First Plane Ride, First Ferry Ride and First Stamp in the Passport!

So our adventure began on Wednesday when we flew to Seattle. We were allowed one checked bag each(Peter and I) and we could check the car seat and stroller for free. We could also have one carry on bag each as well as a diaper bag. So we took advantage of what we had. We arrived at the airport with one large suitcase with baby food and our clothes in it that weighed 48 pounds(just cleared the 50 pound limit). We also checked a pack n play which we stuffed umbrellas, water gear and blankets into the pack n play bag. Then we sent the car seat through. When we got to the gate we checked the stroller at the gate and boarded the plane. We had a backpack (we called the diaper bag), a small bag of Connor's clothes, and another bag, which was basically extra. And of course we each had a warm jacket with us. Yeah we didn't pack light at all. Apparently we're still learning how to pack with a baby in tow. Alright so the plane ride was okay. Connor cried a little bit, he ate a little bit and he slept a little bit. When we landed we picked up a rental car and drove literally down the street to our hotel. We let Connor crawl around on the floor a bit and then we all went to bed. It was quite late.

Thursday morning we set off for Mt. Rainier. It was quite overcast so we didn't see much of the mountain. We went because there was supposed to be wild flowers in peak bloom. However, the paths leading to the wild flowers were covered in 10 feet of snow. So no wild flowers and no hikes, as the paths were all covered in snow. So we enjoyed the visitor's center and then headed back down the mountain. We came across some cool waterfalls on the trip up and down the mountain.

This is what you're supposed to be able to see:

This is what we saw:
Wait! I think I see some mountain
A cool waterfall
A small waterfall on the side of the road-Connor really likes the sound of water so he was more interested in that than the camera.

More waterfall pictures

This is the view from the top
And this is the view from the middle.
It was really misty so we all get a bit wet.
It was a bit chilly but I stayed warm
This is the path we wanted to take to the wild flowers...and they were supposed to be in peak bloom??? I guess not this year.
On our way to the car from the visitor's center we saw this little guy, a marmot. He was shaking his head so it's a bit fuzzy, but he was fun to look at for awhile.

Back at the hotel, Connor had his first real bath. Up until this point we've had showers, but no standing water. In the hotel he had a bath and really enjoyed it, until he decided to try to crawl in the bath-then he wasn't too happy, the darn ground kept slipping out from under him.

Friday we drove to Peter's grandpa's house. We were stopped on a drawbridge which was pretty cool. We went to Pike's Place Market-which was super crazy. We walked around and then were fine to leave the place. We also went to the Salmon Fish Ladder. The fish were not jumping, but they were still kind of interesting to look at. Then we hopped on a ferry. At one point on the ferry we looked at the GPS and it said we were driving in the middle of water-and it was right.

The drawbridge

The entrance to the Market

At the Salmon Ladder there was also a nice garden that we walked through
The little white things in the water are jelly fish
The view from where our car was parked on the ferry.
AAAAAHHHHH We're driving in the water!

We arrived at Grandpa's house met Anthony (uncle) and his wife Amy and her daughter Sophia. Connor was not happy about all these new people, but he eventually warmed up to them all. Amy really enjoyed holding and playing with Connor. Grandpa and Sherry have a cat that Connor really enjoyed looking at. He wanted to pet her, but she managed to run away when he got near-which made him really mad.

This concludes this part of the post...stay tuned for more of our vacation coming soon.

Guess who can crawl now

ME, THAT'S WHO!

I like playing in boxes too.

Look at me go!

Our weekend

Our weekend started on Friday. We picked up Peter's parents and drove up to Huntington Library. I really wanted to explore the gardens so we went there first. Our favorite was the Children's Garden. As it was really hot out, the fountains were definitely inviting to everyone.
Right before we left the Children's Garden, we stopped by the fountains one more time to get cooled off. Connor decided to take a swim and kept on sticking his head under the water.
The Children's Garden had magnetic sand, a mist hut (which was closed for the day), a tunnel of colors, spitting fountains-these were pretty cool, you didn't know which one was going to spit next, and some cool topiaries. From here we walked to the Chinese Garden and past the Japanese Garden which is closed for renovation. We also enjoyed the rose garden.
By this time we were all tired and oh so hot. We stopped under a big tree and had a little snack. Then we decided to go into the museum, mostly just because we knew it was air conditioned. But we also went and looked at some of the famous paintings. My favorites are The Blue Boy and Pinkie. Once I saw those two, I was happy. Diana and I then walked to the gift shop while the guys wandered around the library and then went down one of the forest trails. When we were done we waited in the shade for the guys to come back. They came back and announced that the water fountains were turned off-big bummer. I might've enjoyed that walk for the fountains, but was glad I didn't go. We decided we were all exhausted and were ready to head home.

