Our Trip

After seeing that B#2 already blogged about our trip, I told her maybe I should just do a post that said "see daughter's blog" but she said I should still write about it since our stories would be different. Well, we shall see about that.

The first day we went to a place in Washington called The Northwest Trek, kind of a zoo of sorts but with mostly Northwest wild animals. The weather was so wonderful for walking through and seeing all the animals. Then we went on a tram ride to see other animals that weren't in cages such as Bison, deer and "reindeer" (their proper name escapes me right now). All in all it was a good day with not so much walking as you would do in a regular zoo, which suits preggo mama just fine!

The first night at the beach house where we stayed was interesting since there were 10 of us in a two bedroom, 1 bathroom house but Praise the Lord there was only one time where I was almost in tears waiting for my turn in the bathroom. Not too bad for a five day trip. Baby was in the room with us so that was quite a transition for the three of us but by then end he was getting used to sleeping there.

We decided to give the little ones a break from the van the next day so we just rode around the island a bit seeing what all was there. We were told from a local store clerk that people come to the island for the sunrises, sunsets, mountains and water which didn't leave a whole lot for us to do with the kids but we did manage to have a picnic at a local state park and then just head back to the beach house for some time on the beach(which is rocky) and some rest.

This in pretty much where baby stays while we are out and about, on big brother's back.

We also visited the "World Famous Uff Da shop", which surprisingly our friends who let us stay in the beach house had never even visited. I can't imagine why!?!

On day three we decided to head to Seattle to go to the Pacific Science center and just see what Seattle was like. After that we decided to take the monorail down to Pike's Place Market. I think the kids were wondering why in the world we wanted to go down there since it was so strange and busy but it was an experience for us all and we got some really yummy doughnuts to eat on the way home.

To tell the truth, mom was really ready to head home on day 4 but after praying for rest and strength, I persevered and made it through to the end. So on day 4 we decided to head north to see the San Juan islands, Friday Harbor in particular. The ferry ride was a very enjoyable hour but unfortunately, by the time we got to Friday Harbor most things were going to be closing for the day and we were pretty much stuck wandering around the shops right near the ferry since we chose not to pay the fee to bring our van on the ferry with us. Our return ferry wasn't scheduled to leave until 7:35 so that left alot of time wandering but the Lord was good...it didn't rain, we were able to find a place to eat that wasn't too fancy and there was a very small coffee shop near the ferry where we were able to spend some time while waiting. Chalk that part of the trip up to another experience for us all.

On our way home we stopped in Olympia to have lunch with a dear friend who I grew up with. What a blessing and surprise it was for us when DH tried to pay for their lunch only to find out that they had already paid for our lunch....all 10 of us!

After lunch, we made two more planned stops before heading home. One was to the World's largest bead store, Ship Wrecked Beads. I am not sure who enjoyed it more, dad or the girls. Then we were off to the Cabela's store...fun for the guys. It was definitely an interesting place.

It was a fun trip, but boy were we glad to be home. It felt like a palace after all that traveling. One more interesting anecdote...on day two while we were exploring the island, we went in to a little kitchen store there. I was admiring this interesting popcorn popper where you don't need any oil to pop it in the microwave, just plain ole good for you popcorn. Well we decided to pass on it, not wanting to spend more money than we should on the trip, but once we got out to our van and started leaving, out comes the store clerk rushing to our van with the popcorn popper in her hands. She wanted us to have it she said. Wasn't that very nice? What a blessing! We are still working on learning how to use it properly.