Lavender and Lucy the Lamb

This morning started with another wonderful breakfast from Zach, but it will be the last on this trip. I think he has burned out a bit and Nick will be taking over with a savory bread pudding, so we’re in for a double treat: yummy food + relaxation! 

The families all split up this morning so the four of us found ourselves at a nearby lavender farm in the late morning. We parked the car and were immediately greeted by four wagging, wiggling sheep dogs that soaked up our attention and led us to all the other animals on the farm. We met a miniature palomino pony, ducks from India, sheep, geese, peacocks, Flemish giant rabbits (although they were only 6 months old so not very giant), and the piece de resistance, a 10 day old orphaned lamb that Melina fed with a baby bottle. We were all in heaven. The owner of the farm, Alan, led us around and answered all of our questions on his menagerie and we bought some wonderful lavender products to help us remember this special place. 

Just outside the farm we found the mother load of blackberry bushes so filled every container in the car. We have had one driver honk at us while picking berries on the side of the road so I hope it’s not illegal or something, but it’s too late to worry now since the cobbler has already been made and consumed.

We stopped into the town of Sydney by the Sea and had some gyros for lunch (Melina reluctantly tried then devoured her spanikopita) and perused some book shops before heading back to the house for nap time, dinner prep, and lots of pool time. Melina is finally swimming again after “forgetting” how since her lessons ended in June. I think I may have oversold her swimming ability and made her worried that she couldn’t live up to my expectations. So I’m now trying not to make a big deal of it, and that seems to help. She did a LOT of swimming on her own today and was loving it and kept challenging herself to do more difficult things. Very cool!

Zach worked really hard to prepare a beautiful setting in the garden for a dinner of burgers in the hopes we could all sit together but it ended up being too difficult to coordinate everyone after splitting up for the day, so it was an easy going, come-and-go meal, topped off with the aforementioned cobbler. 

The night ended with stories from Marc (always the highlight of a family gathering for Zach and me!) And some time in the way-too-hot hot tub. So now we’re scalded and looking forward to more adventures on the island tomorrow! 

It’s Always Sunny in British Columbia

In this gorgeous mansion we are pretty blissfully free of television, video games, current events, etc., partially because that is a great way to connect with family members we don’t see very often, but mostly because the wireless router is located in the owners adjacent house so the only spot we get WiFi is in one corner of the formal dining room. So I didn’t post anything yesterday which is really annoying because I just want to go to bed but now I have too much to write. 

I used to journal all of our travels but got out of the habit years ago and now every time we come back from a trip I regret that I didn’t write anything down. As a former teacher used to say, my mind has become like a sieve. So this time Zach encouraged me to use the public format as incentive to write, but it is so against my nature to put myself out there like this that every entry is agony. Hopefully it will be worth it when I can actually remember most of our trip!

Yesterday after Zach made everyone delicious blueberry pancakes we spent most of our time wandering through the Butchart Gardens, a beautiful but overpriced expanse of the most gorgeous and meticulous landscaping I’ve ever seen. At 30 bucks a person our expectations were pretty high, so it felt a little too Disney for my tastes. But the cousins all had a blast together and the weather was gorgeous so it was a win. Speaking of weather we are convinced that the sun always shines in the Pacific Northwest, and not a drop of rain ever falls. Oh, and the only bugs they have are butterflies, dragonflies, and happily oblivious bees. We haven’t had one mosquito bite in a week and a half and believe me, if there were mosquitoes here they would have found us.

 Today was a little more stressful, as the grown up ladies had plans for tea while the men and kids hung out in Victoria. Sounds simple, I know, but try organizing 18 people in 5 cars to do anything, and you’ll understand why this was not the most relaxing activity. But we did make it to an amazing snack shack on pier with grilled oyster sandwiches and fresh fish roll ups, and I had a very nice tea time, and to top it off we discovered a free garden in Beacon Hill Park that rivaled Butchart (just as gorgeous if not as big, but free!).

But any stress melted away with some blackberry picking, a glorious pasta dinner with the entire family, and a night of talking, laughing, and gathering around the piano while the professional performers in the family did their thing. Melina has been a little crazy but overall both girls have been angels and are having the time of their lives. It really is too bad they can’t see their cousins more often- cousins are the best.
 

Family Reunion: Day 1

I’m sitting alone in the darkened formal dining room in our inn because this is the only place where the WiFi works, but I’m listening to family laugh in the kitchen about the defective toilet in the master bath. Odds are good that John tries to use it in the middle of the night despite the spatula sticking out of the top, sending another cascade of water down the chimney below in Capeley and Emily’s room. Again.

