The Real Pike Place

Along the way from Boise to Seattle, we stopped at this big fruit stand/antique mall.  The apples smelled divine and looked sumptuous.  Later, when we sampled the apples we had purchased, we wished we had bought more.  We kept remarking that we didn't know apples could taste so apple-y!  There is a huge difference in produce from the grocery store and produce from the farm.  Huge!

Scott and I were billing this trip as a "waterfall crawl."  We were going to visit two of the country's top ten waterfalls, Shoshone and Snoqualmie.  Shoshone was fun, but there was hardly any water.  All our hopes hung on Snoqualmie.  Well, it SOUNDED amazing!  But the falls were completely socked in.  We squinted and strained, but we couldn't see the falls at all.  The funny thing was, it was a perfectly clear day literally everywhere else.

Pretty, huh?

There is just no way to pack perfectly for this many people.  I had several jackets for this kid, the warmest of which was buried at the bottom of the bin.  This sweater wasn't warm enough for the falls, but doesn't he look amazing in my scarf?!  I just love this little boy so much!

Even though I intentionally took tons of pictures of Xanthe, she had to photobomb every picture.  Hashtag starved for attention!

More fabulocity!

On a four-day journey, there's no time to lose, so we unloaded our bags at the hotel and drove straight to Pike Place.  First stop, the original Starbucks, where Scott and Freestone stood in line to buy a mug for my collection.  No treats, though.  It was too crowded with tourists.  Instead, I went to Piroshky, Piroshky and bought a few of the Russian pastries filled with potatoes, cabbage and onions.  It was a testament to how hungry the kids were that they gobbled up onion-riddled Russian peasant food so eagerly!

And that was only the first snack.  We spent hours strolling through the markets, sampling whatever we thought looked good.  We didn't buy cherries, but Scott said, "Oh Bruuuuce, look at the chuckar cherries!"  A riff on a family joke.:)

This monkfish would move whenever someone looked at it.  The fish guys had it rigged up to a string.  Ptolemy was not impressed.

Some of the food we sampled included pastries, four kinds of chowder, home made Greek yogurt, apples, falafels and chocolate pasta.

Here's a cute picture of Ptolemy peeking through the window at the falafel shop.

 And here we are at the chowder place, situated in a quaint little alley where I surreptitiously changed Tziporah's diaper in a deserted corner.  She travels so well.  Diaper changes standing up, sleeping in strange cribs, food whenever you can get it, handing out dollars to musicians.  None of it makes sense to her, I'm sure, but it's a great life.  The kids all loved giving their dollars to the musicians.

She points her toes even when she's lounging in a quaint little alley.  Maybe her feet were reminded of Clytie's alley!  It's automatic.:)

The funny thing about Xanthe is that only about 10 per cent of pictures of her turn out.  She has all these crazy poses that, well, just don't translate to film.  But here she is looking beautiful after purchasing a letter X for 50 cents out of a bargain bin at an expensive shop.

And a T because they didn't have a P.  I'm sure he's going to be confused for life.

Street magician.  Scott is a sucker for magic.  This guy was great!  I swear he was at Pike Place 15 years ago when we were there!

See?  She was rolling around on the ground for pictures.  She finally explained that she was trying to look like the letter X.  What goes on in kids' minds, I tell ya!  It's a mystery.

Ruby travels in style

After our second round of sitting on the pig and watching the guys throw fish, we reluctantly left Pike Place.  It was actually being shut down for a charity event, if you can believe it.  How can they close such a famous landmark?  What about all the tourists?  I was glad we had gotten there early.  It was just a perfect day in Seattle.  Again, the kids tired of Scott and I saying how rare those beautiful, clear, sunny days are in Seattle, and how lucky we were.  I just love how we could be in Kaysville one minute and then the next day, we're all sitting on a bronze pig in Seattle.  I never cease to be thankful for the freedom of getting in my car and going anywhere I want to.  So many people around the world simply don't have that luxury, for a variety of reasons.  It's magical, and it's one of the things I am most grateful for.  When I think of freedom, I think of a wide-open road and the ability to see where it leads.

What Xanthe thought was an adorable shot of her biting the cupcake. :)

So that night, we hit an upscale mall in Bellevue.  While some of the kids went with Scott to window shop, I took the little kids to the play area.  Alas, Xanthe was too tall for it!  Across the way was a cupcake store, so I thought it would be a special treat for Xanthe to get her own cupcake.  I sent her on about 10 reconnaissance missions to ascertain the flavors, prices, etc.  She finally settled on a cupcake, but upon taking the first bite, decided that she was terribly thirsty from the frosting.  Oh man, I love this adorable little thing, but nothing is easy for her!  She is a character!!

That night, the littles were all too willing to lay their sweet heads down on their hotel pillows.  Meanwhile, Scott and the big kids did some unwinding around the fireplace in the lobby.  I love this picture, and I have it as my phone screen saver now.  It perfectly depicts a fall night in the Pacific Northwest, and it will always bring back memories of our weekend, with the crunchy autumn leaves underfoot, the knitted hats and the brisk air.  And after all that, we still had two more days!