Aquasox are a Mariners Rookie Ball team!

Everything was expensive for Rookie Ball (makes me appreciate the Redhawks!)...general admission tickets were more expensive than Tacoma...food was just about as expensive as the Mariners game! Parking behind the stadium where you had to walk awhile was $5...but right at the gate it was free......weird!

Bainbridge Island Ferry

We totally lucked out and got a GORGEOUS day for a ferry ride! It was a short half hour ride and beautiful scenery....the kids didn't really love it and could only talk about Chuck E Cheese (which they were going to be going that night with Bjo and Derek!! haha!) Craig and I really enjoyed it!

Mt. Rainier....unbelievable!

Seattle in the background!

Heading into dock at Bainbridge Island....charming little town with awesome

homes on the water! After we got off the ferry we headed into town....we were starving and all I could think of was pizza....guess what? the first building we saw was this tiny pizza place....like 3 tables inside...super good pizza and cheap beer! We ate outside and just had to have a couple ice cold beers!! Then...back to catch the next ferry!

The Olympic Mountains!

Katelynn likes the Space Needle!

Mt. Rainier

HUGE HUGE HUGE!! Can see it for 100+ miles away! It just towers over the skyline. We first saw it in Tacoma...now have seen it on the ferry boat and driving around Seattle!

Tacoma Rainers

Cheney Stadium

......a really old ballpark with lots of character! Another beautiful night for baseball! Tacoma is Seattle's AAA team. Bobbie Jo and Derek drove down to meet us (in major traffic there and back....even at 10:30pm! yikes!). There was a huge line to get in as it was fireworks night! We were able to get gen. admission tickets and sit down the right field line looking into the sun! (just like the good 'ol St. Paul Saints games!) The kids enjoyed seeing Rhubarb the Reindeer mascot! The fireworks after were great, except for Bobbie and Jo and Derek couldn't get to their car until the fireworks were cleared out! We stayed in a hotel in Tacoma and headed back to Seattle the next day!

Yay Fireworks!!

Tacoma, WA

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium

Our zoo pass that we got for our Florida trip worked at this zoo as well! What a deal! It was a FANTASTIC zoo! Very clean, not crazy busy, beautiful day, lots of fun things for kids to see and do!
Birds nest!

Spider web!

Sea Anemonae!

The kids REALLY wanted to feed the goats...so we bought food...guess who fed the goats? Not the kids!

The unanimous favorite.....Polar Bears! They were HUGE and were swimming all around in and out of the water the adults are 11 feet tall!! They could stand on the bottom of the pool and their heads were above water!!

A close second favorite...the Walrus! They were huge as well. Viewing under water he swam right up to the window in front of us. Viewing above he climbed on this rock (a lot of work for him!) and totally started blowing snot out of his nose...It was hilarious and Katelynn really got a kick out of it!

Up close to the Elephants!

*I totally thought of my nephew Eli while we were here...he calls the zoo in Fargo a "Zarm" because it is mostly farm animals!!.....I wish he could've been here....he would've LOVED it
Rose Gardens outside of the zoo! Beautiful! They were setting up for wedding. Wish we would've had more time to explore but we had to get to the hotel we are staying at tonight for naps!!