Washington State Vacation Day 8 (Last Day)

On Day 8, our last day in Washington, we had driven into Moses Lake the night before and then driven the rest of the way into Seattle the morning of the 3rd.  But first I had to stop at my favorite store on the way.  Thorp's has my favorite fruit logs and I haven't had them in YEARS.

We stopped for a snack and saw an outlet mall that had a Maurice's in it (our local one closed down last year so I made the family go stop for that store), as I was backing out of the parking lot I saw a glimpse of the Nintendo logo - drove toward it and it was some sort of Nintendo Plant.  Not sure exactly what it was but the kids were excited!!

 We arrived into Seattle about 11am and went straight into downtown.  I thought coming into Seattle on a Tuesday morning would mean less crowds, but what I forgot to factor in, is that it was the day before a holiday. 

 Coming into Seattle.  These houses are just stacked one on top of another!!

 Finally found a parking lot. Just as we walked to the market!!!

 Tim's favorite place to stop is the Pikes Place Brewery.

 In the four years we lived there I had NO idea there was a gum wall.  We went to the market quiet often too!!  You'd be surprised what the maps app can bring up!

 We combined all the gum into one piece.

 Our contribution to the Gum Wall!! 

 So much gum!!!!!

 This is the famous flying fish guys.  Growing up in Alaska I'm always surprised by the prices.

 I always loved buying flowers and wished that I would have been able to get some flowers to go home with me!

 She stopped and looked at all the art that was there.  We did buy her some from a local artist that did some AWESOME whale prints.

Outside the first ever Starbucks store.  There was a huge line so we just took a picture with the sign. 

 Talk about a calf and thigh burner!

 SPACE NEEDLE!!!  This is what Kennedie was most looking forward too.  We were planning on going up, but when we arrived at 2 the line was SO LONG and we would have to wait in line for 2 hours and we didn't have that kind of time.

 So we went into the gift shop got some things and went outside and took pictures with it.

 And I had a cute little photobomber!

 I also had no idea there was a troll under a bridge!  So we had to stop and find it.

 We came back from the Space Needle to go toward the water for dinner.  Our favorite seafood restaurant is called "Elliot's Oyster Bar".  And because I'm a proud Alaskan I had to take a picture of the street it's on.

 While I'm actually surprised they had a "Kennedy" at all - she will never be able to find one with her spelling.  Sorry girl!

 Eating dinner at Elliot's!!

 After Elliot's we headed to the airport to return the rental van and check our bags.

 She did NOT want to share her shoulder! :)

 She is typically not a daddy's girl so when they do this it makes my heart melt!

I got up for a leg stretch and saw this.  So cute!

We had so much fun on our vacation and I hope my kids have the memories from it to last a lifetime!  We love exploring our country and seeing just what makes America "Merica!".

Washington State Vacation Day 5 and 6

Day 5 and 6


Saturday was an overcast day - so while the grandparents did some yard work (and yes I offered to help), I read a book, Cale helped Grandma pick raspberries, and then they watched TV and played with some stuff they brought with them.


Then it was time for the reunion.  I can't remember why he didn't get to go to his 10 year reunion, so some of these people he hasn't seen since right after high school.

 In my "basic southern white girl" uniform.  I love this top and I love when I get a chance to wear it!

 Outside about to go in! We never got a full length picture together :( .

 He had a graduating class of 36.  18 of the 36 showed up, I thought that was awesome!  Most of them live locally and a few of us have left.

At first I was the awkward spouse that didn't know anyone, but the girls of his class were so gracious and made sure to remember to include me!  I hope my classmates do the same for my husband next year at MY 20 year class reunion.

Sunday morning we said goodbye to grandma and grandpa, and drive an hour and half into Ione (pronounced I-own) which is the actual town the high school is located in.  It's a very small no stop light town.

 Main street.

 We cracked up because this place used to be a popular restaurant in Ione.  There are pot shops all over Washington, almost one for every Starbucks!

 Our motel was actually in Metaline Falls.  We were spitting distance from the Canadian border.  Had planned on atleast crossing the border to let the kids say "I went into Canada on vacation" but it didn't happen.

This movie theather used to be the place to go for the town, I overheard that someone bought it and plans on opening it back up. 

We stayed at the Circle Motel in Metaline Falls.  When we were at the reunion we told his classmates we planned on coming into Ione and were staying in Metaline Falls and they told him that he actually went to school with the owner!  So when we checked in it was a nice surprise!

We were just in the most beautiful place!!

 Some of his classmates that lived in the Ione/Metaline Falls area came over to our motel that night - and we had a bon fire.  Some of them brought their kids and it was great for our kids to finally have someone to play with/hang out with. 

We tried to go to gardner caves but we missed the tour and couldn't wait for the next one 2 hours later.  I know my family hates when I make them get out of the car and do this but, I couldn't resist having a picture with this background!!!

Washington State Vacation Day 3

Day 3 - this was by far our busiest day!

We started out in downtown Spokane (all of this wasn't new to Tim and myself - Kennedie doesn't remember it and Cale has never been!), and then we finished up with visiting Tim's Aunt Sandy (who has been on the American Ninja Warrior show several times!  now she runs a little ninja school in Spokane!  It's really freaking awesome! Cale had a blast on it! (This post will be short as I am having a HECK of a time downloading my pictures and converting them from HEIC to JPG so I'm missing a bunch at this point - that I have to figure out!)

This is at the new Kendall Yards District.  There was free parking with this complex so we chose to park here and walk into downtown (which was not far at all - this puts your right at the Spokane Dam)

Spokane Dam

 While we were there it was going to be Hoopfest Weekend.  On the radio I heard it had 6,000 teams entered.  This is the biggest basketball tournament in the states.  My husband was apart of it for years growing up - so it was fun for him to see how big it's gotten since the late 90's early 2000's.

 In the park is a great big Radio Flyer wagon.  I have a picture of Kennedie in it when she was a baby!  Cale loved it!

It wasn't until this picture that we realized they were accidental twinsies when Kennedie put on her hoodie!

 On the carousel!  This is awesome - it's from the EARLY 1900's and they restored it years ago.

 

When you are on the carousel you can pull rings from a dispenser and throw them into the "garbage goat".

There is a real garbage goat outside the carousel!  There is a button that you press and the garbage gets sucked up the mouth of the goat.  Cale saved his trash in his pocket and then was making sure everyone else didn't have trash he could feed the goat! 

We hit up a Kroger on our way to visit his Aunt to get a snack and some more road trip snack food.

Her course is amazing!!  A lot of this you could build yourself, but her rig she has would definitely need some time and expertise on it!

 This is the rig a contractor and her husband designed and built.  What is great about it is that it can be changed around to suit the obstacles that she wants to work on.  Tim walked away totally wanting one for our house too!!

 She had kids showing up from 2 hours away in Montana!

Most of my documentation of this was video's.  If you are in the Spokane area I totally recommend checking it out!  She even has an adult class!!