Spring Travels

Travis' sister, Tiffany, flew in from Atlanta on Thursday. She is making the rounds in the Northwest visiting family...starting with us. I felt very fortunate we were able to provide her with a fun selection of things to do. Thursday night we ate at the Cheesecake Factory. Jewell has been particularly difficult and squirmy recently because she is learning to walk. This is absolutely adorable, but she just doesn't want to sit still! At the restaurant she demanded to be walked around, and it took awhile before she settled down and focused on consuming farfalle pasta and peas coated in cream sauce. We all devoured several refills of Cheesecake Factory wheat bread. And finished everything off with a nice slice of blueberry white chocolate truffle cheesecake...at home "to go" style because Jewell absolutely wouldn't last another minute.

Friday Tiffany, Jewell and I had a fantastic time at the zoo, thanks to a friend of mine who spotted me a few free passes. I decided it would be a perfect thing to do with Tiffany. We were very impressed with Seattle's zoo. The animals put on a fantastic show for us. We were amazed how the male lion strutted and roared, even pacing and rubbing against the glass to the shrieks of delighted (and perhaps a bit frightened) tourists. The tiger did the same thing, pacing and making a lot of noise. A little cold weather, but Jewell stayed snuggly in her stroller or got the blood flowing as she practiced "walking."

Friday night we went to the Edge of Glass and had glass flowers made. If you haven't done that and you live in Seattle, you should!

Our new climbing friends, Zack and Diana, were at the Edge of Glass, too, with their little girl, Kaylie. Saturday they caravaned up to Leavenworth with us for bouldering. The hike was short, the drive scenic, the weather beautiful, and the company great. My apologies for the lack of any pictures of actually climbing, which I assure you Travis and Zack actually did do. I, however, spent my time keeping the sun off Jewell and enjoying some conversation with Tiffany and Diana. We headed into town afterward for a bite to eat and a look about the shops. They are SO adorable! Mom (Joyce) you have to come see this place! It's a little pseudo-European village, with lots of cute shops.

We have been practicing walking with Jewell a lot recently. I bought her some little Croc-style shoes at Target; she's already broken them in. We walked her all around the Licton Spring's park today, which was a nice change from the daily rounds of the hallways and stairwells in our apartment building. She never tires of walking practice. You can tell from these pictures how much she LOVES it. Also pictured below: Jewell tries her hand using her first set of crayons.