Seattle

Last weekend we hopped on a plane and headed to Seattle! The main reason we decided to make the trip at this particular time was so that we could go to Ken Griffey, Jr's number retirement game. Justin has been looking for an excuse to go back to Seattle and since "The Kid" is his favorite player of all time, it was the perfect opportunity. It also ended up being kind of an anniversary/before-another-baby trip ☺

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We stayed at Justin's friend Greg and his wife Sarah's house (in fact, they weren't even there the first two days). They were seriously amazing hosts! And I think Nolan enjoyed getting to play with some new toys.

(Also this cute Mariners shirt? I found it for $1.50 at Kid to Kid in Holladay! Of course I had to buy it because it was such a steal and I'm an amazing wife hehe).

He really really wanted to take this Elmo outside for a walk ♥ ♥ ♥

Greg and Sarah have two little puppies and boy, did Nolan fall in LOVE with them! Usually in the morning he wakes up and before anything else (besides milk) he asks for "tahbet time" (tablet time), but this trip he woke up saying "a puppies! a puppies!" Then he'd go down to them, reach his hands out and say, "I hold!"

On Saturday afternoon we headed downtown, first to the Old Spaghetti Factory for an early dinner with Justin's friend James Rachner and his wife, Alison, then to Safeco Field for the game!

Daddy and son heading to the game in their Mariners gear!

Plane fly over with a 24 flag

 We checked out this kids area out in center field, but there were so many kids (usually bigger than him) so I think Nolan enjoyed observing more than playing.

We couldn't really get a good picture because of the sun, but this is Adrian. He has been working the center field stands since Justin was young and they had season tickets. Justin usually tries to make a stop to see him each time we go to Safeco. Adrian commented that it's crazy how "all these kids are growing up and having kids!" ☺

 

We made our way to our seats behind home plate and sat down just in time for the number retirement ceremony to begin. The field was looking pretty snazzy for the event! KG, Jr. is the first Mariner to have his number retired.

Not gonna lie, I teared up a bit when he walked out from the outfield to home plate.  

During the ceremony they had a few other great athletes give tributes to Ken Griffey, Jr. Some were there in person, others recorded a video tribute that they played on the big screen. One of those was Willie Mays (who also wore #24. Go Giants!). Mays congratulated him and then ribbed him a little bit for not picking up the phone when he called him to offer his congratulations on being inducted into the Hall of Fame. They put the camera on Griffey and you could see him mouth the words, "I called him back!" incredulously haha. So then right then, during the ceremony, KG, Jr whips out his phone and starts scrolling through his contacts. As he put the phone to his ear he said, "I'm calling him" and the whole crowd laughed. We could all see him talking and the speaker said, "I want to know how the conversation is going!" So Griffey said, "I'm leaving a message!" and laughed haha. Anyway, it was pretty funny and you can just see why he is so loved. Not only was he a great player, but he seems to be such a great person. The kind of athlete you hope your kids look up to.

I suppose this is also a good time to record for Nolan that if he had been born just 9 hours later, on November 21st (Ken Griffey, Jr.s birthday) he would have been named Griffin (nicknamed Griffey) ☺ We almost named him that anyway, but in the end decided on Nolan.

We are both super happy with the name Nolan and love it so much that we're a little nervous we won't be able to come up with one we love as much for BB2! That being said though, how great would it have been at this game to respond with "Griffey!" when people asked Nolan his name? ☺

Hat backwards, Griffey style

I added this one just because Nolan is being so silly

Family selfie!

Nolan fell asleep towards the end of the ceremony and stayed asleep for about 4 innings! Justin's friends kept marveling at how he could stay asleep through all the noise and wondered if he'd be able to sleep that night (considering it was almost 7:30pm at the time). I assured them though that if there was any kid that could be asleep at 8pm and still go to bed and 9 and sleep through the night, it was our Nolan! Got his daddy's sleeping skills ☺ Justin apparently once slept through a 7 point earthquake!

Beautiful golden hour

We signed Nolan up for the Mariners kids club (he got a free backpack, ball, and lanyard with his cute picture on a card -- why not?!). Then we went to another kids area where he got to 'pitch' a ball. He was MUCH smaller than any of the other kids pitching, but he really wanted to do it. He went up about 2 feet from the target, but he got one in there! 