Today was both pretty uneventful and monumental at the same time. Uneventful because after a week of rapid fire sightseeing all we really did today was take a ferry to Vancouver Island, taste some wine, and settle into our home for the week at the Victoria Garden Estate. The ferry was actually wonderful- 90 minutes of bliss- since the ferry had a playground with a slide. Zach and I just sat and enjoyed each others’ company while watching the gorgeous scenery pass by our window. And the winery was decent and provided us with a fun sipping white for the hot tub at the inn.

But really the importance of today is that this is the first time, EVER, that all of the progeny of Grandpa John (Zach’s dad) are under one roof. And so far it has been kind of wonderful. The kids are bonding, the grown ups are laughing, and even the baby smiled at most of the family members she met for the first time today. I call that a success. 

Jelly Deli

We didn’t cover nearly as much ground today but that doesn’t mean we can’t still be exhausted. We were up early and had PB&N sandwiches on the floor of the kitchen for breakfast. By that I mean of course that 3 of us sat on the floor while we ate, and one of us took each piece off of her napkin and put it on the floor before eating it.

But we made it out of the apartment with minimal Nutella damages to our clothes and hopped a bus to Stanley Park, the 404 hectare park within the city limits that has miles of walking and bike trails, a miniature passenger train, and our destination, the aquarium. On the bus we met an adorable family from Ontario that was bubbling with excitement because they had won this trip to Vancouver in a sweepstakes to see, wait for it, One Direction. I wowed them with the story of our close encounter yesterday, both the mom and teenage daughter visibly swooned. I failed to mention that I had no idea who they were but may have given myself away by accidentally calling them New Direction, as I did a few times with Zach. Oops.

While we waited for the aquarium to open we wandered through what a prop guy called a “hot set” for the upcoming movie Big Eyes with Amy Adams. That poor guy waited there all day guarding the easels set up in the park from the hoards of tourists that thought it was an art show. So when the movie comes out and Zach and I don’t see it, we’ll tell everyone that does that we wandered through the scene with all the paintings. You know, in that movie about the painter. (Our many brushes with fame on this trip are clearly wasted on us.)
 
The aquarium in Vancouver is expensive, but impressive. We saw amazing jellyfish, beluga whales, dolphins, seals, another gargantuan octopus, and countless other cool things we hadn’t seen before. All of us loved the beluga whales, but other than that I most enjoyed the octopus, Zach the leopard shark, and Melina the arapaima, a crazy looking 7-foot sea monster from the Amazon. Diane was in heaven staring at the fish, her favorites being the sting rays (she would point them out to me every time), the sea lion (it literally roared, which prompted Diane to roar at everyone around her for the rest of the day just like she did at the Portland zoo), and basically anything else that swam, flew, or slithered. Now I feel bad that she slept through the last aquarium- I just had no idea a 16 month old would enjoy it so much! 

Another cool thing about this aquarium is that they do Sea World style shows with the animals to keep them mentally and physically engaged. While we were waiting for the dolphin show to start, the emcee asked if anyone wanted to volunteer for a jelly fish presentation (I later learned they called it the Jelly Deli). Volunteers must be old enough to drive and be free of any food or bee sting allergies. In my family that leaves only me, so with Melina’s encouragement I volunteered myself and was chosen. In front of the 200+ people waiting to watch dolphin tricks I ate three “secret” foods, the first of which had little taste and the texture of rubber bands and turned out to be boiled jellyfish, the “tofu of the sea.” The next was jellyfish salad, a bit tastier as it was more like rubber bands covered in sesame oil. The last was blue jell-o and I slurped it up, happy for something familiar, until the emcee told us what goes into jell-o, and I promise you, you don’t want to know. Let’s just say, I kind of prefer the jellyfish.

After the aquarium we took the circular ride on the miniature train, which tells the native american story of Spirit Bear, which was cool but strange as people dressed as totem-pole style bears acted out parts of the rambling story in the woods while we passed by on the train. Melina loved it, and Diane roared at every actor. On our way out we came across an amazing splash park so we stripped the kids down and put on the emergency outfits I had brought for them (I’m such a mom) and they played in the ice cold waterfalls and geysers until Diane melted down from exhaustion. 

