And Then My Parents Came!

My parents came out to visit! It was so much fun seeing them and showing them around to some of our favorite places. I'm so lucky to have such great parents who we genuinely enjoy being around. One of the first things that we did was take them down to the park by our house so that Mom could see the lighthouse, she loves lighthouses! She also really wanted to see a seal, which we see a lot here, but the Sound was so choppy for the first couple of days I wondered if that would happen. (Later on it did while we were getting off the ferry! :) )

The boys wanted to make smores but for some reason they didn't want to do it at the beach or in the pit in our backyard... so they did it like the REAL men that they are.... inside over the stove.

Sweet goodness. :)

We went down to Pike's Market and showed them around. It was closing up as we got there but there were still some cool things to see! We put money in Rachel the pig, and made an epic visit to the gum wall. (Those pictures will come later).

That is the great ferris wheel that we rode! A view from one of the shops in Pike's Market.

Rusty loved this dolphin so much he wanted to ride it. But then there was gum and other gross things on it so he just stood next to him.

Standing in line waiting to ride on the ferris wheel! It was actually pretty huge, and even though it wasn't a clear day the view from the top was still great! They are enclosed and have a/c and heat... Guess what was on in July? Yup. The heat. 

Look at these two little cuties :) 

View from the top. I love Seattle.

The next day we went to the Locks in Ballard! It was a really sunny and beautiful day which was perfect. 

The Locks are actually pretty fascinating  because they let boats in from Lake Washington to the Sound (and vice versa). This is problematic because of the fresh water and salt water and also because of the different water levels. So the Locks let boats into these compartments and then either add or take out water to make it the right level. Also when going into Lake Washington fresh water is added to reduce the mixing of fresh and salt water. When leaving Lake Washington water is drained out so that a minimal amount of fresh water goes into the Sound. Pretty interesting, but it's a lot cooler to watch it happen than read about it, trust me.

The draw bridge was up so that huge ships could go through. Pretty cool, I'd never seen it up before!

There's also a fish ladder at the Locks that runs throughout the whole summer with different kinds of salmon. There was a big room with windows so that you could actually see the fish swimming upstream.

Somebody once told me that the best place in all of Seattle for fish and chips is in the parking lot by the Locks. We decided to try it out and I can honestly say that it was 100% true. It was DELICIOUS. I don't even like seafood but it was so good. This place and Ivar's Seafood Saute have made me reconsider my position on disliking seafood. 

Rusty and Dad made a friend with a cool car...