Back in Seattle Again

We recently returned from a trip to Seattle, which included a car trip to Portland, Oregon.  My immediate family are in Seattle, and Tim's are in Portland and two other towns between Seattle and Portland.

This was Gabriel's first airplane trip!  I was nervous about it, but he did quite well.  Evidence:

Upon arrival, we were really struck by the beauty of the plant life in Seattle.  In comparison, it seems like St. Paul has about 5 varieties of plants, and that's not much of an exaggeration.  Grass.  Oak trees. Example:

Seattle, in contrast, looked gorgeous and bursting with life!  My parents have put a lot of work into their yard over the years, and it sure shows.  Here's a picture of one of their clematis:

Here, in contrast, is the one clematis we have seen in St. Paul.

We had a dinner gathering with some friends.

No bugs!  That was also amazing.

The car trip to Portland was harder than the plane ride, for some reason.  Gabriel just didn't sleep much in the car.

We stopped by to see Dziadziu (Polish Grandpa) in Olympia.

In Portland, Aunt Karolina and Uncle Eric also have a beautiful backyard.  It leads right into a big park.  It was really cool to think about how much fun Gabriel will have visiting them as he grows up.

That's the best picture I got of Thor and Alex...not sure what's going on there.  (:  Gabey really enjoyed his boy cousins!  They were very sweet with him.  They've had a lot of practice, thanks to their 2-year-old brother.

The boys...

The boys playing with Legos, Scout included.  (Gabey is in bed.)

"Tick Tock"

A progression of photos entitled, "Reading with Daddy."

Ahh...this is so...

relax...

Oops!

We lucked out and got lots of hand-me-downs from Karolina.  Here is Gabriel sporting one of these items.

Tim, Thor and Alex had a sleep-out one night and had a blast.  Alex went in his tent and fell asleep, while Tim and Thor looked at stars and told stories.  They could choose "Interesting," "Scientific" or "Scary."

Gabey getting in on the fun the next morning.  (It was very warm outside.)

On the way back to Seattle, we stopped at Babcia's (Polish Grandma's) house.  We unfortunately didn't get a picture of her and Gabey.  But here's a photo of the awesome fruit plate she made.  We had a delicious lamb dinner and my parents came.  Gabey and I napped after the meal, while Tim collapsed on the couch and napped through the other people talking.  Weird - are we tired or something?

Back to Seattle, and Tim had to return to Minnesota to get back to work.  I sure don't like being apart, but I gave the rest of the vacation a good effort.  Gabriel also seemed extra fussy during that time, and got happier once we were reunited with Daddy.

More pictures of Isabelle and Gabriel.

Yay!  Baby Cousin is here!

Hmm....

We're Cute!

We're Matching

Isabelle liked her cousin!  Although after a couple of days, she did start to feel like Uncle Tim and Aunt Jen were paying a whole lot of attention to this little guy....I tried to make a point of spending more time with her.  She also stole his giraffe and my parents still can't find it.

She took us to the park near my parents' house and showed us all the new playground features there.  A highlight was putting Gabey in a baby swing for the first time.  He loved it!

Isabelle did such a nice job of pushing Gabey ever-so-gently.

Going to our home church, Blessed Sacrament, was very emotional for me.

So many people there know us and knew we were trying for a long time to conceive, and have prayed for us.  It was amazing to show Gabriel to all of them, especially to our pastor, Fr. Daniel.

One last Seattle photo:  Gabey with Uncle Joe.

Home again - the flight home was hard - I was by myself.  Maybe it's because Gabriel was screaming as we waited to get on the airplane -- (anyone else notice how they hurry to get you through the gate, then you just stand and wait in the tube thing?) -- but the flight attendants were so helpful.  They offered to carry things for me, and got us a better seat!  I had an open seat next to me and more leg room.  The person next to us was a lovely young woman returning from a year of mission work in China.  We enjoyed talking.  Gabey fussed for one hour and slept for two - not bad.

Tim met us at the airport with flowers, which are evident in this picture.

Tim thinks this next photo looks like the classic painting of an old man praying before his meal.

I can't believe how much Gabriel changed during our trip, and even in the time we were away from Tim.  During those five days, he started rolling and scooting more easily and also started grabbing his feet for the first time.  Now he's rolling like a maniac!

--THE END--

P.S.  Some of the Seattle photos were taken by our dear friend Janelle, who has a lovely website displaying her photography, jewelry and medieval rosaries:  http://www.bighinatti.com/