Trip to Washington--Spending Time with Family in Seattle

As I mentioned in my previous posts, Daxton and I were able to spend a couple weeks visiting family in Washington state last April.  Since we live so far away and miss everyone so dearly, we spent the entire time visiting family in Ephrata, Cour D'Alene, and then Seattle.  Towards the end of our trip, Grandma and Grandpa (along with a couple of my younger brothers and their families) brought us over to Seattle for a few days of family fun.  My oldest brother Bryan and his family live over in the Seattle area, so we were super excited to stay with them again.  Our first night was spent at Grandpa and Grandma's hotel for a big swimming and pizza party.  Daxton loved showing all his cousins his killer cannonball skills!

Riding home from our late night swimming party!
(L to R) Daxton, Heather, Katrina, Natalie, Max, and Sadie

The next day we all met up in Seattle for a day full of family adventures, starting with a Duck Tour!

Before loading the bus/boat...

The kids were already having tons of fun with their quackers!

I had never done the Duck Tour in Seattle and was super excited.  It was fun just to be a tourist in our home state!  Daxton and I have done SEVERAL duck tours in San Francisco, but he was a bit too young to remember any of them, so it was fun to see his excitement  as the large bus/boat pulled up.

Loaded up and excited to start the tour!

Our tour started at the Space Needle which was pretty fun.  I loved watching the kids' reactions to everything as we drove by.  Because there were no windows it got a bit cold for us Floridians, but we somehow made it through.

I adore this picture!

I love his excitement and bright eyes.

It was hilarious to watch Emma, Katrina, Nora, and Sadie's reactions when the bus drove into the water!  There were a lot of squeals and giggles.

Just some of the beautiful views while boating through Lake Union...

After the duck tour was over...

Everybody LOVES grandpa!

I love Daxton's look of adoration in the middle picture below.

After the Duck Tour, we all drove over to the Seattle Aquarium.  Right as we walked in the entrance we saw a massive tank from floor to ceiling.  There was a diver inside demonstrating the thickness of the glass.  The kids had so much fun placing their hands up against the glass trying to give the diver a high-five.

Daxton and I have always been HUGE fans of aquariums and the Seattle aquarium has always held a special place in my heart.  It was so much fun spending the day with family here.

Exploring the touch pools...

Daxton is a huge fan of starfish.

It was pretty cute to see that he could identify almost all of the sea creatures throughout the aquarium.  He pointed out sea anemones, urchins, starfish, jellyfish, and all sorts of other animals along the way.  I was a rather proud momma watching him get so excited about learning.

Can't pass up a good photo op!

Sadie and Daxton thought it was super fun to pretend they were caught in the octopus tentacles.

Daxton loved watching the octopus and moray eels.

The kids also had fun running back and forth along the pier between the Aquarium buildings.  The aquarium has a really cool seal enclosure with an outside viewing area, where the kids had a blast watching the seals swim.

Uncle Richard was a sweetheart and helped Daxton up and down for better views.  The kids also had fun trying on wetsuits and pretending they were riding on the back of a whale.

We were so glad that Bryan, my oldest brother, was able to get off work early and join us at the aquarium.  Daxton and I even did another loop through the aquarium with their family before heading back to their house for dinner.  It was such a fun day at the aquarium!

Can't get over that cute face peering through...

Goofing off with his cousins...

We loved being able to spend the day with family on the duck tour and then at the Seattle Aquarium!  Seattle is such a gorgeous city, but I loved watching Daxton interact with his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents most of all.
We love our family!