Seattle Amusement Park

One of the kids' highlights from our trip was the Fun Forest Amusement Park in Seattle Center. It's right next to the Space Needle. Here's proof:



The kids favorite was the Tornado. Lots of spinning. You could hear Milena screaming, "Faster! Faster! Faster!"



Unfortunately, Grandma couldn't go on the ride, due to her cast.



See how sad she is?



Here is one group ready to fly and spin.



Eli's ready!



Grandpa knows how to make it spin.



Here is some action video!



Michelle is obviously greatly impressed by the ride.

Seattle Harbor Tour

Of course we took a harbor tour while in Seattle. They're fun!



This was our tour guide. We couldn't decide if he was more Topher Grace or Tobey Maguire, so we called him Tophey. Or Tober. Everyone knows that if it actually was Topher, I would be a gibbering idiot. But that's a different story for a different time.



More buildings.



There are lots of meaningful and interesting stories about each of these buildings. Feel free to make some up for yourself.

Random Photos from Seattle

A trip to a playground led to a geocaching walk on a trail, which led to berry eating.



A fish market? In Seattle? Who'd a thunk it!



"Someday, Eli, all this will be yours."

Ocean Fishing

Probably the highlight of our trip was going out from Westport to do bottom fishing on the Tequila Too. We left Seattle at 3:30 AM to drive to Westport, ate at a little diner in town, and got on the boat. It was a rocky ride to our fishing spots, with relatively choppy waters. My dad was thrilled, and thought he was on a roller coaster.



I thought I was going to enjoy it, too, but I got seasick. My kind father mocked me for it, saying that "real men don't get seasick". Thankfully Mom reminded us of a time when Dad was throwing up on a ferry boat. He had conveniently forgotten that. While I would have preferred to not be sick, I think it provided for a much better story for everybody else, so I am glad to provide that service.

Koleman absolutely loved it. We stopped at three or four spots and got 48 fish (rock cod, or rock bass, or rock bottom cod, or sea bass, or whatever you want to call them), which was well below the limit for 9 fisherpersons and two crew. When we got to the last spot, the captain told us to "drop your lines and pull them in as fast as possible!" He knew he had found the right spot. We caught 60 fish in 30 minutes. The bottom of the boat was filled with 6-8 pound fish. Very cool.



Here is Michelle stealing all the fish from my uncle Dennis. Michelle caught more fish than anybody else on the boat, naturally.

Mt. Rainier Waterfalls

More pictures from our trip to Mt. Rainier. Waterfalls!



More water!



Brave adventurers in front of a waterfall.



Cool looking dude in misty spray.



Eli basks in the mist.



Christine Falls.



It started to rain, but we don't care about no stinking rain!

Snowball fight in June

These pictures were required by law.



Somewhere there are pictures of me having a snowball fight on Mt. Rainier in the summer. I bet I have a parent or two who know where they are.



Action shot!



Poor grandpa is surrounded.