Last Day

On the final day of our Thanksgiving trip, we headed back into the city to hit up some tourists attractions. I didn't get any pictures this time at Pike Place Market, but it is very fun. It is enormous. Sits right by the water and goes on for blocks. It is also where the first Starbucks is located. The rest of the afternoon was mainly just spent overlooking the city in the Space Needle. Two things I have learned about myself when traveling: 1. I love cities with water (as in ocean, rivers, lakes) and 2. I love to find the best place to overlook the entire city. I could write a whole post just on my favorite overlooks in different parts of the world. We will save that for another time! Okay, enjoy these last pics and sorry it took me forever to write about our whole trip. We truly did have a blast and I wanted to capture it all! If you have never taken a trip to the Northwest, I highly recommend it!

Port Townsend

Our day spent in the quaint little town of Port Townsend was probably my favorite. We took the ferry over from Whidbey. I love the ferry rides in Washington. I get so used to traveling in cars that it is fun to switch it up and walk onto the ferry or you can drive your car on the ferry if you need to.

On the ferry
I love those cheeks!
Approaching Port Townsend
Downtown

We had fun looking at all the precious houses and old churches

Overlooking the town

Forgot to mention baby girl started walking (although she is not doing it in this picture) while we were in Seattle. It was really special because my whole family was there to watch it. It is funny though because even though she can do it she is still not totally sure of herself and will crawl many times or just stand in place like her legs cannot move!

Day 2 and SEC Championship

I cannot finish catching up from our Thanksgiving trip without mentioning the Auburn Tigers and how they dominated in the SEC Championship game! It was fabulous to be there and wonderful having so many Auburn fans here in Atlanta. A memory we will never forget!

Post-Game Celebrations

Ok, back to Thanksgiving. Friday after Thanksgiving was the Auburn/Alabama game so of course, our whole day was planned around watching the game. Another unbelievable Auburn win. By far the most amazing comeback I have ever seen and even sweeter that it was against our biggest rival at their stadium. We always love Auburn but it has been extra special this year (as if you couldn't tell by our excitement and my numerous posts about AU!!)
I didn't take pictures of us watching the game because it was way too stressful 90% of the time. But, in true bachelor fashion, this is my brother's Christmas tree (and only Christmas decoration for that matter). Yes, this is for real! WAR EAGLE!
Friday also consisted of watching this deer right outside the window. It scared all of us half to death because it was so close (no zoom on camera). Literally, his house sits so close on this "cliff". After the excitement of watching the deer for a few minutes we started to panic again worrying the sweet thing might walk off the cliff. Thankfully, we did not witness that and it never happened! Whew.
Another great view from the patio when the sun came out. We actually had great Seattle weather. Not too cold and never rained. Pretty rare this time of year there.
Later Friday afternoon, we headed to Deception Pass bridge. The only bridge to Whidbey Island. Most people ride the ferry to the island, but this is the only way by car. The bridge is so high! I have walked across it once but couldn't do it again this year. It freaks me out to stand in the middle of it and look down.
The water below is beautiful though!
And here are a few more pictures from our Thanksgiving lunch Thursday. Sorry, I jumped all over the place today.

Caroline's first attempt with crayons.
So happy to be off the place and with Mimi.

I still have many pictures to share from our trip and hope to soon! I am so behind I cannot even get to our Christmas celebrations yet! Goodness, I love this time of year! So many blessings and so much to be thankful for.

The Journey

This time last Thursday we began our journey to the Northwest. We were up early and made it through security at the airport by 6:30am. Unfortunately, Christian and Linsey's first flight from West Palm was cancelled and so they missed their connecting flight (with us from Atlanta). We were bummed not to travel with them, but the good part was baby girl took one of their seats on the plane instead.

I would give Caroline about a 7 out of 10 rating on her first flight. We had no meltdowns so I considered that success. A little antsy, a little fussy at times, but then happy some too. Eating/snacking and reading books seemed to be the best activities. Don't let the picture below fool you...this only last 30 mins!
And 5 hours later, we made it (bags and all)! I have to admit, it actually went by pretty fast. They even had the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade playing live on the plane! Then, remember how C and L were bumped to a later flight...well we had to wait at the airport until their flight arrived so we could all get the rental car we were sharing.
2 hours later C and L made it and we were off to meet my mom and Matt for Thanksgiving lunch (which was basically dinner time for us on the east coast). C took another little cat nap on the way to lunch.
Beautiful view by the water for lunch. I didn't take a picture, but Seattle had a big snow earlier in the week and there was still snow on the ground everywhere Thanksgiving! It melted by Friday, but it was fun for the day.
Finally, after a long day of traveling it was wonderful to arrive at Matt's house and not to mention having this peaceful view as well.
More pics from the rest of the trip to come!

Slumber Party

We have one more wedding to attend in 2010 and I am so thrilled for this couple! In a little less than a month Ivy is going to marry Drew. Her bachelorette weekend might be one of my all time favorites. Definitely best theme ever...bachelorette: "junior high slumber party style." It doesn't hurt having a photographer, a cake designer, a graphic designer and many other super talented friends plan the weekend as well!

Bride to be - Ivy

The perfect set-up for our party
making pizza
a closer look... jackpot!


who didn't love the game of twister?

And of course, time spent on the lake



And we got to skype with Melanie
So grateful and blessed by all these friendships.

Party photos by www.jrawlingsphotography.com