Washington

We made a quick trip to Washington a few weeks ago to visit Ben's grandpa who turned 90 this fall.  We missed the big celebration because Carson was only a few weeks old, so we really wanted to get out there to visit.  We had a great time!  

Carson did great on the way out.  Because of weather in Chicago, we were re-routed and didn't arrive in Seattle until midnight (3am our time!).  We rented a car and made our way to Ben's aunt Julia's house for the night.  

After a wonderful breakfast made by Julia, we were on our way to Sequim to see Grandpa, Kevin, Heidi and Aaron. 

Our first ferry experience - you drive your car right on and off of the ship.  Carson was happy to be out of his seat!

Kevin babysat Carson and Grandpa took Ben and I to a game farm.  This place was crazy - tons of wild animals ranging from zebras to elk to llamas to grizzly bears.  Most of the animals were free to approach your car looking for some wheat bread to eat.

Grandpa loved this kodiak bear.  He was huge!

Yuck!

We were up early most days because we were still on Ohio time.  We enjoyed visiting with Grandpa before the sun came up while he ate breakfast.

Before we left Grandpa took the three of us to feed the seagulls at his favorite spot.  There were soon hundreds of seagulls once we started throwing the bread!

Love this one.

Carson missed all of the excitement.

Back at Kevin and Heidi's we ate a quick lunch before saying goodbye.

Grandpa was quite smitten by Carson and I think the feeling was mutual :)

We had so much fun and can't wait to visit them again!  Next we loaded the car and were headed for Bellingham to see Steve, Kristi and Tessa.

We had a longer ferry ride this time and got out to walk around and look at the scenery.

Dave and Peggy were also visiting Steve and Kristi for the weekend.  They prepared a seafood feast for us the first night we were there - crab legs, salmon, tuna steaks and mussels.  It was delicious!

Tessa and Carson were so cute together.  Tessa loved Carson and just wanted to climb all over him.  

Come on buddy, why won't you play with me?!

Tessa was dedicated at church on Sunday morning.  We were so glad we were able to be there!

Steve and Kristi gave Carson this hat - they were hilarious!

Best friends with their kids - they kept commenting how crazy it was to be in this stage of life.  

We had SUCH a wonderful time.  The trip was short, but sweet.  We were able to see lots of people in just a few days.  We can't wait to visit again, hopefully for a longer time!