Seattle Zoo

Well, yesterday was a gorgeous day here in the Northwest, so we headed to the zoo. The kids have been talking about going to the zoo this summer for I don't know how long.


The best exhibit in our opinion was the Brown Bear one. Scott has been so excited to see these bears for a while. This is coming from a boy who last summer developed a very big fear of bears. He loves them now.

A little more up close. They were pretty massive.

The kids also got to go into a net area to feed some birds. This girl was nice enough to let Scott and Madeline feed the bird on her hand for quite awhile. Dylan was just content to watch from the safety of mom or dad's arms.:)

We also got to see this monkey come down and visit us. While we were watching him, he peed for all of us to see. Madeline thought is was funny, but gross. A few seconds later, he swung down right against the glass, unfortunately, right where Dylan was standing watching him.

Dylan had the fright of his life.:( He was standing right against the glass with kids pressed in behind him. When the monkey swung down against the glass all the kids were surprised and jumped back, but Dylan was smooshed in with nowhere to go. Needless to say he lost it. Poor little guy was terrified. This big monkey jumping right at him. It was almost like he was aiming for Dylan because he was the smallest. Everyone felt so bad for him.:(

This kids liked playing on these little drum's.

Doesn't he just look too grown up in this picture? He's just my little boy....!

As you can see, Dylan had not gotten over the monkey scaring him when we went to the petting zoo. He remained in our arms the whole time, and wouldn't let a limb near any more of the animals. If we asked him if he liked seeing the monkeys and wanted to see them again, he would look at us and just say, "Nooooo".

I don't know what it is about flamingos, but every time I see them in the Zoo, they are fighting with each other. They fight dirty too. They try to bite each other like the flamingos above are doing, or get each other's legs. Do they have bad temperments?

The gorilla visit was close to the end of our day, and the icing on the cake. This gorilla was on his way down to say hello to the people behind the glass. When he got within a few feet , he turned around, pooped for us all to see, then turned back around and proceeded to eat in with his fingers. Oh. My. Gross. Everyone was dying. We always get such good experiences like this when we go to the zoo, like last summer when the two lions got a little frisky with each other in this post, or when the lion gave us his personalized greeting in this post. What will happen on our next visit, and are we ready to find out?!

Oregon

This past weekend we drove down to Oregon to meet Dave's brother and his family, who were vacationing there. Our kids we so excited to see their cousins, and Dave and I were equally excited to visit with John and Laurel.:) This was our first time to see Oregon, and their beaches.



We met them at a coastal beach town called Seaside. Through all the rainy days we have had this past month, we lucked out and it was sunny and nice the day we went to the beach! They kids loved it and were excited to play at the beach again.:)

Here are the kids making "sand" angels. And I wonder why they were completely COVERED in sand when we left? I think we took half the beach with us when we left.

Dylan and his older cousin Drew. They are such cute little pals. I am sure Dylan was excited to play with a little boy his own age again.:) I think these two will always be good buddies.

The next day we went to the Portland Children's Museum. The kids headed to the water exhibit first thing, even though it was pouring buckets outside. I guess they didn't get wet enough running into the building.

Madeline liked this alligator dentist chair.

Dylan, not so much.

The kids served us a pretend lunch at the kids cafe play area for quite awhile.

Madeline was is heaven when she saw this face painting area. Now she could put "makeup" on like mommy. Disclaimer- I may not have the best makeup routine, but I definitely DON'T use green and red all over my face.:) I forgot to take a picture of Madeline at the end of the day, but, believe me, she had covered her face with red and green and black... you get the picture. She even got it in her hair. Then she wanted it washed off, which was pretty impossible in a public bathroom. Luckily another mom in the bathroom assured me that it would come off after a good scrubbing. Which was good considering....

Scott was not to be left out of the fun either. After being fully reassured that this wasn't actual "makeup", he wanted to be all green like Yoda. Which is what he is pretending to be in the above picture. So on the way home, Scott was still a little green and Madeline was still a little red.:)

Thanks for making a family trip to Oregon, John and Laurel! We had fun seeing you guys, and can't wait to do it again. Any other friends that make it up this way, feel free to call us so we can see you too!:)

Recent Happenings...

So, we have been here now for three weeks, and what they say is true. It rains alot here in Seattle.:) Scott informed me the other day, that it rains alot here because it is so green. His logic is backwards, but he has the idea. We have loved our time here, but sometimes the kids get a little antsy not being able to go out to a playground. They find ways to entertain themselves, which can be good or bad.

The other day, I walked in our closet and found them cleaning all my shoes with Dylan's wipes.:)

Over Memorial Weekend, we went with some friends here to the Seattle Children's Museum. The kids had fun, and since we finally did something really fun for the kids, Dylan has stopped asking if we are ever going to get to Seattle.:)

Madeline of course loved the dancing and music room. The workers there commented to us what a great little dancer she is. Maybe after we are done with Grad school, we can get her into a dance class. She would love it.

