Washington Trip

Ryan: the best ring bearer ever

With the new addition to our family in August it has been more challenging to travel or take vacations.  It took a unique situation and several months of us getting a handle on caring for a new baby again for us to attempt this trip.  Luckily the timing worked out and we were able to pack up the family and go to Washington to see Pamela's brother, Tommy, get married.


Traveling with little kids is quite an experience.  They are so small but they require such a large amount of support equipment and supplies.  When Pamela and I traveled by ourselves we could go on a trip twice as long with 1 large suitcase each.  For this trip we had 4 full rolling suitcases, 2 shoulder bags, 2 car seats, a stroller, plus Ryan had his own small rolling suitcase.  Luckily my mom decided to join us on the trip to make things easier.  It was great having her along as an extra set of hands and eyes for dealing with the kids and all of our stuff.  She would also be very useful later when we were preparing for activities, traveling in the car for long distances, and watching Audrey for a portion of the wedding so we could enjoy the reception.

Plane Ride to Seattle

On Friday we left for the airport early in the morning.  We had to leave early so we could arrive in Washington, make it to our rental house, and be ready for the rehearsal dinner that evening.  Our many days and weeks of planning before the trip paid off because we forgot very few things we needed on the trip and each phase of the trip was fairly well planned.  Ryan and I dropped Pamela, Audrey, and my mom off at the terminals while we parked.  They checked the bags, got boarding passes, and checked into the flight while Ryan and I parked the car and took the Sky Train over to the gates.  I'm very thankful that the airports do a decent job of working with families.  It is difficult enough to travel with these tiny people without all the airport complications.  Most airports will allow you to go through a shorter line at the security checkpoint if you have small children.  They will also let you gate check your car seats and strollers so you can use them to get through the terminal and they are not subject to as much baggage handling abuse as regular checked baggage.

I wanted to jump straight to the vacation portion of the trip but in reality the journey was a large portion of the trip.  The kids did an amazing job, for the most part, at the airport and on the planes.  They were off of their normal routines and nap schedules but they were happy and well behaved a large majority of the time. 

In Washington we rented a van and rented a house to stay in for the weekend.  Now that we've tried it, renting a house on vacation seems to be the best way to go.  It was affordable, convenient, and much nicer than staying in a hotel.  Looking for a house or condo to rent on vacation is going to be our first option from here on out.  Our rental house was a beautiful 2 story house in Woodinville.  It was on almost an acre of forested property in the winery region of Washington.  The house itself was beautifully appointed, with stainless steel appliances, upscale furniture and decorations, and even had a toy box full of toys for Ryan. 

There was only a little time to get settled before we needed to start getting ready for the first activity of the weekend, the rehearsal dinner.  I don't believe rehearsal dinners are usually such a big deal, but Pamela's parents went all out for this one.  They rented a large venue, brought in catered food, and invited almost a hundred people.  It was nice to have an extra evening of visiting with the family.  There were so many relatives there that having an extra night before the wedding to catch up was very welcomed.  Plus the food was awesome.  They found a gourmet food truck that was willing to set up their equipment at the venue and cook for us all night.  Their specialty was waffles of all kinds.  The dinner portion was hearty chicken & waffles, pulled pork & waffles, and cheddar jalapeno & corn waffles.  Following dinner, they switched it up and started serving sweet waffles paired with different fruits and chocolate.  We stayed out pretty late because we were having a good time and the kids were doing well.  Audrey started to fade but Ryan was still in a good mood and playing with some new toys. 

Saturday morning was our chance to take it easy and recover from the long travel day and late night at the rehearsal dinner.  We knew we needed to seize this opportunity since the wedding would be a very active time and we may be out late.  Pamela's sisters Kim and Liz came over to the house to visit and get ready before the wedding.  Now that both sisters live out of state it is nice to see them whenever the opportunity arises.  After getting ready we all headed to the wedding venue a little early to join in for the pre-wedding pictures.  Ryan was the ring bearer and Pamela would need to get in on the family shots with Tommy.  We were unsure of how Ryan would do as the ring bearer since he has never done it before and is still a little young for following directions.  I was also nervous since leading up to the ceremony he was starting to get annoyed with all the waiting and taking pictures.  When it was finally time for the ceremony Ryan did amazing.  When it was his turn to go down the aisle he proudly marched all the way down with a huge smile on his face right to his uncle Tommy.  All the guests gave him a big round of applause and he couldn't be more proud of himself.  He then sat politely with me during the whole ceremony, eating his snack for most of it, but it kept him occupied and happy. 

