Just a weekend trip

What a weekend!

Earlier in the week we didn't have plans, but when The Big Guy Lowe shared that a client had passed away and his wife was having a memorial service on Saturday, we started making plans...and somehow those plans needed to get us to Cle Elem, WA by 1:00pm on Saturday.

While I had no idea where Cle Elem was located, The Big Guy Lowe knew it was a few hours away--about 4 or 5 hours away.  We decided to make a fun family weekend trip.  Friday afternoon we headed up to Bellevue, WA where we chose a hotel that had an indoor pool.  The drive was pretty painless and the boys were all super excited about swimming that evening.  After our pool adventures ended around 9pm, we went back to our adjoining rooms and watched "Gnomeo and Juliet".

I had no desire to watch this movie before that evening, but it was the only on-demand movie that we thought might be "family-friendly" enough for us to all watch.  It turned out to be cute and the boys were all very excited.  Bedtime was obviously very late that night, but we planned things that way.   :)

While the two older boys slept just fine, J wasn't very happy about the sleeping arrangements.  Thinking that I would lay down with him for just a few minutes, I watched most numbers go by on the digital clock that night.  J woke up, tried rolling off the bed, lost pillow-pets, and anything else you might think might stop a 3-year-old from getting sleep.  All I'll say is it was a long night, but somehow I was feeling okay in the morning.  After a good breakfast, The Big Guy Lowe took the two older boys swimming and J and I started getting things ready to leave. 

Our first stop was The Seattle Temple!  It was SO close to our hotel!!  We were so excited!!

**Disclaimer**  Knowing that we are from the Pacific Northwest, our children are not used to the sun, especially this early in the year.  This will be observed in the following pictures...Sigh.  

There were beautiful paths throughout the grounds that we loved walking through. 

Caution, sun in sight... 

 

Back to the car.  Beautiful morning! 

Then we headed back on I-90 East.  Who would have known how excited I was to see a sign that said Snoqualmie Falls!  I've always wanted to go there, but thought the falls were way out in the middle of the state!  The Big Guy Lowe saw my excitement and turned off immediately, deciding we would make this an added adventure to our trip.

What a beautiful area!!  We loved it!! (This is a stock photo I found online).

Back in the 90s, there was a show called "Twin Peaks" that I watched.  Much of it was filmed in Snoqualmie and North Bend, Washington.   More on this later.  ;)

We loved the falls...

 

enjoyed the spray we felt and then headed back across the foot bridge to our car.

We then continued east until we reached Cle Elem.  We were grateful for the time we took to make it to the memorial service.  The Big Guy Lowe doesn't just take care of people's finances, but he helps provide comfort and assurance that things will be okay...especially in life experience that cause great pain.  It made my heart swell with love when I saw The Big Guy Lowe's client recognize him in the crowded room and then give him the biggest hug--holding it just long enough to know how she felt for her financial advisor.  He is such a good guy.  I love him dearly and feel such gratitude when others recognize how wonderful he is too.

The memorial service was very nice and included a time when people could just share their memories.  The boys did a pretty good job of being quiet when needed, but they were ready to leave when things were over.  We walked around outside for a bit before getting back in the car.

As we drove west, we all felt like it had been a good trip so far.  Feeling a big hungry, we decided to stop in North Bend, WA to get something to eat for dinner.  As we drove into town, we couldn't help buy stop at this diner!  This was Norma's RR cafe from "Twin Peaks" back in the 90s.

 After a fire in 2005, it was rebuilt and became Tweeds Cafe, but they still use "Twin Peaks" as a claim to fame. 

 

Great food...even the cherry pie was good.  Special Agent Cooper would be proud.  ;)

In the back of the restaurant there was a wall of memorabilia from the show.

Who knew there were "Twin Peaks" trading cards??

Fun detour down memory lane from our originally planned trip, but now it was time to head home.  We had about three hours of driving to do.  While we had a fun trip, we were all pretty tired.

Unfortunately, when it comes to road trips our boys NEVER sleep in the car!  You can imagine our surprise when we noticed how quiet things were and looked back to see this...

One...

Two... 

Three! 

We love our family.  What a great friday-saturday adventure!

Hawaii Five-Lowe Part IV

Remember when I said we are serious about not over-scheduling our vacations?  Today was our one day we had something planned other than the beach or the pool.  But we still needed to get our fill of the water!

The day before, Grammy HB had walked home from the beach with G and they discovered an area full of fish!  Here is an arial shot I found that shows this shallow section just off the beach.

 Is it any surprise that G wanted to go back there with some buckets so he could catch something?  We were all excited to see the fish he had taked about!

After just a few minutes, G and The Big Guy Lowe had caught something!  There were crab in these waters!!  We met other people that were catching crab too.  It was amazing how strong these little guys were.

They were pretty aggressive and we were warned that their pinchers were incredibly strong.

I think they caught about eight that morning!

Very impressed little brothers!!

In addition to the crab, The Big Guy Lowe caught a fish too--with just a sand bucket!!

You can see the detail a bit better in this picture.  Cool, eh?

While we were having fun, it was really windy and the sun wasn't out much.  J, D and I huddled on shore, took a closer look at the outriggers, picked up baby 'pinecones" for Grammy HB and sang songs.

Impressive boats at the local club.

Finally it was time to release the captives!  Whether at home or in the islands, we are a catch and release family...at least until we have a license!!  :)

It was interesting.  When we released the crab, they were on the attack and had no problem coming right at you.  After a bit, they seemed to realize they should disappear, and they did just that as they burrowed into the sand and were gone!

After our event-filled morning, we got the boys down for early naps. 

We were excited about visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) up in La'ie that afternoon and evening.  Unfortunately, Grammie Lowe was feeling tired and hurting again, so she chose to stay home and rest while we headed up to learn some more about the many islands that make up Polynesia!

The drive up north was beautiful!  Love the mountains!!

The sun even came out as we were passing "Chinaman's hat island."

More beautiful coastline!

Before we knew it we had arrived in La'ie and found ourselves exploring the different "islands" that make up the PCC.

Tonga was a big hit as they played drums and blew conch shells.

The boys were fascinated with the Koi ponds and other fish.

When we visited 'New Zealand', The Big Guy Lowe and J were able to participate!

Here they are practicing.

J is getting in a little more practice...

Now time for the performance.

The rest of us were looking on.

We especially loved Samoa!

Our good friends, the Browns, are from Samoa.  We were so excited to learn more about their culture!!

They made fire...

we tried!

They climbed palm trees!

We just watched!

We had a great visit to PCC.  Grammy and Grandpa HB were planning on staying for the big show that evening, so we said good-bye and headed out to explore the rest of La'ie.

We visited BYU Hawaii, toured the visitor center at the Hawaii Temple,

 

and then we headed home.

It was late by the time we returned to our house.  Both G and J were sound asleep--something that never happens with our children! D on the other hand was wide awake, and he was a little chatterbox!  We just laughed at the conversations he was carrying on!

Another great day!