Rock & Roll!!!

Last month, we had an AWESOME family trip to Seattle.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE having Seattle so close?  It's 4 hours away. That's it. LOVE it.  Anyways, here is my lengthy tripologue-o-pics for your viewing pleasure:

First activity on the agenda:  Our first Major League Baseball game ever!!! And it wasn't just ANY game...it was a CUBS game. Now, I'll admit, I'm not a baseball lover, but it was a BLAST!!  And the Cubs are a really big team, so it made it all the more exciting.  I was secretly rooting for the Cubs since they are a much cooler team than the Mariners, but out loud, I cheered for the home team since I didn't want to get beat up. :)  We got AWESOME seats about 30 rows up right behind the Cubs dugout and right between 3rd plate and Home base.  Perfect spot to view all the action.

The view from our seats

Cubs player FUKIDOME at bat (that's right...I spelled it right.  My nephew in Utah got in trouble for wearing a jersey to school with that player's name on the back. A parent at school, and apparantly not a baseball fan, got offended. :) Makes me thankful for a name like Waddell.)

The gang scarfing down the baseball chow.  We got 2 footlong dogs for the boys, a spicy Italian sausage for Brian, 2 personal size pizzas for Sloan & me, 2 sodas, and 2 bottles of water...and...can you guess the total??  I was going to guess about $25 when Brian got back with the grub...but I was way off.  $50.  Yup.  $50.

Woot, woot!

Cool baseball glove metal artwork in front of the stadium.

We left the game after 11 innings.  The kids had kind of had enough, and we needed to pick up Brian's race packet that afternoon.  Lucky for us, the race expo was right next door to the stadium. Sweet.  We walked over and picked up Brian's race packet, bought him a new pair of running shoes, and saw our good friend from Boise at her necklace booth. (Great to see you, Annette!!!)  Once we were finally done, we headed off to the hotel.

The view from our hotel room.  We stayed at the Westin on 5th Ave.  It was really nice and the beds were super comfy.  After dinner, we put the kids to bed and Brian went to bed too in hopes of getting a good night's rest for the race on Saturday.  Unfortunately, our night was just about to get very exciting.  At about 9:30, I was waiting for a refrigerator to be delivered to our room, and as I waited, I read the fire evacuation plan on the back of the door. Lucky I did.  While we were all (mostly) sound asleep several hours later, I heard sirens coming close. Weird.  Then a really loud BEEP!!!!!!!!!!! A fire alarm. It was really freaky!  They announced that we needed to evacuate the hotel.  So, we pulled the kids out of their beds and carried them down the 24 flights of stairs to the lobby, where, when we arrived, we were told that it was safe to return to our room.  WHAT??!!!  Atleast there wasn't a big fire. It was a small fire in the North tower of the hotel, opposite from where we were staying.  And, I am pretty glad that the action ended there, since I realized at about floor 13 that I didn't have any shoes on.  So much for Brian getting a peaceful night's rest.  Once the elevators were operating again, we headed back up to our room.  Glad I read the fire evacuation plan.  It came in pretty handy.  Word to the wise: next time you're in a hotel, take a minute and look it over. :)

Friday was awesome, since my mom flew in to join us on the trip.  We spent that day walking around Ikea and taking the Ferry to Bainbridge Island. What a beautiful place!!  The kids thought it was cool to drive our car onto a boat!

This (sadly) was the BEST of 3 attempts at a family picture.  I LOVE Kimball's face. What a funny guy!  He was trying so hard not to squint in the wind.

Mom's hotel room was 3 doors down from ours, so Friday night, the kids got to sleep in her room so Brian wouldn't wake them in the morning as he got ready for his race.  Which brings me to the actual reason for the entire trip:

Brian's race.  He ran the Seattle ROCK & ROLL Marathon and did awesome.  It was fun to have the whole family there to cheer him on.

Brian's cheering section.

We waited at the park next to Pikes Market for the racers to run past on the freeway below.  It was the perfect place to see him on the race!  The boys made posters for Brian and they were so cute.  Kimballs said: "Go Daddy Go You can make it you are fast".   And Noah's said "YAY" with a picture of Brian (the one that's a head with legs).  Great job boys!!

Here comes Brian (blue shirt, white hat...in the middle).  YAY!

We love our running man! :)

The finish!

Once we finally found Brian after the race, Noah broke loose and took off running towards him. It made Brian's day.  What a sweet boy!

Saturday afternoon, we went to the Seattle Aquarium.  Love that place!

The kids touching starfish and sea urchins.

I love this one.

Sunday started out with brunch at Salty's on Alki beach.  OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Amazing. That's the only word I can use to describe this buffet.  Amazing.  We made reservations a few weeks before the trip since we had been told it was the best brunch, and it was.  It actually won MSN City Search's Best Brunch in the Nation.  Worth every penny.  After brunch, we drove up to Tulalip (about 30 miles North of Seattle) and walked around the outlet mall.  Then after lunch, we took mom back to the airport.  It was so fun having her on this trip with us! Thanks mom!!

Monday morning we went to Top Pot Donuts for breakfast.  Holy cow. Those are some good donuts.  Apparantly so good that an NFL player was arrested not long before our trip sneaking into the donut shop for a Maple bar. :) We headed home Monday afternoon after more shopping.  What an amazing trip. Even though the kids were somewhat naughty (lots of bickering, arguing, etc) we still enjoyed almost every minute. :)