Having fun at the wedding!

The reception was great and again we took this opportunity to catch up with family members that we don't get to see very often.  Ryan took this time to play and burn off some energy that was built up from waiting around pre-ceremony.  Tommy and Jen did an excellent job with the wedding.  The venue, decorations, food & drinks, DJ, and everything were well chosen and we had a great time.  It wasn't long after dinner before Audrey started to fade again and we excused ourselves to go back to the house and put her to bed.  My mom was able to stay at the house and watch Audrey so Pamela, Ryan, and I could go back to the reception for a bit of cake and dancing.  I'm glad we were able to go back because the cake was great and the dancing was a blast.  If we didn't mention it before, Ryan LOVES to dance.  As soon as we walked in and he heard the music he started to do his little hop/skip/trot dance.  We weren't even to the dance floor, he just picked an open area and started going for it.  Ryan was a hit; all of Pamela's sisters took turns dancing with their favorite nephew.  Then Ryan took turns dancing with several other people, some of which he didn't even know.  After an hour of extra reception time Ryan finally ran out of energy, I think we were about 3 hours past his usual bedtime at this point... He had taken a nap earlier in the day and he was still having fun so it was worth it but the poor guy was exhausted.

Someone had a lot of fun at the wedding

The next day we drove down to Olympia to visit my sister.  She has been living in Washington for several years and had bought a house there 3 years ago but we hadn't seen it yet.  It was really nice seeing her, John, and my Dad in person.  Her house is really nice in a quiet neighborhood nestled in amongst some large pine trees.  Ryan probably liked seeing her animals the most though.  She has a rabbit that lives in the house like a dog or cat.  It just roams around the house and we were able to coax it over to us for some treats.  In the backyard she keeps two ducks.  They were not as friendly as the bunny and would not let us get close enough to interact with them but they were still fun to watch.  We spent a few hours there catching up and walking around her forested backyard before packing up to drive back to the rental house.

A rare unplanned activity came up for Sunday night, which was to hang out with the newlyweds and Pamela's sisters Kim and Liz.  We all met up at a restaurant near where the wedding was held the night before.  This was really nice to have everyone come together again the night after the wedding.  There was so much going on during the wedding and reception we didn't get much opportunity to just hang out and talk with everyone.  We also got a chance to try some delicious desserts as well.

Monday was our last full day in Washington and we planned to visit Tommy at his fire station in Seattle.  This may have been Ryan's highlight of the trip.  Tommy showed him all over the station and every inch of the two fire trucks that were in the garage.  He even got to ride in the driver's seat and turn on the lights.  All of the other firefighters were so nice to us and the kids and really went out of their way to accommodate us.

Ryan driving the fire truck with his uncle Tommy

The fire station was definitely the most fun for Ryan

After the fire station we decided to head to Pike's Market to poke around and get a few tasty treats to eat.  Pamela and I had been once before many years ago and did a food tour of the marketplace.  Luckily, we were able to remember most of the stops from the food tour and recreate a similar experience on our own.  There was cheese, fruit, donuts, chowder, candy, and gelato; it was awesome.  Pamela's sister Liz was able to join us at Pike's to help out with the kids and spend some more time together, which was great.

After one final night in the rental house we packed up and went to the airport late Tuesday morning.  Again, we were pleasantly surprised at how well the kids did at the airport and on the plane.  If it wasn't so much work for Pamela and me we would probably take them on more trips.  It isn't really much of a vacation for us with the kids along.  We both took Wednesday off of work so we could actually have some down time to recover from all the activities and travel.  But we did have a great time visiting and making memories for the kiddos.

Plane ride home