Bobsy Twim Reunion

It took almost 10 years, but Laura was finally re-united with her high school buddy Becca Spain (Morrell). We were able to spend a couple of hours at the Spain home in the Eastern suburbs of Seattle and just catch up/hang out, while the kids played and …..played.  It seemed like Laura and Becca just picked up right where they left off, discussing old friends, and making memories.  It was the first time we were able to meet Jackson and Lizzy and the kids got along great.  Lizzy even gave Erica a cute doll to take home...Erica was in heaven.

Air and Combat Museum

There was another airplane museum that CJ mentioned that he’d wanted to check out, so we headed up to North Seattle to the Boeing Air and Combat Museum. It was pretty cool with lots of airplanes, but it also had a lot of other war machines and historical timelines & facts that we were able to explore.

                       TOP GUN in the Flesh!

The Ferry

After a day in Seattle we decided to take the long way home via the Southworth Ferry. It was just a ferry ride, but the kids thought it was the coolest thing ever to be able to drive your car onto a gigantic boat, go for a ride to an island, and then drive your car off of the boat. While there were hundreds of people on the ferry catching a ride home at the end of the day most were just sitting down relaxing, while we were running around exploring the boat, eating our Pikes Market Treats and taking pictures of everything. You could definitely tell that we were the tourists on the ferry.

Museum of Flight

Meanwhile...over at the flight museum, Clay, Preston, and Detric has a blast looking around and checking out the space shuttle replica, and a bunch of other planes and jets that were on display like JFK’s Air Force One, and a 747 Air Refueler test prototype. It was a good museum, but the boys were a little disappointed in it. There weren’t nearly as many planes as they had heard, or expected. On their way back to the car they were passing through the lobby area when they noticed another hallway that led to a skyway(walkway) across the street, so they decided to take 5 minutes to check out what was over there. They then realized that the museum that they had been exploring for the past 2.5 hours was just scratching the surface. So they quickly called Laura and told her they needed 30 more minutes...well that 30 minutes turned into an hour...and at the end of the day, they had thoroughly gotten their fill of everything imaginable in the field of aeronautics. It was Awesome!!!

Pikes Market

There were no flying fish today, but we found an amazing Russian Bakery.  

Oh my goodness, I think they were pumping delicious smells out the exhaust into the street lulling people in... and it worked.  There was a huge line, but it was sooo worth the wait!!!  Right after we were done getting our treats, we got word that the airplane boys were done and coming to get us.... Laura had a brilliant idea...rather than have Clay navigate down the streets of downtown Seattle to pick us up...we would walk away from the touristy area of the waterfront and find a more quiet area.  As we were walking...a homeless man started yelling at CJ.  "Why are you living with your mother?  You should start your own college?  It's time for you to be on your own"  And he kept yelling at poor CJ for a few blocks.  Finally, Laura just turned around, stared him in the eyes and point blank told the man, "That's enough".  He kept yelling things as they walked away but he didn't follow them anymore.  They quickly went to the next block and called Clay to tell him where they were...and low and behold a whole street of homeless people everywhere...feeling instantly vulnerable and unsafe...Laura told Clay...change of plans.... we are going back to the touristy waterfront...pick us up by the huge farris wheel.  So we started walking in that direction..didn't look too far... HAHA, that was an understatement.  It really wasn't that far...but there was like a bazillion stairs between us and the farris wheel...and Erica had fallen asleep in the stroller... So, Laura got to carry the stroller with a sleeping Erica down TONS of stairs...talk about a work out!!!  Feel the burn.  But luckily when we got to the bottom of the stairs there was her knight in shining armor with a white minivan ready to pick them up!!!    

Infamous Gum Wall

After we left the aquarium we called the flight museum boys to see if they wanted to join us for dinner...they said yes, but they needed 30 more minutes...oh goody...just enough time to walk to:

 1428 Post Alley, Seattle WA 98101

What initially appears to be just a common alley in downtown Seattle is actually anything but that!!!  In  1999 it was declared an official Seattle attraction....what makes it so famous??? GUM And Lots of it!!  People come see the "art", contribute to the "art", and just enjoy the mass beauty of the "art".  The kids were grossed out by it and couldn't wait to leave, Laura was intrigued and loved every part of it... the colors, the gum as it hangs down from the sills...thinking of all the people who contributed..Laura could have just stared at it for hours.  

But at this point we got another call from our flight boys and they are delayed... needing more time with the airplanes... so now these 3 munchkids were really chomping at the bit for something to eat... so Laura didn't make them wait any longer and we headed to Pikes Market to see what we could find.

Seattle Aquarium

Laura, CJ, Aparri, and Erica visited the Seattle Aquarium.  Our visit began with a huge tank full of fish, creatures, and a scuba diver!  It was fun watching them swim around the tank, waving, and interacting with all the sea life... but the experience went up a notch when it came to feeding time!!!  The scuba diver was swarmed with eels and animal life waiting for its lunch!!