After sitting in some seriously slow traffic and listening to our poor hungry/poopy baby cry for awhile, we finally arrived at the Bass Pro Shop for dinner. (The same totally awesome store we stopped at before with my dad.) Connor got changed, and we all got fed and then we showed David and Diana the totally cool store. David loved it! We kept turning around to find him missing. Peter showed him the hunting area and the two of them enjoyed playing the shooting games. Both agreed they could spend countless hours playing there. As it was I think they stopped after $2, though David definitely thought about giving it another $1 to play again.
These are some of the targets they were trying to hit. Peter's favorite was a barrel that when the target was hit, it released a huge stream of air that blew in the face of the person to the left of him. In this case it was his dad. It was pretty funny. He had fun purposely hitting that target.

After this we continued on our way home. Connor was a bit more cranky and oh so tired in the car. Peter's dad-though I'm sure he meant well, was driving both Connor and I crazy.

Saturday we ran a few errands to get out of our hot house and then headed over to my parents' house to go swimming. Peter also had the urge to make cinnamon rolls, so we did that too.

Above is the funny picture promised from the last post. Mommy was making noises to entertain me. Daddy captured the shot. It makes us all laugh. :)

We made one pan of orange rolls with craisins and one pan of cinnamon rolls with raisins. We took home one pan and devoured all 16 rolls (yeah the two of us ate them...they were delish!) This pan is waiting to go into the oven for proofing and then cooking. No pictures of final product, but you get the idea...they were so good we gobbled them up.
Sunday we didn't do anything out of the ordinary. And now we're back to the work week.

Water Fun

Here are a few of my favorites from the photos my dad took. He handed me a flash drive yesterday containing 1437 pictures from 7/3/11. It took awhile to go through all of them, copy my favorites to my computer (I picked 83) and then pick just a handful of them to post here. His pictures outlined the highlights of the Sunday afternoon.

We arrived for dinner:

MMM the table tastes pretty good.
Grandma says I have to stop doing this when I get teeth, so I have to enjoy it while I can.

I'm ready!

Trying to feed myself cantaloupe...it's slimy and squishy and I'm not sure what to do with it

Then I enjoyed some tummy time with toys. I have a tendency to spit up a little of my meals after I eat, so it's a good thing my bib is still on.

Woah look at that tower! I think I need to go knock it down!

Then we went on a quick walk followed up with some splashing in the pool. Going for a walk is the best way to calm Connor down, and we enjoy getting in the exercise.
Hmm what is this cold stuff under my feet?
I'm not sure I like this.
This is much better. I can stand and jump up and down.
Hmm what's down there?

Okay I'm done now, can I get out?

Riding on Grandpa's shoulders is one of Connor's favorite activities. I wonder how much hair he has pulled out?

Giddy up Horsey

So much fun

What a perfect Sunday afternoon. Next post will include pictures of Mommy and me swimming on Tuesday. Daddy got a really good picture of me smiling and my mommy making a really funny face :)

By the way I'm 8 months old today!

The Perfect Photo Shot!

How far would you go to get the perfect picture? Would you go in a pool in your clothes? My dad sure would!

Connor and I were getting our feet wet in the pool today. Connor has been a bit apprehensive about the pool water, especially when someone jumps in the pool or makes a loud splashing noise. Today the pool was nice and calm, so we went and put our feet in the water. Grandpa loves taking pictures of Connor or really anything in particular. So when I saw him taking his wallet and stuff out of his pockets I figured he would be walking down a few steps in the pool. I was not anticipating this:
Connor ended up really liking the water. We went over to the steps and he jumped up and down on the top step. More water pictures to come...