February 6 & 7- Goodbye, Dana! Goodbye, Mom!

Friday morning came way too fast...I'm not sure how John stayed awake at school the next day, but I was a zombie (proof above :)) and barely got him to school on time. We stopped in at Leshia's and at Dwight/Calvin's work so Dana could say goodbye to them all. Then we drove Dana to Vancouver so she could fly home. In spite of the fact that Thomas growled at Dana now and then (ha!) he was really mad she left us. I must say it was not my favorite day...I was really sad, especially since Mom was leaving the next day too. That night we had Dwight & Leshia and family over and Mom treated us to pizza. Afterwords, we burned a bunch of CDs for Mom and while we were doing that, Dwight introduced her to YouTube, which was hilarious to watch (Mom that is). Then Dwight started this blog for me. As you can see, I was really wide awake and receptive to the instruction. The kids played downstairs most of the time...it was a sweet night. The next morning we brought Mom to Bellingham, but she was fogged in and had to take the shuttle to Seattle. John cried most of the way home. Calvin had to work to make up for the day in Seattle. Pretty much, not a great day :). But, we have recovered. It took awhile to learn to unload my own dishwasher again, but I am getting there. I keep thinking Mom is sitting in her blue chair and Dana is going to walk upstairs in the morning with wild hair. I even cooked a regular meal unassisted this evening - amazing! :) I am very thankful for the time we all had together. And am very thankful to be caught up on this blog and headed off to bed. Breath easy...I don't take this many pictures all the time!!!

February 5 - Seattle

On Thursday we took Mom and Dana to see Seattle, since they had never really experienced the city before. After a sleepy drive down, we caught the ferry to Bainbridge Island, which is a mostly residential island about 30 minutes out of Seattle. Thomas was so scared walking up the ramp, he was tiptoeing...but he loved the boat so much he bawled when we got off later. One sees wonderful views of downtown and the boat yards as the ferry pulls out. We walked around the tiny town of Bainbridge, had a great lunch, and then took the ferry back to tour Pike Street Market and the Seattle waterfront. Although no one was throwing any fish while we were there, they did have a monkfish rigged so that it jumped out of the ice at John, nearly giving him a heart attack. And of course we had to introduce Mom to canolies (sp?) at the Italian grocery. We finished w/ a drive to Alki Beach to look back over the water at Seattle, before driving home again. It was a wonderful day with lots of walking and fresh air...which is why the boys fell asleep almost instantly!