Seattle.

One late morning we picked up a delicious biscuit toppings variety breakfast and ate it on their boat out on one of the many lakes they cruise. Man, we ate a LOT of really great food in just a few days.

She was still in the unconvinced phase of liking us.🤣

She loved that wind!

Jess, you’re so pretty!

Baby expressions are the best. I’d love to know what she was thinking.

Apparently never before had she shown interest in the water while boating. Well suddenly she was using all her energy to get in! Jess finally obliged and man did she love it!

😍

Nope, not enough to feed us all dinner.

I wish I took another picture of these crazy trees out there. I’ve never seen anything like them. 100% Dr Suess trees!!! No two had the same shape. In fact, most their shapes were absurd and hilarious. They looked like something went wrong in the growing process and limbs would go in all directions. But what I found fascinating is that, the idea is to just let them do whatever they want! I felt like a kid seeing a palm tree for the first time in such wonderment of a dang tree that everyone out there is probs like, uh ya? Why is this tree so interesting to you?🤣

Must.climb.into.water.

While her clothes were getting more wet, Jess tried undressing her and letting her full on swim as she’s never been submerged in water thats not a bath tub! I think she was like, OMG THIS IS SO MUCH COLDER THAN JUST ON MY LEGS!!🤣🤣 Raegan regretted immediately.

Naked butt!

Scrunchin’ those noses at each other. 😍

I love this candid of you, Jim!

The camera was resting on my lap and she just kept smiling into it, so I was pushing the release just hoping my center focus was grabbing her!😍

When we stopped to chill, a bunch of ducks dive bombed the water and sprint to us. Raegan was excited and reaching for them and twice they jumped up and tried to eat from her hand. But there was nothing in it so they just nipped her hand which somehow didn’t scare her!?

I sat all the car rides next to her and we sang and talked. This ride the sun was so strong on her that I had to capture her pretty little face!

😍😍😍

Now for our iPhone pics..

You guys. I just have to ramble out this story real quick. We took this image to send to my BFF to say we were laid over in Denver (her home) for a hot 40min. Behind us to the left was one of the only places opened in the airport for food. All the airport restaurants are mostly closed still due to covid. So we went to the counter and said to the gal, we have 40min, is this enough time to order and get to gate to board? “YES! It only takes 12min” So I ordered this delicious mushroom Swiss burger and sweet potato tots and Adam got a blackbean with tots as well… for $40!!!! 15min passes and they call our name. Perfect! Adam gets the bag and we start walking. I said as we got to gate, “Did you even check that? Cause that would suck if it’s not right spending all that money.” He groaned and said, “great, now I bet it’s wrong.” Indeed, it wasn’t even close. Like, y’all I’m talkin patty on a bun with NOTHING and some cold fries in one box and the other was a BBQ burger with more cold fries. WHAT. Now I don’t complain, I would normally suck it up but FORTY dollars for a dry burger without even cheeeeese or a tomato? I looked at Adam who looked desperately back at me begging me with his eyes not to say it. “Please go back. I don’t even care if they can’t give us the right thing. Just get me a slice of cheese. I’ll get over the trade of tasty tots for cold undercooked fries. And now we need ketchup! Please!!!” He sighed and ran off with the bag. The second he was out of sight they started boarding our plane. 🤣🤣 We were in the first group but I held out a few minutes. And then some more til I was one of the last in the gate. I called and he told me to hop on that they’re working it out. I boarded. Anxious. I called him and he was running back. Whew. “Excuse me ladies and gentlemen on board, is there an Adam Pace on the plane? We are paging him and no response, just waiting for him then we are set for departure.” Oh lawwwd. So I jumped up in my mid plane seat and waved my hand at the lady while she was on the speaker still. “He’s my husband and almost to the gate! Thank you so much for waiting!!” Shes responding thanks to me on the speaker as he’s stepping on looking frantically and frazzled for me down the half full plane. I stood back up waving this time to him. In the intercom, “Adam Pace? That’s your wife just down the way to your left, you see her?” I mean, embarrassing to say the least. He sat down super annoyed telling me that the take out window was full of people just like him with the wrong order about to miss their flights. The best he had to offer me was a single slice of cheese in addition to keeping the wrong order we were given. Whatever. He made the flight. We sat back down and adjusted the food containers open on our laps as I went to drink from a gag worthy cardboard straw, my lemonade spilled all over my lap. No napkins either. “Cleared for take off.” 😟

Jim and Jess work nights and sleep during the day during their week stretch on. We got there on their last night shift so we spent the day exploring the city while they slept. We went up in the Space Needle because you just have to, right?

We also journeyed up this hill that was steeper than any street I’ve ever seen. We even walked up one of the blocks backwards cause it hurt so bad. 🤣 Later that night we told them we did the the whole way there on foot and they were like, YOU WALKED? Why didn’t you uber from the hotel in the city to the view point park? “I dunno? Exercise? Also we had no idea what we got our selves into til we were 6blocks down at the base staring up like, ok then, let’s do this.🤣🤷🏼‍♀️”

Then we went to the Chihuly museum which was breathtaking.

Another selfie to send to our college Art History professor.  😍

So the famous ‘gum wall’ was actually a gum alley. Super covid friendly tourist attraction. 🤮🤮🤣 We did not participate.

We FaceTimed the kids while here and they were like GROSSSSS MOM DON’T TOUCH ANY OF THAT!! 🤣

Adam bombing us before we ate on that gated off patio of the Radiator Whiskey behind us. YUMMMMMM. Also, if you’re familiar with the instagram account “influencers in the wild,” I could have sent in a video of a gal who stood right there next to 6 tables of guest dining for twenty damn minutes as she posed by herself with her tripod and whole set up with this market sign. We sat there in bewilderment at how someone has zero concept of life happening around them much less embarrassment to take what had to be HUNDREDS of selfies. I didn’t have the heart to record and shame her but dang, it was eye opening to watch her pose it up then review the roll, back to posing and repeat. TWENTY MINUTES. I have seen it with my own eyes, that IG account is legit.

Hiking and scouting for their portraits.

Adam’s 39th bday! He got to hike back down the mountain with her as Daddy’s legs were on fire from the hike up.

Jess and I got distracted by this threesome of baby squirrels running around the tree!

This was one of the many places we pulled over to see if we could get down to the river bed to get a shot of the mountains. Apparently we were trespassing and the folks down there kayaking had some things to say about it. 🙄

I was expecting some fairies or trolls or some fantasy creature to jump out!

Great trip, not nearly long enough! Thanks again for bringing us out. It was wonderful to spend so many hours talking and just plain chillin. I know Raegan won’t remember us but we look forward to playing with her again! Also, thanks to the handful of clients I moved around to make this trip work! Youda best!

Heart, Melanie