Somehow we made it back to our neighborhood with what little energy we had left and enjoyed a delightful Japanese meal at the Gyoza King, which was recommended by our airbnb host. The girls went crazy for the dumplings, Osaka pancake, udon, and edamame. Melina now has a new interest in Japan, so we may have to watch Ponyo with her when we get home.

The day ended perfectly with Zach bringing Belgian waffles to the apartment for us to munch after the girls had gone to bed. If you’ve been to Belgium, you know how rare of a treat this is in the US (and no, they are nothing like the ones at IHOP). 

 Now on to the second half of our trip-the family reunion on Vancouver Island. I’m a bit sad this part of our trip is ending, but there is still lots for us to look forward to, and we are very excited!

Corollary: tonight is the first night of an international firework competition only blocks from our apartment at the beach. It started too late for the girls so we figured we couldn’t go, but the noise was so terrific that I finally talked Zach into walking to the waterfront in his pjs to see them without me , since he was bummed to miss out. He made it just in time for the last firework (just the very last one explosion in the sky) and for the 400,000 people gathered at the shore to turn around and mob the streets as he struggled to get back. Oh well, at least he said that one firework was amazing.

Kits is for Kids

Vancouver is amazing!! I love this town. We covered so much ground today that when Melina and I were recapping our time in Vancouver she kept referring to “yesterday” when she talked about things we did this morning. Vancouver is beautiful and packed full of fun, kid-friendly things to do. When I asked Melina what she thought of Vancouver she said she loved it and then thought for a second and followed with, “I would like to come here by myself.” Does that mean she’s already planning where she wants to live when she grow up? Or is she saying it would be more fun without dear old mom and dad weighing her down? I’m not offended either way.

We started the day with breakfast near our apartment in the West End. We typically self cater for breakfast since the girls get up so early but our apartment doesn’t have a kitchen table and I’m not about to risk Anna’s beautiful furniture by letting our girls get food anywhere near it. But lucky for us Canadians love Eggs Benedict (they call them “Bennys” and there are multiple types on every menu we’ve seen) so we got to indulge in what is usually just a mother’s day treat for our family. 

Then we wandered along the waterfront park skirting False Creek (not a real creek?) and met tons of dogs on our way to catch the ferry to Granville Island (definitely not a real island). Granville Island was hopping and the girls enjoyed putting together a picnic for later in the day and chasing pigeons near the docks. I bought an adorable hat for my new niece (!!!) Bridget. The Kids Market was cute but a little too Chuck-E-Cheese for our taste so we hurried through and then crossed the street to the much more enticing (for us) Granville Island Brewery. We sampled a few tasty suds while Melina sampled a cream soda. If only they had milk for Diane we may have stayed all afternoon. But she was getting tired so we bought a bottle of the Kitsilano Maple Cream Ale (they had been out of it on tap but we didn’t want to miss out) and a bottle opener and hopped the ferry again to Vanier Park. Zach is drinking that ale as I type.

One of my favorite things about traveling is how the best parts of your day are often the ones that were totally unplanned. We had a lot of these moments before we had kids (discovering a secret route to an overlook in Cusco and watching an Andean Condor soar right by us, finding ourselves on a beach in Italy covered with pieces of beautiful sea-smoothed tiles and pottery shards instead of sand, witnessing the most hilariously pointless balloon display in an underground cavern in Belgium, the list goes on…). You’d think that with kids you’d lose this sponteneity, but in fact you have so many more of these moments! It must be because locals let down their guard around children and will stop to chat and then load you with free advice, often going out of their way to walk you to a favorite playground, restaurant, or shop. Having Melina around never hurts since she is way more likely than Zach or especially me to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger. 

So it wasn’t surprising to any of us that we ended up walking to Kitsilano (they call it Kits) with some locals who showed us the perfect place to picnic and ended up spending over an hour playing at an amazing playground right on the beach with the gorgeous city skyline as a backdrop. Diane, our slide junkie, nearly wore out the seat of her pants on the slide resembling those rollers you use in the airport to shove your bags through the x-ray machine. Melina made friends with locals and tourists on the teepee shaped merry-go-round that she pushed in a circle and then adeptly jumped onto, getting the kids to all chant, “FASTER! FASTER!” between hysterical giggles. Zach and I stood back and soaked it all in, our favorite part of the day.

