to seattle and back

Okay.

It's Monday, President's Day. A Holiday, mind you.

No school, no reason to wake up early...and yet I did it anyway. I got up at 4 am, got dressed, popped a banana in my mouth and drove myself to the Aloha Stadium.

And ran 8.15 miles.

And to prove that I did, in fact, run the whole Great Aloha Run...here's the awful picture they take near the finish line.

I never buy them, and never even post them publicly because...well, look at me! I look horrible. I always look horrible when I run.

BUT, I was proud of myself for finishing, and at my personal best time of 1 hr. 14 minutes, to boot!

So, there I am.

And then...just over 12 hours after crossing the finish line, I found myself on a plane, headed to Seattle.

We weren't even planning on flying out...but since we knew that Mitch had to go there for training, and the flight loads looked clear, we decided (5 hours before take-off, mind you!), to join him on his trip.

I know what you're thinking. What about Kela's school?

I'm a bad, bad Mommy...

(it's only 4 days after all, right?)

So, here we are in Seattle the morning we arrived. We flew a red-eye there and landed at 6 AM. Uncle Makoto's little girls were there to greet us!

(after we woke them up, that is...)

The next day, we visited my good friend, Rachel and her two uber-cute girls.

And swung on their swing set.
In the cold...


And swung from the rings, too!
Also in the cold...

They also slid down the slide there...but I didn't quite get a pic of that.


On day three...even though the weather was sunny out, for us "islanders" it was still too chilly to play outdoors, so we headed out to Everett to the Imagine Children's Museum.



Here's Jolee draped in a smock at the water play station.
I think this was her favorite part of the excursion.
And despite the smock...she still managed to get her clothes quite drenched.


More water play...

And even more water play....

Yes...that is a cow. Kela is "milking" the anatomically correct cow.

With actual water squirting out of the udders.

They rode a sheep and a pony (pony not pictured here).

Played some chess up on the roof top.

Colored some artwork.

And did some painting, too!

Crawled through some tunnels...

Played with some choo-choo trains....

And even discovered some dinosaur fossils!

And finished off the day with a bit of off-roading on the roof top...

We ended up staying there for over 4 hours and still didn't quite experience ALL the museum had to offer...but I must say, it was enough for me!

Jolee was asleep before I even pulled out of the parking lot!

Then back at my parent's house...it was all about the food!

Here's Jolee munching on a chicken leg.

Mmmm... this one's a carnivore!

And despite the whole "cruelty to animals" stuff...I do love my crab!

And really can't leave Seattle without having one.

With my Dad and brother Makoto out of town...it was just us girls.

ALL girls, mind you! Since neither my brother nor I have been blessed with any boys (yet...).

It was a short 4-day trip for us, with Mitch busy with his training the entire time. But, the weather really was nice the entire time we were there and the girls especially had a blast hanging out with Obachan and their cousins!

Hopefully, we won't wait another whole year before visiting again...and next time, with Ojichan and Uncle Makoto there as well!


For more pictures of our little trip....check out here!