Airplanes and Arlington!!

Lots of pictures in this post!! We have had a full and fun week. First, Nico was baptized on Sunday! I have no photos of that, but after that happened he got to put his handprint on the Wall of Salvation in the children's room. He chose blue. After the paint dries they'll put his name on it.

Monday was a day of preparation for our trip to Washington on Tuesday. We left the house Tuesday morning at 6 AM to get to the airport. I told Guy I wasn't sure I'd be able to get on the plane (eek!) but we prayed and I felt God's help.

Guy was across the aisle from us. We were in row 11 which, on this plane, didn't have a window, shucks! During take off I needed a hand to hold so I grabbed for Nico's. He let me do it for a while but then got free of me and said "No. But I still love you." :)

Nico played Minecraft on Guy's iPad during the flight. On the descent, I gave Nico some gum. His ears were really hurting him though, even with the chewing and swallowing. When Grandpa Russell asked him if he liked flying he said "No" because it made his ears hurt. hehe. It was all he could remember, though I remember he had a lot of fun during the flight when we weren't descending.

Once we got into Seattle, we rode the shuttle to the rental cars, then drove up to the Seattle Science Center (like the Discovery Center in Boise, but so much bigger!) We met the Grandparents Russell there, who had brought some much-needed snacks for us! We spent several hours at the Science Center but still didn't see everything!

We also went to see the Terra-cotta Warriors exhibit, which is only in Seattle for a limited time. It was amazing! Nico loved looking at the cases full of artifacts.

After we were all done, we drove up to Arlington, stopping to get some food for the week at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. Nico started reading some more of his Book Bingo books. Our own personal librarian, Grandma Russell, found a large handful of the books that we needed. Nico finished his last one on Thursday!

Almost right after we arrived at the Grandparents' house, Nico asked Grandma where the toy cars were. They were a staple for the rest of the week.

Wednesday was an at-home day of relaxing and hanging out, with a walk on a trail in the afternoon.

We saw an Osprey in its nest on the top of a pole. We also saw two bunnies, two snakes, and a lot of birds.

Thursday was an adventure, we drove up to Padilla Bay to the Interpretive Center, took a walk on forested path and then walked down to the beach. Nico had the camera for a while and was excited to take a bunch of pictures with it. Lots of nature pics, but a few of us as well. 

Inside the Interpretive Center. The Interpretive Center is similar to the MK Nature Center in Boise.

 Nico arranged this picture and took it. He told us exactly where to stand and wanted the bench in the middle of the picture.

Our walk down to the beach...

We discovered sea snails! These ones had already left their home and were empty. Guy found these. I added them to my collection to give to Evelyn when we got home.

After this we went to La Hacienda for lunch. Nico had the Carne Asada and inhaled most of it. He was hungry!

Thursday night was a low-key night, we just hung out at home. Guy went out to dinner with his friends.

Friday was our trip back to Boise!

Nico saying "Uggggh" because he didn't want his picture taken when we were on the plane.

Our plane had Lightning McQueen on it.

 A lot more leg room than the first flight, and we were all able to sit next to each other! Three seats on either side of the plane. We were in Premium class, the row right behind First Class, that's why all the leg room. It was great! As we were getting into the aircraft, we passed first class, and Nico spotted this first row with 3 seats. He had no idea where we were supposed to sit, but he turned right in here and said "Hey look, here's a spot for us! 3 seats in a row!" It just so happened to be our row.

 And we had two windows!

Nico had seen my henna tattoo and had asked for the same one.

The flight home took an hour, compared to the 1 1/2 hours of the flight there. It was a faster plane! There was a long line waiting to take off, so it evened out in the end. Loved the bigger plane, though!! We got snack boxes that had treats in them. Nico set up his orange juice with his almonds and his almond butter and his Minecraft while watching The Secret Life of Pets in the corner of his iPad, multitasking.

Here's a picture of him with just the iPad, before he had all that other stuff going on :)

On the descent he complained again of his ears hurting, and had me put pressure on his ear with his hand.

A few more pictures here!

There was a dairy only a few minutes from the house, so we drove over there to get fresh raw guernsey milk for Nico. Here he is drinking milk and doing calligraphy on the tablet.

He made friends super-quick at this park!

Guy picked me a buttercup, and then Nico did.

Stories before bed on our last night there.

They had a new bird game to play. Woohoo! It's bird trivia. We played it several times.

Minecraft?

We are looking forward to seeing the Grandparents Russell again in only another month for Nico's birthday!! 

When we got home this afternoon, we took Nico's book bingo sheet to Rediscovered Books downtown to turn it in since it was due today. They told us the after-hours party for getting a blackout on the bingo card was TONIGHT! So Guy and Nico are there right now. 

And I am headed to bed!!