Spring Break...Washington style

Ok, we expect rain when we visit family in Washington state, especially in the Spring when we typically go, but the sheer amount of water they've been getting and getting and getting was apparent in the puddles (and nearly a pond) on the driveway and lawn.  This is NOT something we are used to, coming from the desert.  We stayed with some of Pete's family, using our RV to sleep in, and enjoyed some down time and catching up.  We lounged around the first day and a half we were there, I think we needed it after driving the 14-15 hours over two days to get there (with a head or cross wind the entire way, not fun when you're in a big truck pulling an even bigger trailer).  On Tuesday we went with cousins to a local community center with an indoor pool and waterslide.  The kids had a blast. 

We decided to do a few touristy things on this trip, so on Wednesday we drove into downtown Seattle (an hour's drive away) and went to the Pacific Science Center. 

We saw exhibits of insects, dinosaurs, mind & body, "Hubble" Imax movie, etc. and our favorite part -- they had a special exhibit on Star Wars with ship models, costumes, weapons, droids, etc.  The boys were in heaven.

After the science center we walked over to the Space Needle nearby and went up to the observation deck where it was very windy making it quite cold.  We didn't stay outside very long, but enjoyed the amazing views. 

On Thursday, we again went into Seattle.  We started at the Seattle Aquarium where they had a lot of local fish and other sea life, including a couple of large tide pools with beautiful and colorful sea stars, sea urchin and coral you could touch. There was also an octopus, moon jellies, some harbor seals, fur seals, sea otters, and river otters, and some birds including puffin.

(we found Nemo and Marlin)

We then went to lunch at Red Robin on the pier before our harbor tour cruise, a one hour trip around the harbor learning information about Seattle.  Luckily at this point the rain we had been having for days had stopped and we even saw the sun a little bit.

Before we left Seattle we went to Pikes Market, though by the time we got there many vendors were closed or closing, but we did at least get to see the famous fish throwing at the Pike Place Fish Market.  We also found the Gum Wall completely by accident, the kids thought it was pretty cool (I thought it was pretty gross).

Our last two days were spent doing more lounging around, our two busy days in Seattle had worn us out.  We did spend Friday evening with some more family, Pete's brother and his wife and kids, enjoying a nice dinner out and catching up (we don't see each other nearly often enough).  And then us adults went out to eat dinner in peace on Saturday night.
After driving 13 hours on Sunday with only TWO stops, we finally arrived home at 11:30 pm, quickly unloaded what we had to and crashed in bed!

Trevor loves it when we visit family in Washington because he has cousins very close to his age whereas on my side of the family he is the oldest by five years.  Logan and Kylie had a great time too even though there are no cousins close to their ages (they are all older), everyone was great to include them.  We always enjoy our visits and this time was no exception.  We especially appreciate the hospitality of family letting us invade their home and schedules, and we're willing to return the favor any time but somehow I don't think Wendover will ever be their destination of choice. :)