Seattle Days 3&4

 Saturday was our "water" day in Seattle. We had another scheduled appointment with out City Pass, and this time it was at the Seattle Aquarium. We hit much better traffic heading into Seattle on Saturday, and it was a nice, uneventful drive. We found a place to park in the public parking ramp, and we ended up being a little early for our 9:30 scheduled time. So, we walked through Pike Place again, and John and I ended up buying a laser cut metal skyline of Seattle sign. It was pretty cool, and we were happy to find it. 

Next, we headed to the aquarium. The kids really enjoyed this stop. The first thing we did were the touch pools. We got to touch sea cucumbers, sea urchins, star fish, and other squishy things. It was pretty cool, and we all enjoyed it. Then we met Kitish, the aquarium octopus. It was moving around and really showing up all her tentacles and suction cups, the kids loved it. We also got to see sea otters, sea lions, different birds, and all kinds of fish. We spent a good 2 hours at the Aquarium looking at everything and really enjoying everything. The kids really loved the sea otters and the octopus. 

After all the looking around, we were all ready for some lunch. It ended up raining, so we searched for a place indoors. We found "Elliott's Oyster House" and decided we couldn't eat anywhere else. Nobody got any oysters (gross) but we all had really good food. Emma got Alaskan cod and fries, John got rockfish tacos, I got Clam Chowder, and Elliott got Waygu Cheeseburger and fries. Everyone enjoyed their meals and the atmosphere of the restaurant. We shopped along the boardwalk for a little while, at then at 1:30pm we had our Argosy Harbor Cruise. 

The Harbor Cruise was okay. The weather ended up getting chilly, windy, and rainy. So, we rode on the bottom of the boat, so we were inside and out of the rain and cold. The tour took up through Elliott Bay, and told us of a lot of the history and buildings in the bay. It wasn't the most exciting thing, but we got some great views of the skyline and learned some things about Seattle. 

After the rainy tour, we got on another boat. We decided to take a ferry boat to Bainbridge Island. It was still a little chilly and windy, but the rain had finally shopped. We enjoyed hour half hour ride to Bainbridge, and we spent it walking around the ferry boat, taking pictures, and just enjoying ourselves. Once we got to Bainbridge, we walked into town, did some shopping, and then we ate at a wonderful Mexican Restaurant called Isla Bonita. It was delicious. Emma and I shared the enchilada trio, and John and Elliott shared a sampler platter. Then, we ordered some fried ice cream for the table, and everyone enjoyed a taste of that. Finally, it was time to head back. We caught the ferry boat back to Seattle, and then got to our car and headed to Peg and Willies. Peg and Willie had to work and then had a wedding to cater, so they were gone all day as well. We didn't get back until after 9:00pm, and we basically cleaned up and went to bed and called it a night. 

Pike Place fresh flowers 

Emma buying honey sticks 

Seattle Aquarium 

Sea Lions 

Emma living her Seattle Life 

Great food

On Sunday, we had the morning to sleep in, hang out at the house for a while, and just relax. Late morning, to we met Peg at the light rail station, and we rode it into Seattle with her to go to the Twins versus Mariners baseball game. We had pretty good seats at T Mobil Park. It was a beautiful sunny, warm day and we were just out of the sunshine, but we had a great view of the ballpark. We ended up getting some lunch at the game. Emma got fish and chips, Elliott got chicken strips and fries, and John and I shared some clam chowder. The game was fun, but the Twins ended up losing 2-1. It wasn't the most exciting game ever. But, after the game, we walked to Chinatown to check it out and walk around. 

We saw some parks and decor, but couldn't really find a place that we wanted to eat, so Willie picked us up and we went back toward Peg and Willie's house and ate at a Hibatchi Buffet. The food was very good and plentiful, and there was even ice cream, so the kids were thrilled. After our large meal, we headed back to Peg and Willie's house and hit the hot tub, had a fire, and just visited. 

There was talk all over the internet about being able to see the Northern lights on Sunday night, so at 10:00pm, we headed to a park by the Elliott Bay to try and see the lights. We had zero luck with the lights, but we ended up seeing Harbor Porpoises (which was kinda like dolphins). We walked all the way out on a dock, and we ended up seeing and hearing them pretty close to us. It was pretty cool and we called that a win, even though we didn't see any lights. Finally, we went home and called it a night. 

Baseball game 

Emma and Harry 

Beautiful Seattle flowers