Seattle | July 19

Early Tuesday morning, we left for Orcas Island.

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Since there were so many of us (and a dog, too!), we had to take two cars. Our car, AKA Team Awesome, consisted of myself, Hubs, Peesh, Scott, and Callie. The other car, AKA Team Late, consisted of Mark, Aki, and the kids.

Team Awesome was early. Team Late? Well, late. (Sorry, I couldn't resist. In all fairness, we didn't have 3 kids to pack and load.)

The trip to the ferry was over an hour. And most of that hour, I had a visitor from the back of the car right over my shoulder.

The ferry ride itself was another hour, but it went by pretty quickly once the boys enlisted me to read Star Wars books to them. (Hardest children's books to read ever. I can barely pronounce C3-PO, let alone some of the other names in there.)

We had some time to kill before we could check in to the house we rented, so we camped out at a local waterfront park to have a picnic.

Emi was a big fan of the guacamole chips, if you couldn't tell.

Meanwhile, Callie got some much-needed exercise.

And so did Emi, while she tried to grab her water bottle.

Hubs caught up on some sleep from the night before...

And Marky and the boys played soccer...

...while Emi and Aki cheered them on.

Once Marky got tired, he joined us on the blanket next to his little peanut.

This girl is forever missing one shoe!

But the boys kept on going!

No idea what Hubs and Cole were reaching for, but it looked fun!

Hubs, Scott, Cole, and Benton down by the water.

Digging for crabs

"How many crabs can you find under the rocks?"

When we were finally able to check into the house (more on that crazy place, later), we were delighted to see the rocky beach.

I love this picture of Peesh, Cole, and Benton!

Throwing rocks never gets old

"Dignified" Callie

Oh, and the dinner Hubs and I made for that night? Flank steak pinwheels with proscuitto and provolone, roasted butternut squash, and cherry clafouti using fresh Washington cherries. Unfortunately, we were too busy cooking to take pictures, but trust me when I say that it was pretty good.

However, it was nothing compared to what everyone else ended up making once we raised the bar on the nightly dinner. (You can thank Hubs' family for the competitive food habit we have now...but at least we all benefit from it!)

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Seattle | July 18

Warning:  Excessive kid pictures ahead.

The next day (Monday), Hubs and I were able to go exploring on our own since the adults had to work for a bit in the morning.  So Peesh graciously loaned us her car (which I was terrified of crashing, btw) to head out to Pike Place Market.

Hubs had never been to Seattle, and given his recent foodie tendencies, I knew that this would be just the place to take him.

I was in heaven with all the fresh, beautiful flowers.

And he was in love with all the produce, meats, and seafood.

Since we knew we had to cook dinner for the first night we went to Orcas Island, we managed to pick up a good portion of food ahead of time. Check it - we got 12 jalapenos for only $1.00!

Of course, all that running around meant that we worked up quite an appetite, so we went to a local place that had awesome Yelp reviews - The Steelhead Diner.

Luckily, it was a beautiful day, so we were able to sit out on the patio and be serenaded by the cowboy in the alley below.

We also ordered WAY too much food. Like,

a crab cake,

fried oysters,

a "side" salad,

a pork leg sandwich,

collared greens,

and a smoked turkey gouda sandwich.

Needless to say, we barely even finished a quarter of the food.

Once we made it back home with Peesh's car in one piece (thank goodness - Seattle drivers are CRAZY), we headed out for an electric boat tour on Lake Union.

Marky was our captain extraordinaire, and the rest of us got to stuff our faces.

We couldn't have asked for a better day to go boating, and we were blessed by seeing all sorts of boats and sea planes.

It's hard to see, but there's actually a sea plane landing in this picture.

Of course, the kids had a blast.

And just maybe the adults did, too...

Photo by Peesh

Photo by Peesh

...but not the geese. They didn't have a good time because we didn't feed them any scraps of food.

I hate those things.  Even Seattle geese.

Later that night, we again borrowed Peesh's car to go visit my dear friend Amy and her bf, Justin.  Unfortunately, since we were so busy sipping our Dark 'n Stormy, I only remembered to take one cell phone picture while Justin was grilling the venison.

Amy lives in this retro fabulous house that they have totally made their own.  Seriously, I was in awe of how they decorated everything.

I've missed my Amy ever since she made the move from my office to the Chicago one, and then eventually to Seattle.  But in true soccer librarian mom fashion (I will always be her biggest cheerleader, so step off!), I am uber proud of everything she has accomplished, especially because she is following her heart.

We had such a great time catching up, and we were very sad to leave.  But, unfortunately, a 6AM wake up call was waiting for us the next morning when we would have to leave for Orcas...

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