Seattle

To help you appreciate this post a little better I'll start off by saying I intended on doing this when I did my last post, on July 11th - along with a post for my birthday, which was July 11th. It is August 14th and I am just finishing up this post for a trip we made in JUNE! That my friends is how much free time I have to do things I enjoy. So maybe, just maybe by Christmas, I'll be done blogging with summer stuff, and by next July you'll get Christmas in July.

In June we made a trip up to Seattle, not for anything in particular but Miss Katie Jane got to meet a good chunk of my family. I don't really like to venture up there in June, because lets face it, the weather sucks. However July seemed to be too busy for everyone up there so June it was. Never again. As we left the weather in Utah was getting warmer so our spring was finally on its way. By the time we got home it was in the 90s, so we basically went from 60's to 90's and no spring for us this year.

{I absolutely loathe bathing a baby in anything but a baby tub, slippery buggers!}

{Recovering after a day of traveling}

{Grandma's bird bath made a great bath for the guys}

{Issac likes to box, and he has to have his shirt off to do it, just like the guys on TV - this was his attempt to take his shirt off!}

The first part of our trip we headed over to Lake Chelan with my entire family. My parents rented a condo for us all for a long weekend. Typically the weather in Eastern Washington is nicer than Western, and this weekend that was the case. Although it did rain one day, it was still a heck of a lot better than Seattle. Unfortunately for my sister she wound up with the stomach flu while we were there, and then her youngest Tori as well. We did lots of lounging around, swimming at the pool and some boating.

{Katie Jane & Marlowe Jean - 6 weeks apart}

{Grandma & her girls, well minus barfing Tori}

{Anne Elyse & Katie playing}

{Issac got to drive Papa's boat! He loved it!}

{Swimming at the Condo's pool!}

We went home Sunday night {Fathers Day} and by Monday night Issac was barfing up his mexican dinner in the backseat of a our mini van rental. Awesome. During dinner I was feeling really full, I figured it was because I literally ate a ton of chips and salsa... come to find out around midnight, nope I was sick too! Issac and I were the only ones blessed with it, Katie and Donavon dodged it. After recovering and wasting a rental car for an entire day we started to knock out our to-do list.



{After a long day and traveling back to Seattle from Chelan I made Donavon pose with his cranky and tired babes for a Father's Day picture. He was thrilled can't you tell?}

{Of course after a trip you have chores to do, Issac drove Papa's boat while we cleaned it}

{The playhouse is pretty cool too}

We went down to the waterfront one day since I had an orthodontist appointment at my mom's Queen Anne office. We hit up Ivar's on the pier, ate out lunch and fed the seagulls. While eating we decided to take a ferry ride. I knew Issac would love it and Donavon had never been on the Downtown Seattle ferry, just Edmonds. The view once you get out into the water is amazing. After our ferry ride we walked along the piers and did a little shopping and playing. Issac was pretty excited we saw the ladder truck and the guy driving the back of it waived to him as we crossed the street. The Seattle waterfront is always an interesting place. I love it. I love the smell of the nasty pilings, the ocean air and the filth. Odd I know, but it smells like home. It was nice to take a ferry ride and be able to 'step back' and take a look at the city and then sneak over to Bainbridge. We didn't stay since our parking meter was ticking but it was a fun ride. Come to find out the ferry after us had a jumper. Someone jumped off it and swam to a kayak waiting for them. Glad we missed that one because they were held up for awhile! The weather could have been nicer, but it wasn't cold so I cant complain too much.

