Papa Brian visits Seattle

Time to play catch up people!

Back in late June, my dad and his fiance, Christy, came to visit us in Seattle.  We had SO MUCH FUN!  I absolutely love it when my dad visits me where I live.  I love being able to show him around.  I don't know what it is but I feel all proud to show him my home and what we do, how much we love it here and how cool the place where we live is. And he loves to spoil us silly because we don't really get to do that ourselves. 

One of the first things we did was go to the Ballard Locks.  I knew my dad would love this place because he's the kind of guy that loves to learn different things.  Plus, he's a boat owner, so I knew he'd be interested to see how the Locks work.  

Ly, Dad, Rube, Christy at Ballard Locks.

The cool looking boat that we saw go from the ocean to the lake. 

 We saw a sea otter in the ocean but it was hard to get a pic of it since he kept going under the water.  So I got one of these two LOOKING at the sea otter.  :)

Lyla was "balancing" on the center drain, thing (I sound really intelligent, huh?) and wanted Papa Brian to follow her.

Our apartment and their hotel was right along the waterfront.  About 1/2 mile down the road was the aquarium and a bunch of delicious restaurants.  At first we just walked it, but my poor dad was recovering from surgery on his Achilles tendon, and the walking + walking boot were a bit much.  So we got to ride these fun little pedi-cab's.  There wasn't enough room for me this time so my dad had him come back and pick me up.  He got a very generous tip :)

Dinner each day and night was awesome.  My dad would order King Crab and let Lyla try some.  She LOVED it!  She was often caught sneaking crab off Papa Brian's plate.  He thought it was hilarious and she loved that he thought it was funny, so she just kept picking food off his plate, even the asparagus!

On one morning, we met up with Christy's aunt (who lives in Seattle) and ate breakfast at this place at Pikes Place Market.  Christy and her aunt had to eat at a separate table since they didn't have one to accommodate our size group, so that stunk.  But Nate and I really enjoyed talking with my dad, so it all worked out.

I seriously LOVE Pikes Place.  If we move there, I am going to make it a goal to go there at least once a month for their fruit.  Once you have their fruit, you can never go back. :)

Hubster and me.

They're cute.

 One day we decided to ride the Duck in Seattle.  It's one of those land/water tours.  It's a pretty touristy thing to do, but that's kind of what we were!  Our tour guide was really funny and it was fun hearing stories about Seattle.

Cute pic of these two!

Nooooot our best picture... I look like death.

 On the water part of our tour, we rode by Gasworks Park, saw the view from the city, and looked at a ton of the houseboats.  The cool thing about houseboat's is that you don't have to pay property tax on them.  But they are pretty pricy and small.  I think some crazy politicians are trying to change the property tax thing.

Gasworks Park.

There were probably about 5 or 6 seaplanes that landed on the water in the short 10-15 minutes we were on the water.  

Houseboats

 And here it is... the Sleepless In Seattle houseboat (the one with the dark green trim)!  Pardon the crappy picture, it was starting to rain a lot when I took it.


Lyla got bored and started making faces for the camera.

The girls each had these duck necklaces where you blow in it and it sounds like a duck.  They looooooved these necklaces!  We all thought they were pretty annoying after a while, but we sucked it up so the girls wouldn't get too fussy.

This was my favorite houseboat.  I love the look of it (at least compared to the rest).

Later we went to my dad's hotel so the girls could get in some good swimming.  Lyla even tried swimming without floaties.  She is still working on it but she did pretty well!

On my dad's last day, we went to breakfast at a delicious restaurant (can't think of the name of it), and said our goodbyes.

We had SO much fun with my dad and Christy.  I truly love that man and he is so good to me and my family.  Papa Brian, feel free to visit us again soon so we can show you Durham!