They got to make things from clay.

Our future firemen.

They had a little grocery store for the kids to play in.

The boys built some things too. It was a fun museum, but not quite on the same caliber as The Strong Play Museum in Rochester. I don't think that one can ever be topped.:) And no we get no money from them for all our endorsements.:)

Outside the Museum was a little place that sold Beingets. Remember those from this post from our Disneyland trip? While here is a picture of them. They didn't put anywhere near enough powdered sugar on them as the originals in New Orleans. They were pretty good though.

On Memorial Day we went to Pike's Market which, in case you have never heard of it, is a famous farmer's market here in Seattle. Must see thing to do if you are in the area. This fish above was set up as a prank by where they sold the fish. They try to get people to come over to this fish and touch it, or just get close to it, and then a guy behind the cart pulls on a string or something that is attached to the fish, making it jump out at you. Scott went over to it and it made him jump a mile. Plenty of people fell for it, and it was quite entertaining to watch.:)

One of the things they are known for at The Market, is their fish. Specifically, their fish throwing. It is quite entertaining to watch the guys (fish monger's?) throw the big fish around when someone buys something. Almost makes you want to buy one, if only they were not so huge!

They had SOOO many flowers for such reasonable prices. They were gorgeous.

Outside Pike's Market. After strolling around The Market, we walked around downtown a little, before heading home.

One our way to our car, We had to buy some flowers to take home. This was one of the smallest and cheapest bunches of flowers. I couldn't believe how much you got for the price.

Later that day we went to a dinner at Dave's co worker's house. It was nice that Dave got a three day weekend, to fit in some fun things around Seattle. We really do love the area here, and the ward we are in. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming. And they have lot of families our age here as well, so I have loved getting together for playgroups and things still. We are crossing our fingers that is starts to warm up here for the summer!:)

We made it!:)

Well, last Friday after a long day of flying with the kids, who were just phenomenal on our six hour flight from Newark to Seattle, we made it to our new home for the next almost three months. We are very excited to be here, and love the area already.

We are technically living in Redmond, WA, which is about half an hour or so outside of Seattle. It's a great area. We now live close to a Costco (we don't have any within 50 miles of Ithaca, a HUGE sacrifice, I know), and still very close to Target. Much to Dave's dismay but not surprise, we have already visited their establishment twice. I'm sure if today wasn't a Sunday, it could have been three times.:)

Tomorrow Dave starts his HR Internship with Microsoft and is very excited. I am also excited to be on the west coast once again, albeit still a few days drive to visit the parents, but at least on the same time zone as them.

The kids are excited to finally be in Seattle which we have been talking to them about since last November. Dylan just keeps repeating "We're in Seattle" multiple times throughout the day. We think he may be a little disappointed right now, since most of our time here thus far had been running errands, getting the essentials of living here for the next few months, and not doing fun vacation things.:) Those fun things will come, in due time Dylan.:) We had really nice, warm weather Friday and Saturday, but today has been a little rainy. Scott summed it up the best talking to Grandpa Jay on the phone tonight. He told him that if he comes to visit, make sure he remembers to bring his umbrella because it rains alot here. He is catching on quick.:) Too bad we had no room in our luggage to pack our umbrellas, but we have heard only tourists carry umbrellas around when it starts to rain. I guess we will fit right in without them.:)

Okay, I downloaded all these pictures a few days ago, but have been busy getting ready to move for the summer, and I hadn't found time to write about everything. Now, I am just avoiding the work that needs to be done.:)


We went to Harmony, PA one Saturday to visit the Restoration of the Priesthood Monument.

We have many of our friends leaving for good this spring, and so I wanted to catch a few pictures of our kids friends at a recent playgroup. We will miss so many people. Sniff, Sniff.

Owen is Dylan's very first little buddy, even before they were old enough to know they were buddies.:)

Luckily, not all our friends are leaving at once. I am glad there are still many people we will come back and see again next semester.:)

We also headed over to Canada to see Niagara Falls again. It was Dave's first time.

This is a picture of things to come. We went on this boat, the Maid of the Mist, the day after I took this picture. This is just to show how close it gets to the Falls.

So Close!

Dave and I particularly liked this view of the falls, the water going off the edge in a free fall. I like where you can see the rock under the flowing water, and then there is that little gap at the edge, where there is nothing but water.

A cool souvenir shop had fun things outside their store.

This is us on the Maid of the Mist right next to Horseshoe Falls. I could only take the one picture, quickly, since it was SOOOO misty. It felt like being in a big rainstorm. Luckily they provide ponchos for everyone.:)

This is after getting all wet. As you can see, the kids were not so thrilled about being drenched (especially Madeline). They kept pulling their plastic hoods completely over their faces. Luckily, not suffocating occurred. The ponchos were pretty roomy, especially for the kids.

Family picture on the boat.

On the way home from Canada, we stopped in Palmyra to visit the Sacred Grove again.

We love this time of year and the warm weather!