Great Grandma's 85th

The bean family went to Seattle to help celebrate Elliot's Great Grandma Millie's 85 birthday. We arrived late Thursday night into the SeaTac airport and drove directly to our little B&B called the Hogland House in Mukilteo, WA. I booked this place online, knowing nothing of it. Based on the website, and my own propensity towards good luck, I assumed it was going to be crappy. Well, this is what we got:

An absolutely stunning house overlooking the Puget Sound. And, even better, we were the only guests staying in the place, there was a fantastic hot tub (as you see), and the inn sitter (the normal inn keeper was out of town) was a fantastic cook and made us the most remarkable breakfasts. So, either my luck is changing, or the dual good kharma powers of Justeen and Elliot overpowered the normal balance of the universe.

As not to belabor this point, I should move on. The next day, we took a ferry to a nearby island and walked around. Here we are embarking on our walk. Elliot turned his hat to the side and set out to have a good day. Well, lo an behold, we had a fantastic day.


After stopping in a few locations, we drove about sixty miles up the island and stopped at a place called Deception Pass. This place got its name because of the deceptively erratic currents that occur down below.


Elliot was not so impressed by the dramatic drop. Although his parents felt slightly stricken with Vertigo as they began walking across the bridge. With oncoming traffic on one side and a dramatic drop on the other, holding a squirmy, drooly baby never felt so precarious. We promptly turned around and went back to a secure surface.

The next day, my parents arrived in town for the party. We met them at their B&B in Everett, WA.


My mother immediately commandeered Elliot for her own consumption. Luckily, I was there to preserve the moment with my handy Casio camera. Elliot felt right at home on his grandmother's lap. Without any hesitation he was playing and posing for the camera.

The next day was the big party. Here's the birthday girl and part of the bean family.


The following day, we were able to see Justeen's mom (who was in town visiting her daughter-in-law). This trip required amazing coordination on so many fronts. So, again, in typical grandmother style, Elliot was commandeered.


His evil grin and menacing eyes are not indicative of how he was feeling at this moment. He often looks as though he's plotting to take over the world.

Finally, we all paused for a photograph while wandering around in Seattle's extreme 95 degree heat.


We got on a plane later that night and returned home. The bean slept on our red eye flight - and of course I didn't. Some things never change. We escaped the west coast heatwave, only to be greeted with some mass of hellish air on its travels east. I'm glad that I was able to experience the great heat wave of '06 on both coasts.