Friday, June 15, 2012
Kaleb is in T-Ball!!
Kaleb recently started T-Ball, it is extra special because Grandpa Smith and Dad are the coaches! We have a great group of 6-7 year old kids! 12 total, 3 girls, 9 boys. They all get a long really well and some of them are really funny kids! I get to help out as "team mom" and do all of the batting rotations and field rotations, its super fun! I also organize all the after game snacks! Woo hoo! All the parents are really helpful and help out with snacks and outfield coaching during the game. Its great and helps to make things go so smoothly! We don't keep score during games, just basincally play until the little ones get tired (which has been a consistent 4 innings)!! I am loving every minute of it and the kids are getting so much better after just a few games and practices!
Seattle Family Vacation
BOY OH BOY!!! We planned a family trip to Seattle, Washington full of fun and adventure and it was!! We got a room at the Embassy Suites, 5th floor, double room suite, that was awesome!! We had a balcony that overlooked the Mormon Temple in Bellevue too, it was beautiful! As I took something close to 750 pictures (hehe) I will try to make this semi-orderly!
Day 1 - Thursday
Destination - Alicia's house in Tri-Cities
We left the valley around 3:00 pm and headed to Tri-Cities to meet up with Alicia and get a chunk of our Seattle drive out of the way! We got to Tri-Cities around 6:00 and had a DELICIOUS dinner waiting for us! Jay BBQ'd us a delicious smoked briskett that was cooked to PERFECTION! Alicia made some corn bread and baked beans to go with it! It was sooooo good! Then while Jay and Joe hung out, Alicia and I pulled out old photos and laughed the night away! The kids played games with Addi and were completely jealous of the TV set up in her room! The kids were in heaven being able to go to bed with a cartoon on the TV in the room! We left Alicia's house on Friday around 6:00 am and headed to Seattle.
Day 2 - Friday
Destination - Make it to Seattle, See the Space Needle, Ride the Monorail, go to a Mariners Game!
We got to Seattle around 10:00 am and headed straight to the Space Needle. We found parking right in front and headed up to it! We had purchased City Passes and had to go to the window to exchange our receipts for the actual ticket books. Once we had our ticket books we had tickets to go to the Space Needle, Zoo, Aquarium, EMP, Science Center, and more! We were stoked! We rode the large yellow elevator to the top of the Space Needle (which we learned takes exactly 41 seconds) and saw a view to kill for! We showed the kids all of the area, the ocean, the mountains, etc. It was beautiful! Cameron was trying to get as close to the edge as possible while Kaleb had a death grip on the railing or the benches! He liked it but I think was pretty happy to be on the ground when we were finished!!
After the Space Needle Cameron was determined to ride "the train" or the monorail. She was relentless and would not stop talking about it so we turned around and found the closest route to get us on that darn monorail! We found the beginnin of the rail at a shopping center and waited in line to ride it round trip to the Space Needle and back. Overall it was about a 5 minute ride but only cost $2 and Cameron was in heaven! As the doors opened and we were allowed to get on she just took a deep breath, smiled hugely with her hands clasped together under her chin, so excited she couldn't even walk! I pushed her onto it and we found a seat at a big window. Once we got to the end we rushed to the front of the shuttle and the kids got to sit in the very front, they LOVED it! The conductor t them honk the horn and lean way up on the glass. Cameron was in "train" heaven!
Once off we decided to go shopping since we were at a shopping center afterall! We found the Mariners store and all got gear to go to our game that night! Joe got a new hat and a t-shirt, the kids both got t-shirts and foam fingers (Kaleb got a hat too), and I got a sweatshirt and hat! We were head-to-toe Mariners gear and ready to be crazy, wild, screaming, fans! After shopping we ran over to the hotel to check in, met up with my parents, sister, and uncle and all headed to the Mariners game together! We found EXPENSIVE parking and made our way to the stadium. It was a great game, and we witnessed history!! It was the third NO HITTER game in Mariners history!! 6 pitchers and NO HITS by the Dodgers! We won 1-0. It was awesome! We ate delicious Mariner Dogs, hot pretzles, popcorn, etc. We all screamed and shouted and overall had a great time! The kids (and us) all loved the energy in the stadium!
After the game we headed to the hotel for a good nights rest!
Day 3 - Saturday
Destination - Woodland Park Zoo, Relax!
