The Evergreen State, PAC NW 7/12

I have said it before and I will probably say it again, we are not morning people.  Somehow, all of my boys ended up in one bed.  Jake was sprawled across the bottom, legs kicking his brothers.  Carsen and Derek were huddled together in the top right corner, probably trying to protect themselves from their kicking counterpart.

 

Once we drug these guys out of bed, we left the Portland area and drove north towards Seattle. It was about a three hour car ride, but it was just more time to spend chatting with Kristi, Robyn and Randi.  We had the same seating arrangements as the day before.  I drove, Kristi was in the front seat, Robyn behind the driver, Blip in the middle back, I was in the back on the passenger side, and in the third seat was a fun combination- Carsen, Jake, and Ryan. 

All the kids in the car were so good. I was amazed how good they were. They shared, they played together (on the iPads), and just got along really well. We had three iPads and a Kindle Fire....plus a few of the boys had a handheld game system. Traveling today is NOT like traveling in the car when I was their age. That's for sure.

 

 

In the other car, Doug drove, Billy was in the front seat and Derek and Nick were in the backseat. I have no idea what happened in that car, but I didn't hear any complaints, so I guess everything went okay.

Doug randomly chose an exit to get gas just outside of Tacoma. As soon as we were off the freeway we knew it was the wrong exit. Not in a South-Central LA kind of wrong, but still wrong. There was a funeral going on near the gas station for a fallen soldier. The protesters were there to let their ridiculous thoughts be known. There was a group of counter-protesters on the opposite corner. And there was a line of state police keeping the peace. Not sure why some people can't just keep their hate to themselves. Little children can read...and they shouldn't have to read that kind of garbage.

Anyway...we made it to Seattle and found parking near the Pike Place Market. As we were looking for parking, we found a newly famous condo building in downtown Seattle. The market was crazy busy! 

 

 

 

 

 

We watched them throw a few fish, found the gum wall and then headed to Ivar's for lunch. We made sure to add our gum to the gum wall too.

 

 

After lunch we started walking back to the market...we stopped for ice cream along the way. It was so good!! 

 

 

 

We walked back to the market and then walked to the monorail. We road the monorail to the Space Needle. 

We hung out at the top of the Space Needle for a while and then headed back to the ground. They are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Space Needle, so the top has been changed to gold. I think it's ugly...especially from a distance.

By the time we all got to the hotel, we were done. I'm not sure who was more exhausted...the kids or the adults. I don't know, but we were all done.  I took the boys down to the pool to let them play and relax.  Randi got Blip to bed while Robyn found food. Our night was way too short..