back in business!

the fox tour company was back at it again this weekend! shawn's brother shannon and his family came for a visit! they flew in about 30 minutes after shawn was returning from his work trip to kansas, so they all loaded up in the army and headed toward edmonds! that evening we kept it tame--we had dinner at home and then headed to gabe's soccer practice. after practice we drove down to mukilteo beach for some beachcombing! we had a wonderful evening looking for shells, rocks, and taking tons of pictures! (i think i may have met my match in the picture taking arena--way to go erin!) after we made it back home, we feasted on the fabulous whopper cake!! it was delish! the next morning we took a ride on the ferry to whidbey island. we decided we would just walk onto the ferry and play on the beach on the other side! our family had never just walked on the ferry, so this was a fun experience for all of us! after the ferry we headed for the mountains! we stopped off at a park in sultan for a picnic lunch, and a walk along the river! we were then headed for the mountains - but were then taken off track by a salmon hatchery! while that may not sound like something that would normally take me off my mission---this was pretty cool. it was only about a 15 minute detour, but well worth it! right now we are entering the season when the salmon are returning to their birthing places....the hatchery was packed with huge salmon, splishing and splashing all over the place! after that we continued up to stevens pass - where gabe, shawn and i all went skiing last winter! just like snoqualmie pass - it looked completely different without all of the snow. the ski resorts actually look really run down and sort of like a ghost town out of snow season - i guess hundreds of crazy skiiers and snowboarders make all the difference! we then traded vehicles - we took two vehicles everywhere we went, the kids were all in the army, so to keep everyone sane we switched on the way back home! we stopped off at our favorite coffee shop on the way back. i had warned erin that the barista was VERY strange, but guaranteed the best cup of coffee! she didn't disappoint - she is odd, but if she can make a great cup of joe - i guess i can overlook the strangeness! erin and i enjoyed a very quiet ride home -- it took a us a little longer to get home then the boys, we weren't sure if we were enjoying the ride so much that we were driving extra slow, or that the kids were so crazy that the guys just drove unusually fast! that evening we had dinner at anthony's woodfire grill at the everett marina! we finished off our evening with the kids playing until they (and the parents) collapsed! we started off the next morning with a plan! but as everyone knows, plans are made to be broken! our plan was to catch the sounder (commuter train) from everett station to downtown seattle! my nephew gid is totally into trains -even more than my boys--yes it is possible - but unfortunately - we missed the last train! bummer - we had checked the schedule on the internet, but the site was a little less than user friendly, so somehow i had messed up the train schedule, although when shawn looked at it, it appeared the same to him! so onto plan b--the monorail! you can catch the monorail at the space needle and ride it about a mile to westlake mall--okay so it was a short ride, but fortunately it sufficed the kids! so we took some pictures at the space needle, loaded the monorail and headed down to the market! the market was crazy as usual, but we had a great lunch with a view of the sound! after lunch we walked through the market purchasing some yummy fruit! shawn and i bought some blueberry grapes and baby bananas! the blueberry grapes looked just like blueberries, but tasted like grapes and the baby bananas were just like bananas except about half the size!! too cute! shan and erin bought some delish blueberries--we all snacked on our purchases while sitting in the open area by the market - watching some scientologists be harassed by masked people, homeless people with instruments, and watching and hoping our kids could dart around all the dog poo they were running through! after that excitement we headed back to westlake mall and grabbed some cookies and then boarded the monorail! we headed back home to rest up for a while - the parents rested up & the kids continued to run like crazy monkeys! we went down to mukilteo to the tin fish for dinner with our friend nate - and enjoyed a relaxing evening! on sunday morning, we had a quick breakfast and shan, erin, gid and mia headed back to kansas!!! it was a quick trip, but we really enjoyed having them here!!! i hope we didn't wear them out too bad!!