We got up first thing Saturday morning and went down to the lobby for a great big breakfast! The hotel provides a complementary breakfast that was to die for! We had omelets with ham, cheese, peppers, and mushrooms (mmmm) and options of pancakes, waffles, bagels, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, cereal, and more! It was awesome! We ate till we were full and headed to the Woodland Park Zoo! Once at the zoo we made a began at the west enterance and made our way through the maze of wild animals! We started at the penguins and slowly made our way through the jungle animals, african safari animals, asian animals, and american animals. They had it all set up by the country the animal was from! The kids loved seeing all the animals and some of them put on quite a show for us! The zoo was having a bear and wolf special exhibit and we got to see two grizzly bears destroy a mock campsite and learn about things we should and should not do while camping! It was very neat to see! We also saw creepy crawlies (snakes, spiders, poisonous frogs, etc) and wolves, bears, hippo's, elephants, girrafes, lions, snow leopards, monkeys, birds, and more! The kids loved it!
After the zoo, I was EXHAUSTED, and we decided to go back to the hotel and try out the heated pool and hot tub! BUT FIRST - we went to Albertsons and purchased everything we needed to make banana splits in our room! We got back to the hotel and made big banana splits and then wen down to the pool. We spent several hours swimming in the pool and relaxing in the hot tub. Luckily it wasn't too hot and I was able to sit in it for a few minutes at a time. My feet were really sore so for the most part I sat on the edge of the hot tub with my feet in it! It was heaven! The pool had a rock waterfall in it that was fun to play under and Joe and I took turns swimming the kids under it to feel the water fall on our heads! After swimming time we met up with my family and all went down to the hotel restaurant to have dinner - Joe and I got fried halibut and it was GOOOOOOD!!
Day 4 - Sunday
Destination - Science Center, Aquarium, Pike's Market, Home
Sunday morning we got up early, cleaned our hotel room, and got our stuff packed into the car. We enjoyed another big breakfast and headed off to the Science Center. We LOVED the science center. It was full of little games and hands on experiments! We got to do little activities to experiment with our bodies, we played with water activities, got to hold and feel different sea creatures in an indoor mini salt water bay, learn about planets, play in a space shuttle, see giant dinosaur bones and giant electronic dinosaurs, lots of living bugs (spiders, cock roaches, walking sticks, naked mole rats, and more)! We also got to go see an imax movie while there about Mummies! It was very cool, Cameron fell asleep but Kaleb was stoked to learn about mummies and see the real ones! And right before we left we went inside a butterfly house (that was REALLY REALLY HOT AND HUMID) and got to walk around hundreds of butterflies flying around us! They had really big ones, small ones, bright ones, fast ones, etc. It was beautiful! Both the kids loved it!
After the Science Center we went to the Aquarium. We walked through it looking at all the fish, the otters, seals, etc. They had a little "matching" game where we got a card with 10 or so fish on it and we carefully walked through the tanks finding each fish on our cards. When we found them all we got otter stickers!! We also go to see a diver and ask her questions while she was in a large fish tank! Kaleb thought her outfit was the coolest thing ever!!
After the aquarium we drove through pike's market and saw some of the little shops down on the pier. Went to Krispee Creme and got a dozen donuts for the ride home and off we went. 5 hours later we were pulling into our driveway in Moscow and off to bed as Joe and I both are to work Monday morning!!
The trip was wonderful, the kids had a blast and we got to spend so much time together just curiously looking at these awesome places we went to. The kids were full of great questions and wanted to take in as much as possible, so you can now probably understand why I ended up with over 750 pictures!! We got a little keepsake magnet from each place we went and look forward our next family vacation - we've decided to get magnets everywhere we go and will make a fun little magnetic board to reflect all of our vacations!! I cant wait to make more memories!
Day 1 - Thursday
Destination - Alicia's house in Tri-Cities
We left the valley around 3:00 pm and headed to Tri-Cities to meet up with Alicia and get a chunk of our Seattle drive out of the way! We got to Tri-Cities around 6:00 and had a DELICIOUS dinner waiting for us! Jay BBQ'd us a delicious smoked briskett that was cooked to PERFECTION! Alicia made some corn bread and baked beans to go with it! It was sooooo good! Then while Jay and Joe hung out, Alicia and I pulled out old photos and laughed the night away! The kids played games with Addi and were completely jealous of the TV set up in her room! The kids were in heaven being able to go to bed with a cartoon on the TV in the room! We left Alicia's house on Friday around 6:00 am and headed to Seattle.
Day 2 - Friday
Destination - Make it to Seattle, See the Space Needle, Ride the Monorail, go to a Mariners Game!