Another day we headed down to my Sister's house in Orting. She took us over to Northwest Trek, I had never been and neither had my family obviously. We rode the tram through the park and I think Donavon was having anxiety attacks about wanting to shoot one of the massive elks. Issac really enjoyed seeing all of the animals. After that we headed over to Ft. Lewis. The original plan was to meet up with Donavon's old platoon sergeant that he deployed with, however we couldn't get a hold of him at all. Come to find out his wife had a baby a few days prior so I guess we'll let it slide, we also wanted to see an old Dugway family, but they ended up with the barfs the night before. My sister ended up coming over to Ft. Lewis too so that her oldest, Austin, a lover of all things military could see a real Army base. We had a heck of a time at the main gate with pass & ID. Everyone got their passes but they denied access to my brother inlaw because he was in his company van and the car wasn't registered in HIS name. I think we spent more time going in and out of the gate than we did on the base. The base is huge, I really wish we could have spent more time there. We picked up some Popeye's (I swear every base has a Popeyes!) and then went over to American Lake and had a little picnic with a view. I'll admit while we were there we gave it the once over trying to decide if it was a possibility or not for the future. Lets just say we spent a ridiculous amount of time on I-5 trying to go a couple exits down, the weather was its typical June doom & gloom so unless we have to go somewhere else, probably not.

{Northwest Trek}

{We just Donavon just spent $600 for one of these... that's just the price of the tag and nothing else. Don't get me started...}

{Seattle Skyline & Ferry ride}

Last but not least, and probably my favorite part of the trip was the Fuller party! I always say my Fuller family is my favorite, but I guess that isn't exactly true - my Seattle family to be more precise! I suppose I'm more partial to all of them because I grew up with them, but they are a blast! My Aunt Diane put together a little BBQ in the park by her house so everyone could come and meet Miss Katie. It was so nice to see them again! My cousin Shelly who now lives in the dirty south (Alabama) was up for about 6 weeks so I made sure to plan our trip while she was home. I don't get to see all of them as often as I like but I sure love all the times I do get to see them! All the kids had a blast playing and Katie sure loved all the snuggles she got, and all of the pretty presents! She is going to be dressed to kill thanks to her Aunties!

{Issac & Tori playing with the bubbles}

  

{Katie, or as they nicknamed her Kramer because of her wild hair - Taken by my Sister Katrina}

{Donavon & I - taken by my sister again}

{Fuller grand kids - all eight of them, just my family - L to R - Tyler(Katrina & Keith), Jack & Marlowe (Ryan & Stevie), Austin(K) & Katie, Anne Elyse & Tori (K) and Issac.}

On Saturday we took Issac to his very first movie, Cars 2. Issac is a lover of Cars, I think its built into their genetics these days. I don't know a single little boy who doesn't love that movie. I was kind of curious how he'd do in a movie. We met up with my Sister and her 4 kids and my Brother, Sister inlaw and their 2 kids for the show. The movie was a hit! Well... for the first 45 minutes. After that it was "poop, potty, pooooop, potty!" Donavon took him to the potty once, no avail. He kept bugging us so I then took him, nothing. (Mind you he isn't potty trained yet). We went back in towards the end of the movie and then Katie started fussing so Donavon had to leave with her. I'm positive Katie watched more of the movie than Issac. Anytime I'd try to lay her down she'd freak out and then stop as soon as I sat her in my lap facing the screen. I know Issac had fun, but I don't think I'll be taking him to another movie for awhile. $1 redbox movies are our thing for now. After the movie we did a little shopping at Bell Square, then headed over to Peter Kirk Park in Kirkland for a little lunch and play time in the SUNSHINE!

{He has no idea what he's in for!}

{Thats a big TV!}

By this time my Dad was recovering from the flu bug, and my Mom was about to fall victim to it. Grandma had just arrived in town since she was flying back with us to Utah so we had a great visit with her. She left with Donavon and my Dad to get some dinner and I stayed behind with sleeping Katie and literally wiped every surface in the house praying my Grandma didn't get it, then take it to Utah and pass it on there! I must have done a good job because she never got sick!

We spent 10 days, and it went by too fast! We didn't quite get everything done that we wanted to but that's ok! There is always next time!

And the $700 in airfare, so worth it since a little Miss Katie loathes her car seat. Oh the insanity.

See ya next time Seattle! One of my favorite things is flying in on a beautiful day and over the city!

There I did it. Its done. I cant believe it.

I'll try better to blog some more. My project list is seriously so long. I am almost done with my china hutch, I'll post my DIY when I'm done. My sister and sister inlaw are probably coming down next week so I'll be quite busy with that too - so chores/projects will be put on hold yet another week. They came, and they left 2 weeks ago...