At the end of August, we drove back up north to spend our family vacation there as well as participating in our dear friend Renee’s wedding. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and spent the weekend through Monday evening with our friends the Cosseys. We got to go on a family hike up to Bridal Veil Falls and then to the zoo on Monday. We used to go to the zoo all the time when we lived there, so it felt just like home to do this while we were there. It was so fun to catch up with these guys and have some great family time together. They graciously hosted us for our first few days in Seattle. We also got to visit with our super sweet neighbors that lived across the street from us. They were stand in grandparents while we lived there and it felt normal to be back on our street!
Hannah Gray got to feed a bird with our friend Sierra too…
On Monday night, we had dinner with our dear friends, the Bruno’s at their house. We had amazing food, super fun times playing outside and great conversation. We miss these guys tremendously.
Then on Tuesday, the wedding festivities began with a bachelorette party day for Renee and the 3 bridesmaids. We started our adventure with a tour of the Theo Chocolate Factory, which was ah-mazing. So fun and so good. Then we had a picnic lunch next to the river by the trailhead for our hike. After the hike, we headed back to Renee’s to get ready for dinner and we finished our surprise day by having a wonderful picnic (delivered to us by Ethan the girls) on a boat out on Lake Union, right at sunset. There was a sailboat race going on, so we were right in the middle of that action. But just after sunset, while it was still dusk, they all cleared out and it felt like it was just the 4 of us on the boat. It was awesome. We finished the night with a walk to Molly Moon’s, aka the BEST ice cream ever! Think honey lavender, salted caramel, Theo chocolate (yep, from that factory we were at earlier). It’s awesome and I miss it. We had the bride back at her apartment to get her beauty rest as the wedding plans continued the next morning.
Wednesday, it was off to have nails done and get ready for rehearsal and then the big day was on Thursday. It was CRAZY as the guy scheduled to do all our hair at Renee’s apartment never showed up with no phone call or anything. The salon he work(ed?) for graciously called in extra troops to get us taken care of. But we were supposed to meet the photographer to get Renee in her dress at 1 and leave by 1:30 or 2 for a 3 ceremony. The last bridesmaid and I did not leave the salon until 2:15. And in the midst of all of this, the flowers that were purchased at Pike Place Wed afternoon, did not survive the night. So while Renee and her mom headed to the salon, the three bridesmaids headed back down to Pike to purchase all new flowers to assembly bouquets, table decorations, boutonnieres, and mother bouquets. So upon arriving back at the apartment, we still had to do all the assembly. We did it and it was beautiful and Renee finally walked down the aisle at 4. Somehow, we still managed to leave on time and arrived at the reception right on time. Phew!
(the apartment when arriving back to drop presents off and clean up. Looks like a bomb went off in a florist’s shop)
Friday, it was back to family vacation time. As we were driving into Seattle, Hannah Gray noticed the new ferris wheel and immediately asked to do it. We promised her we would, so we did that and walked around our old stomping grounds on Friday before heading back for the girls naps. The Cosseys hosted dinner that night for us so we could see some of our peak 7 friends. It was so great to catch up and I didn’t get any pictures!! Bummer, not sure how that happened.
Saturday, we hit the ferry over to Bainbridge Island just for a reason to get on a boat and enjoy the views. We even saw two seals on the return trip. And crazy story, just as we were getting ready to pull into the ferry station on the way over, I thought I heard my name and thought, “yeah right”. Hearing it again, I turned around to see Taylor, one of my best friends from college that I led Young Life with for 5 years. He and his wife and little boy moved to Seattle just as we were moving so we never crossed paths during our time there. So fun to see them!! Then we met up with the newly weds themselves for Molly Moon’s.
Saturday evening we were able to meet up with another family for dinner, a family that was so good to us during our time there. Then Sunday morning, we loaded up to hit the road back to CA via the 101 down the coast. I will post those pictures in another post.
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