First Visit to Seattle

We took our first trip into Seattle yesterday. Sort of on a whim. We didn't have a plan just to take a look around. Next time however I will be planning a more"cultural" trip. It was a beautiful day...not a cloud in the sky. We stopped at the Space Needle...and should have taken the trip up as soon as we got there because later on the line was so long, I just didn't have it in me to stand in line. Next time we'll take the trip to the top. Next to the Space Needle is where we ended up spending most of the time. The "Fun Forest" is basically a carnival type deal. There are rides and games and food. Of course this was exactly what the boys wanted to do all afternoon. We took the Monorail into downtown Seattle and did a wee bit of shopping. There is so much to see!


Space Needle from the ground.

This is a statue of liberty built completely from LEGOS! It was very impressive despite the look on Elijah's face.

WEEEE

Bumper cars of course

The look on Isaiah's face is priceless. Elijah laughed and smiled the whole ride, but Isaiah had a look of horror. Peter and I got a great laugh.

bowling...oh boy

So the local bowling lane offers free summer bowling to kids. The kids have been begging us to go. I've never bowled and Peter said maybe a few times in high school or college he did. So we were in for an adventure. The balls were so heavy. I could barely lift them. Then with my pregnant belly my balance was all off. I didn't do so well. The boys had fun just trying to knock the pins down.



Elijah stood to watch every ball he released.
Isaiah just chucking the ball. LOL it was awesome.

Score board...Elijah won (with help from dad)

one fish two fish

The kids had swim lessons all week and they will continue next week. They have had a blast. They are in two different classes this year. Elijah has always been comfortable in the water so this year we are trying to match up his no fear attitude with his skills. He'll be swimming on his own by the end of the summer for sure. Isaiah can swim but he strengthening his technique and learning endurance.

Kicking at the wall.

Practicing with the noodle.

Swimming the length of the pool.

Swimming the length of the pool on his back.

Exploring Blaine

We continue to be blessed with nice weather. After church we decided to do a local exploration of Blaine. We live in Birch Bay which is technically part of Blaine. We hadn't really explored what was beyond Birch Bay so we decided to take a look.

This is Semiahmoo Park. It's a beautiful area with places to have a picnic, beach comb, and just enjoy the views. There were many sailboats out.

Semiahmoo also is the home of the Semiahmoo museum. It's small but very interesting. Native Americans occupied a village on the spit for hundreds of generations, making a living from land and sea. The Alaska Packers Association Cannery was a center of salmon processing for nearly 80 years .Numerous artifacts from the cannery are displayed in the museum to tell the story of fishing and canning in days gone by

Tons of cans, and they all were filled with??.....Salmon.

We headed over to Peach Arch Park. Which is a park that straddles the United States and Canada. We think it's pretty neat how we lived in a border town in Calais, Maine, and now on the other side of the country we are in another border town. The park is really beautiful. The flowers alone were worth the visit. On the United States side there is a US flag made with flowers. It's huge.

Here is Isaiah with one foot in Canada and one foot in the United Sates.

The Peace Arch stands on the international boundary between Blaine, Washington, and Douglas, British Columbia

And not to be outdone, on the Canada side there is a Canadian flag made with flowers.

This is Blaine Marine Park. This is an Orca Whale sculpture. I really want to go whale watching out here because these are the whales we'll see. In Maine we've done whale watching and we see Humpback whales. But I have always loved the Orca whales.

Saturday Fun

Ok I am not trying to brag but the weather here has been amazing. Seriously we've been here since the end of May and it's only rained once and that was just in the morning. We are very thankful and we are trying to take full advantage of the nice weather. Because we hear rumors that it rains allot here. So yesterday we took the kids to a park in Bellingham, took a walk in downtown Fairhaven for homemade ice cream and then to the driving range. The boys of course had a blast! And Peter enjoyed teaching them how to swing a golf club. I have a sneaky suspicion some golf clubs will be purchased in the near future. =)


Isaiah getting ready to swing. He was getting the hang of it.

Elijah only wanted to use the driver. He has a very aggressive swing so back up.

The park we went to has a playground and then this water spouting area. The water shoots out randomly and seriously it was endless shrieking with delight from all the kids.

Video from VBS

Blast OFF!

This was Elijah's favorite song!

Elijah and his new Spiderman Bike!

One of the things the kids love the best about where we live is the freedom to ride their bikes up and down the street. In the gated community we live in it is very quiet and the speed limit is strictly enforced at 20mph. Isaiah has had many new bikes. But Elijah has always gotten the hand me downs. The bike we had that had training wheels was just way too small for Elijah. So we decided it was time for him to have his own brand new bike. Of course he picked out the spider man bike. He has been having a blast cruising up and down the street and I really don't think those training wheels will last all summer. He seriously is walking around with a permanent smile on his face. It was worth every penny we spent on it!


All smiles with his new bike.

For those of you who know Elijah well you know that sticking out his tongue is his trademark "concentration" face. He usually makes it when drawing or practicing his handwriting, But today it was riding his bigger new bike. LOVE THAT TONGUE!