Family Vacation in Seattle

At the end of May our family went to Seattle. We watched Tyler compete in the 4 x 400 meter relay for Richland High School at the state track meet in Tacoma. The preliminary race was Thursday evening, May 28. His four-man team did awesome, and they placed 2nd. It was so exciting! But about an hour later we found out his team had been disqualified and would not be racing in the finals after all. Apparently one of the officials reported that Tyler's teammate pushed another competitor during his leg of the race. It was unbelievable, and we were shocked. It put a damper on the rest of the weekend, as we knew it could have been possible for Tyler's team to win state if they hadn't been disqualified.

But in spite of the disappointment, we had a great time in Seattle. The weather was perfect, so we spent a lot of time outdoors. We stayed at the Embassy Suites, which we love because of the delicious, made-to-order breakfasts (especially the omelets). The kids had fun swimming in the hotel pool (the water was too cold for me!) I went running early in the morning and enjoyed the beautiful weather and the greenery along the running path.

We celebrated my 39th Birthday on Friday by going to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aqaurium in Tacoma. It was Trent's first time at the zoo, and I loved seeing his excitement and wonder over the animals. He especially enjoyed the tigers and the parrots, who were so funny.
The kids and I with our "treasures" that we collected on our walk along the beach.

Tiffani is our bundle of energy and excitement for all things in life, especially new things. She loved going for a walk along the beach -- seeing the new sights, smells, and people-watching. There were lots of people walking their dogs, so she especially enjoyed the dogs we saw. In this picture, she is hiding a surprise for me behind her back. She collected some pretty flowers, rocks, and and shells for my Birthday.
Trent loves sticks of all shapes and sizes. He collected many on our walk along the ocean!

Todd found a jelly fish in the water near the dock. The kids were fascinated with it

We spent quite a bit of time at the tiger exhibit, where a zookeeper talked about the tigers. He had some pieces of raw meat that he was throwing to the tiger and it was pretty fascinating to watch


We rode on the carousel at the zoo right before closing time. We were the only ones there, and the carousel operator let us ride it three times. The kids had fun choosing different animals to ride on.

This corn snake was being transferred to a new cage by the zookeeper. Tiffani and Todd asked her if they could hold the snake (my brave, bold kids!) but the zookeeper said no. She did agree to a picture though!