The Ballard Locks

Last Monday Gerald & I were on vacation from work and Izzy was home sick from school so we headed to The Locks in Ballard to see the boats and fish. Izzy's fascinated with anything that moves these days so we knew it would be a big hit. Gerald hadn't been to The Locks before either so it was fun for all of us!



Izzy & Gerald head over the bridge that crosses the large locks to the small ones.

After the first round of boats passed through the small locks we headed over the water to the fish ladder. It was a little early for the fish run, but we got to see a few sockeye salmon! Native American fishermen were at the locks getting some of the fish they're entitled to. The heron looked on hoping some lunch!


There is a cool statue near the fish ladder - Izzy and I took a moment for a photo.Just as we were getting ready to leave, 3 large boats filled the locks so we stayed around for one more round of water changing. The wooden boats were really cool. And we got lucky because a train crossed the old bridge while we were waiting!


Last stop before lunch: the gardens!
Lunch time at The Lockspot - Gerald & Izzy wait for their fish n' chips!

Special Times with Grandma & Grandpa - Part I

We're fortunate that my parents live close by so Izzy gets to spend every other Friday with them. They do all sorts of fun activities - ride the bus to Downtown, work in the garden, etc. She has a blast with them - and they love their "Izzy Fridays"! Thanks Mom & Dad for everything - Izzy loves you (and we do too)!!

Last weekend Izzy & I met-up with Grandma & Grandpa at the Olympic Sculpture Park's Wild Flower Children's Day. We had a picnic in the park and Izzy got to do some fun activities (coloring, face painting, and more!). Here are a few photos:

Special Time with Grandma & Grandpa - Part II

In May Izzy, Grandma & Grandpa went to see Sesame Street Live at the Comcast Arena in Everett. Izzy loves Elmo, Abby, and the rest of the Sesame Street gang so it was a special treat for her. As you can see, Grandma & Grandpa had fun too! One cool thing that the City of Everett did was to temporarily re-name Hewitt Avenue to Sesame Street.

When are you going to update the blog???

I know, I know... it's been over a month since I updated the blog, so here's a recap of what we've been up to:

On May 8th Gerald and I headed downtown for the annual Celebrate Swedish Auction. Izzy spent the night with my sisters so we could stay overnight at the Sheraton. We had a great time and it was nice to sleep in on Mother's Day!But, before it was time for Gerald and me to leave, Izzy and I went downtown to her KinderMusik class and afterwards stopped at The Pike Place Market to get her aunties some thank you flowers. Before we got the flowers, we just had to stop for a "special treat" - fresh donuts! It was a fun morning...


The week following Mother's Day I was working hard on special albums for my Mom & Gerald's Mom for late Mother's Day gifts. Photos of Izzy at work in the garden - of course. I love how they turned out...

May 15th was Izzy's last KinderMusik class - yippee!! I know Izzy had fun, but it was quite a commitment to head downtown every Saturday morning - it pretty much wiped out our Saturday plans so it's nice to be done for awhile. On May 16th we headed over to Bremerton for a post-Mother's Day gathering. It was a fun day - pictures to follow in another posting...

Woodland Park Zoo

Izzy and I went to the zoo with her buddy Pasha and his mom Alecia a couple of weeks ago. We started the morning with pancakes at Julia's in Wallingford and then headed to the zoo for a few hours...


At the family farm:

Mom - this photo's for you ;-) Izzy and Pasha in the wagon!


We discovered a cool play area that we've never been to before. It has huge rocks to climb on and in - here's Pasha enjoying himself!


Izzy and I spent a little extra time at the zoo - we went through the trail of vines and African Safari - we saw a ton of animals, but our favorites were the monkeys - of course! The Siamang came up to the window and Izzy was at eye level with him and the Chimps were outside playing in the sun and eating and we were above them on a trail so we could look right down on them - it was cool!

Long Time No See

Hey everyone - so sorry I've been so remiss in posting lately. It's been a crazy time at work and I've just been too tired on evenings or weekends lately! The last month has flown by - most of our weekends have been spent in the garden - and Izzy has enjoyed helping. She LOVES to look for worms!