Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Home At Last!



Our little family vacation may have only been an overnight trip but it felt like we were gone a week. Small and simple is the way to go while the kids are as young as they are, anything more would have been very overwhelming. You will be disappointed with this post because I don't have my usual large amount of photos. Between carrying my purse, diaper bags, a baby in the front pack and pushing a stroller, the camera was often the last thing on my mind. Eric took a few but other than that you will have to use your imagination.
We started the trip off trekking over the snowy passes. It's weird, it has been warm for weeks now and then the last couple of days before we left.... winter again. We did fine on the drive over, one pass was closed for avalanche control but we were able to take the other one. We arrived in Seattle and the weather was crisp and cool but it wasn't raining! We took the kids to the Children's Museum. It was a lot of fun for the kids. They ran through the whole thing in less than 30 min, but then we went back through and took our time.
Next, we went to our motel and let the kids swim in the indoor pool. The kids will tell you this was their favorite part of the trip. They probably swam for a good two hours. Then it was off to dinner.
We took them to the Rain Forest Cafe. What a cool restaurant. The entire place is elaborately decorated to look like a jungle, there are life size animals that move around and make noises. Even a thunder storm every 10 min that makes the animals go crazy. Cody was scared of the animals so he sat like a deer in the headlights the whole time. I think it was the quietest dinner we have had in a long time. They sat us next to the gorillas. There were five gorillas and all were different sizes. Emilee got the bright idea that the gorillas represented each one of us. She pointed to the one that was closest to us and said "Mommy that one is you because it has little boobies".
The whole experience of sleeping in one motel room with all three kids was not a good one. Caitlyn had a crib but she wouldn't sleep in it. She cried all night long! They only had a room with one king size bed so we had the whole family squished together, kinda like we are trying to avoid at home!!!
Monday we went to Northwest Trek. The kids had the option of the zoo or the trek. They chose the trek and I am glad they did, it was so much fun! We walked the nature trails and saw all animals that are found here in the Northwest. We saw cougars, foxes, coyotes, bears, owls, eagles and so many more. They have a tram ride that will drive you around the 500 acre property and point out a lot of the animals. We had a moose walk right in front of the tram! The weather was cold, completely sunny but it snowed on us. The kids didn't seem to mind. Here are few pictures. Click Here.
We took of back over the mountains stopping at MY favorite place, the outlet mall. I got my growing kids some new clothes for some great prices and even treated myself to a new spring purse. So today we are back, trying to re coop. The kids are happy to be home, are even kind of keeping to themselves. Time to tackle my spring cleaning!











3 comments:

Toni said...

It looks like you guys had tons of fun. Madysen really enjoyed the pictures of the Northwest Trek, she is heading there for a field trip a week after she gets back from Spring Break. Have a nice rest of your Spring Break!

Li'l Foot's Mommy said...

Looks like fun was had by all. I've been in the Rainforest Cafe a couple of times, it's a really awesome place to go. They've closed down most of them in our area though.

dawn klinge said...

That looks like so much fun Darcie. I'm glad you got to have a little vacation. I've never been to Northwest Treck- it looks like a place I would love. I can completely picture Cody at the Rainforest cafe ;) Trent would be cowering right next to him.
p.s. we got the Dave Matthews tickets within minutes of it selling out- thanks for telling me about them.;)