But we survived the 6 hour flight from Atlanta and the kids did amazingly great!! Thank goodness to Amazon for purchasing each child their own seat. It made a world of difference for the girls even at 22 months to have their own personal space. Plus we were able to all sit by each other which never happens when you have two lap children...because of the oxygen mask restrictions.
It was incredibly hard to say goodbye to some amazing people down there in the south! All of Andrew's therapists....I still wish we had that great of a team established up here. Friends from the ward...And we headed up to North Carolina one last time just a few days before we flew out to see Stephen's Aunt PJ & Uncle Chuck. That was a hard goodbye. We've become such great friends after living next door in Texas and then just a short drive this last year when they moved to NC.
Saying goodbye to our wonderful home! Last picture before we drove out!
It's totally felt like a vacation here! I mean we're living out of suit cases and we have really no real commitments....yet...so on the weekends, we head out, go play and explore our new home!
So far, we've....
Exploring the light house near by!
We just happened to find a darling little town named Snoqualmie, one Saturday while we were running errands. It was a cute little train town with train station and track that runs right through it, with a fun museum that the kids can climb in and out of a bunch of different train cars. So we went back one weekend and rode the train up to Snoqualmie Falls. It was a beautiful and scenic ride and the kids loved it. They were so hyper and I think Andrew's excitement rubbed off onto them. We had a great time!!
We've found a bunch of parks too and loved that Seattle summers make parks doable in the summer! It was always too hot, muggy and you'd burn your legs on the hot slides and swings in Georgia and Texas...not to mention sweating buckets..just down right miserable it you didn't get to the park by 8am.
It's been a great way to start our new adventure out here, although we're ready to be settled and have all of our stuff again. Our bucket list here in Seattle keeps getting longer and longer! So many fun things to do out here!
So far, we've....
- Found the Pacific Ocean. (A first for all of our kids, and Stephen.) We went tide pooling and it was SO much Fun! We found tons of sea anemones, crabs and even a few hermit crabs! The kids had a blast and loved exploring the shore and splashing in the puddles. They'd get so excited about every little thing! My favorite was seeing the sea anemones shrink in and open up. We also found out how slippery wet sea weed really can be!
- Found some beautiful hikes!!!The PNW is very green and very beautiful, but in a very different way than in the south! One of our first little hikes we weren't very prepared and just wanted to get to a beach... We found a fun little trail to take us to the beach, but we never ended up making it to the actual beach... (It was a bout 1 1/2 miles long with a few steep areas) We were just enjoying the beautiful hike and stopped to eat our picnic lunch along the way. The girls were getting tired so after lunch we just hiked back out. It was a great day, with the end result not really what we were initially hoping for, but we found some breathtaking views along the way!!
Yes we are FREEZING wearing pants, and jackets in August!!
- Stephen was dying...yes literally dying to get over to the Olympic peninsula and see the rain forests. It's about a 2 1/2 hour drive from where we live, since you have to drive all the way around. One Saturday we decided to venture out and try it. So we packed up and headed out. It was incredibly beautiful. And we had the best time exploring. What we thought would be an easy Saturday hike with the kids to Marymere Falls ended up being an entire day adventure! Little legs that stop frequently to look at every rock, bird, squirrel and leaf. Plus we had a great time throwing rocks into the river and getting our toes wet. It was just a beautiful day!
We almost made it to Forks, WA but it was in the opposite direction then we needed to go. We did however stop in the "big" city of Port Angeles for a little dinner at IHOP....which is a memorable experience in and of itself...
We just happened to find a darling little town named Snoqualmie, one Saturday while we were running errands. It was a cute little train town with train station and track that runs right through it, with a fun museum that the kids can climb in and out of a bunch of different train cars. So we went back one weekend and rode the train up to Snoqualmie Falls. It was a beautiful and scenic ride and the kids loved it. They were so hyper and I think Andrew's excitement rubbed off onto them. We had a great time!!
We've found a bunch of parks too and loved that Seattle summers make parks doable in the summer! It was always too hot, muggy and you'd burn your legs on the hot slides and swings in Georgia and Texas...not to mention sweating buckets..just down right miserable it you didn't get to the park by 8am.
It's been a great way to start our new adventure out here, although we're ready to be settled and have all of our stuff again. Our bucket list here in Seattle keeps getting longer and longer! So many fun things to do out here!
