spring break in seattle!

It's decided.  Spring Break will heretofore be spent in Seattle visiting with my parents and the kids' cousins and tubing up in the mountains.

If my parents remain in Seattle, that is. Or, if not...perhaps we will still find a way to make it up to Seattle during Spring Break to let the kids experience what Winter truly feels like.

 Here we are...getting ready to fly~!  

 Always a bit nerve-wracking until we make it on the plane...but thankfully, the stars aligned and we made it out safely.  Albeit, spread all over the plane!  The girls got to sit by themselves in the front bulkhead, Daddy sat in the way back of the plane with Kaden, and I got a bit spoiled and had the pleasure of sitting in First Class by myself.  It was a sacrifice, I tell ya!

 One of the first things we did was hit up the Reptile Zoo in Monroe.  We've heard about this place...but never ventured out here before!  While Mitch stayed in the car with a sleeping Kaden, I took the girls into the den of slithery, scaley, things.  It was actually pretty neat!  Creepy, but neat.

 Here's Jolee staring down a....viper?  I can't remember what kind. 

All I know is that it's a venomous snake.  

Next to the reptiles, they even had some insects.  

Jojo liked the hissing cockroaches.  

SO gross!

 And can't leave without touching one, of course.  

This is a harmless corn snake.  Still creepy.

 One thing I always look forward to when we visit Seattle is all the yummy food!

We decided to try something different and check out a popular Korean yakiniku restaurant.

 It came highly recommended by Makoto.  Plus, while we were there, it got super busy, so it seems we picked a good place!  

 Look at all that!  Cooked over real charcoal-not just gas burners.

The food was SO very yummy, we all left with happy tummies.

 It had been a while since we checked out the Children's museum at the Pacific Science Center, so we decided it was about time we visited again.

Plus, it was Kaden's first time!

 Checking out the bugs and toys while getting ready to enter the butterfly atrium....

 Inside, there are hundreds of butterflies just flying around and perched here and there.  If you stand super still, some may even land on you!  None landed on us, though.  :(

Also, it was so hot we didn't stay too long.  Nonetheless, we love it here and the kids really enjoyed seeing some new sights.  

Yes, we like this place. :)

 Later that day, we got to see our very first glimpse of snow!

We visited my friend Rachel's house and wouldn't you know it...there was SNOW on the ground outside her house!!

 They weren't dressed to play in the snow, but when did that ever stop some kids from frolicking in the snow, right?

 So cold, but fun!

 For some more than others, apparently...

 The main event, of course, was tubing up in the mountains.  

This year we managed to snag a few extra people to come along with us and it was so much fun!

Here we are with Rachel and her girls.

 Jolee and Anna.  Before even the tubing began, they were on the ground making their snow angels. :)

 And Makoto and his family came along too. 

Kela LOVED tubing with Karen and Maya. 

 After 2 slides down the hill, Jolee was pretty much done for.

She was not a big fan of tubing.

Snow and making snowmen, however, she enjoyed thoroughly!

 Kaden=also not a fan of snow.

 Did I mention these girls loved tubing?

 They loved it so much, they didn't even want to wait for the rope tow...but hiked up the hill pulling their tubes with them!  So hard core, these guys!

 Me and my boy.

Happy after getting some hot chocolate in his tummy.  :)

 Our large tubing gang.

SO MUCH FUN!!

 After our tubing session, it seemed a waste to leave when there was perfectly good snow and sunshine left in the day, so we stayed a bit longer so the kids could slide, throw snowballs, and make snowmen.

 Kaden, of course, fell asleep after such an eventful afternoon.

 I think the kids enjoyed sliding down this huge snowbank more than the tubing itself!

Mental note: next time, save money on lift tickets and just play in the snow!

Even Daddy got in on the sliding.  

 Another first on this trip was a visit to the Seattle Aquarium.

The huge fish tank at the entrance sported a diver!  Ha!

Kinda fun.

 Kaden loved the jelly fish ring. The neon lights you see actually changed colors while the jelly fish floated all around the tube.  It was pretty neat.  

 The pacific giant octopus.  The largest octopus in the world!

 Sea otters are SO cute!

I took some pictures of the real ones....but since my kids are cuter than otters, this is what I shall share.  

How beautiful is the Seattle pier?  Love this place!

Not to mention, the perfect weather we were blessed with!

 Dinner on the Pier at Red Robin.  Our first time here and it was pretty yummy!  :)

 What the girls will miss most about Seattle:  their cousins.

Amazing how after not seeing each other for nearly 2 years...they can pick up where they left off and play like the best of friends!  We sure do love our cousins!

 And don't forget the yummy food we always get to eat!

Obachan made tonkatsu while Makoto made sushi.  Oh yes, we eat good whenever we visit Seattle!  

 Kaden hanging with Uncle Makoto.  His (middle) namesake. 

 Making some candy with Obachan for dessert!

 Our last night in Seattle, we went out to eat at a nearby Chinese restaurant.

So very yummy!  

And lucky for us, we got to meet MY cousin Celena who just happened to fly in on our last day there.

She's going to be studying at Edmonds Community College!  What perfect timing!  :)

And soon enough, our vacation is over...time to head back to reality.

Thankfully, our flights there AND coming home were smooth and uneventful.  We got to sit together on the way home which is always a bonus for us stand-by fliers.  The girls did great and even Kaden did fantastic.

We feel so blessed that we have the opportunity to fly to various places to visit family and friends, and to experience lots of fun activities and adventures!

Hopefully, we can visit again next Spring break, too!