We strolled back onto the ferry and hopped off at Yorktown, a trendier area that is probably much more exciting for most at happy hour. We checked out the roundhouse and climbed on train engine (more exciting for us) and then were all of a sudden surrounded by young girls pushing their way into a nearby hotel lobby and screaming. I asked someone what was going on and she yelled, “ONE DIRECTION!!!” as she snapped pictures above my head with her iPhone. “Oh!” I replied, and turned to Zach to whisper, “is that a band?” He says I’m “such a mom.” 

Melina was holding up quite well while Diane napped in the stroller so we hoofed it to Gastown, the old town area of Vancouver. Very cute and very touristy, but a fun change of pace from the glitzy modern buildings everywhere else in this city. By the way, can someone tell me why the buildings here seem so new and clean and modern? Was the building boom in the 1970s? Or did everything just get a facelift for the 2010 Olympics? We pondered this while we stopped for cappuccino and cheesecake. Melina lounged in the cafe window like a supermodel, watching the common folk on the street. The place was empty when we got there and packed when we left, so apparently she was good for business…!

Next was a walk to the Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Chinatown since we had heard it was gorgeous. Meh. We paid a hefty admission price to a tiny garden with turtles but NO koi only to find out that the bigger gardens WITH koi were in a separate, FREE section of the garden. You should be able to tell by my use of capital letters that I am still irritated about this and disappointed that Lonely Planet didn’t steer us in the right direction. Plus, the gardens (both the free and expensive sections) were just kind of standard and really didn’t hold a candle to the attention to detail and peaceful vibe of the garden we saw in Portland. Not to mention that there was way less koi.

The rest of our evening was uneventful but nice- after washing the grime off of the girls (I’ve started calling Diane “my little match girl” for the dirt she inevitably streaks across her face each day) we had some yummy burgers at Vera’s in Gastown and then hopped on a bus back to the apartment. The girls took a bath before I let them touch anything, then again ended the day by singing each other to sleep. Best music ever.

There’s Always a Reason

When Melina was a baby she often cried for no reason other than some kind of cathartic release- like there were sobs inside of her and she just needed to get them out. Nothing could calm her down. Much to our delight we learned when Diane was born that not all babies are like this. With Diane there is ALWAYS a reason. It may take us hours or even days to figure it out but once you figure it out and fix the problem the crying immediately stops. Which is why it we were so confused when she cried and whined for nearly the entire 4.5 hour trip to Vancouver. We sang songs, rubbed her head, shaded her eyes from the sun, and handed her toys, milk, goldfish, water, and probably 20 apple slices but nothing calmed her for more than a few minutes at a time. And then, right at the 4 hour mark and upon entering the city of Vancouver, Melina figured it out.

But let me back up a bit…

We packed up and said goodbye to The Maple Leaf on Capitol Hill and walked a block to catch the bus into town. I was focused on ushering the girls onto the bus without causing too much of a bottleneck at the door when I heard the driver say “Well, hello everyone!” It was the super friendly bus driver from our first day in Seattle! We all laughed at the coincidence and it was nice to say goodbye to him like an old friend, making it seem as if our time in Seattle had come full circle.

Our plan had been to hang out in the city a bit before picking up our rental car at noon for the drive to Canada, but we were a little nervous of timing since our airbnb host let us know yesterday that we only had a half hour window to catch her if we wanted to get a parking pass. So we stopped in at Avis early to see if we could at least fill out paperwork in advance but lo and behold our car was ready so we installed the two car seats, picked up some coffee, and were headed out of town by 10:30am.

Neither Zach nor I enjoy driving, which is why we usually choose destinations with great public transportation. We would chose a plane, train, or bus over a car any day, especially with kids. It is so much more enjoyable for us to sit back and let someone else navigate the foreign roads and crazy drivers while we play with the kids and chew the scenery, so it’s usually worth it to us to forego the extra flexibility that comes with a car. Not to mention the hassle of having to rent two car seats. I know many people that won’t rent car seats because of cleanliness issues (like thinking about the last kid to puke in the seat), but that doesn’t worry me at all. I just hate having to pay for them and then worry whether I installed them incorrectly for the whole trip. But since the plans for this trip include a week on Vancouver Island where public transportation is rare, we gave in and got a car. 

The ride was actually easy and quite beautiful, and we even squeezed in a trip to Safeway to get the fixings for PB&N sandwiches (the N is for Nutella), which we enjoyed immensely in the car while waiting to get through customs. Other than Diane’s uncharacteristically foul mood the only annoyance was the fact that the GPS we brought from home that claims to cover all of North America refused to recognize the existence of British Columbia. In fact, when you set the country to Canada and then choose a province, the only choices you are given are “New Brunswick” and “Nouveau Brunswicke.” Thanks Garmin, but not even close. That will be soooo helpful next week while we maneuver Vancouver Island.

