We ended our evening at the Piers riding the carousel. The girls had a blast! We rode it about 3-4 times, each time the girls picked a new horse and I found it very interesting that even though they were on a new horse it was VERY similar to the one they had just been on. Alissa's usually had some feathers on it and Jillian's had flowers and bling (shiny stones) - shocking! It was a good end to a fun afternoon. Now, let's find a room....
Now, as I mentioned last post, it's SeaFair weekend, WAY more people in Seattle than usual. A well prepared person would have reserved a hotel BEFORE they made the journey over the mountains but this usually well prepared person was trying to step a bit of her box and "go with it" for a change. Bad time to try. THERE WAS NOTHING!!! Brett was so frustrated that he was ready to go back home at 7:30pm. At our fourth hotel that we drove to (I also called two) they said they did not have any rooms but their hotel in Lake Union had ONE left. (ONE!) "We'll take it! Yes please and thank you!" Again, VERY thankful for the movies in the back to occupy the kids; Brett's patience was GONE and understandably so. We were SO thankful to have found a room. We checked into the Silver Cloud Inn in Lake Union where we had a pretty good view of the harbor. The girls changed into their suits and we were off to the pool.
My girls are fish! Especially Alissa! They had a blast just playing in the water. They pool had been taken over by all sorts of kids! All the adults supervising were either in chairs on the pool deck, like Brett and I, or in the hot tub. The biggest downfall with watching I think was the chlorine in the air. Because it was an indoor pool with no fresh air circulating through the room the chlorine just hung there. After about a half an hour to forty-five minutes we had to go. Brett and my eyes were dying! The girls took showers and were off to bed.
The next morning at breakfast, we sat next to a window looking at the harbor. I swear I saw a pod of Orcas swimming! Brett was helping the girls dish up their continental breakfast and I was saving our spot; so I was the only one that saw them. I thought it was pretty cool. After breakfast we checked out and headed for the zoo.
The zoo was beautiful. I have never been to Woodland Park Zoo so I had no idea what to expect. It was a big adventure not only for the girls but for Brett and I too. We saw it all from the farm animals (which was hilarious because we already know all the farm animals), exotic birds (we skipped the bugs), the tropical rain forest, day and night exhibit (very cool!), butterflies, bears, the Australasia exhibit, the Northern Trail exhibit (more on that in a minute), Tropical Asia and ended with the African Savanna.
It only took us about four and a half to five hours to complete; without any breaks. Good grief!
Brett was pretty mellow through it all until we got the Northern Trail. "They have ELK! Come on, let's go see them!" His inner child had emerged!
I think that we were all in awe of the beauty of nature. It was just really cool to see all the different animals in their habitats. I took some great pictures!! Here are some that I am most proud of:
Of course on completion of the zoo, where do you think the gift shop was? At the exit of course; and once again, we need something "to remember this"-per Alissa. Brett and I encourage getting a bracelet or something other than a stuffed animal. Yeah, right. Jillian found a necklace right away but Alissa could not find anything that would satisfy; she kept spying the animals. Finally, after about 15 minutes of searching, a very tired mom and dad said "go get an animal, a small one!" Jillian put her necklace away in a flash and picked a Giraffe right away; Alissa couldn't choose; "only one?!?" She finally decided on an African Wild Dog. Brett and I were relieved to finally be on our way home.
As we're headed for home it's now time to decide what route to take. The quickest route home is across the floating bridge on I-90 but is there anything going on right now? I turn on the radio, nothing mentioned. But Brett just gets this feeling we'd better go home the way we came; across SR 520 to 405 to I-90. What a GREAT call! As we're crossing the 520 bridge we see the water FULL of boats headed for the floating bridge area and find out while on the 520 bridge that the floating bridge is indeed closed. Because we are headed out of town vs. in, the journey is quicker and smoother and we're back to I-90 in about a half an hour. YA!
It was a fun time but also an exhausting one. I think the girls were asleep before we got to I-90. We all had a blast even with the little obstacles (traffic and hotel).
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