Estelle Visits Seattle: Part One

Last week, Claire and Maggie's cousin, Estelle, came to visit from Houston! Okay, given that she's only two, her parents, Jeff and Jenn (Adam's oldest brother and sister-in-law), came too.

On Wednesday, their first day here, the cousins dressed in matching shirts (made by Jenn and Estelle!) and we headed downtown.

Our first stop was Pike Place Market, of course. 

We admired all the fresh flowers, produce, and fish. 

Stopped for mini donuts at Daily Dozen.

And finally found the gum wall. Seriously, I have lived in Seattle for three years, visited this market more than a dozen times, and have never stumbled upon the famed gum wall until now. Turns out, it's actually under the market, right next to the box office for the market theater.

We grabbed lunch at Pike Place Chowder for the grown-ups and Beecher's Cheese for the toddlers and a picnic near the waterfront. 

From there, we walked a few blocks up to the Westlake Center and took the monorail to Seattle Center. Since you get on the monorail from the third floor of the mall, it was super easy to do with a double stroller. 

We checked out the brand-new playground next to the EMP Museum, but it was mostly challenging rope climbing structures meant for older kids. 

Next up was the always beautiful Chihuly Museum. 

We took the monorail back downtown and since all the girls were stroller napping, we spontaneously decided to walk over to the Columbia Tower. 

It's the tallest building in Seattle. The Sky View Observatory on the top floor is much cheaper than the Space Needle and it's completely enclosed, which is much preferred for those of us who may be a teensy bit afraid of heights. 

Downtown and the Space Needle. 

The Seahawks and Mariners stadiums. 

Lake Washington and the Eastside. The skyscrapers across the lake are in Bellevue, the next town over from our own. 

With a just-woke-up Claire. Maggie and Estelle slept all the way until we got back to the car! 

On Thursday, we stayed local and showed them our favorite spots in town. First up was the city farm park. 

Home to horses, sheep, goats, bunnies, chickens, and a thousand-pound pig. 

We lunch with Adam at his work cafeteria. Jenn and I drove the little girls home for naps while Jeff stayed to see Adam's office and poke around the company museum before running home. (We only live two miles away from his building. It's the best.)

When the girls woke up, we headed to the town beach park on Lake Sammamish. 

 As evidenced by the above picture, Claire (and Estelle!) had a great time while Maggie was mostly a grump. I can't believe it was warm enough to go swimming in May in Seattle. If this is global warming, I can't say I'm too sad about it.



Adam took the day off on Friday. We drove north to Mulkiteo and caught the very short ferry to Whidbey Island. We'd only been to Bainbridge before. Whidbey is a lot bigger and more rural. The most popular attractions on the island are state parks.





We had a picnic lunch at Fort Casey and enjoyed watching deer stroll by as we ate our sandwiches.











A weird patch of fog rolled during lunch, but thankfully cleared up as we were exploring and gave us some gorgeous views of  Puget Sound and the Olympics. We drove through the nearby town of Coupeville next, which isn't nearly as cute as Winslow on Bainbridge Island. We did spy a little ice cream shop, Kapaw's Iskreme, that would make a perfect ending to the day if you planned to head back and take the Mulkiteo ferry home. We, however, had another destination in mind...