Seattle fun, and a wet welcome home

Bill and Patty live out in the woods of Seabeck, where properties are larger and more conducive to childhood adventures.

On Monday, Uncle Bill and Stace took Cora out around the outskirts of the yard, where the trees, ferns and creeks take over.

She found the kids' old swing and forts, and loved tromping through the water.

Then, it was time for more girly activities - cupcake baking! - a tradition for Cora and Aunt Patty. These ones were amazing, with homemade lemon curd and powdered sugar.

On Tuesday, we caught a morning ferry into Seattle so we could surprise Cora with a trip to the Seattle Aquarium.


She enjoyed the beautiful (and cold and windy) boat ride, and we think Violet did, too.

Then, it was on to the Aquarium!

Since Cora is in love with her little Nemo toy, and now also loves the movie, we knew she'd love it. She got to touch starfish and anemones, and come face-to-face with clown fish! Nemo!

We learned that they are also called "anemone fish," because they live near them, and that obviously is where Nemo must have got his name.

Aunt Patty spoiled both girls with soft, cuddly clownfish. Cora named hers "Marlin," for Nemo's dad. You can see the Seattle charm bracelet Patty brought Cora when she came down last year - Cora had fun finding salmon and crabs at the Aquarium, because both are charms on the bracelet, as is a ferry boat.

Violet also took everything in, pointing to the fish with eyes wide open.



After the Aquarium, we just enough time to walk through the Pike Place market to pick up lunch.

We had these amazing Russian meat pies from Piroshky's, and Cora also had a blueberry cream cheese concoction that was big enough for all of us.

Then, we were off to the airport.

After a false start - our plane had a problem and we all had to disembark and board a different one - the trip home was uneventful.

We arrived home to find our home worse off than when we left. Funny how disasters seem to strike when we're on vacation!

A tremendous rain storm Sunday dumped 6 inches of rain, and that was way, way too much for our playroom roof. We've had leaking before in big storms, but this storm was something else.

Genia was nice enough to bring in our trash cans while we were gone, and that should have been the extent of her help, since we have no pets for the time being. But, knowing the roof might leak, she and John checked in to find it pretty well flooded. They kindly moved out the major furniture - you can see the water marks on the bottom of the sofa. Boy, those sofas of my grandparents have been through the ringer in the past two years!

The smell is already bad in the house; new carpet will be installed Thursday...