Aunt Blanche's Visit

After Emmett was born last winter, Ron's Aunt Blanche got in touch with us asking if she could visit us last May after she flew into Portland to attend a wedding of a friend.  Since we rarely are treated to visits from any members of Ron's family, we jumped at the opportunity to host her!  However, four days before her scheduled arrival, Logan threw up in the garage on the way to the car to drive to school.  Although he seemed fine two days later, I came down with the flu that Friday evening and spent half of the night in the bathroom.  It was awful.  By Saturday morning, I was like the 'walking dead' and so Ron and I made the decision to NOT have Aunt Blanche fly in the very next day to stay with us.  This turned out to be a very good decision as Lia then came down with the flu by Saturday night.  So, Aunt Blanche changed her plane ticket and flew back to San Francisco on Sunday instead of flying up to visit us for a few days. 
Fast forward a few months later, we were able to reschedule Aunt Blanche's visit for Veteran's weekend.  This turned out to be the perfect weekend for her to come as everyone (including Ron) got to have three days off of school.  In addition, Aunt Blanche was able to attend a play off football game with Ron for his high school on Friday evening, go to both Lia's and Logan's soccer games on Saturday, and come to church with us on Sunday to see all three children perform in their annual, Primary Program.  She had specifically wanted to come at a time when she could see the children participate in some of their activities--so having her visit this weekend worked out great.  In addition, she babysat for Ron and me on Saturday evening while we went out on our first date, post-Emmett, without any of our four children.  We used a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory that I have had for several years and had a great time eating out without a wriggly Emmett in our arms.  We also enjoyed having her meet my parents and hosting them all for an early dinner on Sunday afternoon after church since my parents also had come down to see the children perform in the Primary Program. 
Although it was a funfilled and great few days, I didn't take a single picture which is fine since I sometimes enjoy just living in the moment and not being stuck behind a camera.  However, I did manage to take a few pictures on Monday when we dragged the entire gang into Seattle for a few hours.  We enjoyed meeting up with my brother, Eric, on his amazing, Amazon campus near Lake Union to get a tour of the incredible Amazon Spheres and "Amazon Go" store that are only accessible to Amazon employees and their guests.  We had to be checked in at the front desk of his office building and issued badges that were scanned everywhere we went.  It was quite fascinating and interesting to compare the massive differences between working in public education and working for cooperate Amazon.  After we finished spending an hour with Eric, we moved on to spend the rest of the afternoon walking around Pike Place Market where we enjoyed a seafood lunch and a trip to the infamous, gum wall that the children have been begging to visit for years.  Although it was a bit chilly, the sun was out that day and we had a great time being outside enjoying this local landmark.  After being stuck in awful traffic on the drive home, we managed to get back in time to have a quick pizza dinner while watching the Seahawks play the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.  Although this is Aunt Blanche's home team, she is not a fan and gladly jumped on our bandwagon and rooted our Hawks to victory in overtime that evening.  It was a great way to finish up a fabulous 3.5 day weekend with Aunt Blanche.  We were so sad to see her go Tuesday morning, but are already looking forward to another promised visit from her again.

Ron, Aunt Blanche, the kids, and me posing in front of the Amazon Spheres.

Uncle Eric leading the kids around a path built into this amazing conservatory that houses over 40,00 plants and serves mainly as a glorified, employee lounge and workspace.

We took a family photo inside the suspended bird nest that is located on the top floor of the Spheres.

And another shot with Aunt Blanche, too.

Aunt Blanche and the kids standing next to the 4-story, living wall that is home to 25,000 plants including carnivorous species from Asia.

And a close-up of the wall and the kids.  It was quite an impressive sight to behold!

One more group shot in front of "The Spheres" sign.

Ella skipping over some rocks on our way out.

The kids posing on the famous, "Rachel the Piggy Bank" statue located at the front entrance of Pike Place Market.

After some shopping and walking around, we stepped outside onto a viewing area to take in the stunning, Puget Sound with the ferries coming and going in the background.

After lunch, we finished off with a trip to the gum wall which is just a short walk from Pike Place Market.  It is located on both sides of an alley way and is quite an impressive and disgusting sight.  We each chewed some gum to put on the wall (except for Emmett, of course).  Here are the older three kids with Aunt Blanche putting their gum on the wall.

And finishing off with a smile!