Family Trip to the Puget Sound

Okay, pictures are complete! Click on the "Days" below to view pictures of that day on our trip.

For several years now my family has been taking an annual family vacation in which my parents generously take their whole family (me and my two brothers, our spouses and our children) somewhere and pay for everything. We decided not to go last year because Jubilee was only five months old and we just weren't sure how that was going to work out--they all went to Mexico--we took the RV up the coast to San Francisco.

Anyway, this year we decided to go to the Puget Sound up in Washington--the pacific northwest. It is quite beautiful there--misty, cool, eagles everywhere, vampires. . . (see "Day 6").

• Day 1 Wednesday: arrive in Manchester Bay near Port Orchard after long flight with Jubilee and waiting in long line at rental car counter for an hour and a half. The house is quaint and rustic. VERY rustic. Smaller than we anticipated and only one shower, but nice enough and beautiful view of Seattle. We figure out where everyone is going to sleep, eat dinner of too much chicken, fried and roasted, then go to sleep.


• Day 2, Thursday: Hang out all day, explore the town of Manchester (takes about 5 minutes), walk down the beach, check out starfish and dead jelly fish on the pier, stop in real estate office to see if houses are affordable (they are), hang out more.
  
• Day 3, Friday: Mike takes my Mom, Jed, Logan, Alyssa, Lauren, Erin, Lisa, and Randy to Victoria, Canada. They go to Butchart Gardens, the Empress Hotel for Tea, shopping, and cocktails. I get to stay home with the two cutest little girls in the whole world, Jubilee and Little V. We sing songs, learn to share, have a tea party and take a bubble bath (not me--them).


• Day 4, Saturday: In the morning Mom, Dad, Randy and I check out a local farmers market. Let's just say it was very local--morel like neighbors selling the three zucchinis and four tomatoes they picked in their gardens that morning. My favorite was the booth with like a thousand knitted kitchen towels--the kind that are half knitted and half towel.... My mom bought 24 crumpets, 20 cookies, 2 loaves of cinnamon bread, a loaf of wheat bread, and I forget what else. Then my dad argued the whole way back about if the bread were really as fresh as they claimed. He also said the crumpet lady was crazy... By the time we got back, more relatives had arrived--my aunt and uncle, Twinny (fondly referred to as Auntie Grandma) and Jim, my Cousin Dianne and her husband Mike and their two kids--Molly (13) and Leo (16), and my other cousin Susan and her husband Allan and their youngest son Brandon (16)--their oldest Mick is in Tennessee in college. Did I mention that our very rustic cabin only had one shower? We had a great time visiting with them all day, hanging out, watching old videos of Jed opening up a thousand Christmas presents one at a time... And let's not forget the white-trash paper-doll Barbie contest. Molly won. Jim and Twin brought halibut that the boys had caught in Alaska--yum, yum! I've never had halibut as fresh and tasty as that! Dianne and her family couldn't spend the night as Molly had a soccer game, but they came back the next day, so we got to hang out even more. When I was a kid, my cousins were like siblings. I was so sad when the moved to Washington. . . I cried for days. I have another cousin, Ricky, too, but he lives in Alaska and couldn't make it.


• Day 5, Sunday: Mike takes all the kids (Alyssa, Lauren, Erin, Jed, and Logan) to Seattle to check out the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project, an interactive music museum where they got to actually record a song on DVD. Watch the movie Twilight in preparation for the tour.


• Day 6, Monday: This was the day of the Twilight Tour. Mike drove my mother, Alyssa, Lauren, Erin, and Lisa to the town of Forks which was about 3 hours away. The girls really enjoyed the tour, as it was right out of the book. For those unfortunates who only saw the movie, the tour made less sense, but it was still fun. The milkshakes at the end of the tour (named after characters) were actually quite delicious. Randy stayed home this day and took Jed fishing in his canoe and he caught five trout. Jed had a really great time, and I think Randy did too!
  
• Day 7, Tuesday: This was our last day, so the whole family went to Seattle on the Ferry to visit the Seattle Aquarium and Pike Place Fish Market. I was surprised that it was as crowded as it was for a Tuesday and I didn't really get to see the giant octopus because there were so many people crowded around, but I did get to check out the seahorses, which are my favoritest fish ever. They look like fairy fish. Jubilee's favorite was steps going down (anywhere) and a projected light octopus that changed colors on the floor. After the aquarium, we when to the Crab Pot which was a blast as the waiters simply dump your order (what ever it is) from a large bowl directly on to the table where you just have at it with a wooden hammer. It was a lot of fun and Jed really loved the crab. It was delicious. Then we went up to Pike Place and walked around for a bit. We saw the famous market where they throw fish around and yell a lot when someone makes a purchase and we got to see them actually do that. We saw the original Starbucks but didn't have a lot of time to peruse because the babies were getting tired and we had to catch the Ferry back. The ride back offered an amazing view of the city. It was quite spectacular.


• Last Day