Improv Dance

This is how Elly entertained herself while I shopped at H&M one day last summer in Seattle.

The girlsies in Seattle!

My sister, Keri, and cousin, Karen, came for a visit. Keri's girls live in Seattle with their dad each summer, so we did fun things with them all week.

We had a fun day downtown shopping at the hugest Nordstrom Rack ever. Then, we ate lunch at my favorite lunch place in downtown Seattle...The Nordstrom Cafe. It was kind of a Nordstrom Day.
 


We went to the beach and played fun games:
 


Elly and the girls fell in love all over again!
 

Emma and Lily were so sweet to Elly. They just love her. And she loves them! We're so glad we get to live closer to them for another year!
 

Goodbye, Seattle

I know it's been a while since we left Seattle, but at the end of our stay there, I felt a little under the weather (for obvious reasons), so I'm just catching up now. We did so many fun things in Seattle, but we really tried to pack it in in the last few weeks:

We saw a 3D movie at the IMAX Theater at the Pacific Science Center. It was called Under the Sea. It was an amazing theater and Elly kept her glasses on almost the entire time. It was the first movie theater she's ever been in. She did great, but ended up on Brandon's lap for most of it. She also had a hard time using her "movie theater voice" and kept saying things like "Where's the shark, Dad?"
 


We also went to the Butterfly Habitat at the Science Center. It's this huge greenhouse looking area with trees and rocks and water and flowers. And butterflies everywhere! They just fly around you and land on the plants right in front of you. There's even a check point at the exit, so that you don't walk out with a butterfly on your back. I caught this funny picture there. This girl could not have been more than 9 years old, taking a picture of a butterfly...with her cell phone. Crazy.
 


On the 4th of July, we took a little road trip to Snoqualmie Falls about 40 minutes away. The waterfalls were amazing. It was so beautiful we didn't even mind the huge crowds of biker groups and tourists.
 


This is Elly at her most favorite place in Seattle, The Children's Museum. That membership was the best thing I bought all summer. She absolutely loved painting there and constantly asks when we can go back and paint again. She would sit there for 20 minutes on one sheet of paper. Today, we went to Ikea and bought her an easel.
 



More to come...

Woodland Park Zoo and the Bishop's House

There are only so many Saturdays left for us as a family here in Seattle. So we have to plan them carefully. Taking a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo was definitely a well spent Saturday.

Unfortunately, the zoo post is always a bunch of pictures of the back of Elly's head. She had a blast and this zoo is incredible.
 
 
Leave it to Seattle to make sure the animals are the most comfortable they can be (while being gawked at by humans). These animals had it made. Their habitats were all totally natural and...huge! The animals were living almost like they would in the wild. The zebras were in the same habitat with the giraffes, hippos, and gazelles. (I did not see the lions in there, though).
 

This was by far Elly's favorite part of the zoo: A statue of the Komodo Dragon that she climbed on for like 20 minutes and we had to pull her off.
 

This zoo also had the best zoo food I've ever had. I had a gourmet burger with sweet potato fries made by guys in real chefs jackets instead of high school kids with paper hats at other zoos. And thanks to Microsoft, we all got in for only $10!

On Sunday evening, we were invited to our Bishop's home for a get together for new move ins. The food was awesome. His wife is so amazing: four kids at home including a nursing infant and she made avocado corn salsa, raspberry cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies, and a chocolate bunt cake! And her husband is gone all day on Sunday, too! It was really fun because they told us the history of the Seattle First Ward and that there are still some members in the ward who were here when they built their own chapel in the 60s, it's the one we meet in now.

We were delighted by the fact that the Bishop's older two children completely entertained Elly the entire time we were there. This is how we found her at the end of the evening: (definitely worth it!)

 
 

What does a Lychee look like? (Seattle, week 4)

Another week goes by in lovely Seattle Washington. On Monday evening, some of our new intern friends had a little party for their daughter turning two, but I guess the cake wasn't enough dessert for the Andersons and Christensens because we had to go to the Pier and get ice cream afterward!

