Seattle Space Needle

This morning we booked an early viewing at the Seattle Space Needle. We ended up being crazy early! I played with the littles out front while Mr. Stannix waited in line for our tickets. 

They were pretty excited to go up! 

It was still pretty busy for the early morning, but we walked all the way around taking in the views. 

When we made our way to the bottom we decided to let the kids each pick out a souvenir at the gift shop to remember our time in Seattle. They each picked something unique and special to them and left more excited than when we arrived! Their new toys kept them occupied for the long drive to the boarder and then Tsawwassen where we boarded the ferry for the Island.

 

Camilla was just one year old when we went on this ferry last. She truly is our cautious Camilla and was kind of freaking out as we drove aboard. All yesterday Joe kept bringing up the ferry ride and although he always expressed excitement, I could tell there was a part of him that was worried. As soon as we made our way up to the deck, they all stood in awe.

This little guy couldn't get enough of the wind and excitement on deck. 

Camilla took it upon herself to keep Fin extra safe and warm the entire time. It was the sweetest.

We were all pretty tired when we made it to the other side. The driving, the wind, the crazy... We were happy to set up camp for two consecutive nights at the same place! When dark settled upon us we brought our chairs up to the field to enjoy an outdoor movie night. Halfway through I took the younger three back to the tent and tucked them in for the night.

Seattle

Today began with breakfast at IHOP! After being up all night long listening to intoxicated campers talking and laughing really loudly, we were feeling pretty tired. We all crammed into a booth, ordered juice, smiley face pancakes, and eggs and enjoyed a few moments of peace. The littles all sat so well and were complimented by the older couple in the table next to us on their way out. Camilla and Hyrum were the only ones who actually finished their plates. Once we were full we hustled back out to the van for our long drive to Seattle. When I put Ollie into his seat I laughed out loud at all of the half eaten cookies and crumbs that he had been sitting on!

Most of the drive on the I-90 was dull and boring. We traveled for a whole four hours with a few potty breaks in between. The littles drove like champs until the last twenty minutes. When Ollie started fussing we unrolled the windows for some fresh air. While the older kids hid under their blankets for warmth Finley busted out his best manic laugh, over and over and over again. Soon we were all giggling.

We parked downtown Seattle and walked over to Pike's Place market. I have been once before and was so excited to share it with the kids. It's such a cool place. Busy, but full of awesomeness. 

As we walked, Joe repeated, "This is BOR-IN'!" over and over again.... Soon the cool trinkets and gifts were drowned out by the complaints of small, tired children. So we took to the outdoors!

Harbour cities are always interesting to me. The scenery is so unique.

We decided to check out the famous wheel and go for a ride. Camilla was terrified, but it was all the boys could talk about as we walked. 

After she got on, she decided it wasn't nearly as scary as she thought it was going to be!

Fin got a nice sized mosquito bite yesterday and earned himself the nickname of Quasimoto for the day.

 We stopped at Daddy's favorite place on our way to the Motel. Although it's distant in my memory now, I do remember two of the children behaving so terribly that I may or may not have cried while we sat and waited for our food. But mostly, I remember how excited Mr. Stannix was and how happy we all were when we left. 

 We ordered two of his favorite things and shared halfsies.

It tasted so great! And the best part is, it cost less than McDonalds!

We all went to bed with tired legs and full tummies!

Avalanche Lake

This morning we jumped in the van nice and early and drove back into the park for one last hike before our next destination. As we drove Hyrum said, "Mom, Guess what? Ollie is so cute with his three little chins and chubby cheeks!" We wanted to hike the Cedar wood trail with the littles and figured the board walk would be nice and easy. Even though we got there early, we were only able to grab one of the last few parking spaces. I put a few granola bars in the backpack and made sure everyone had full bottles of water before taking off.

We got to a point on the boardwalk where the trail splits off and leads up to Avalanche Lake. We looked at the distance (7.5km round trip) on the map and looked at the slowly inclining trail. The family voted and it was decided that we would attempt the hike up to the lake. What was a half hour walk had now turned into a 5+ hour hike, but I am so glad we did it!

As we walked we listened to rushing water, chipmunks and birds. Nature is so soothing and wonderful. It took me to my happy place. It was great to do something hard and have time to ponder and think as we walked.

The world is such a beautiful place and I couldn't help but stand in awe of the rushing water, fallen logs, green trees, and unique rocks.

The boys were so happy to hike with their Dad! Sometimes our hike was full of great conversation, and other times we walked in silence as we took in the scenery and sounds of nature.

Finley trucked right up that mountain like it was nothing! I knew that if my legs were sore, his must be sore too! He didn't complain once the entire way up. It was incredible!

I feel so blessed to be called "mom" by these littles.

After Camilla's bag of snacks was empty she collected flat rocks along the way so that she would have something to skip at the lake. She carried them the whole way up pretty much, except when she deligated the job to a very helpful Joe near the end.

Nature is so amazing!

By the time we reached the end we were all hot and sweaty, but in good spirits!

I loved the sense of accomplishment that the children experienced as they reached the end. They learned that we can do hard things! 

After dipping our feet in lake and boosting our blood sugar with gummies that I had stashed away in the backpack, we put on our shoes and our hiking faces and made the long journey back to the bottom.

We made a few cute friends along the way!

These two ran the entire way down stopping every minute or so and waiting for us to catch up.

Ollie slept on my back the entire way! He was a trooper. 

We passed a lot of people on the way down and many of them would look at Finley making his way down the mountain with a determined look on his face. I heard one dad tell his twelve year old boy, "See! If he can do it, you can do it!" Finley honestly deserves a medal for the amount of walking he did today. He refused to hold our hands or be carried and was still running near the very end.

This kid was our comic relief the entire way down. Love him!

The afternoon was filled with driving, and a lot of potty breaks. We had picked up a few new movies for the kids and one of them was "diary of a wimpy kid". I'm not super fond of it, but one of the songs was called, "exploding diaper" and of course that's the only line that the kids remember from it. Well, at the very end of our drive, Fin was complaining of a tummy ache. When the ache finally went away he needed a diaper change, stat. When I pulled him out there was you-know-what everywhere! I probably used a million baby wipes on him and his car seat before sitting a naked Finley back into the car for the last half hour of our drive. The kids laughed at the whole "exploding diaper" thing and then we hit the road. We were all pretty happy to make it to camp. 

Daddy is a rockstar and set up the tent and sleeping bags in record time. There was a chocolate pudding fight and some other sibling rivalries, but once the sun went down we were able to settle next to a warm fire and make some smores. I was awake most of the night listening to the crazy people at the next campsite over, but the kids slept great!