Trackers

You've probably already read the whole train trip rundown on South Bay Sparkle, but I somehow don't think I managed to capture the total glee that we all experienced on that trip. From the moment we boarded and saw our family cabin, until the moment we hopped off the train in Seattle, we kept looking around and congratulating ourselves on our cozy good fortune. That was a fun trip.

In fact, there was no one time when we felt claustrophobic or tired of our surroundings. Somehow both the days went by so fast we barely noticed...and we still felt like we were having a great time right up until the end. When we got off the train, right before we saw the cousins, Luke stopped by the window outside our room to give it one last wistful look. Until next year! (?)

In Seattle, you probably already heard about the raspberry picking from Jolly Tomato but you may not have heard about this crazy bunch of berries. (How did they all fit in there anyway?)

...And once we got home, Julie and Zach teamed up to make an incredibly delicious (and incredibly beautiful) gluten-free raspberry-peach pie. Zach did such a good job on the lattice crust that I decided to make a second post out of it on Jolly Tomato. ("It's easy - First you do the crisses, then you do the crosses.")

The weather was actually cooler than expected in Seattle, but we still took an afternoon out for a lake swim. Luke, Helena, and Antonia took the big kid "swim test" to get access to the floating dock. And although it took me several rounds, I finally got a picture of Luke taking a giant leap off the diving board:

On Day 2 we were supposed to go kayaking but it was too windy, so we spent the day at the innovations museum and we went to a special chocolate tasting there. That museum had just about something for everyone (Retro video games? Check. Inventor's building laboratory? Check.) and we probably could have gone again a second day without any complaints.

Nevertheless, the weather improved (declined?) by Sunday and although we had a light rain, there was no wind so we got the all-clear for the kayaks. We split up into three boats: Julie-Antonia, Jeanne-Luke, and Eric-Zach-Helena. It took us all a little bit of time to get used to rowing with our partners, but pretty soon we were maneuvering like pros. Luke was thrilled to kayak up and down some of the little water "streets" to see Seattle's famous boathouses.

We also paddled over to Gas Works Park, where we ate our picnic lunch and climbed on the "no climbing" structures. (Hey, everyone does it!)

...and then we finally paddled back to the landing spot, slightly damp but exuberant.

What do you think - does a day like this call for some pie? High five to that!

See you again soon, Seattle!