While Nolan's throwing skills are advanced for his age, his batting could use some work.  He always grabs the bat with one hand on the big end and and just sort of bangs it straight into the ground or ball (or whatever he's trying to hit) - kind of like he's holding a walking stick by the nub and trying to jam a hole in the ground. 

Justin started teaching him though, and he did better in the video

We went into a couple of the team stores at the field and ended up getting a magnet to commemorate the game and a cute little sign for the boys' room (that's crazy to say!). I told Justin these purchases might be tipping the scale towards too much Mariners - not enough Giants - stuff at our house. He argued that Nolan has a Giants hat so that counts for a lot haha.

Justin also really liked this "24ever" shirt, but was so sad to not be able to find one in his size. I really wanted to find one for him, especially since he never seems to ask for or want anything!  Luckily, he found one that night online!

We also almost walked out with a cute little mitt for Nolan, but on the way to the register I had the thought, "wait, what if he's left handed?! This glove won't work!" So we decided we had better wait until we figure out what hand he prefers before buying his first glove.

 Justin and James

Justin walked all the way to the other side of the field just to get a closeup of the new addition to the stadium (Jackie Robinson's #42 is retired throughout all MLB).

What a fun night at the ballpark!!

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On Sunday we drove to Woodinville where Justin gave us a tour of his old stomping grounds. Every time I go to his hometown I am amazed at how incredibly different the landscape is from where I grew up (not necessarily for good or bad, just different). But seriously, look at this. This is just driving through Woodinville. It looks like we're on a forest road! Beautiful. 

We went by "The Hollywood Hill house."

The back of the house and yard.

Then to his old elementary school

Be careful Justin, you have a cute little boy watching everything you do ♥

Justin trying to relive his childhood, but realizing those monkey bars aren't as easy as he remembers haha.

I was intrigued by these covered basketball courts. Definitely not something you see in Las Vegas, although it might have been nice!!

Again, with the beautiful landscape. This looks like we're going for a stroll through the forest, but this is actually the path he used to take to get from the playground to the classroom. Ok, now I'm a bit jealous.

This is the bus drop off. You can't even see the school because of all the trees!!

Just for contrasts sake, here's a pic of the front of my elementary school ☺ But hey, look at that blue sky!

Justin showing Nolan the halls of the school.

Based on some of the stories I've heard I imagine if some of his old teachers (or principal) had been there they would have run for the parking lot yelling, "Holy crap, Justin Bailey is back?...and he has a kid?!" hehe

We drove by Woodinville High School which apparently looks much different now than when he attended, but he was happy to see that these big painted rocks near the track are still there!

After our tour of Woodinville/Redmond we stopped by Justin's friend Randy's house for a quick visit before heading to Edmonds where we caught a ferry across the water to Kingston. 

It was my first time riding one of those big ferry's (where you can take your car over the water) so even though it cost way more than we thought, and Kingston actually ended up being kind of a disappointment, we thought it was worth it for the experience! So, Kingston...we'd heard that it was a cute little town with lots of fun shops to walk around and see. Ya, not so much. We literally only went into ONE shop. It was a cute candy store where we found Nolan a Mariners Pez dispenser (he loves Pez dispensers right now), and that was pretty much it. At least there were two ice cream shops. Ice cream from a fun shop makes everything better for this girl.

My boys after our ferry ride.

Based on the good reviews (and the fact that it was close to the ferry) we stopped at a burger place called The Grub Hut and I'm happy to say it didn't disappoint!

Nolan of course loved the fries ☺

Oh, another thing - we didn't quite make it onto the first ferry going to Kingston so we had to sit in the car for 1/2 an hour waiting for the next one. Then when we got there and started driving around we noticed a really long line of cars just waiting. When we discovered that the line of cars was to get on the ferry to go home we were floored. So we asked the worker in the candy shop if it was always this busy and he said on Fri, Sat, and Sun it's pretty common to wait over 2 hours to get on a ferry!! Yikes! I guess it's a good thing there weren't that many shops to keep us there. So we did the candy shop, ice cream, dinner and then got in line. Luckily we ended up only having to wait about an hour to get on.

On our way home

Already making faces at mom's kisses ♥

The boys having fun on the ferry.

