Trip to Washington

So after our week in Oregon we took the train to Tom's parents in Washington. Train travel is the best. I highly recommend it. You get to wait in cool old buildings.

And the trip between Portland and Seattle is amazing. You get to ride right under the Narrows bridge and see all sorts of things along the water.

On one of the first days there we went out to the family cabin on the lake. All the kids enjoyed hanging out in swimsuits and snacking.

Caleb was going for a Gilligan look. 

We swam, paddleboated, kayaked, and hung out on the dock. 

Back at the Stock house, all the grandkids got dolled up for Church.

Caleb wouldn't nap after he fell asleep in the car on the way home from Church, but he was so tired and grumpy, so I took him out to the hammock. For over an hour, he did not move. He just hung out like this while I gently rocked us. He never actually fell asleep, but he was much happier after this and I enjoyed holding him. 

Here are four generations of Stock Men.

And four generations of Rogge women.

And here are all the Rogge great-grandkids that came over for the family party. None of them were cooperating all that well, and I have no idea what Celia is doing. 

And here are the Stock great-grandchildren who were present. We got them all to at least be near Great-Grandpa Stock, but their individual faces are priceless.

Then the cotton candy machine came out and everyone was in high spirits again.

Most days while we were there we had breakfast out on the deck in the sun.

Most of our breakfasts included blackberries because, as at the beach, they were plentiful in Washington that week. And Tom made two more cobblers.

Somehow we've developed a tradition of taking pictures of the kids in a wheelbarrow at their Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Here Caleb is getting some quality time with Emery and Aunt Kenzie.

Here Caleb is getting some quality time with Emery and Grandma.

This is the day we went to Greenlake up in Seattle to go paddleboarding. It was hot that day so a swim in the lake was needed after paddling around on top of it. I'm not sure if the lakes were especially warm this year or if I've been totally climatized living in Alaska, but I loved swimming in this lake so much. And I want to get a paddleboard and learn to do Yoga on it like some people we saw.

Then that night we had a big thunderstorm, which isn't too common for the Pacific Northwest. We enjoyed watching it across the Sound from the deck.

Another day, several of us went down to hike Mt. St. Helens. It's not your common hike. Most of it is spent scrambling over boulders or trudging through volcanic silt instead of nice, established trails. At the top there is a good view of the lava dome at the center of the crater. Then on the way down, the fog rolled in, followed by the pouring rain, lightning and thunder. Overall we enjoyed ourselves, despite the weather.

Also while there we had a good old fashioned weenie roast at the beach with most of the Rogge cousins.

We attempted a family picture here, but it didn't work out so well.

The kids all enjoyed the Seahawks cupcakes.

We also took a day going downtown. We started at the Pike Place Market.

They took a ride on Rachael the pig.

One of Celia's friends told her about the gum wall, so she really wanted to see it and contribute to it, but in the end they all decided it was pretty gross.

Then we went over to the Seattle Center to see the Space Needle and the big fountain. Sometimes they got a little more wet than they meant to.

Caleb had a nice lunch.

There was also a group of decked-out Seahawks fans there.

Then we walked over to get an up-close view of the Space Needle.

There's also a flat fountain there the kids had fun running through.

And that about sums up our trip. It was fun to be able to see so many of our family and enjoy our time together.