Poulsbo to Seattle

Poulsbo is a cute, little Norwegian fishing village that holds tight to its Scandinavian nautical heritage. Enticed by the large number of yummy restaurants to choose from, we decided to spend two nights here so we could relax, explore, and eat. Jason was delighted by its used marine parts store as he searched its cluttered shelves of wonders for treasures for the boat. Isaac nestled into a used book store while Aaron buried his nose in a mountain book. We all took a walk along a boardwalk overlooking the picturesque harbor with views across the bay to pastoral, green fields reminiscent of photos we have seen of Norway. With its fun mixture of natural beauty, Scandinavian flare, delicious food and two-hours-by-sail location, we will definitely be back for another visit.

When we arrived back in Ballard on Sunday from our ten day freezy vacation, I thought we would take Monday as a rest day to recover a little, but Aaron's little eyes blinked open, saw sunshine and the first words out of his mouth were, "Sunshine! We should go for hike today." Thus began the mad-dash to get us ready for a hike before we had to get Jason to the office in the morning. We skipped breakfast opting instead to grab it at Whole Foods as we passed through Redmond on our way out of town. We took the long way to the trailhead through the Snoqualmie River valley to our old house at Lake Marcel. We parked the car and walked around the lake, that I had walked around so many times while pregnant with the boys and after they were born, showing them where they used to play and what they had said as toddlers in each spot. It was so fun to be there again and to relive memories of when the boys were so tiny and contrast it with how big they are now. As we drove through the beautiful river valley with gorgeous views of the Casacade Mountains, Aaron kept saying, "Wow! It's so beautiful. Why did we ever move?" Finally arriving in the afternoon, we hiked up Little Si where Aaron soaked in the big sunshiny views.

The next couple of days were a whirlwind of activity cleaning and buttoning down the boat before heading home.

Click here for photos.