A Trip to the Beach With Friends!

So we had just gotten back from Seattle and remembered there was a fun bonfire at the beach planned with some friends for a good-bye for those of us leaving in the next month or two.  Of course we had to go!  (I know - we're crazy).  I hoped Ross and Ruby would snooze on the way to the beach, but Ross was too into looking at books...I thought this would come back to bite me in the end.  

Excited for some more fun!

He's ready too!

I get the amazing mom award for the year in thinking the beach would actually be warm (yes - I know I've lived here in Oregon for two years - I never learn).  I think it was because I started calling it a beach trip instead of a coast trip.  So of course I had no jackets/sweatshirts/hoodies/coats in any form...or even pants for Ruby to wear.  I thought I would be battling the sun!  Unfortunately for us it decided to be a roasting 60 degrees and cloudy the entire time.  I have to say - it's nice to have friends who DO come prepared.  We mooched a couple of jackets for Ross and Ruby and hung in there having a great time anyway!
 

Oliver, Steve, and Karl braving the weather.  Love Steve's hat.

Diggin' in some sand with some cute kids!

Ruby finding some shelter from the wind :)

My awesome friend Kendra!

Some tummy sand angels. :)

Cute boy in an oversized hoodie ;)

Love this snuggle bug!

We played in the sand, did some volleyball, dipped some toes in the ocean, and roasted two hotdogs before we saw that Ross was starting to lose it with all the sleep deprivation he had.  He was cold, wet, hungry, and was clinging to some bulldozers and dump trucks another kid had let him play with while he threw one of the biggest tantrums of all time when we tried to pry him away to eat some food....which turned into time to go home.  We said good-bye to our friends and ended up enjoying our ride home with two zonked out kids in the back.  We'll miss our friends leaving for new adventures.  I can't even think about when we are leaving yet - I'm not ready!  Anyway - beach coast trips are the best!

Enjoying some cheetos despite the look on his face.

Love these boys!

Another hilarious family pic :)

Ruby's first dip in the ocean - a bit chilly!

Ready to play some ball!

Or a jump in some water

And after some drying off and snuggling in a towel - he's out!

This girlie too :)

Sleepless in Seattle

So that's what happens when you bunk with 2 year old and 6 month old in the same room.  :)  Okay - it wasn't a completely sleepless night - it just took a little while to settle in.

We decided since we are trying to make the most of our summer with Steve home that we would try and use our children to get us a free night in a hotel in Seattle.  Thank heavens for softy grandpa's who let us cash in their reward points for a pretty sweet awesome room with a view!  
 

Ross loved this window!  Don't worry - he can't open it...and it only opens about 4 inches - but it was still enough to give Steve the heebeejeebees every time he looked out of it.  Haha

Awesome view

Our porthole.  Ross wouldn't even look away for a second.

We trekked up to Seattle in the morning and made great time until our GPS got quite confused once we entered the city.  After a few wrong turns, and some pretty scenery, we found the hotel right in the downtown.  When we pulled up we didn't realize they only offered valet parking for $35 unless we wanted to take our chances on the streets...we figured it evened out to be a $35 hotel room for us so we relented and decided to live the high life with a valeted car. ;)  
The front desk lady checked us in and, once again, we put our adorable children to work wooing her and she upgraded our room for free as well - top floor, with an incredible view, and the only porthole in the hotel.  There are definite perks to being a parent. ;)  Now I just need to teach our kids to sing and dance for money and we can retire early!

We attempted some naps which sort of worked.  Ruby fell right asleep while Ross talked to himself for a while, and then when Ross fell asleep - Ruby woke up.  Oh well - it was a good trial run for the night.  

I used the wonderful world of facebook to get some GREAT tips for what to do in Seattle, and since we were right in the heart of downtown, we walked the seven blocks to the infamous Pike's Place Market.  We weren't sure how it all worked and ended up bypassing all the sweet spots without realizing it.  It was still fun to look around, and we eventually found our way down to the docks where we dined at Ivar's and fed seagulls right out of our hands.  After some more wandering around, we headed back to our room to relax and get ready for bed.  

Exploring.  Love that the old guy in the sweet shirt managed to squeeze in the picture too lol.

Totally normal to have a piano being played for money on a street corner.

Enjoying some views.

Ruby can handle only so much excitement at a time.

Sometimes stroller buckles are cooler than Seattle I guess.

We got some halibut and chips - yum!

The seagulls would eat the fries right out of your hand.  Ross just liked poking them through the fence and dropping into the water for the seagulls  down there.

Awake and ready for more fun!

Ross wants some more fries to feed the birds.

Yum!

The night went better than expected - though we attempted to let Ross and Ruby get to sleep with us just outside the room, but Ross wasn't too pleased about that idea.  So we snuck in a molten chocolate lava cake which I convinced Steve I couldn't live without, shared it in the dark (totally romantic right?) and chilled until the kiddos were in a nice deep sleep.  Then we decided to make the most of our incredible view and (get ready for the romantic part) gazed out the window chatting till the wee hours of 10PM when we decided to hit the sack. :)  It was quite nice actually.  Ruby stirred a few times that night, but after sticking a binky in her mouth every time, we finally got some sleep.

I love the night lights :)

Especially looking at them with the handsomest guy ever!