OK, back to our entrance into Vancouver. We entered via the Granville Bridge and the view is simply spectacular. The buildings are almost all the same honey-combed style from the balconies lining the outside walls which makes for a distinctly unique skyline. The sky was crystal clear blue and the sun sparkled on the water below, but our poor baby girl was just a mess. I was frustrated because I couldn’t see her in her rear-facing seat so I kept unfairly asking Melina to guess at what could be the problem. Melina was sick of trying to read a 16 month old’s mind so she was just making stuff up without even looking at the baby when finally she looked over and her eyes grew round and she said “MOM! I KNOW WHAT THE REASON IS! SHE THREW UP!” 

And that is how we entered Vancouver reeking of vomit. Poor Diane has been carsick before, but somehow we always forget her weak stomach until it is too late. On day one in the Virgin Islands I had to wash out her car seat in the ocean. Day one of a camping trip required borrowing the use of Nana and Grandpa’s washer in Winchester. So now you know why I don’t worry about the cleanliness of rental car seats…my kid is the one that pukes in them.

The poor girl that had agreed to let us stay at her adorable apartment managed to hide her horror at our stench enough to get us our parking pass and show us where she kept her detergent before fleeing to safety. I’m actually kind of shocked she didn’t kick us to the curb. It’s either because of her natural Canadian kindness, her bohemian love-everyone-no-matter-how-they-smell attitude, or the fact that the public areas in her building already smell of bong water that must have flooded the hallways and was then left to grow into a fragrant mold. Thank goodness her apartment doesn’t smell that way or we’d all be sleeping on the beach. 

Again, the selective amnesia took hold and we thoroughly enjoyed our evening in the West End. We dined on gorgeously huge mussels at Central Bistro and then walked to the waterfront where the kids splashed in the water and covered their last clean outfits with sand. We ate cupcakes as we strolled back to the apartment and the girls played on Melina’s air bed before singing each other to sleep. So incredibly cute. Now Zach is asleep already while I wait for the now clean car seat cover and clothes to finish drying in the laundry room downstairs and look forward to more adventures tomorrow. Oh, Canada.

Juan-less in Seattle

Juan felt the need to earn an honest living today so we were on our own in the Emerald City. Luckily he did such an amazing job of showing us around and schooling us on the bus system yesterday that we felt like locals. It helped that the bus routes have recently changed, making even the locals look like tourists, so we blended in nicely with our bus transfers and our Hipster Supply (TM) gear. (Pete, you can thank me later for the shameless plug.)

We made it back to Pike Place Market easily and before 9:30 am succumbed to the lure of a lavender flavored cupcake from Cupcake Royal, along with my second espresso drink of the day (hey, it is Seattle). Yummm. Then we assembled a picnic lunch at the market for later in the day. If you’ve never traveled with us, the components of our picnics are simple: bread + cheese + meat + fruit. We’ve enjoyed this kind of picnic all over the world and they are always easy to tailor to the local specialities and always delicious. So into the backpack went rosemary and garlic bread from the Three Girls Bakery, cheese curds from Beecher’s, sausage from Bavarian meats, and ranier cherries. All for about $15.

We hopped a bus back to the Seattle Center and despite our worries that the subject matter wouldn’t interest the kids we paid $40 to get into the Experience Music Project (EMP), a flashy Gehry-designed building housing rock and roll artifacts and other pop culture paraphernalia. As soon as we walked through the door we were rewarded with an exhibit that for us was more than worth the price of admission in itself: a room filled with props including Indigo Montoya’s sword, a replica of the Iron Throne, David Bowie’s costume from Labyrinth (complete with crotch bulge), and all sorts of other items from Harry Potter, Tolkien, Magic the Gathering, The Wizard of Oz and other fantasy movies and books. It was nerd heaven. The girls were terrified and enthralled with a huge breathing dragon and Diane kept grabbing my hand and dragging me back to look at it again while her lips trembled and she clutched at my neck. But she kept going back for more.
 
The rest of the EMP was very cool but the significance was totally lost on the girls. They did enjoy the bigger-than-imax screen showing recordings of live concerts and the “scream booth” where they were not only allowed but encouraged to scream their lungs out. The Women Who Rock exhibit was cool but I was put off by the omission of a certain redhead so we didn’t stay long (really, Britney was there but not Tori??).
 
