Trip to WA: Ferry to Bremerton

After a relaxing Sunday, we drove to Seattle to take a ferry ride to Bremerton on Monday, July 4th.  It was about an hour ride one way on the ferry to Bremerton.  Originally, we were going to park in Seattle and walk on the ferry but we were running a little late and just decided to take the cars on with us.  It ended up being a nice thing to have so we didn't have to haul everything around with us in Bremerton.

The kids learned a trick that seagulls love pretzels, Doritos and Cheetos... 

Poor Ashlee got a "Seagull Souvenir" (look closely at the white spots on her shirt)...

Views of Mt. Rainier from the ferry...

We walked around the town a little bit.  I really liked this fish with a fishing pole reeling a guy in from across the intersection...

They had these rock sculptures everywhere that the kids had fun playing on (oh, and apparently Rob did, too)...

Showing brotherly love or fighting over who gets to sit in the sculpture...you decide.

Near the Puget Sound Navy Museum and USS Turner Joy...

We ate fish 'n chips for lunch and then found a water play area that Tim and Heather had been to when they visited Bremerton before. They had these three huge volcano looking things that shot water from the top.

We came prepared with swimsuits for everyone except Trevor. Good thing I had a change of clothes in the diaper bag for him so he could join in the fun.

Trevor and his buddy, "Baby Gavin"...



Rachel, Landon, Spencer, Ashlee, and Levi...


Beautiful view of Seattle...

Heather and Elizabeth on the ferry back to Seattle...

Trip to WA: Levi's Baptism & Fireworks

My nephew, Levi, was baptized on Saturday, July 2nd.  It was the first time we were able to attend the baptism for a niece/nephew on my side of the family.  We had a brunch at Tim and Heather's with some of their friends and family members from Heather's side.  Heather was in charge of the musical number for the baptism program and asked us if we would join their family singing a medley "Teach a Child/I Love to See the Temple."  I had never heard the arrangement before but it was pretty easy to learn.  My mom accompanied us on the piano and my dad, Tim's family and my family all sang.  It was fun for our family to be a part of the program.

After the baptism, we went to an Indian Reservation to buy some fireworks to take to a family party at Heather's moms house.  It was fun to see some of Heather's family that I knew from BYU or had met at their wedding...14 years goes by fast!

We called this the launch pad.  The kids had fun with snap-its/poppers and smoke bombs before dark and then the real show began.

Ashlee holding a Roman Candle...

Letting off a Chinese Lantern...

I love pictures of people playing with sparklers. Rob experimented with different settings and shutter speeds...

Such patriotic girls...

Lots of fun for all! A big thanks to Dean and Laura Conway for hosting a fun evening!

Trevor can find these plastic animal toys at pretty much every house he goes to.

Trip to WA: Seahurst Park & Snoqualmie Falls

On Friday, Heather and her kids were going to pick up Rachel from a horse camp she had been attending all week.  It was about an hour away, and although it would have been fun to watch her little "after camp" performance, we had been in the car a little too much.  We decided to take a little day trip to Seahurst Park, which is a beach on the Puget Sound.  It was about 20 minutes away from their house.  Brynlee's initial reaction upon hearing that she would be apart from Elizabeth was not happy.  She went on and on about how boring it was going to be and how all we would see was stupid seagulls.  Her attitude quickly changed once we arrived at the beach...."I thought this was going to be so boring but this is SO AWESOME!"  Yep, just like your dad told you it would be.

We figured out that we would be there at low tide, which ended up being perfect. We walked along the beach, gathering shells and finding dead creatures, and ended up near some large rocks and tide pools.

A lady turned over a rock and found this fish in a little pool of water.  She thought she was helping it out and decided to put it back in the ocean.  The fish immediately started swimming back toward the shore.  The kids said, "Maybe those are its eggs on the rock."  Sure enough, there were tons of eggs on the underside of the rock.  The lady caught it again and put it back in the little pool and put the rock back on top.  By the time we left a couple of hours later, the rocks where we had just discovered starfish, crabs and other creatures were almost covered in water.  It was definitely the perfect time to go!




Walking back to the car, Trevor decided he was a seagull...


On the drive back to the house, we took a little detour to Snoqualmie Falls.  The park grounds near the Falls were beautiful and the Falls were amazing.  It's crazy how much water was going over and crashing below!

Trip to Washington: June 30-July 6

This summer we didn't have big travel plans.  Originally, we were going to go to Arizona at the end of July for a Kovacs family reunion with extended family on my dad's side.  After considering that not many of my siblings would be there, a 12 hour one way drive, and camping for 3 days (oh, did I mention I would be 7 months pregnant and this would be in Arizona?), we decided that we wouldn't be going.  Upon hearing that news, my sister-in-law, Heather, invited us up to Washington for my nephew's baptism which would be over the 4th of July weekend.  We thought that sounded marvelous!  We could see cousins that we don't see often and Grandma & Grandpa Kovacs would be there as well.  After figuring out that Rob would be able to take off of work, we planned the trip.

We left on June 30 and started our 14 hour trek, stopping in Boise, ID for almost 2 hours for lunch and to visit with our friends, the Bundys and then in Yakima, WA for dinner at Miner's Drive-In.  The kids did AMAZING!  We left around 7:30 a.m. and they didn't even ask to watch a movie until after we left Boise.  My favorite quote of the day came from Trevor.  We were about an hour from Tim and Heather's house and were driving through a mountain pass.  It was getting a little dark, mainly because it was raining, and there were low clouds around us.  I don't know if it was because we had been driving for so long or because the scenery was very different from the first part of the trip, but out of the blue Trevor says,"Um, mom, I think we're lost."

As soon as we got there, Brynlee and Elizabeth (although 3 years apart) became attached at the hip and Gavin (2 1/2 years old) introduced himself as "Baby Gavin", to which Trevor always referred to him as and still does now when he sees pictures from the trip.

I'll divide the trip into our daily adventures...