Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Seattle Vacation

You had your first experience being on an airplane and spending an extended period of time with totally new people in a totally new place.  We went to Seattle to visit your Aunt Niffer and Uncle Oliver.  You did great on the plane on the way there.  You had a ton of fun making friends with all of the other passengers, and even got lucky enough to have your own seat on the plane!  One flight attendant thought you were having too much fun and shushed you a few times, but at least you were happy and not screaming!  We didn't land until almost midnight so you were up way too late, but maintained your happy-go-lucky attitude throughout the night.  You met a lot of new people and we were very well taken care of while we were there.  We got to stay with Niffer's parents, and they acted as your stand-in grandparents the whole time.  They pulled out all of their toys for you, babysat, and dealt with your hatred of night time with no complaints.
We got to see a lot of cool things while we were there.  We dragged you across the whole city multiple times, and you were a great sport napping in the car, and whenever else you could.  You kept a stuffed dog in the car with you at all times.  He reminded you of Joka and helped you to remember Joka throughout the trip.  We visited the aquarium where we tried to teach you to say "fish".  You got the "F" sound down, but the rest of the word got kind of lost amidst a bunch of spit bubbles that came out when you tried to say it.  You liked seeing the otters, and called them Joka since they were fluffy and playful. You also got to stick your hand in a splash pool filled with fish, saw on octopus, jellyfish, and sea lions. I think the aquarium was your favorite attraction by far!










We went to the Museum of Flight where we saw a lot of airplanes and visited the original Boeing plant.  We spent the most time in the World War II section looking at the planes there and learning the history.  We also got to tour an old Air Force One plane as well as a Concorde.  You were understandably not too excited about any of this stuff but your dad was!
We celebrated Fat Tuesday with a Mardi Gras party at Niffer and Oliver's  You ate Spicy mac and cheese which resulted in a bad stomach ache later.  You loved it while you were eating it though!  Niffer made you an early birthday cake since she won't be here for your real birthday.  You liked the part where everyone was looking at you and singing to you, but you did not like the part where you were supposed to eat the cake.  You got progressively angrier as we tried to encourage you to play with the frosting and put a little in your mouth.  You were screaming by the end of it.  I am not sure what is so scary about frosting.  I was worried that you didn't like chocolate, but we learned later when Daddy fed you lots of chocolate samples that that was not the issue.




We took a boat tour around the harbor and got to see a different view of the city as well as the mountains. It was a beautiful day and you liked looking out the windows of the boat.
We visited the Pacific Science Center and there was a ton of cool stuff there.  There was a room full of dinosaurs who you also labeled as "Joka".  You got to sit in a T-Rex footprint and touch robotic dinosaur skin (creepy).  There was also a splash pool which you loved, a butterfly exhibit, and an IMax that didn't scare you as much as I expected it to.  After that we walked over to the Space Needle and went up to the observation deck.  It was perfect timing because we got to see the view while the sun was just starting to go down, and then once it got dark we got to see it all lit up.  



On Friday we decided to have a more laid back day since we had been rushing around all week, so we just headed over to Pike Place Market, ate a bunch of stuff, and perused the shops.  Then we went out for Neapolitan style pizza which you thoroughly enjoyed.
We spent our last day at Experience Music Project which is a really fun place.  We looked at a few special exhibits: Avatar, Nirvana, and Battlestar Galactica.  You weren't especially excited about any of these exhibits but I think you will love EMP when you are older!


We tried to get you to eat the cake again with no success.


We had a great time and are excited to visit again in June when Aunt Niffer and Uncle Oliver have their baby!