We then worked our way to the Olympic Sculpture Park for our picnic- not far but keep in mind that every step we take is 2 steps for Melina’s little legs, not counting the extra steps she takes to kick every rock she sees and to make sure she bumps into every old lady that passes by, which means after about 1\2 block she starts telling Zach how much she loves him in the first stage of her not-so-subtle process of convincing him to carry her on his shoulders. Needless to say we have spent a lot of money on buses on this trip.

Speaking of buses, Diane is in a phase where she adores the song “that Wheels on the Bus” which is perfect because she is thrilled every time we get on one. Oh and once or twice we have seen passengers riding with their dogs on the bus, so she is convinced that there are doggies riding every bus, leading her to bark at every bus that passes us on the street. Yes, we get some strange looks.

The picnic in the sculpture park couldn’t have been more perfect. The girls relished every bite (well, Diane would only take a bite after she had thoroughly rubbed the morsel all over the concrete park bench, but then she definitely relished it). We stayed for a while while the girls played and rested on possibly the most gorgeous July day of all time. It was idyllic. That is actually my favorite part of our picnics- choose your own perfect setting. Oh yeah, and the company.

After soaking up the sun we strolled a sleeping Diane through the aquarium which was definitely not worth the entrance fee, but we did get to gawk at a few adorable seals and the biggest octopus I have ever seen. 

On our way back we got on a cramped bus at rush hour and Diane was getting squirmy and whiny with hunger. As soon as the whines turned into cries Melina looked at her sister with a deadpan expression and loudly sang, “the baby on the bus cries wah wah wah…” More than a few passengers broke into laughter at that one.

Our day ended with a delicious Mexican dinner in Capitol Hill where we were joined by Juan and another ex-Crutchfield employee, Alyson. It was great to hear about their exciting lives in this vibrant city over margaritas and spicy mojitos (as if we were young and cool like them). After playing “shy” at first, Melina ended up eschewing her cheese quesadilla to eat most of Alyson’s carne asada, and then announced that she loved Alyson and was not going with us to Vancouver but will instead stay in Seattle forever, or at least until Juan’s birthday in August. I told her we’d think about it.  

Alyson carried Melina back to our apartment on her shoulders through a crowd of people watching Macklemore film a music video at a burger joint. “Who?” I asked. Juan and Zach rolled their eyes.

Duck Boats and Street Chickens

I think the only way to describe what we feel right now is euphoric exhaustion. The girls have been bathed and Diane is asleep while Melina quietly roams the apartment talking to herself, but I just don’t have the energy to coax her to sleep quite yet. Maybe she will settle into her bed (a thin mattress on the floor of the hallway) all on her own, and Zach and I can just sit peacefully and relive our day. And maybe the Space Needle will launch to the sky powered by Starbucks espressos and finally rocketing the first hipsters into space.

If I were ever to write a travel book on Seattle, the number one piece of advice I would give is to make sure that your tour guide is Juan E. Juan expertly crafted our day and herded our brood through the city as if he worked for some kind of major travel company or something. But not the one with the garden gnome mascot, the other one.

We started off early with a monorail ride to the Seattle Center (Juan described it perfectly as “50s futuristic”). We explored the area surrounding the Space Needle and hopped onto a Duck Tour that drove us through the hilly streets and eventually splashed into Lake Union where we cruised by houseboats, floating houses, and house barges. Don’t ask me to tell you the difference because I was a little preoccupied keeping Diane from throwing things (and herself) off the boat. Melina stayed cuddled up with Juan for most of the trip and repeated many times that it was her favorite part of the day.

The girls were so thrilled with the tour that we would have called the day a success even if it had ended there, but it was only 11am and we had so much more to look forward to! Juan took us to Pike Place Market where we ate our way through every delicacy that caught our eyes…fresh haddock, clam chowder, local chocolates, shrimp and crab cocktails, gourmet grilled cheese, dry vanilla bean soda, and the best spanikopita that has ever crossed my lips. And that doesn’t even include the free samples! 

At this point the baby was asleep in the stroller so we hopped on a bus to the Ballard Locks. This is when we discovered the thing that no one tells you about Seattle in July: the streets are literally lined with blackberries. Juan must have thought we were back woods hillbillies the way we ogled the fruit on the bushes and frequently stopped to gather handfuls and marvel at why the local homeless population wasn’t camped by the bushes in droves to eat their fill. 

