Seattle 2009

I've been putting off this post because I knew that I would have to put a million pictures on it, which is a pain to do but we saw and did so much on our trip that it was hard to choose! Here are some of the highlights from our trip:

we rode on an airplane AND got to chew gum, which was pretty cool

I got to spend the whole day with my friend Carrie. We went kayaking, stuffed ourselves senseless on Indian food, and shopped

Carrie and I before we set off for our 3 hour tour :-)

kayaking through the Montlake Cut, which separates Lake Washington and Lake Union

a shot of the space needle from our kayak

a very cool houseboat we paddled by. it was almost completely covered in those iridecent tiles!

Sophie and her grammy

Sophie and my sister's kids, Kayla and Skylarshe was determined to put her feet in, despite the bone freezing waterthen she didn't like having the wet sand on her feetending a long day with a pedicureSophie with some of my cousins' kids in eastern Washingtoneating a HUGE ice cream cone at the waterfront festival.....she finished almost the entire thing on her ownof course we had to stop and smell the flowers

Sophie with her great grandma Maggietaking a ferry boat ride

poking at a jellyfish that washed up on the beach in Anacortes, where my cousin lives. I told her that the jellyfish had died, so on the way home we had a conversation that went something like this: Sophie: "why did the jellyfish die, mama?" Me: "I don't know, maybe it was old and sick" Sophie: "why was it cold and sick?" Me: "I just don't know, it was just it's time to die I guess." Sophie: "I know, it probably didn't go to the dentist." Do ya think maybe I've over-stressed the importance of good dental hygeine? :-)

Sophie, Grace and Hillary (my cousin's kiddos)photo op on the beach :-)and of course, the best part of our trip, coming home to daddy!

The trip was tons of fun and we got to see a lot of my family that I hadn't seen since Matt and I got married 5 years ago. We were there long enough to make the 5 hour drive to Eastern Washington where my grandparents and all but one of my mom's 4 siblings live, plus all of my cousins and their kids. Sophie had a blast, and was a great traveler. Despite all the fun though, we were glad to get home!