Visiting the Mid-West-Chicago

Grandma decided to stay in Minnesota, so Mom and I rented a car and drove to Chicago to visit Uncle Colin, Aunt Lori, and my cousins Jack (15), Sophie (13), & Gavin (12).  It was for only a day and a half, but I had a really good time.

 Our full day was Saturday, July 1.  We took the green line down town and we started off doing the River Walk.

 There are some crazy buildings here!

 We used a hotel bathroom that was entirely covered in little mirror tiles!

 Our main destination was Maggie Daley Park just north of the the Chicago Art Institute.  It was so much fun!  There were lots of structures to climb on.

 All with skyscrapers in the back ground.

 I hit the slides!

 The park also had water features.  This one cooled us down.

 We also went up the lighthouse.

 Uncle Colin, Jack, and Aunt Lori waited in the shade.

 We crossed the highway on the Serpentine Bridge by Frank Gehry.

 There was another park called "The Prairie"  

 We got to soak our feet in the cool water.

 After walking 5 miles, we took the Green Line back to Oak Park.  I had a lot of fun and I slept really well that night.

Seattle Center

With my cousins Jack & Gavin in town, my family and I went to Seattle Center on Sunday.

First Stop on the Seattle tour-Pike Place Market!  The pig was the best part.  I found the market crowded and boring.  Jack was in a good mood, but cousin Gavin was grumpy.  Even on the pig!

We bought tickets for the Space Needle.  We had to wait a half hour until we could go up.  Uncle Colin took pictures of us in front of the EMP.

It was a good sunny day to go up on the Space Needle.

To get to the elevators-you have to walk up a spiral ramp.  There's Mom, me and Dad way in the back wearing the bright blue shirt.

It was a lot of fun on top!  I could see islands, cruise ships, trucks, buildings, & ferries!

Afterwards, we got to climb on a sculpture.  It was a little high for my taste.

Then off to the fountain!!!  Jack & I had a blast!

Dad bought me some cotton candy.  It was so much fun.

Mt. Rainier-Paradise

My cousins from Chicago came for a visit.  Their first day, we took them the Mt. Rainier.

 Uncle Colin took lots of pictures of us with his big camera.

 The alpine flowers were blooming.

 At the visitor center we found a cool model of Mt. Rainier.

 We did climb up behind the visitor center for awhile.  I needed lots of breaks .

 When we finally decided to stop going up.  Jack and I took a picture with Tha tha. (Gavin did not make it up as far.)

 I was happy to walk back down.  We went and got a cool drink.

 Mom wanted us to see the historic Paradise Lodge next door.

This was the most impressive smile that I could muster.  I was really tired.  We had a two hour drive home.