We got to Seattle around 10:00 am and headed straight to the Space Needle. We found parking right in front and headed up to it! We had purchased City Passes and had to go to the window to exchange our receipts for the actual ticket books. Once we had our ticket books we had tickets to go to the Space Needle, Zoo, Aquarium, EMP, Science Center, and more! We were stoked! We rode the large yellow elevator to the top of the Space Needle (which we learned takes exactly 41 seconds) and saw a view to kill for! We showed the kids all of the area, the ocean, the mountains, etc. It was beautiful! Cameron was trying to get as close to the edge as possible while Kaleb had a death grip on the railing or the benches! He liked it but I think was pretty happy to be on the ground when we were finished!!
After the Space Needle Cameron was determined to ride "the train" or the monorail. She was relentless and would not stop talking about it so we turned around and found the closest route to get us on that darn monorail! We found the beginnin of the rail at a shopping center and waited in line to ride it round trip to the Space Needle and back. Overall it was about a 5 minute ride but only cost $2 and Cameron was in heaven! As the doors opened and we were allowed to get on she just took a deep breath, smiled hugely with her hands clasped together under her chin, so excited she couldn't even walk! I pushed her onto it and we found a seat at a big window. Once we got to the end we rushed to the front of the shuttle and the kids got to sit in the very front, they LOVED it! The conductor t them honk the horn and lean way up on the glass. Cameron was in "train" heaven!
After the game we headed to the hotel for a good nights rest!
Day 3 - Saturday
Destination - Woodland Park Zoo, Relax!
We got up first thing Saturday morning and went down to the lobby for a great big breakfast! The hotel provides a complementary breakfast that was to die for! We had omelets with ham, cheese, peppers, and mushrooms (mmmm) and options of pancakes, waffles, bagels, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage, cereal, and more! It was awesome! We ate till we were full and headed to the Woodland Park Zoo! Once at the zoo we made a began at the west enterance and made our way through the maze of wild animals! We started at the penguins and slowly made our way through the jungle animals, african safari animals, asian animals, and american animals. They had it all set up by the country the animal was from! The kids loved seeing all the animals and some of them put on quite a show for us! The zoo was having a bear and wolf special exhibit and we got to see two grizzly bears destroy a mock campsite and learn about things we should and should not do while camping! It was very neat to see! We also saw creepy crawlies (snakes, spiders, poisonous frogs, etc) and wolves, bears, hippo's, elephants, girrafes, lions, snow leopards, monkeys, birds, and more! The kids loved it!
After the zoo, I was EXHAUSTED, and we decided to go back to the hotel and try out the heated pool and hot tub! BUT FIRST - we went to Albertsons and purchased everything we needed to make banana splits in our room! We got back to the hotel and made big banana splits and then wen down to the pool. We spent several hours swimming in the pool and relaxing in the hot tub. Luckily it wasn't too hot and I was able to sit in it for a few minutes at a time. My feet were really sore so for the most part I sat on the edge of the hot tub with my feet in it! It was heaven! The pool had a rock waterfall in it that was fun to play under and Joe and I took turns swimming the kids under it to feel the water fall on our heads! After swimming time we met up with my family and all went down to the hotel restaurant to have dinner - Joe and I got fried halibut and it was GOOOOOOD!!
Day 4 - Sunday
Destination - Science Center, Aquarium, Pike's Market, Home
Sunday morning we got up early, cleaned our hotel room, and got our stuff packed into the car. We enjoyed another big breakfast and headed off to the Science Center. We LOVED the science center. It was full of little games and hands on experiments! We got to do little activities to experiment with our bodies, we played with water activities, got to hold and feel different sea creatures in an indoor mini salt water bay, learn about planets, play in a space shuttle, see giant dinosaur bones and giant electronic dinosaurs, lots of living bugs (spiders, cock roaches, walking sticks, naked mole rats, and more)! We also got to go see an imax movie while there about Mummies! It was very cool, Cameron fell asleep but Kaleb was stoked to learn about mummies and see the real ones! And right before we left we went inside a butterfly house (that was REALLY REALLY HOT AND HUMID) and got to walk around hundreds of butterflies flying around us! They had really big ones, small ones, bright ones, fast ones, etc. It was beautiful! Both the kids loved it!
After the aquarium we drove through pike's market and saw some of the little shops down on the pier. Went to Krispee Creme and got a dozen donuts for the ride home and off we went. 5 hours later we were pulling into our driveway in Moscow and off to bed as Joe and I both are to work Monday morning!!
The trip was wonderful, the kids had a blast and we got to spend so much time together just curiously looking at these awesome places we went to. The kids were full of great questions and wanted to take in as much as possible, so you can now probably understand why I ended up with over 750 pictures!! We got a little keepsake magnet from each place we went and look forward our next family vacation - we've decided to get magnets everywhere we go and will make a fun little magnetic board to reflect all of our vacations!! I cant wait to make more memories!
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