THE START...

Well, this was a first ride in an airplane for the 3 little ones. They were all so good and Owen loved the "BLAST OF". It was an early rise for little Lala (Lauren) so she took a nap for about an hour. The trip to Seattle was about 2 hours long. Each seat had a little tv screen in front of it so our special Ryan was thrilled to watch cartoons! I was just so excited to see the excitement on the little ones faces and I was 2 rows back so I had to hand the camera to my son to take a few shots! The plane trip was very bumpy so we had to stay buckled into our seats the whole way!
I can't believe I didn't take pics of all the luggage! It was hilarious to say the least. Camille was prepared and had special straps to keep track of the children. Ryan has a tendancy to just run off so this worked well.

Seattle was a fun place to visit. Huhoney and I went there for our 20th anniversary. We left the airport and went to our downtown hotel which was walking distance (downhill) to the waterfront and all the shops.
They were crazy and a lot of fun to visit. Wall to wall people on a Friday afternoon. I could not get over the price of the bouquet of flowers in the flower shops that lined one side of the outside mall....
$15 for a HUGE fresh cut bouquet and $10 for a HUGE bouquet. If I were living there I would be makeing a stop once a week maybe twice a week for a beautiful arrangement! Of couse school is out and everyone is on vacation! There is such an abundance of colorful shops and people to boot! The fish shops were amazing and our mouths started to water just thinking of what we could eat for lunch or ship home!

There is a certain energy that this city has that you feel in your bones. Excitement and hustle-bustle. You really have to like it to enjoy it. Not everyone is cut out for it!

Believe me the 3 $10 strollers Mike ran to Wal-mart for the night before the trip got used to death. The rubber on the tires on this trip actually got worn down! LOL. We had 2 days in Seattle to see sights and enjoy it's old town flare so we ran, ran, ran, and dropped in the evening.

The Seattle Aquarium was a great place to visit. The children had a great time and loved all the fish. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon for a couple of hours.


My feet and legs were longing for a hot bath after a day of walking and walking and there was NO way I was going to walk UP HILL 6 plus blocks to our hotel......get me on the local transit PLEEZE. Oh...Ryan was obsessed with the escalator. If that is where we spent the next 10 days, he would have been a happy camper. Everyone took turns going up and down the hotel escalator with him. Probably.....100 times.....(not kidding folks!)

The next day to underground city of Seattle was NOT a fun place for the little ones. It was boreing. Very interesting for the big people but not for the little ones. Off to the Aerospace Museum.

It was amazing and we didn't even get through the whole thing even after almost 3 hours! After the adventure there we took the transit downtown and transfered to another transit (underground) the kids loved it.. downtown, to the city and the Space Needle. Twenty years ago, the Space Needle http://www.viamagazine.com/weekenders/space_needle06.asp was surrounded by a beautiful park where you could just walk and relax. Now it is an amusement park where you can't walk and relax. Just spend a lot of money! Mike took the trip to the top of the Needle and loved it. Camille isn't much on heights so she opted to stay below and just watch what was going on around us. She is more into shopping. hehehehe here are a few extra pics of Seattle's visit.

Lauren had just about enough fun for one day!


Above city tram ride to and from the Sky Needle to the center of town

Well this pretty much made my day! Apples dipped in carmel covered with chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate! 10 lbs right there on the ole hips!

Well that pretty much took up our weekend in Seattle. The next day was boarding the Norweigen Pearl to Alaska........(tomorrow)

MELLOW MONDAY and some thoughts

THANKS SO MUCH for all the well wishes from all my blogger friends! Well the bug did get the best of me but I suffered through it like a big girl...sometimes you just have to do that ya know and on "Father's Day" I had a full appetite again (Phew thank goodness) and enjoyed Huhoney's delicious BBQ chicken, watermelon, SWEET corn on the cob, a yummy yummy salad, sliced zuchinni from the garden (yep folks, we are in the zuchinni!) and Brad made a delicious cake for dessert. The kids came over (when I mean kids, I mean Brad, Tera, their children Kyler and Kolytn) to swim and have dinner. It was a nice afternoon. I have a little tribute to my HUHONEY. Please bare with me on this one, he very seldom reads my blog, but I am going to ask him to this time. I was too under the covers to do this sooner and before "Father's Day". One day....I will post my Alaskan trip I promise LOL!