We arrived at the locks (mouths stained purple and hands pricked by thorns) to witness large schools of salmon struggling to swim up the fish ladders to get to their breeding grounds. We were all fascinated to see this when joy upon joys what should swim up to the ladders but a gorgeous harbor seal, frolicking through the waters in anticipation of the delicious salmon feast ahead of him. As you probably know, seals have been my favorite animal since I was a toddler, and I was over the moon to see one in the wild. So while the girls and I squealed in excitement, we watched as someone in the small crowd of people threw a melon-sized red ball into the water near the seal, which to our horror EXPLODED right next to the seal! Melina was near tears and I was desperately trying to figure out exactly which person’s eyes I needed to gouge out in revenge when Zach learned that this was a harmless deterrent used to keep the seals from ripping the roe from the salmon bellies, and that it was some guy’s job to stand there all day and lob bombs at passing seals. Wow. I oscillate between disgust and jealousy at this responsibility.

After getting our fill of the fish ladders and stopping to watch the locks transit boats like a 50s futuristic elevator, we made our way the Fremont Troll, a huge fantastical sculpture beneath a bridge where Melina courageously climbed to the shoulders of the troll while Diane performed the possibly more dangerous act of sifting through every speck of dirt under the bridge looking for, I don’t know, hypodermic needles? Old chewing gum? Dog feces? I can only guess at what she was hoping to find.

Then yet again I thanked my lucky stars to have Juan in my life as he introduced us to Hot Cakes in Fremont. Sigh. The diabetic coma was so worth it for molten mint lava cake and salted caramel milkshake. I had to pry the spoon containing the last drops of ice cream from Diane’s freakishly strong hands, but her tantrum was short-lived as if she understood that it was a privilege to have even sampled desserts like these.

So we wound our way via bus back through Seattle to Capitol Hill. If you’ve spent much time with my girls you know that we are incapable of passing a dog without stopping, and they make no exceptions for rush hour in the city. Luckily dog owners are typically like proud grandparents and are happy to oblige when Melina fearlessly asks, “CAN I PAT YOUR DOG?” in her four-year-old Owen Meany voice. Then Diane squeals with joy as the dog licks whatever disgusting street residue is left on her hands from playing in the gutters, and Melina relays her life story to the owner as Diane barks nonstop. It is pretty darn cute and I’m sure they will grow out of this routine long before I tire of watching it.

When there are no dogs to bark at, Diane keeps herself busy by meowing at passersby or desperately trying to catch pigeons, which she is convinced are chickens. “Bok bok bok!” She says to them as the strut the streets, and I wonder why I never realized how much they really do resemble hens. 

We ended our day with pho at a place recommended by Juan, and the girls filled themselves with broth and noodles and basil leaves. They didn’t really touch the “ga” (chicken) in the soup and I am just now wondering if it is because they couldn’t bring themselves to eat the birds they spent so much time admiring.

The Day Our Kid Karma Ran Out

So far Seattle to me is the beauty of San Francisco, the hospitality of the midwest, and the energy of Boston. I like it.

We said goodbye to Portland with a leisurely breakfast, a disappointing latte from Stumptown (I made the mistake of ordering a tall which meant the same amount of espresso and 2x the milk…not nearly as delicious that way), and a leisurely stroll through Chinatown. We all thoroughly enjoyed the Chinese gardens, so much so that the girls didn’t even break the “inside voices” rule for the entire hour we were there! Of course it helped that giant koi patrol the ponds, mesmerizing Zach and Diane who apparently shares her father’s fascination with the almost dragon-like fish. How long can I really deny Zach the backyard koi sanctuary of his dreams without permanently damaging our marriage? I think the brown-eyed girl may be the key to his victory on this front.
 
So we successfully made it onto our train and watched in awe of the scenery for the 4.5 hour trip to Seattle. The girls played peacefully and Diane lulled herself into a refreshing nap while the other passengers marveled at her angelic demeanor. Oh wait, that last sentence is a GIGANTIC lie. But I’m sure you don’t want to hear how Diane spit food all over the seat and my lap and then screamed herself into a possessed-by-the-devil, foaming at the mouth, flailing and writhing tantrum so I’ll just pretend like it never happened and skip to the part where she slept peacefully on my shoulder for the last hour of the trip. So that is how we arrived in Seattle.