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Monday we had breakfast at a good pancake house that Justin suggested.

Nolan loved playing with the sugar packets. He'd grab one, put it in Justin's face and ask, "What da color is it?" 

We've been worried lately that Nolan has been drinking so much milk that he's not hungry during meal time, so he just doesn't eat. I've read (and believe) that super picky eating in kids or refusing to eat a meal is sometimes the result of too much snacking throughout the day, and we started feeling like his milk drinking was the equivalent of snacking. So we tested out a new method -- starving him before meals haha. Ok we just denied him milk for about an hour before eating. And you know what? It worked! He ate so well at breakfast!

We also tried out a booster seat for the first time and he was super cute sitting over there with his dad.

Sorry for every time a include 3 pics of basically the same scene, I just couldn't choose!

After breakfast we headed out to Snoqualmie Falls. This was definitely on our to do list for the trip as it was the site of one of the best moments of my life! When Justin proposed! p.s. he must love me if he was willing to get the knee of his pants wet and possibly dirty to propose ♥

Look how much has changed in just 3 years! I'm super glad he chose me and feel so happy and blessed to have him by my side. And together we have created the cutest son(s)  ♥

We also went down a trail to a boardwalk that runs right next to the river. We hadn't done that before (you know, too busy proposing the first time) so it was a fun new experience.

Nolan was pretty upset that he couldn't go down the big green "slide."

After the falls we met Debbie Egge for ice cream at Molly Moon's.

She brought her "puppies" and even though they were a little wild, Nolan didn't seem too scared. I would have been terrified!!

After ice cream we made a stop at the Seattle Temple. Nolan loved pointing up at "Boononi" (Moroni)

He's been really into smelling "fowers" lately

We also found a fun little path that Justin had never seen before.

Monday evening we went to dinner at a Mexican place in Renton with Sarah and Greg (and their two kids, Emily and Alex), then made a quick stop at the grocery store. They gave out free fruit to kids and Nolan was chowing down on this apple!

After shopping we went back to Greg and Sarah's, put the kids to bed, then chatted and roasted s'mores. My kind of night!

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Tuesday we packed up and headed downtown again. First stop, Pike Place Market, then lunch with Justin Egge.

The gum wall

The bronze pig 

(which I have since learned is actually called "Rachel the Piggy Bank." Thanks Google).

After Pike Place we drove a few miles to the Lake View Cemetery to show Nolan the graves of this third great grandparents, Franz Friedrich Hoffman and Friedericke Christiane Marie Kress. Frank worked as a baker at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle. 

"Train up a child in the way he should go..."

Frank and Marie (L) Olympic Hotel (R)

That cute face! I could eat it up!...

...but I guess we'll have to work on teaching him some cemetery etiquette and that it's not appropriate to stand directly on top of gravestones ☺

He'd been begging me to put some pez in his dispenser so I stuck 2 in there while we waited for dadda to make some business calls. The excitement on his face when he opened it up was priceless!

We wanted to give Nolan a chance to run around a bit before the plane ride home and discovered this really fun park just on the other side of the fence from the cemetery!

Walking up the stairs like a big boy. Stop growing up!

On our way out of the park Justin noticed this really cool old water tower so we stopped and climbed up.

Cool views of the city

I guess I never really noticed how many hills there are in Seattle!

I snapped this pic on the shuttle from the car rental place to the airport. Nolan was fast asleep in the car when we had to wake him up to leave. Per usual, he made it really easy on us and was a total champ!

One more story that we both wish SO much we had a video of because it was so darn cute -- on the plane we sat next to a teenager whose family was sitting in the row in front of us. He was a nice kid but we didn't talk much during the flight. However, as we sat waiting to exit the plane he saw our BYU gear and asked if we were fans. Then he told us he was the only fan in his family. So we talked a bit about that and then showed him how much Nolan likes the new BYU football promo video. After watching part of the video Nolan started yelling "Touchdown!" "Cougars!" "Yes!!" (each one said with a smile and a laugh). He even added a fist pump to the 'Yes!' for emphasis haha. It was absolutely adorable! We were dying laughing. Even the kids family in the other row was laughing ☺

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 We had such a great time and felt like the trip was a perfect combination of planned activities, time with friends, and just flying by the seat of our pants.