Hello Sunny Seattle!

Everyone always says how rainy Seattle is, but the four days we were there were gorgeous!  We started our 10 year anniversary trip (goodness, how in the world have we almost been married that long?!) on Thursday and were greeted by this stunning view of Mt. Rainier when we flew into the city.

We knew it was bound to be a fun weekend!

After hopping in our rented Suzuki, we wound up at the hotel with this fabulous view of Elliott's Bay.

We freshened up, unpacked a little and then headed over a few streets to Pike Place Market. It was hopping!  All kinds of vendors were there--fresh fish, fresh fruit, chocolates, flowers, paintings, jewelry, pictures...you name it, they probably sold it there.

The original Starbucks is also there, but they had a pretty long line that went way out the door, so we settled for just being near it.

We made our way across the street a little while later and found this cute little park that overlooked the water.  It was really cool!  There were people playing music, other people suntanning, some were taking naps in the grass...such a chill and relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

When we got back to our room, we were excited to find these fun treats that were delivered by the Four Seasons staff.  A bottle of champagne and some delicious chocolate covered strawberries.  Yum!

A few hours later we were ready for dinner, so we asked our concierge about good places to go eat.  He recommended the Steelhead Diner and we loved it!  We even got to eat out on their rooftop patio and our waiter greeted us by saying, "I hear we have an anniversary to celebrate."  Wow!  Our concierge had apparantly called back after we left the hotel to tell them.  Our waiter then brought us to-die-for shrimp and cheese tater tots on the house.  We were impressed:)

The next morning we decided to do something a little less traditional for breakfast.  We picked up coffee at Starbucks and then bought some fresh fruit and a seriously good sticky bun to share.  We took our grub to the same park as the day before and loved watching all the boats, cruise ships and being in awesome 65 degree weather!

A little while later we decided to go check out the Seattle Aquarium.  It's down on the water, really close to the ferris wheel.  There are tons of cute shops there and it really reminded us of what the Jersey Shore might be like.  Of course, minus Snooki!

The aquarium was pretty cool--I got to touch these huge starfish...

and we got to see tons of jelly fish light up in all different neon colors.

My favorite was probably this octopus, though!  Such an intriguing creature.  Fun fact for you--did you know that octopus can fit through a hole that is only 3 inches in diameter?  Pretty impressive, considering this guy's head was bigger than Jared's!

Our favorite fish were all the ones from Hawaii.  They were so bright and kinda made me want to go back there again...sooner rather than later.  Maybe 15 year anniversary trip?!

Just as we were about to leave the aquarium, we stumbled upon a seal show. It was a neat way to end our time there.

We waited a little bit longer than we intended for our next adventure because we were busy willing the clouds to vacate the sky!  The Seattle Spaceneedle was next on our list and we wanted to have a really great view when we got to the top.

We made it! 520 feet in the air!

The clouds didn't totally cooperate, but the view was still really good.  We could barely see the top of Mt. Rainier in the distance.

In case it's not obvious yet, Jared and I are kind of obsessed with good vistas.  We had dinner at Anthony's, and we got seated by the window...

with this fantastic view of the marina!  We had a lot of good food, but this was probably our favorite restaurant.  As a bonus, we got to check out this mega yacht and even though I was totally hoping that Leonardo DiCaprio would just waltz right out of it, instead we saw 6 coupes, all 30 somethings, hop off the boat and walk into town.  We were in awe.  I mean, really, who just hangs out on a boat like that?!

The next morning we woke up bright and early.  We had a really amazing day planned and couldn't be late.  Why?  We had a sea plane to catch!!

Jared boarding our little 10 person Kenmore Plane.  Checking something else off his life list.

Let me just say, this was one of the coolest things we have EVER done.  We flew pretty low to the ground and it gave us this amazing view of the lakes, bay and islands.

Thirty-five minutes later, we were in the San Juan Islands!

We touched down on the water in the cute town of Friday Harbor and just couldn't stop smiling.

Then our smiles turned to full-on belly laughs after we rented this nifty little sports coupe and began zipping around the island.  Our red car had a top speed of 35 miles an hour.  Thank goodness there wasn't much traffic on the island, because we had to pull over to the side of the road every time a car came up behind us!

Our first stopped was at South Beach.  A bit different than the other South Beach, but still very cool.  All of their beaches have these old tree logs on them and people just make bonfires out of them, I guess.

Jared wanted to see if he could skip a rock all the way over to Canada.  Those are the Olympic Mountains in Canada just across this bay.  We were as far west as possible without being in another country.

So pretty.

Next, we drove over to the southern most tip of the island, but it's name is escaping me now.  We climbed up these giant rocks and just chatted about how awesome it is to be so happy together.  It's one of those moments that will stay with me for a long time.

It seems like every new city we visit, we always see tourists taking pictures with the peace sign, and sometimes even jumping like this.  Without fail, we always laugh out loud...it's just too funny!  I took one in Hawaii on our 5 year annivarsary trip, and just had to do it again. 

And we were off again!  Jared said, "I feel just like Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber!"  It was so true.  Lloyd and Harry were just be-bopping around San Juan Island.  Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

Post-card scenery, yet again.

We made it back to the Harbor just in time to get on our boat for our next big adventure.  We were looking for killer whales! Thank goodness we both brought our jackets because it was COLD on the water. 

We saw some harbor seals just sunbathing on the rocks, saw some bald eagles and a few porpoises...and then we looked for whales for at least an hour, with no luck.  I was beginning to give up hope, when we heard that a small pod had been spotted near the shore.

Hallelujah!  We finally found them!  It was a pod of three killer whales and they would surface every minute or so.  Amazing!

We stopped in a bar while we were waiting on our plane to come back to the island.  Then we called home and got to talk to the kids and tell them how excited we were to see them the very next day. 

After that we headed back to Seattle and just took in our last sea plane ride for a while. 
Ahhh, such greatness.

Even though we were dog tired by that point, we hustled to get ready for our 8:15 reservation at Elliott's Oyster House.  We dined outside this time and really enjoyed hanging out together on our last night there. We shared some amazing crab cakes, too, which always makes the night better!

Right before the sun went all the way down at 9:30, I ran to the pier and snapped this shot with the carosel in it.  Just makes me happy to see God's beauty.

We didn't have to wait too long for our ride on the ferris wheel.  It was nice, although I think both of us wished that we didn't have to share it with 3 teenage girls.  They were crazy and we felt so old after listening to them jabber for 20 minutes!

We much prefer listening to these two munchkins, no matter how much they tire us out sometimes.  It was really great getting away for a few days, but they are two of the brightest stars in my world.  Their hugs and kisses when we walked in the door almost made my heart burst with happiness.  They said, "we missed you mom!" and I could tell they really meant it.  How lucky am I?  I really couldn't ask for more.