Kirkland to Beaverton

It was nice that we could all be at Madeline and Roman's place.  They usually are in a smaller apartment, but this house is large.  They will have to move in June.  It was only a 1-year rental.  I think that they will miss this place.  George, Dorothy, Ed, Madeline, and Ivan left the house a little after 9 am to catch the bus. We had a 10 am reservation at Portage Bay Restaurant for brunch.  Roman was back at work.  Nathan and I packed up the car and left around 9:30 am to drive to the restaurant.

My Bacon and Blue frittata.  Very yummy.

Ed's veggie bowl

Nathan's oatmeal crisp French toast before going to the toppings bar

After adding a bunch of toppings.

Ivan at the toppings bar

Goodbyes all around.  We headed south, and the rest of the group continued with the bus experience.  I think that they were going back to the game store. 

Rainy ride home.  Maybe next time we will take the train.

We got home safely around 2:30 pm.  Nathan dropped us off and went back to his place.  

It's All About Buses

 After much discussion of all of the options we decided on the buses we would take into town. Ivan was the most knowledgeable about the buses we would need. 

Figuring out the buses

Bus 255 was close.  That took us to the University of Washington.  We walked through the campus to see the cherry blossoms.

Madeline and Nathan

Next was the train

Then bus 4

George got a glimpse of the space needle through the bus window.

By this time it was time for lunch.

I had a delicious Havana Libre Bowl (Adobo-seasoned sweet potato and grilled red onion prepared in Latin-style sofrito, atop brown rice, red beans, and a spinach and arugula mix dressed in citrus cashew cream and topped with cilantro and smashed avocado.)

Then we went across the street to the Blue Highway Games Store.  It was a place that we could play games from their selection.  It was a nice way to try new games. 

We had been lucky with the weather because once we got to the Blue Highway Games it started raining in earnest. We played a variety of games for several hours.  It was still raining when we were ready to leave.  We had to reverse the bus process for going back to Madeline & Roman's. 

We had left the house about 9:30 am and we got home about 4:30 pm.  

The first thing Ivan wanted to do was play bus again. Ivan is taking George and Dorothy around on the bus route.

We voted to go to a close place for dinner instead of taking the bus again.  Ivan was disappointed. 

This was the kids meal. The food was all very good.  I did not take any pictures.  We were too busy eating.

We went back to the house for more games.  I had bought a Mass Transit game for Ivan.  We tried it but it was a little too complicated.  It might have been different if we had already known how to play.  Uno is still the popular game for Ivan.

Kirkland, Issaquah, and Enumclaw.

 We had a leisurely morning. 

An egg decorating spinner.

Ivan with his bus Halloween costume. He "drives" around making a lot of bus stops.

We left the house at 9 am. We went to Issaquah to see the Thomas Dambo troll

Jakob Two Trees

Nathan and Ivan played hide and seek.

Ivan never did find Nathan.

Then we headed off toward the Thomasson Farm. Along the way we stumbled across a kayak race, we decided  to watch the race.  The kayaker had to go through the gates in a certain way.  It was fun to watch.

Thomasson Farm in Enumclaw

Roman and Ivan went on a little train ride.

Roman really didn't fit.

Nathan doing bubbles

I took a turn.

Nathan went to buy donuts.  We could watch the machine make the mini donuts.

Mini donuts.

Corn instead of sand

Dorothy and Ed shooting baskets.

This was harder than it looks.

Nathan is trying to get me prepared to do the luge in the Alps.

George and the Easter bunny

Easter egg hunt.  He allowed to find 12 eggs.  

Dorothy and Ivan

The gang

Just as we were leaving it started to rain.  We went to Il Siciliano Restorante for lunch.  

Sicilian flag

Most of us ordered pizza.  We could watch them make it.

It was all very good.  

A memorial to loggers

Then we headed back to Madeline and Roman's place.  Roman drove one car and Nathan drove the other.  We got back to the house about 3 pm.  

It had stopped raining so we headed to a close park after playing a game of Uno. 

It started raining again so we headed back.

Nathan helped Evan with the Brio train tracks.

See the bus stops all around the tracks.

Ivan pulled out his doctor kit and was trying to fix Nathan.  Luckily Nathan survived.

Ready for dinner.  Madeline made tomato soup, perogies, sausage, and salad. 

Ivan wants to play 10, 9, 8., but it was bedtime for him.