Visitors to WA

My sister and her two kids Jared and Alyssa generously took a week of their vacation time to visit us here in WA over Fourth of July week! We were so excited to have them stay with us... I don't have any photos to post of our visit, but I can still share the fun times!

They arrived on Saturday June 30th in the afternoon. We spent that evening just relaxing as they worked on adjusting to a 2 hour time difference. Sunday we went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle - which is a really great zoo!!! We'll be going back for sure!

Monday we went into Downtown Seattle and saw the Space Needle, Aquarium at the waterfront and Pike's Place Market. The famous fish throwers were busy that day as we saw plenty of action!

Tuesday we went shopping at Alderwood Mall and had pedicures done for the upcoming holiday. We had a nice surprise in the afternoon, our friend Dave from Arizona was passing through town on his two week driving vacation of the Northwest. Dave joined us at the house for dinner and spent the night before continuing on his journey the next day. I truly love having a full house, we all had a great evening.

Wednesday was Fourth of July and the local Naval Base opened its doors for a Freedom Family Festival. The USS Abraham Lincoln was in port so they were letting people on to check out the ship. It's important to note that this is still an active military ship just arriving back here from sea trials. Afterwards we came back home to enjoy some air conditioning as it was a very warm day. We barbecued dinner with neighbors Candice, Dirk and Tanner then watched the homeowner fireworks displays by our firepit. (You can buy fireworks here at the Indian Reservations, though it is technically illegal to set them off once you leave their land. Everyone does it anyway). I was quite amazed at the cool fireworks people are able to purchase. Daryl bought some of the legal ones (sparklers, roman candles and parachutes) to set off with the kids - which we did on the 3rd of July (also sitting by the firepit).

Thursday we decided on a beach day, so off we went to Deception Pass State Park where they have a sandbar that separates a lake from the Ocean so you can have your pick on where you want to play. Daryl brought the kayaks along so we spent the day sitting by the water, Alyssa and Jared really enjoyed kayaking, and just having a lazy day!

Friday we went shopping again, this time at the Seattle Premium Outlet Mall - WOW, this place is cool!! Stores like: Sony, Coach, Movado, Chico's, Tommy Hilfiger - just to name a few. We only got to a small portion of it before it was time to head back home. It's dangerously close to our house - like 15 minutes drive!!

Sadly Saturday it was time for Carrie, Alyssa and Jared to head home. On our way to the airport we stopped at Alderwood Mall where REI has a rock climbing wall - Jared scaled that puppy all the way to the top!! WooHoo Jared, you da man!

We hated to see them go as it was such a wonderful week. The dogs sure miss Alyssa and Jared playing with them everyday.

Thank you for coming to visit us - we really enjoyed having you and can't wait for you to come back!