Elly and Clara are so cute together (sometimes):
 

 

Usually, when we're in Provo, once Brandon gets home from school in the evening, we stay at home. We eat dinner at home and just kind of relax there together. But, there is so much to see and do in Seattle, that we don't want to waste any time in our apartment! Several nights each week (even though Brandon is exhausted), we go out in the evening as a family exploring. Last week we walked down to Pioneer Square and had some very authentic Italian food. Elly got a little bit sleepy on our way home:
 

On Wednesday, I went to Mom's Group (from our ward) at an awesome park in Magnolia. My friend, Sarah gave me one of these: (It's a lychee that she got at an asian market. You have to peel it, but once inside it looks like a skinned grape with white flesh. Very interesting. I had never had one.)
 

On Thursday, we went to Lake Union and toured a real working tugboat. They were having a special tugboat story time on the boat for the kids.

 
 
 
 

 
 

Elly really liked it, but her favorite part was that we got to go with her new friends, Evie and Lyla:
 
 

After the tugboat tour we had a real treat. Brandon decided to work from the Seattle office that day, so we were able to stop in and have lunch with him!
 

Friday evening, when Brandon got home from work, we quickly changed and headed out to another park for some jogging and family together time. This time, we went to Magnolia Park. (We just love Magnolia!) It was such a beautiful view of the Sound and we had fun swinging afterward, too!
 
 
 

Up next: The Woodland Park Zoo on Saturday (Saturday needed its own post!)

Pogur

Seattle, Week 3

MONDAY

We went to the Children's Museum with new intern friends that live in our complex. Elly spent 20 minutes painting on one piece of paper. Although she used several different colors, it was pretty much black by the end.
 

She had a fun time with Clara in the "bus" and at the "grocery store".
 

That evening after Brandon came home from work, we headed to Discovery Park for a jog. It was incredible and made us feel like we were hundreds of miles from the city. It was a complete forest and it smelled so good...it made me miss camping. At one point Brandon said "shhh, what was that sound?" I didn't know either. Then, we figured it out. It was the wind blowing through the trees, it makes this weird sound. Anyway, you know you've been away from nature too long when you don't recognize the sound of wind.
 

After our jog, we stopped and played with Elly at a little playground. Not the greatest picture of us, but bear in mind, we had just been on a run!
 

There was an awesome zip line which I sadly discovered was only for small children when I tried to squeeze my rear end onto the seat. But, Elly loved it!
 



TUESDAY

Since the weather is so nice here, I've loved finding new places to jog. One morning I went out to Magnolia (where our ward building is) and ran along Magnolia Bluff with a view of Puget Sound to one side and to the other...amazing houses like this:
 

and this:
 

I asked Brandon how long he thought it would be before we'd could be living in houses like these and he just laughed. Is that a bad sign?

After my jog, we headed to a beautiful park where Elly spotted these flowers. She smelled them and played with them for a good 10 minutes!
 

WEDNESDAY


Then...LOOK WHAT WE FOUND IN SEATTLE!!!!
 

A real live beach! I have to admit, I did not think there would be beaches like this here. I thought they'd all be rocky, not sandy. I don't know why. But, Elly loved it and she even got in the water up to her diaper (it was pretty darn cold, though). It felt so great, though because Seattle got pretty warm the last few days of the week. I had to laugh a little because when I went to weather.com to check it, there was a heat advisory for the Seattle area...86 degrees. But, when you're used to 72 all summer, I guess 86 is a big jump. It was not a fun few days for us because our apartment doesn't have air conditioning (most here don't). Mostly, you don't really need it, though.
 

THURSDAY

We went to lunch at Pike's Market with our new friends, a place called Beecher's Handmade Cheese. It was the best grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had.
Then, we hit the library and Elly got a few new books to occupy her for the next week. Look how grown up she looks!
 


FRIDAY

We walked literally two blocks to Benaroya Hall (where the Seattle Symphony plays) and enjoyed a Music for Tots show. Elly absolutely loved it!
 

These are our new friends, Marti and Baby Jack: (Marti's husband is getting an MBA at Michigan and working for Amazon this summer)