Vacation Photos!

Hi again!
Well, it's been a week & a half since we got back from vacation, & i'm still scrambling to catch up. But it was wonderful!!!! We had the best time!! First of all, you can see the complete photos on my photo album page. This post just shows a view of my favorite photos.

This was the kids' first time traveling out of state or flying on an airplane, so they were so excited--the morning we left they lept out of bed at 4am as if springloaded. Bradley thought it was so much fun going through security that he wanted to turn around & do it again. They were only a little nervous about flying, but once the plane took off apprehension was replaced by wonder. "Wow!!! Look at the cars! Look at the people from up here!!! Look how small everything is!" By the time we got home again they'd been on five planes, and become veteran flyers.

After we landed at SeaTac, my family met us & we all went to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. In case you've never been, it's sort of a theme-type restaurant with jungle decorations and animatronic animals. They have elephants, parrots, gorillas and a simulated thunderstorm every few minutes:


It's actually pretty fun to go with kids. The food is excellent even if the service is painfully slow. The higlight of our meal was the chocolate-brownie-icecream-hotfudge volcano the kids got to share. It even had sparklers stuck in it--wow, a chocolate dessert with risk of bodily injury! The kids loved it!

The first full day of vacation we spent driving up to Lake Quinalt. It is a scenic road through mile after mile of very tall evergreen forest. The kids were really impressed by this--"look at all the trees! Look how huge they are!" We took a walk along a nature trail that was absolutely STUNNING. The kids got to see their first banana slug, and look at the rings of a 300-year old tree. We also got to see the world's largest living spruce tree.

We also spent a leisurely hour lounging at the Lake Quinalt Lodge. It's a beautiful resort built in the time of Teddy Roosevelt. The back lawn has adirondack chairs overlooking a deep, blue lake. It's so peaceful that you just want to stay there!


We also got to spend a day touring downtown Seattle. We went to the Asian District and had dim sum at Sun Ya, a restaurant my family has been going to for more than 20 years. We wandered through Pike Place Market--the flowers and fish and sights are still fascinating. Unfortunately the place was more crowded than a Who reunion concert--I was afraid we were going to get trampled! I got to make another visit to my personal coffee mecca, the original Starbucks store at Pike Place Market. I got a mug & would have had a drink, but it was SOOOOO crowded with tourists buying armloads of souvenirs, that again, I had to run for my life. You can see the sign here in the window:

(Small aside here--In case you've never seen the original Starbucks logo, it looks more like a potbellied truck driver w/man boobs than a beatiful siren. You can see why they gave her a makeover!)

Perhaps the best part of this day was taking the ferry ride from the Seattle waterfront to Bremerton. While we were waiting the kids got to feed the seagulls at Ivar's french fries. Then we took a beautiful ferry ride across the sound. The views were stunning:

The rest of the vacation was wonderful too. I could go on and on! We spent two days in Westport, Washington, where the kids got to see the ocean for the first time. Bradley searched for treasure with a metal detector, and Shiloh looked for sand dollars.

There was fishing and crabbing for the boys, and shopping and lunching for the ladies. Alan & I got to spend the night at a beautiful historic bed and breakfast, the Abel House, in Montesano.

I haven't mentioned the best part yet--besides spending some time with my wonderful mom, it was COOL!!!! After 30+ days straight of triple digit temperatures in Oklahoma, it was blissfully, wonderfully cool. 70s during the day, 50s at night. I got reacquainted with my sweaters, got to sit by a fireplace, and snuggle under a downy quilt at night. It was a huge relief and refreshing in a way I can't describe. I felt reinvigorated. The kids didn't want to come home, and Alan's ready to build a summer home there.

Take care & I hope you enjoy the pictures! I miss you all!!! xoxo, Layla