Saying Goodbye

We have officially bid Seattle farewell.  We are actually in North Carolina visiting my mom right now and have wanted to write about our last couple of weeks earlier, but it’s been so crazy busy that we’re just now getting around to it.  Of course I thought the worst was over with moving out, and it was, but the exhaustion and pace of life didn’t slow down one bit.  And I will be honest – I’m still so tired that writing coherently is not coming easily.  But here’s a little recap of our last two weeks.

After we moved out, we were blessed to be able to stay with our good friends the Kylers.  We actually lived with them eight years ago right before we were going to Costa Rica to study Spanish.  So it was like deja-vu to live with them again, except the fact that we have kids now, and we had their entire basement to crash in and clutter up with all our junk.  (The last time we all shared a bathroom on the main floor). Living with people and out of a suitcase can be hard, but we knew it would be smooth with Katie and Ryan because of their incredible hospitality and because it worked before… It was great to wake up every morning, make breakfast for the kids with Katie and share coffee and conversation with her.  It made the transition of being temporarily homeless much easier.  Kate became BFFs with Molly, their two year-old daughter.  Well I guess they weren’t always BFFs – they each had their share of time-outs for pushing and not sharing.  “MY bowl.” “No MY bowl.” “NO, MY bowl.” Conversations between the two of them went a lot like this. Kate learned a lot over the ten days at their house! And Katie and I got to spend some super quality time together every single day. 

But with the exception of slow mornings, we were off and running around for ten days straight.  Every day we had to say goodbye to some place, something, or someone.  I knew saying goodbye would be difficult, but I didn’t anticipate how tiring and emotional it would be. We saw friends almost every single day and night and ran all over town.  I think pictures will do the best explaining so here they are with some captions. I put the captions ABOVE the pictures this time since they are a little longer.

We got to spend an evening with our friends the Sanas who just moved back to Seattle after being on the east coast for 5 years. Go figure, now we're moving... We had a lovely picnic at a Seattle park overlooking the city (forgot camera), then went back to Marshall's parents' house on Queen Anne. This is their daughter Klara, who Kate had a blast playing with.

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This picture was actually taken the week of our move... It's of Kate and Josie, my good friend Dede's daughter. Dede and I had lunch without the kids one day after we moved and it was just what I needed. She has been a friend since college but we have really bonded over the past two years after she moved back to Seattle and we both had baby girls. I can vent to her about anything... how I'll miss our long talks in person. Dede, we'll just have to Skype!

  The Puyallup Fair! Okay, so I cannot lie, this was my FAVORITE day of all of our last ten days we spent in Seattle. I L-O-V-E the fair and couldn't wait to go. The best part was that we worked it out to go with friends Lindsey and Eric and their adorable son Ollie. Here they are petting, yes, mini-horses! I am obsessed with mini-horses and really want one! Maybe I'll get one of these in Costa Rica. The yard is big enough, and hey, Dawson our dog could always use a playmate!

The Cat Barn. Yes, there is a designated barn just for showing 4H cats off. The kids who "show" their cats get to decorate their cages. You know the cats just HATE it, but I love it. I love it so much that after all the other adults and kids were done looking and I had to go back in to make sure I didn't miss a single cage. It just cracks me up to see the different themes and decor kids choose. Such creativity! This guy doesn't know it, but he's actually swimming, "under the sea."

The GIANT SLIDE! Kate went down once with Joe, then once with me. We're in the middle.  Your stomach drops a lot more than you'd expect... Kate said, "More, more!"

Does it get any cuter? Kate and Ollie holding hands. Did I mention I LOVE the fair? We bought kettle corn as we entered, then ate BBQ for lunch, caramel apples for dessert, and then more kettle corn to take home with us... We'll miss American fairs. We'll just have to come back and visit during late summer!

We had dinner at the Millikans' house on Saturday night. Joe and Greg have been friends since college and Greg was Joe's boss at First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue. They have three great kids, a beautiful backyard, and a trampoline to boot. Needless to say, Kate was in hog heaven.

Two of the Millikan kids (Anna and Sam) and Kate squashed in the middle.

On our last day in Seattle, I crammed in one more visit with a friend - Tina and her two boys (the same friends we spent a weekend in Cle Elum with). We met at the zoo, enjoyed one last carousel ride, and saw a few of our favorite animals. 

The incredible bears. Isaac, Asher, and Kate looking on.

 Kate and Molly reading a book together. One of their "love" moments in the midst of a "love-hate" relationship.

 Kate and Molly at the table ready to eat cake!

The Kylers! On their 9 year anniversary with their kids Sean and Molly. Thank you guys for opening your home up to us and being so gracious and hospitable! We will miss you!

In addition to seeing and doing all of the above, I was able to see some great "teaching" friends from my old school, go to one last dance class (more on that later), eat dinner with "Uncle" Jason (our wonderful, long-time friend), and go to our church one last time. Joe also met up with a few of his guy friends that I know he will miss. Now we are in North Carolina finally trying to relax... Don't really know how to end this post without being completely cliche. We will miss all of our Seattle friends - you all have made some serious impact on our lives and we are better people for knowing you! Can't wait to see you again when we visit in March and reconnect with people that we weren't able to see... We love you Seattle friends!