Weekend with Sister

I bugged my sister, Colleen, all summer about coming up to visit.  The last official summer weekend, she finally obliged! 

I promised if she came we'd take her husband to Mt. Rainier (I explained to Aubree that I was bribing them), so we made that our first destination.  

Colleen and baby Alexander in Paradise

It was chillier than I expected when we arrived and we discovered we forgot to bring a coat for Aubree.  Oops.

Luckily, a little exertion and time combined to make everyone warm and happy.

We did a quick, beautiful hike in Paradise, had lunch, then headed back down the mountain to visit the "Grove of the Patriarchs."

On this hike, Thane got to ride in the backpack and he loved his vantage point.

Elizabeth (also 3), on the other hand, claimed Aubree's hand and the two of them completed the hike attached that way.  Bryce was probably our most enthusiastic hiker.  He greeted every bend in the trail with squeals of delight and bursts of speed to zoom over and examine the new and exciting sights.

We would have liked to explore Rainier more, but left with enough time to get home for a quick dinner and throwing exhausted children into bed.

The next day we planned to hit Seattle.  One of Aubree's friends was getting baptized that morning, so Aubree and I attended that special event while the rest of the crew enjoyed more slow-paced preparations.  The plans for the day seemed straight forward, albeit ambitious: Drive to Tukwila and hop on the Sounder train to downtown Seattle, visit Pike Place Market, hop on a monorail to Seattle Center and check out the Bumbershoot Festival, then reverse and head home.

Graham with his cousin, Alexander

Instead, we encountered a series of misadventures.  

Our first hint things would not go smoothly came when we arrived at the Sounder train station and couldn't find parking. Anywhere. For 45 minutes.  

By the time Colleen (who had found parking) followed someone who was leaving to their car so we could FINALLY get a spot, all the kids were crying and all the adults were grumpy.  Nevertheless, we'd overcome the challenge and were ready to proceed with our plans.

We hopped on the train (which we thought the boys would love!) and headed off towards Seattle.  At the first stop, however, the conductor announced that there had been a train/car accident further ahead on the line, so all traffic was stopped.  Cue more waiting and more tears.  Even the kids were upset.

Thane especially had a hard time.  Once the train started running (30+ minutes later), he'd decided he HATED trains and was in complete melt-down mode.  

When we finally reached Seattle, we discovered that the meltdown was likely a result of having an urgent need to pee.  

Which he did. 

While Mark was holding him.

As a well-prepared momma, I did have a change of clothes for Thane.  I did not have a change of clothes for Mark.

We did finally manage to make it to Pike Place, which was beyond crowded.  There are some neat things to see there, but the quick consensus was that no one was up for a second attempt at a train ride to Seattle Center.  In fact, everyone only wanted to eat and go home before we all ended up in complete meltdown mode.

By the time Sunday rolled around, we needed a don't-go-anywhere day (with the obvious exception of church).  After church, we invited some of our Bonus Family over for dinner, to see Colleen and meet her husband and children, and to celebrate Graham's first birthday.

It was a great afternoon visiting and nice to be able to have a "family" party for G, complete with Colleen's famous oreo cake (which Aubree specifically requested).

Graham did a great job making his requisite mess, even though he wasn't a fan of the cold ice cream.

Monday was Labor Day, and Colleen and Andrew's last day with us.  We decided to take them to visit Northwest Trek.  It was a warm day, so the animals were a bit sluggish, but it was still fun.  

Elizabeth and Aubree are fast friends

We made it 2/2 on our attempts to get the coyotes to respond to our howling.

While we did a lot of fun things while Colleen and Andrew were here, my favorite parts were spending time talking, playing games, discussing, and analyzing (who's afraid of boxes anyway?).  We are so glad they made the effort to take such a long drive with little kids!