Road Trippin: Seattle and a cousin weekend!

Four kids, on a pull out bed, greasy pizza fingers and face. 

They are smiling-absolutely radiant- noshing on day old pizza, resting it directly on the bed on saucy stained towels. They cheer intermittently at the TV screen as the football action fills the small room.
It is 2.5 hours past their bedtime.
Wet swim suits are hanging over all the open surfaces.
I look over at them and declare, "This is vacation!" They look at me and cheer!

 Yes, this is vacation at its finest. 

This was our first big road trip family vacation. We had planned months ago to drive up to Everette, Washington with the kids this summer to visit John's brother Rob, wife Melissa and two girls, Cady and Geneva.
One evening in late June, John announced that he wanted to turn the weekend trip into a several day trip in order to spend some quality time together as a family. Commence Vacation!
We left Tuesday at noon; we planned to surprise our kids with stopping half way to Seattle at Great Wolf Lodge for a night.
As we passed the huge water slides that extended out of the massive grey lodge from the freeway, John casually turned off the road into the parking lot and wondered out loud if we should "see if they had any open rooms for the evening".
When we inquired at the front desk and told the kids that "there just happened to be an open room", they shrieked in delight, excited by this seemingly spontaneous stop and their incredible luck.

Levi is ready for some Great Wolf Action!

And so is Caleb.

Traveling with four kids, it was apparent that most accommodations are not designed around a family of six. Great Wolf lodge had a room with a bunk bed, a twin bed, a queen bed and a pull out couch.
As we would soon discover, a pull out couch would always be utilized in our rooms.
It was the solution for those extra two people ;)

Loving their Great Wolf cabin room!

With six bodies, backpacks and suitcases, our room was maxed out.

We quickly changed into bathing suits and headed to the indoor water park that made this destination so spectacular.
Overlooking the water park, the amount of humans in the wave pool was disturbing to me; however, I seized the day!

The four huge water slides above us looked intimidating, but so fun. When I suggested that we  venture over to them, I was answered by  a chorus of panicked crying, terrified kids!

The panic in our family is usually a result of  "herd mentality"...one person is scared and therefore the fear sweeps across everyone like a plague.
We are not going raise wimps!! :)
John and I insisted that everyone try one of the tube slides together.
We pulled our terrified kids up the ladder of staircases. We sat together in a large inner tube and down the hatch we soared!
And, they loved it. 
After breaking this initial fear barrier, Evie especially couldn't get enough of them.

Life lesson kids: Mom and Dad know what's fun. 

Fun is eating at a buffet with all- you- can -eat -soft serve ice cream!

After two days dodging half clothed bodies and walking around wet and cold, it was time to move on. The kids were sad to leave, but the promise of more adventures and fun to come seemed to encourage them to pack up and load up the mini van.

We stopped at the little seaside town of Mukilteo and had dinner at a family-friendly pub.
 Afterward, we walked the breezy beach, and it was one of those perfect family moments.

We even topped it off with "rolled ice cream" a new phenomenon that entertained and satisfied everyone's sweet tooth.

"Sugar Cane's" ice cream store did not disappoint!

After mixing the ice cream with condensed milk and cream, it is flattened out on a cold surface and then rolled up!

 Onward we ventured, up the freeway to our next landing spot for the night, Travel Lodge. John prepared me;  this accommodation would be the least luxurious of all the nights.
Nonetheless, it was cheap and could fit six people.

Upon entering the room, I immediately noticed a stale, lingering body-oder/wet dog smell in the room.
There was a cigarette burn on the blanket.
The furniture and bedspread was a faded peach color.
 The remote control sticky.
John gave me an exaggerated thumbs up.
The kids exclaimed that this was "an amazing room!"
They provided all the positive energy we needed to get through the night.
Sleeping arrangements was always a topic of conversation as the night drew near. Some combinations worked better than others, but somehow one or more of the kids would end up in our bed in the morning.

We survived the night and to the kids dismay, we departed our little room.

We spent the day directing the kids through mobs of people in downtown Seattle. We navigated the city to hit all the spots we'd thought they would enjoy: Pikes Market, the Gum Wall, and the water front.

The Seattle Gum Wall

Amazing!

Yuck

When we explained that we would watch the fishermen throw fish in the market place to each other, Caleb became absolutely terrified declaring that he "did not want fish thrown at him".

Watching for flying fish

He was a little disturbed by the amount of decapitated fish and marine life on ice in front of him.

