Vacation, Part I--Seattle

July 31, we headed North for James Chan's (Ben's counsin) wedding to Shannon. It was an Evangilical/Hong Kong/Shanghai wedding, full of traditions and God. James and Shannon even sang to each other during the ceremony. Ben and his sister, Jennie, had an all important role of rolling out the carpet runner for the bride and groom to walk on. Unfortunately, Maia and Ashley missed it because it was right in the middle of Maia's naptime.

They arrived shortly after and had time to visit Pike's Place with Casey and Jennie before the reception. Pike's is a very large tourist attraction for the Seattle visitor. It holds the famous fish market where we watched the mongers throwing seafood to each other. We also saw Rachel the Pig, mascot of the market and gobs of beautiful flowers for sale.







Amazingly, Jennie made it through the wedding and market without too much injury. She had knee surgery earlier in the month and was hobbling around on one leg trying to keep up with us.

We drove up through some beautiful land to the Olson Mansion where the reception was held. It was a beautiful and lively occaision. Perfect except for the swealtering heat wave breaking records in Seattle. Maia had a wonderful time playing with Becca and Mitch Chan. They raced around the small outdoor minigolf course, finding tadpoles, frogs, and toads. The adults had a better time watching the newly married couple trying to copy their friend's unusual kisses.






The next morning, everyone was gone...mostly to Canada, leaving us behind to wait for our impending Hawaii flight. We once again visited Pike's Place to see if we could pick up some souveniours. Unfortunately, it was early Sunday morning and the shops were just beginning to open as we were leaving. We did get the opportunity to buy two of the most fantastic nectarines that we have ever eaten!