Max and Charlotte in the Emerald City

Over Labor Day weekend Charlotte and Max made their longest journey yet: all the way to the Emerald City!  (No, not that Emerald City, though I was a big fan of L. Frank Baum's books as a child.)  Max, Jenn, Charlotte and I met up with Grandma Judy in San Francisco, California, and flew up to Seattle, Washington.  Jenn's brother Dan and his family recently moved to Seattle from Indiana.  So we took advantage of Jenn's hiatus week to visit them in their new home.  And we got to see plenty of my friends who live in Seattle.  (Seattle is one of those hip towns that have found favor with my friends.  What's wrong with Pasadena, California, y'all?)


Jenn takes a "self-photo" of herself, her mother and Charlotte on the flight between San Francisco and Seattle.

30 August 2012

We stopped by Pike Place Market, of course.  Charlotte poses in front of a fishmonger.

31 August 2012

Charlotte and Max got reacquainted with their cousins Alicia (left), Clara (right) and Roberto (not pictured).

31 August 2012

We stayed at a hotel in Seattle's Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.  Charlotte practiced ordering room service.

1 September 2012

And we visited the Seattle Aquarium, which was pretty cool.  Jenn and Charlotte are checking out the fish ladder display, in which you find yourself standing below a window looking up towards a school of young salmon.

1 September 2012

The aquarium also has a really neat submerged dome, in which you can sit and find yourself surrounded by a bunch of marine life.  (If it had had a place to sleep and a bar in the center, I might never have left.)  Max tried touching the underside of a starfish through the glass.  Charlotte tried licking the underside of a starfish through the glass.

1 September 2012

1 September 2012

I thought the halibut swimming around (look just above the starfish Max appears to be touching) was very cool.  There were dogfish, sturgeon and several large enormous salmon swimming around, among other fish.  Other highlights included the octopus, the jellyfish, the tide pool display in which you could touch starfish and anemone (Max + water = happy boy), the otters and the seals.

Alicia, Clara and Charlotte had some quality time near the otters.

1 September 2012

1 September 2012

1 September 2012

And Max showed Clara a neat statue of a seal that he came across.

Alicia reads Eric Carle's Mister Seahorse to Max in the aquarium gift store.

1 September 2012

Eric Carle is one of Charlotte and Max' very favorite authors.


While we were in Seattle my friend Ammi and her husband, Adam, held a Labor Day Weekend barbecue.  Roberto and Max shared a meal on Ammi and Adam's back steps.

2 September 2012

They were terrific hosts, including their daughter Leah, pictured with Max and Charlotte below.

2 September 2012

It was a great party, and was a terrific chance to catch up with a lot of my friends.  And Charlotte had a lot of fun playing on Leah's swing set, which Leah graciously allowed my daughter to monopolize for the better part of an hour!


And what were Lucy and Rufus doing while we were partying away in the Pacific Northwest?

6 September 2012

Haircuts!!!!  And I think they look awesome.


So welcome to the West Coast, Dan, Anna, Alicia, Clara and Roberto!!!  We're all happy that we're at least in the same time zone now.  We look forward to seeing more of y'all.  And I anticipate seeing a lot more of my friends who live in lovely Seattle (as well as those who live in nearby Vancouver, British Columbia).


--- Shawn (for Jenn and Charlotte and Max and Lucy and Rufus)