Emerald City Side Trip....

With plans to go to Ephrata, Washington during our spring break for Steve's parent's 50th wedding anniversary celebration, we had already booked plane tickets into Seattle for earlier in the week and decided we needed to spend ONE day there to show the kids the highlights of this beautiful city! Steve and I spent our honeymoon in Seattle 18 years ago to the day there. My other memory of Seattle is not so pleasant. This was the city where Amanda received treatment for her cancer at the Seattle Children's Hospital -- for 6 weeks during June/July she and I lived at the Ronald McDonald House and once in a while we'd be able to venture out and see the city.

As quick as it was, this was a much more pleasant trip.

Oh man, Josh was the best on the plane....just give him a DVD player with Spongebob and some snacks and he's a happy guy. Next to him Steve and I sat TOGETHER ...what a treat! Usually, we have to divide up with kids sitting between us and I'm usually holding a lap child. The other 4 kids divided into 2's and sat across from us. They were all so good.

From the airport, we drove to our friends, Mark and Erica's house where we spent the night. They have been close friends of ours FOREVER -- almost forever. Steve and Mark were roommates at Ricks -- and we all got close again and when Mark married Erica and we lived in Ephrata. They saved my sanity many times while I was in Seattle with Amanda. We take every chance we can to see them anytime we're up north.

It's really fun that they have 5 kids close to our kids ages. Our girls really hit it off. The day after we arrived, we all headed to our first stop ... the SPACE NEEDLE. We have a small statue of it at home and my kids were excited to see it in person.



Mark and Steve

The top of the Space Needle -- poor Josh wasn't tall enough to scope out the city.


What a gorgeous view!


It was COLD AND WINDY up there!! burrrrrr



Taking a break....



And of course we can't leave Seattle without riding the MONORAIL! I tried to convince my kids it was as fun as a roller coaster -- they didn't buy it.



And what trip would be complete without a stroll from the monorail down to the famous Pikes Place Market. Thanks to Marks parents meeting us there, we ate our way through it. Yummy stuff!

The boys sitting on the gold pig -- hey, where's the girls?


One last picture of all the kids before we take off on our 3 hour drive to Ephrata. Thanks Mark and Erica and family -- it was an absolutely wonderful day!