Editor’s note: My pictures didn’t turn out very well, so watch this post for (hopefully) many better photos, courtesy of Bestemor and expert photographer Aunt H.
We just finished a fun week-long visit with our Austin (not Austen, for once!) relatives. They liked the thought of visiting us to escape the Texas summer. We like hosting out-of-town visitors because they remind us of all the neat activities around town that we could be doing. Everybody wins! During their stay, they saw the Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, the Museum of Flight, and other tourist favorites. Some of the places we visited together include:
After dinner outdoors at Ivar’s Salmon House (where the boys waved to passing boats and fed their leftover french fries to the ducks), we drove a short distance around Lake Union to this popular park. A company picnic occupied the usual play area, so we led the boys up Kite Hill. The cousins may be from “hill country” but climbing a real hill was a new experience for them. They also liked playing on the sundial and watching the sea planes land while the adults enjoyed the view of downtown Seattle.
The Ballard Locks always have something interesting to watch. We arrived just in time to watch the steamship Virginia V make her passage from the city’s series of freshwater lakes and bays into Puget Sound; after the gates opened, the passengers waved to those of us on shore as she blew her whistle. (The three little boys thought the whistle was too noisy but Thing One liked it.) Plenty of salmon were leaping in the locks and filling the fish ladder’s underground viewing chamber. Above the fish ladder, the boys ran through the Salmon Waves public sculpture.
Attending the Puyallup Fair has been a family tradition since Your Humble Narrator was about Thing One’s age. We’ve gone almost every year since then; in fact, Bestemor wrote a little book for Thing One’s sixth birthday, illustrated with photos from his earlier trips to the fair. Thing One loves the rides, The Gimlet loves the chocolate milk and ice cream, Your Humble Narrator loves the baby animal barn and the artisan booths, and we all love the hot scones with raspberry jam. Our guests had a great time trying out all these activities and more. The weather was beautiful and the day would have been perfect except that poor Thing One wandered away from our group and was lost for about an hour. Thankfully he was only scared, not hurt, and those new grey hairs his parents are sporting were probably imminent anyway.
Besides all the sightseeing, the cousins had a wonderful time getting to know each other by playing together. The train set was a vital part of each day, but they also enjoyed running around outside. Cousin T, age 4, wanted to do homework with Thing One every afternoon, but soon became bored. (Thing One can empathize.) Cousin P is only two months younger than Thing Two, and these two invented games mostly comprised of running, falling down (on purpose), and giggling. Aunt H is a Master Gardener, and she helped us develop a landscaping plan for our yard. Curb appeal may finally be within our grasp! The downstairs guest quarters proved to be up to the challenge of doubling our family size, and all in all it was a great week.
