Washington Trip

Landon and I knew we wanted to take a big summer vacation before school started but we just couldn't decide on where to go (I voted Disneyland, I will always vote Disneyland...)  We ended up deciding to go to Washington.  My mom grew up in Washington and I would vacation there almost every year as a child but I hadn't been in back in probably 10 years.  My grandparent's and my uncle and aunt and their families all live down there so I thought it would be fun to visit them and take Landon and the kids to all the fun places I used to visit growing up.

Our plane ride to Washington went really smoothly.  Miles did awesome for his first plane ride and the other two watched a movie the whole time. We sat by some of the nicest people I have ever met so that helped too!

We flew right in the middle of Miles' nap time hoping he would fall asleep on the plane.  Of course he stayed awake the whole plane ride and zonked out right after we exited the plane!

The kids playing on the bus on our ride over to get the rental car.

Our first stop was the Seattle Aquarium.  We had an awesome time and our favorite part was watching a bunch of sea lions fight over a sunny spot to lounge.  We ended the outing with some yummy hotdogs and ice cream on the boardwalk.

From there we made our way to Semiahmoo.  My grandparent's own a condo right on the beach so that is where we stayed for most of our trip.  We didn't end up getting to our place until about 10 at night and when we got there we had the wrong gate code so we had to trek to our condo with all of our bags and leave our car parked at the gate until we could figure out how to get in.  

The next morning we headed out to explore the beach.  It was a rocky beach but the kids loved throwing rocks into the water and finding sea shells and sand dollars.

At around 1 pm every day the tide would go way out so we loved going as far out as we could to play in the sand.  We found little crabs and a bunch of sand dollars. I brought rain boots for everyone thinking it would be cold but the weather was perfect and the boots hardly got used!

Aves wanted her hair in a towel just like I do it after a shower.  Too cute not to share!

Semiahmoo is really close to a little town called Birch Bay and we ventured out there a few times.  Our favorite little find was a candy shop/pizza shop called The C Shop. We had pizza there one night and bought a bunch of yummy taffys to take home and snack on.

This was the view from my bedroom window every night.  It was magical!

One of my favorite parts of the whole trip was having a bon fire out on the beach where we roasted marshmallows and hotdogs. We collected drift wood from the beach and made our own little fire pit. It was so cozy and peaceful.  Definitely a highlight!

We took many walks around Semiahmoo and loved exploring the marina.  We would go up and down the docks and read the names of the boats.  

We sure tired these kids out!

There were wild blackberry bushes everywhere!  We loved just picking them off the vine and eating them on the spot!  So yummy!  Aves and I could have spent hours just walking up and down the coast picking and eating blackberries!

We spent our last couple of days with my grandparent's and aunts and uncles and cousins in Burlington.  My nana and granddad just bought a new house with an indoor pool so my kids loved swimming there! My aunt and uncle who just moved down to Burlington from Utah took us to some of their favorite spots.  We loved the Snowgoose farm stand where we got huge ice cream cones!   My kids loved spending time with their cousins!

Landon and I were just in awe at how beautiful Burlington was.  There were farms and farm stands everywhere filled with yummy looking fruit and veggies.  

Avery fell in love with my nana (or great-nana) as she called her, and her dog Ellie.  She loved playing games with Ellie and reading books with great-nana.  My nana read Avery llama llama red pajama and she even took her on a field trip to see some llamas close to her house.  Avery was in love!

It definitely wasn't a go go go trip like our Disneyland trips are, but we loved the calmness and closeness the trip brought to our family.  We loved relaxing and just taking in the pretty surroundings.  We can't wait to plan another trip back!