TLDR – Peterson final visit, Woodland park zoo, Overnight at the Mainers, Clem hangout, then fly home.
Did not figure this would turn into four posts, but the number of pictures made everything longer. Here we are, at the final America trip post, post 4. We’ll be covering Thursday through Sunday then we’ll be whining about Jet Lag being a real thing for the kids; wow it’s been tough adjusting back to the Dublin time zone. The kids keep getting up in the middle of the night thinking it’s time to play and eat – sigh.
Thursday Morning with the Petersons
Thursday morning Mom and Dad woke up early and drove to the airport. Mom left on a plane headed for Alaska to visit aunt Carol, and dad drove him to visit with us before we left not to return for who knows how long. Hugs and tears, then we were off to visit Michelle’s parents and say goodbye, well we said see you tomorrow because that’s simpler for Michelle’s mom to deal with then a head on hit of see in you a few years.
Thursday Afternoon – Zoo with Wes and Carie followed by Philfam
After saying “see you tomorrow” to Michelle’s family we headed north to meet up with Wes and Carie for lunch and the zoo. Wes suggested Blue C sushi and the kids were excited for Blue C, so we had lunch at Blue C. Maddex can be adventurous when it comes to eating. He had octopus and seaweed, and a few other odd things. He actually liked them too; which makes it even better.
After lunch, Wes and Carie took the kids for Ice cream and treats at a toy store. Toy store first then ice cream. They might not have needed the ice cream, but they wanted it !! And who can say no to Carie? not us. The girls picked up hatchables, and LOLs and Maddex got another stack of pokemon cards.
Following our ice cream / frozen yogurt we followed Wes to the Zoo. When I say we, I mean everyone but Wes. Carie rode in the back of the van with the kids leaving Wes all alone in his car. Wes and Carie are Zoo members which covered half of the family. To cover the other half they checked out a four-person pass from the King County library – YEAH free zoo visit. The zoo member pass comes with 4 rides on the carousel; we bet we used those.
After the zoo we drove into Redmond town center and had dinner with the PhilFam at Red Robin; YUM! somehow no pictures of dinner were taken. Following dinner, we drove a bit north to Totem lake where we stayed at a hotel next to Chick-Filet and Prodata. Kids slept well in the hotel finally being fully adjusted to the time zone change.
Thanks Wes, and Carie, and PhilFam for a great day
Friday with the Mainers
Friday morning it was dumping rain. We’d planned on going for a hike before hooking up with the Mainers. No way we are going hiking in that much rain and mud. Instead, we drove north to Alderwood mall to do some mall walking. Oddly 20 minutes north and it was clear skies and sunny out. We found a play area at the mall across from a Lego store. Michelle talked me into buying the massive 6,020 piece Hogwarts castle because it was a few hundred dollars cheaper here than in the EU.
To get the 7.5kg of legos home we had to go to REI and pick up another duffle bag. The Lego set took up 90% of a60-literr duffel bag. Going to be so fun to build once we start. Betting it takes us a week or so to make it through the 4 manuals and 37 bags of parts.
Khaleesi burning Mila with one of her dragons
After the mall we drove south to Woodinville and cruised our old home town. We checked out the Target and the now Haggen that used to be a Top food. We picked up desert and flowers for Manija. Michael pinged me while we were at Haggen and said he would come home early to hangout with us since it was raining – no argument from us; we finished shopping and headed towards his house.
Super happy we stayed the night with the Mainers. The kids got along like they had seen each other the day before plus it was great catching with the Mainer Parents, and Marty. Michael made some spectacular Mainer Tacquios and Guac for dinner that were almost better in the morning eating at 5am sneaking around the house trying to not wake anyone. We agreed to setup some pen pal action between our kids and the Mainer kids. Should be fun for all to stay in touch and write and recevie mail.
Thanks Mainers for the amazing time.
Saturday Clems then flying home
Saturday morning we drove back to Redmond town center and had breakfast with Maria at the Orginal Family Pancake house. Jer Jer’s oldest was supposed to be there working to say hi to us, but she went home early. We had a great breakfast with Maria. I recall the prices being the same as the last time I was at a Pancake house, however the servings were smaller than I recall. I like the bacon waffle. It used to take up the whole plate and come with a slice of bacon on the side. Waffle was much smaller then the plate and no side of bacon – less for the same price to keep profitable I guess.
I took the kids for a walk around the town center while Maria and Michelle stayed at breakfast and chatted a bit longer. Then we all met up and slow walked to the car. From the Redmond we drove to Clems house in Kenmore and hung out for the rest of the day before we flew out. Princess Jess picked us up some pizza and cookies from Papa Murphy’s. The kids kind of ate – what they did do well was play. They played hard with the Clem girls! Michelle and tyler took a nap while Jess and I caught up and had our hair done by the girls.
Thanks Clems for entertaining us for the day
Flight home
We left the Clems around 4:30 for the airport. We dropped off the rental car at Thrifty about a half hour later. We donated our car seats to them. It was far cheaper to buy or find car seats then it was rent them for two weeks. We used my old folding hand truck to carry the REI bags to check in; worked great. We were checked in and at gate A12 with over an hour to spare. George, soon to be new co-worker, was on the same flight. He came over and sat with us while we were waiting. The kids were a bit restless so we took the “those traveling with small children” window and boarded the plane first. George came with us no questioned asked.
The flight was great. The kids slept 90% of the way and were not difficult to deal with. Other then the odd arm rests that did not go all the way up and kept falling on Khaleesis head untill Michelle fixed the problem with woflie, we had a great flight – We’ve been home for a few nights now and Jet Lag is real. The kids have no clue when to sleep or eat right now. We’re hoping it only takes a few more nights for them to work out where we are and learn to sleep through the night again.