My Children’s Father

To be a father is not something to be taken lightly; You have never taken it lightly.
I have watched you grow as a father; From the moment you took our tiny daughter into your massive arms and tenderly snuggled her and smothered her with kisses, I knew from that moment on that you would protect her as best as you could from the harsh realities of the world and be an adoring father to her.

I watched you take our first son onto your knee and tell him stories of adventure, we wonder where in the world he got his storytelling ability and now I know the truth! I watched you with much patience, bait a worm on his first fishing pole, coach his football team, support him on his mission, and embrace him with so much pride as he became a new father.

I always smiled at the way you encouraged our third child in sports and also coached him in soccer and told him he could achieve anything in life if he put his mind to it; how true to your word it became as I watched you wrap your strong arms around him, a young man who had to learn the hard way what this world was all about and teach him how to walk again tall and upright and become strong again like he was before his accident; all these things are only a few glimpses of what you are as a father.

The ability to laugh at yourself and teach our children to do the same. The courage to stand up for what you believe is right, and teaches them to do the same. Allowing yourself to cry and teaching them to do the same. Showing them how to love . . . and not to be ashamed to do so, these are only a few attributes you have given our children as their father.

I am so grateful to our Father in Heaven for giving me the privilege of having you as our children’s father. Nothing has given me more joy in this world than watching you give of your self with no restraints as a father, because that is who you are, tender, loving, forgiving, unselfish.
I love you.

Thank you for being the father of our children.

Linda

FRUMPY FRIDAY

Today I am feeling a little frumpy. Huhoney had a difficult time recovering from our Alaskan adventure and was out of sorts for a few days. I so bravely told him I NEVER get sick. That I have a STRONG IMMUNE system and the last time I was sick with a bug was 3 years ago and it lasted 2 days. HA......he reminded me verbally at midnight when I was not in my bed but.....well you get the picture. SORRY! My tummy and I had a huge fight....but I was determined to get up and go to the office today because my boss told me yesterday, that it was "essential" that I be here because...3other people had the day off and there would only be 2 of us in the office. Hmmm what do you do when you are sick and your boss tells you to be here? Especially after being gone for 10 days....well you bring a bowl with you to work, and a blanket and a pillow and pray you don't embarress yourself in front of him. Or pray that you do so that he feels really bad! LOL Don't get me wrong, I like my boss, he looks a little like the Monopoly Man
and is a nice guy, but can be a little "bossy". Well I have made it through the day, so far, and feel like I am going to live. Huhoney went fishing this morning with a friend. If he knew I had gone to work he would be really mad at me! Well fortunately it was a very quiet day in the office, not many phone calls and not many people coming in, so all is well. I am going to take off an hour early because I didn't take a lunch hour. I am either a martyr', stupid, or a great employee (?). Which ever...thank goodness this day is almost over and I can go home and flop into Huhoney's big comfy chair with a blankie and look forward to the weekend. Hopefully I will be up to getting caught up on posting pics of our vacation in the next day or two. Thanks for popping in to check up on me. Sorry I didn't post anything really FUN today lol. Looks like this bug even got the best of Granny!

WACKY WENESDAY

I have returned!
It was a wonderful exhausting 10 days. 10 days I would not have traded for anything in the world. Our visit and adventure to Alaska was everything it was said to be. I only have 334 pictures to sift through before posting them. Stories to tell and miles of smiles to share. My blogger friends, I have missed you and for the last 2 days have been reading and reading and reading trying to catch up. It is very difficult to get back into the swing of going to the office each day, when all I want to do is catch up on a little sleep! So for now my friends, I will just have to say....may another day come my way until then, be well!
The morning we all headed to the airport I took a few pics of the little ones. They were all excited because they were going on their very first airplane ride! There was business to be taken care of and chasing them down outside Mom even handed them all their toothbrushes, that is what they were doing as I took this pic. Here is Huhoney, Ryan, Owen, Lauren and Camille.

All business was taken care of and then we were on our way! More to come...lot's more to come!!!