Saturday in Kirkland

 We had a very relaxing morning.  

Ivan showing off his Halloween costume

Shooting the apple off of the head

We played a round of 10, 9, 8.

Roman had gone to do some grocery shopping and Madeline was making apple cake and chocolate cupcakes for the birthday party tomorrow.  

Once Madeline and Roman were both done with their chores we drove to the sledding hill.

Using cardboard as a sled on AstroTurf 

zipline

Merry-go-round 

Then it was time for lunch. When we had been at the Christmas Market I found $40 on the ground.  We had looked around for people looking like they had lost something.  We talked about what to do with the money.  It was burning a hole in my pocket so I decided to treat people to lunch.  Whew, now we can all share the guilt. 

We went to the Heritage Restaurant in Woodinville

My eggs Benedict 

Nathan's sandwich

George's frittata 

Roman's huge burger.

Nathan and Ivan

Then we went to the McMurtrey Farm to get a Christmas tree, and to have a wagon ride. 

Maybe this can be our Christmas Card photo.

Wagon ride

Instead of cutting down a tree we ended out choosing a precut one.

They trimmed it, bailed it, and then put it on Madeline's car.  We put it inside her car instead.  

We had another round of 10, 9, 8 and then it was  trampoline time.

While they were jumping I was taking sunset pictures.

We had a delicious dinner of homemade tomato soup, pizza bread and sweet potato casserole.

After dinner Roman drove George, Nathan, and me to the train station to head home.  What a nice visit we had.

King Street Station.

I don't think that I will get any any scenery pictures on the way south. We got on the 7:50 pm train and it was dark. 

We were delayed some on the way to PDX so we told Rebecca. But then we made up the time at the end. They kicked everyone out of the station, even though it was 35 degrees out. We got home safe and sound only a little later than initially planned. We were home by midnight.

Kirkland, WA

 Rebecca drove George, Nathan, and me to the Amtrak train station.  She went on to work, so she could not join us.

Portland Train Station

George and Nathan waiting for the train.

Nathan and me on the train.

 We had a nice train ride to Seattle. We left Portland at 8:30 am and got to Seattle at 11:50 am. 

King Station Seattle

 Roman and Ivan met us and drove us to their place in Kirkland.

Ivan, me, and Nathan.

After a delicious lunch of tomato soup, cheese dip, sweet potato casserole and cookies we went to a close park.

We headed back to Madeline and Roman's place. We were trying to come up with a plan of what to do.

Ivan opened a birthday gift from "Grandma Dorothy" (George's sis).

We decided to go into Seattle to a Christmas Market. Ivan loves buses so we drove to a Park and Ride so that we could take the bus.

A kid at heart.

Mt Rainier

Ivan

Downtown Seattle was well lit.

We went to ride the monorail which would take us right to the Space Needle and the Christmas market.

George, Nathan, Ivan, Madeline, and Roman

The monorail is a very short ride. 

They had a large "miniature" train display. It was fun watching the train go around.

So much detail.

Ivan got to start and stop a train.

Double decker carousel.

The space needle.

Ivan

Ivan and Nathan

We all rode the carousel.  Then it was time to go look for food for dinner.  I picked a soup/sandwich place.  That was a mistake.  It was a popular place.  The sandwich took about 1/2 hour to bake. The rest of the gang were all finished eating before we even got our food.

We ate in the covered area.  It was slightly heated which was nice.  It was chilly (low 40s). It was a karaoke place so we had entertainment while we were eating.  They had a table set up for kids to write letters to Santa. Ivan had a chance to do this.

It is mailed. 

Back for another ride on the carousel.

Nathan, me, and George 

Madeline, Roman, and Ivan

Cool star shop

Ivan got to watch another little train.

It was time for us to reverse our steps to get back to their home.  With the monorail we sat right up front and the conductor let Ivan beep the horn.  He was thrilled.  By the time we got back to Madeline and Roman's place, it was bedtime for Ivan. Everyone else was ready for bed not long after that.  It was a very full "riding" day.  We rode in a car, a train,  a bus, a monorail, an elevator, an escalator, and a carousel.  No boats on this trip.