Seattle/Spokane Trip

At the beginning of February, we took a week-long trip to Washington state. The motivation for our trip was an invitation to the celebration of the century: Seth’s Grandma Verna’s 90th birthday bash! The entire extended Broweleit family gathered in Spokane for a weekend of celebrating our beloved matriarch. We flew in and out of Seattle, but our time there was very limited, so we barely saw anyone. To those of you that we missed, we’re sorry and hope to see you next time!  One person we were very happy to see was Miss Scarlett Jazz Smith (pictured at right), who clocked in at an adorable 3 weeks old. She made our own baby seem downright huge. We also enjoyed seeing her parents, Evan and Alicia.

I must admit that I was dreading this trip a little because I was afraid of how Allie would handle the whole thing. I tend to try to prepare for the worst so that I can be pleasantly surprised when it goes better than I expected, and, man, it really paid off this time! She did so much better in every aspect than I thought she would: she slept well in spite of the two-hour time change, she ate well despite distractions, she smiled her way through meeting a lot of new people, and she fared quite well on the 4 plane rides (she was a tired fuss pot for two of them, but “fuss” is much better than “scream” and so it wasn’t too bad).

During our very short stay in Seattle, we were graciously housed by our wonderful friends the Ebys. Allie was enamored with their two big girls (pictured above: Sadie, 2, and Princess Raeme, almost 4). They seemed equally excited to spend time with “Baby Allie.” We were also so glad to have dinner, 
conversations,  and prayers with some old friends that we miss. Thank again, Ebys, for taking such good care of us!

Then we headed over to Spokane for the birthday weekend. Grandma Verna is truly more beautiful, graceful, sharp, and hilarious than any 90-year-old I’ve ever heard of! Her life’s example of faithfully following Jesus, praying for others, and sharing her faith, life, & love is an inspiration and a blessing to us. We were so glad that Allison got to meet the second of her great grandmothers. She also got to meet lots and lots of Broweleit cousins and second cousins and whatever-you-call-the-children-of-our-cousins. I am so glad I married into this wonderful family!

       

After the bash, we headed over to Arlington to spend the last days of our trip at Seth’s parents’ house. Allie had some very sweet quality time with her Grandpa Denny and Grandma Jan. Allison is their 8th grandchild, so they have some very well-developed grandparenting skills! They know exactly how to cuddle, adore, and enjoy a grandbaby, and Allie soaked it up.

Allison also really enjoyed meeting her seven cousins for the first time. She had an especially good time with Charity who is only 10 months older. I was blessed to have many cousins who were almost the same age as me, and they are still some of my closest friends. I hope and pray that Allie and Charity (and all of the cousins) will be special friends as they grow older. They’re off to a great start.

 

We celebrated my 32nd birthday in Arlington with the whole gang, complete with Thai food, cake, ice cream, cards, presents, and a spectacularly loud “happy birthday” song. As you can see below, the song was a little too much for Allie. She’s just not used to that decible level. Poor kid! I, however, had a very nice birthday.

It really was a great trip, and we’re so glad for the time we were able to spend with friends and family, even though it was too short and went too fast. That’s always how it is when you live far away from loved ones.