The next morning we got up early, showered quickly, and booked it out to make the Duck Tour we got tickets for.  We grabbed some breakfast on the way.  Since they had no place for strollers, I strapped Ruby onto me, and Steve juggled Ross the 9 blocks to our destination.  We were so concerned about being there on time, we got there 40 minutes early.  Instead of waiting I convinced the ticketing guy to squeeze us in the earlier tour.  At $28 per adult and Ross an Rubes being $1 each - I have to say it was money well spent.  We loved EVERY part of the tour.  Our driver was beyond hilarious and had a laugh exactly like my Uncle Russ....like even to the way he smiled while he laughed - crazy!  He switched hats about 10 times during the tour and had great stories and jokes the entire time.  I'm sure he uses the exact same ones for every tour, but - hey - if a joke is funny - I'm gonna laugh.  If it's not broke - don't fix it!  We toured around the newer part of Seattle, then got to take a dip in Elliot Bay to see some sweet floating houses (they only allow 500 in the bay at a time) which included a favorite of mine - the house from Sleepless in Seattle.  The driver told us the house sold for $300,000 after the film was made, and then sold just a couple years ago for $2.5 million....talk about a profit! They blasted some great music on the tour too - we were rocking out - okay we as in Steve, Ross, and I...Ruby snoozed through most of it, and the rest of the tour group were a bit harder to get razzed up.  Maybe that's because most of them were in their late 60's or 70's.  We had a good time though.  We finished the tour down in the old district and were quite satisfied at the end.  They had taken a sweet picture of us which I loved, but not enough to pay $25 for.

Our duck :)

I love how Ross is in complete awe that we actually get to ride in the boat.

Ruby is ecstatic as you can tell...or just about ready for another snooze.

The 2nd most photographed sign in Seattle - how could I resist?  This is also the first and oldest car wash in the country.  Awesome!

Our guide Captain Owen Money ;)

Very appropriate attire for the water!

This water is awesome!

The pretty sweet Space Needle

I love all the bridges up here in the northwest!

Recognize the Sleepless in Seattle house?  :)  It's the one on the left that's tan with the blue trim - next to the pink house. 

Fam pic! Ruby is just about ready to hit the sack.

The smallest floating house on this lake - 200 sq ft...and it's $1100/month.  And there's still a waiting list to rent it out - crazy! You can barely see it - it's a tiny bluish house right next to the brown house on the right.

Enjoying some sightseeing with mama.

Ruby taking a break.  She seems to sleep a lot, no?

A sweet bug hat now being sported.

If you look extremely carefully  - at the very end of this road - there's a troll!

Up, close, and personal with the Space Needle.

Riding the hills in downtown!

So - we had walked right past this piece of art without a clue it was there before...and walked back.  Good thing the tour opened our eyes!

We asked for a late check out so we detoured back to Pike's Place Market where it redeemed itself when we found the great places we were meant to go to including a delicious little donut shop, a dried fruit stand, and  a fresh produce stand with incredible peaches that I may have beat the guinness world record ingesting because they tasted THAT good...and yes they were white peaches - oh delicious white peaches - oh how I love thee.  The best part was watching the fish stands and the employees throwing all the fish around and catching them in their paper to wrap, box, and ship.  Pretty sweet if you ask me.

The most photographed sign in Seattle. :)  We jumped on the band wagon.

Getting some incredible donuts!

Watching them make the donuts.

Watching some fish be thrown.  I think Ross was a little disappointed we weren't seeing live fish.

Haha - can you tell Ruby is so over this baby carrier?  I wonder if she had this same face when I went into labor with her?

We headed back (remember Ruby is still strapped to me and Ross is running rampant) to our hotel eventually.  I had a strong recollection of what it was like being pregnant with Ruby again...I had gained 25 lbs with her by the end and she's now 20 lbs....so it was a pretty close remake.  Ross was tired of riding shoulders and being shuffled along, but we got back to the hotel finally and packed up, heading for the ferry over to Bainbridge Island.  I imagined the ferry to be much longer than it was.  We drove our car right on, and headed to the top to enjoy the gorgeous view and the perfect weather.  Ross loved running around free too.  I wish it would have been longer - I could have ridden that ferry for a couple hours I think.

Loving the ferry's view!

A pretty amazing pic if I do say so myself. :)

I forgot the zoom was on - hee hee.  Still like this pic :)

Family pic again!  Ross wanted to keep running around the ferry.

Oh beautiful Seattle. :)

By the time we got to Bainbridge and into the little city center, Ruby and Ross were both completely out.  So I snuck into a divine candy shop called Bon Bon and got some amazing samples of their fudge as well as some sour strip candy for Steve....I could have sampled their entire store if I had had money to blow.  It was so cute.  The whole town was so quaint I loved it.  We found a park where we stopped so I could feed Ruby and let Ross snooze a little longer.  Afterwards we decided to head home.  

The trek home took about a million years (doesn't it always?), and included a few tantrums, stops for water, bathrooms, dinner, and another Ruby feeding.  You would think we would group all of those things together in one or two stops.  Oh no - our great planning techniques mandated that we stop individually for each need...we finally got home around 10, threw our kids in bed, and recouped.  All in all - it was a fantastic trip!  Always fun to do some exploring.