Seattle. Day 26

Here we are at the Coast Guard Museum in downtown Seattle. 

The highlight of this trip was meeting Officer Davis who had been with

the coast guard for 65 years.  He was 83 and going strong running the

museum.  He said he has contributed to 27 books.  Andrew asked if there

was a shop with coast guard things for Bobo's room.  Officer Davis said he could

 take us over to the shop and the female coast guard who was showing our kiddos around the

room could watch our kids.  Alright, we did not expect that.  So we headed

over and started shopping.  It was so fun with Officer Davis, it was like

shopping with your grandpa.  He would find things for us and

then I would ask him about different helicopters or a ship we saw which he knew

everything about each item...the history, the year, the place.  There was

this huge book on the Coast guard that Bobo would have loved, he

helped edit it but said it was probably too expensive.  Andrew and I had

fun picking some things out.   

Of course, I asked the officer if he would get

in a picture with us, he declined politely.  He did give Bobo

the stuffed dog he is holding.  The dog's name is Sinbad

and he was a Coast Guard dog and he even instructed us on how to fix

the hat on the dog.  He did sign the picture book that we bought for Bobo....

the inscription read...."To the next coastie"

The red ship above is an ice breaker ship. 

It was just wonderful to be in the presence of Officer Davis, a man who has

committed much of his life to something and is such an expert. 

I walked away so full (so blessed!)for me and for my family to have Officer Davis and

his two volunteers be so attentive, passionate about the coast guard,

willing to give of their time, give in the name of education,

and have every question asked, answered!

 

We promised the Officer a picture of Bobo in the coast guard uniform

which Bobo doesn't know he has yet....

Next we stopped by the statue, The Fallen Hero's. 

He liked it!

The Locks in Ballard, WA (a neighborhood near Seattle)

 This is a system that raises the water level of the ocean

so boats can pass from the lake to the ocean which is more shallow.

 

The Ocean (on the right) is lower than the river (higher on the left)

We got to see the Locks work as a boat came in as we

had just arrived.

Water is moved by pressure, it slowly is rising and the green

moss will disappear as the water level in the ocean is

rising from the river water.

When the water level is the same on both sides, the

bridge opens and the boat can pass through.

 

Then we watched as the water slowly went lower again

in the ocean as the bridge closed back up separating

the ocean from the lake.

The fish ladders in the next area we walked to were

created to help the salmon in their yearly migration.

There are the salmon swimming back to the same river to spawn and

then those baby salmon once they are mature will go into the ocean

only to return to the same river to begin their spawning. 

Andrew took me to a surprise stop at Kerry Park,

to watch the sunset.  It was another beautiful view

of the city of Seattle.

 

 

 

 

It surprised me how steep some of the Seattle streets are,

reminiscent of San Francisco.  It is also interesting because

the water front in Seattle is a steep decent down from the rest of the city.

We ended our day at the mall for some food and a little shopping around.

Intention

What do I want to give my girl?

What do I want to give my boy?

What do I want to give my husband?
Now is the time.

I get to practice how to love my children everyday through a million chances, a million moments.

Intentional trip living....

I have asked my family to join in these areas as we make this journey over these days together...

-Whenever we feel stress in a relationship, we give thanks (thanks A. Voskamp)
we have had to employ this one a few times.

-reading a book together (we picked up "The One and Only Ivan").  I think I have enjoyed it just as much if not more than my two beside me.  Bobo expressed the other night that he does not care for it. I am not sure if that has to do with 1) He falls asleep during the reading  2) He may not understand all of it  3) It might make him sad.  It is his book that we picked up for him in Canada.  Deveraux cried a couple nights ago, it is sad, but offers dealing with loss.  The author has a "stay with you" voice that comes along with a well written book.

-praying each evening for someone or someones...this is whoever is on our heart.  We become so easily consumed with our own stuff, it is good to think and pray on others!

-Time and connection

-making time to talk with people and be curious as everyone has a story

-gratitude journal (again thanks to A. Voskamp), we began this last February and we are not consistent everyday, but it is pulled out when remembered and we all write our gratitude's

-looking for ways to give or serve, this includes leaving each place better than when we came

-Andrew and I praying for our kids and re-writing our family vision statement (original cannot be found)

So those are some of the intentional.  They feel good.  And I will add as things make sense.

I also want to be aware that simply connection and being on this trip is important in itself.
Everyday it is good to be available for meaning.  I don't want to feel pressured with this time (if it doesn't happen now, it never will or I have to "make" something happen).  I know I tend to do this when I feel something is in limited quantity.  But I think being present now, with some intentions, will all contribute.  

Dad gave me a good reminder of just being is good and enough....."I smile ear to ear with the sight of you four lollygagging through the byways of Vancouver. What could be more intentional than a family on adventure patrol-------ready for sleep, ready with new eyes for new days." (thanks pops!)

We press on.  Continuing to face the days of unknown, adventure, being more blessed than when we started the days with eyes seeing new things, and finding goodness all around us!

In all things, we give thanks!

Seattle. Day 25

We began the day at church.  Feeling like we needed and wanted to go, we looked

up a church online.  It is always a bit of a gulp walking into a new church, especially one

that you cannot as easily hide in.  This group of believers were sincere, committed, and their

focus was on Jesus (a good place in a church amongst believers).  There was nothing flashy

or distracting about the service.  We realized we were there for an important Sunday

in the life of the church when the pastor of 18 years announced that he was leaving in January

to pursue some other ministry opportunities.  His son (tattooed, leather biker jacket with Jesus Christ embroidered on the back was taking over) he was a cool guy.

As we continue to learn on this journey....you just never know!

On our way from the church, we decided to stop in

a costume shop.  The coolest Halloween costume shop!

We needed a Peter Pan costume.  The ladies who ran the shop

were sisters, one of them was a children's theatre costume

designer.  They were so helpful. they put together Bobo's

costume for me.  I love the idea of a thrift store costume shop.

We had a lot of fun and ended up getting Andrew and I

pirate costumes (Drew-wig and belt) and Devearux ended

up finding the perfect dress to be Betsy (from the book series,

Betsy, Tacy, and Tib) even though we were going an 80"s

direction for her, she was so excited to find the perfect dress.

Everything was reasonable.  They ended up putting together a hat for

Bobo and fixing a belt with a little glue gun to fit him.

They were so sweet and we promised a picture after Halloween!

I have not bought an actual costume in so long, it was

really fun and such an unexpected gift!

 

Next we headed to the Fremont Sunday Flea Market that

I had heard about....we had a good time.

This was so funny, buy a book and William Shakespeare,

(standing to the left of Dev) would sign your book.

Almost got the Bongo drum

 

Andrew had heard about this Troll sitting under the highway. 

 

The troll has a VW in his hand.

He was pretty cool.  It was built as an effort to bring together the arts and community.

 A tradition has been started, when they see a big

pile of leaves, they gather them and throw them on

us, especially Andrew and while we are being doused

in leaves they say something like, "Seattle!" or "Victoria!"

We have had fun on this trip looking in many different

antique and vintage shops.

cool coffee shop 

Gas Works park..."an obsolete gas manufacturing facility

turned into a park."

I mostly just loved the views

It was so pretty

Looking across at downtown Seattle

We are on the top of a big hill.  I loved the vantage point.

We then headed home for a pool party.

Deveraux had a vision when she saw others at our pool eat dinner,

so we did it, it is one of the most excited I have seen her on the entire trip.

They both love the pool!  She gave us a huge thank you with no prompting,

that felt really good.