Moving and some adventures

So we made it to Seattle! I don’t want to seem presumptuous, but if you are inclined to read about/view what we’ve been up to, you now have an avenue by which to do so. You’re welcome, or not.

The drive up here couldn’t have gone better. 14 hours on the dot, kids slept almost the whole time, good driving conditions, etc. So yay.

The first few days were pretty chaotic, trying to settle in and unpack 1600 sq ft worth of stuff into 1000 sq ft of 1967 original house, replete with orange carpet and pink toilet. So fun! But despite it’s surface grossness, I actually love this house. It has so much storage built into it that all of our stuff actually fits. I don’t understand it, but it’s true. Also, if it were just updated a little, it would be such a cute house. I sit around of an evening just picturing what it could look like. We’re also on a nice quiet cul de sac, and our neighbors amazing which just kind of furthers my affection for this spot.

So once everything settled down a little, we started having some fun. Shout out to everyone who contributed to our aquarium and zoo memberships.

The first place we went was the aquarium. Pictured below are the water structure outside the aquarium, lots of wood cut-out things the kids enjoyed putting their faces in, and the underwater dome for viewing aquatic life. Not pictured are seals and otters, the octopus, the touching pool thing where you can pet sea cucumbers, and me.

Next we visited CJ at work and Ellie got to go inside the AirLift Northwest medical transport plane.

On our first Sunday here, we took the ferry to Vashon Island in the middle of the day to do some cider tasting at Dragon’s Head Cidery. The kids really enjoyed the ferry (they love wind in their faces). Cocoa came with us and was not that crazy about the ferry. The cidery was really fun, a beautiful woodsy/orchard setting with farm equipment (much to Miles’s delight) and picnic areas. And it was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for sitting outside drinking cider.

About a half mile from our house is this little park we discovered, Dottie Harper Park, right off of a main street but super woodsy and remote feeling. We love it. There’s play equipment, including swings and a slide that goes down the hill, but it’s a fun place just to walk around if you’re feeling nature-y.

So these pictures are actually from our second trip to the zoo. The first trip included a lot of whining and crying which I think stemmed from confusion about why we weren’t at what we now call the “old zoo.” I don’t have any good pictures from that trip. For the second trip, which was today, everyone had a better understanding of the fact that we were going to the “new zoo,” and we had a lot more fun. The Woodland Park Zoo (“new zoo”) has, among many other impressive animals, penguins, gorillas, jaguar, snow leopards, and a butterfly garden! The penguins were difficult to get a picture of, but you can see Miles and Libby relishing the viewing experience. The gorilla was probably the most terrifying and impressive exhibit. I think there were four of them and they were fascinating to watch.

And that is the run-down of what we’ve done so far. Hopefully more fun to follow soon