But the wonder of traveling with kids for me is that the whole family gets a kind of selective amnesia, so all was good once we were on the bus on our way to our apartment rental in this unexpectedly hilly city. Our bus driver was so sweet and helpful in getting us to our destination that I thought he must be new at the job. Then again so many others helped us along our way that I may just be too used to the brusque east coast style, even after my years in C-ville.

All day, Melina was looking forward to seeing Juan so naturally I fully expected her to freeze up and put on the “shy” act when we saw him, but she surprised us all by giving his leg a huge eyes-closed hug that lasted for at least a few minutes, and then stared up at him with smitten teenager googly eyes for the rest of the evening. Even D gave him some smiles, and then the two girls played with the doggies on Juan’s apartment roof deck while we caught up with Juan and learned the lay of the land from the top of Capital Hill. There is no map better than that view.  The evening ended at our apartment with the girls fast asleep and us big kids playing Carcassonne in true game night style. Another wonderful day.

I’m a Lumberjack and I’m OK

The Embassy Suites in downtown Portland smells faintly of woodsmoke through the hallways which I guess is to remind you that yes, you are in the Pacific Northwest. For Zach and me it also means that we woke up singing the old Monty Python lumberjack song, which we considered teaching to the kids until we remembered that some of the lyrics may not be appropriate when repeated at preschool.

To our great surprise Zach and I were the ones to wake at our normal time (7am EST) which happens to be 4am on this coast. The girls slept until 6:30 local time which means they are officially adjusted to the time difference and we are…not. But it gave us a nice jump on the day since we were showered, dressed, and packed for the day by the time they woke up and we were able to get to the buffet breakfast in great spirits and excited about the day ahead of us. The girls were happy and hungry, so we filled up on eggs and fruit and oatmeal (first breakfast) and thank goodness the coffee was terrible because I gave in to Zach’s desire to sample the local coffee at Stumptown. Wow. Wow wow wow. I actually feel guilty, like I’m cheating on Mudhouse, but good lord that coffee is good. I’m pretty sure the best I’ve ever had. Sorry, Seattle, the bar has been set and it is astronomically high.

So Zach and I were reveling in caffeinated glory as we stood in line at the infamous Voodoo Doughnuts (second breakfast). Yes there is a line but the demand is partly manufactured (there is no line inside- when you get to the door you have to wait for the cashier to call you- so of course there is always a line) but also totally worth it. Just the sight of the insane cconfectionery creations nearly puts you in a diabetic coma. Melina picked out the two most colorful doughnuts (one covered in M&Ms and the other covered in rainbow sprinkles) and Zach filled out the dozen with bacon-maple, cookies and cream, the “Old Dirty Bastard”, Mexican coffee, Cocoa Puffs, and the rest of the craziest ones the cashier recommended. 

The spread was phenomenal but we had to practice restraint as we carried them on the Max tram to the zoo to meet Lauren, Gretchen, Rhett, and the adorable Marabel and Vaughn. Melina was excited to see her second cousin Marabel and was so proud to show her the colorful doughnuts she had picked out when Marabel chose the plainest doughnut in the bunch and devoured it. We later realized it was the Mexican coffee doughnut which may be why she had so much energy for the 3+ hours we spent at the zoo! Melina and Marabel ran and squealed and climbed their way through the zoo, with Vaughn and Diane happily and cluelessly trying to keep up and the adults panting and frantically counting kids to make sure we didn’t leave one in the monkey house or the bat cave. It was a blast. The girls couldn’t have gotten along better, and it was great to catch up with my cousins. We even made a trip on the kiddie train to the rose test garden that Zach had wanted to see, and it was a hit even with the kids (who mostly wanted to destroy the blossoms and dig in the dirt, but hey, they did it happily). 

So we parted with hugs and our family wound our way through Portland on the way back to the hotel. We hit the Saturday Market (Sunday, too!), the riverside park, and even got a picture of Melina sitting on (not in but on) the world’s smallest park. We hit a food cart just outside of our hotel and inhaled the amazing Vietnamese sandwiches in record time. Diane napped. We re-grouped. Then it was off to The Pearl district to shop for books, sample some “sipping chocolate”, and eventually get a hearty vegetarian meal in the lobby of a yoga studio. So Portland. At this point Diane was getting a bit destructive so we returned to the hotel (passing a multitude of homeless locals) for bed. It is only 8:45 and both girls (and likely Zach as well) are sound asleep as I type on the tablet in the lobby (for the free Wi-Fi). It was a very full and exhausting day. And I’m OK.