We made our way down to the water front and again, forced our kids to ride the ferris wheel towering over the pier and water. I'm sure people around us judged our parenting as we literally pushed our crying kids into line and onto one of the gondolas.

But, as before, we knew they would have so much fun and it would be a happy family memory.

And that is just what happened!

The moment we began to glide over the pier and look out onto the water and the city, the kids began to smile and laugh. This was incredible and once again, our kids learned that trying new things can pay off.

All smile above Seattle!

We spent the rest of the day playing on the huge play ground next to the Modern Pop Culture museum. They had an incredible climbing structure, one that Caleb managed to squirrel his way up and then down the long tube slide several times without problem.

"Hey Hey, you look small up here!"

There he goes. Unstoppable. 

Evie preferred to direct the manual labor on the merry go round.

 

We again took a break for ice cream..because vacation is vacation when you manage to fit an ice cream break in everyday. 

Cheers to mid day Ben and Jerrys!

 

Sometimes its the simple things that bring the most joy.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon at the stunning International Fountain where the kids were perfectly content climbing on a statures of two orca whales.

John and I were happy too; being that  it was a long day,  we were happy to just be on the park bench.

The kids don't need elaborate plans. They just want things to climb and explore. 

The next several days were happy cousin days. 

We stayed in a luxurious room at the Embassy right outside Everette (thanks to John's frequent traveler points!)

The hotel was a large "holidome" with a clear elevator. You could practically see everything sitting in the bar area. The kids got a kick of riding the elevator, and John and I got a kick out of allowing them some independence because we could see them from practically every angle from where we were sitting.

A big part of vacation for kids is getting to swim in the hotel pools at night. The kids had a blast taking over the little indoor pool after dinner. I think we scared away all the people when our boisterous crew entered the scene. 

As John and I sat and watched them, I commented on how lucky those kids were to have each other. Despite the chaos, overcrowded spaces and fighting, having three other people your same age is pretty amazing. 

The following morning we enjoyed a huge breakfast buffet in the lobby area. 

However, it was such a process getting everyone settled: pouring juice, cutting up french toast, finding the syrup...by the time is was our turn at the buffet the  omelet bar was a great reward!

There was definitely excitement in the air as we pulled up to Rob, Melissa, Cady and Geneva's home. 

The most beautiful home built in 1910. Love that front porch and swing. 

The cousins embraced immediately and they ran into the house to see the treasures they could find. 

This was the first time we made the trip to see Rob and Melissa since the boys were born. It was a much anticipated trip for all! 

Everette is a very walkable neighborhood and so, that is what we did!

 Rob and Melissa gave us the grand tour. We walked from their home to downtown Everette. 

It was so charming. The street was lined with little coffee shops, a bakery and antique stores.

Little pianos sat on the street corners, begging to be played. 

Caleb couldn't resist the keys

Our first stop was a strange little store called Funko. It was little cartoon toy shop. The boys got a kick out of all the characters. 

Nearby, there was a bakery. Instead of an mid-day ice cream break, we had a mid-day donut break!

We choose this way ------>

And this one.

And this one too.

We all marveled at the one bacon maple donut left in the glass display. Caleb decided it was his. 

Happy Happy boys. 

We ran off all the energy at a local park,  and then we called it a day.

It moves!

Apparently Uncle Rob is good at cracking rocks and Aunt Melissa is good at making Mango Popsicles. Together, their skill sets offered my children a lot of things to do. 

"Uncle Rob, can we crack rocks?!"

And they love his hat.

We spent Saturday at the Pacific Coast Science Museum. Between the life sized model of T-Rex and the laser light show, my kids had a multi-sensory experience. 

We left with still so much to see, but perhaps a mid winter rendezvous here again is in order. 

An out of the world experience!

We capped the night off with Red Robin and a "cousin sleepover" at Rob and Melissa's.

 Yep, we dropped those crazy kids off for the night, and John and I enjoyed a nice evening in the quiet of our room.

 It was strangely calm. 

Breakfast the next day was strangely easy too. 

We met up with our crew at their church the next day. 

After a lunch and a few more sword fights and mango Popsicles, we bid farewell and set out back to Portland. 

Cousins are the best!

Vacation take aways: 

You can never pack too many clothes; 

don't stress about trying to maintain a healthy balanced diet; 

embrace each moment, even the crazy ones, because this is what it's all about. :)