Bonus Round with the Hays

Of course, we couldn't make a trip to Seattle without spending a day with the Hays! We got to their house around 9am on Monday and were able to stay until after lunch on Tuesday. It was great being able to hang out in their lovely home. 

Annie somehow escaped untraumatized from her trampoline experience

Colby was full of advice on which video games would be best for teaching Elliot how to use the controllers

Our afternoon adventure was a trip to Mukilteo beach. It was right by what looked to be a pretty major ferry stop, but it still managed to have a more nature beachy vibe when compared to Alki beach, which had a more urban grimy feel to it. By the beach was a lighthouse with a plaque proclaiming that it was "Elliot Point." Elliot was baffled by this. "How did they know my name? And how did they know to make the flowers be my favorite color?"

The lighthouse at Elliot Point

Lakin had the genius idea of bringing cups for collecting shells and treasures

That is some niiiiiice seaweed

My dead jellyfish chunk

My crab parts and a barnacle. I was more into the beach treasure collection than the kids were 😎 

All the kids wanted to climb this big ol' log. My arm got tired from holding Annie up while she walked on it

That night we had some scrumptious Indian food (with spaghetti for those kids who do not appreciate the finer things in life, which was all the kids) followed by s'mores in the backyard

Elliot hurt his leg, but was still willing to crawl to get more reeses

How idyllic is this scene?

 My only complaint is that we didn't get to see the bear. Maybe next time!

James and Samantha Wedding, Sponsored by Slugs

 We are thrilled to welcome Samantha into the Blood Clan! James and Samantha were married in the Seattle Washington Temple on August 10. All 10 of the Blood siblings were in the sealing room. It was the first time that they had all been together in 7ish years. Samantha's unendowed siblings were kind enough to watch Elliot and Annie for us in the lobby so that Aaron and I could both attend the sealing. James cried through the majority of the ceremony, which was completely adorable. Samantha seems awesome, and we are all excited to get to know her better in the coming years. 

Check out this good looking couple

We were looking for slugs in the flowers on either side of the temple doors while waiting for James and Samantha to make their grand exit. We had found a slug on one side and were on our way to check the other side when they announced that James and Samantha were about to come out, so I turned to go back. Elliot started freaking out as soon as I turned my back. He kept yelling about how there weren't any slugs on the other side and I couldn't get him to calm down, so I had to pick him up and run away to not ruin the moment. 

Elliot with the snail that was lovingly built a grass home before being stepped on by Annie. 

We quickly gave up on keeping her out of the puddle

The reception was gorgeous! We helped set up the day before. I loved the centerpieces

Food table before we put food on it

dawww

A rather last minute car decoration

The day before the wedding, those of us who flew in early went on a hike near our Airbnb in Newcastle. It was lush and beautiful and 40 degrees cooler than it was in Tucson.

Apparently there are unicorn riders around

Jacob was all about the banana slugs

Yum

Elliot was sad he didn't have pockets to keep his flowers in, so he tucked them into his waistband instead

The twins didn't have the best plan for what was going to happen at the end of this bridge. Joanna got stuck.

On Sunday evening we went to Alki Beach. It wasn't very beachy but Annie liked the little rocks

Elliot showing off his muscles while being blinded by the sun

Big Bloods vs Little Bloods pillow fight

Stabbing Wood with Grumpa

We got to spend some days in McLean before and after the beach. Elliot was super pumped to "build things with Grumpa and color with Mimi" and they did not disappoint! Elliot and Grumpa built a wood car and boat. After that, Elliot got super excited about filing. He filed a super deep cut into a block of wood. The project he was most attached to was sanding this L-shaped block of wood from Grumpa's junk pile. Elliot even brought it in the van so that he could sand it on the drive down to the beach. After he got it "as smooth as fabric" on at least one side, he colored the whole thing with crayons. He poured a whole lotta love into that block of wood. Now that we are home, he asks to "poke wood with screwdrivers" which is the closest we can come to the glory of Grumpa's shop. 

Can you find the carpenters in the woodshop?

Working on this neat erector set we found in the toy box 

Mimi got him this awesome color by number book!

Reading all the books

We hiked to Scott's Run waterfall with Clint

We accidentally parked at a different parking lot then what I'm used to, so we got to take a trail that took us by the ruins of this old cabin. Only the chimney was still standing. For some reason, Elliot found this really scary. 

The Potomac River

We told Elliot that a part of the trail would have circles for us to walk on to cross the water. When we got here, he angrily told me "Mom, those are not circles, they are cylinders!"

 We braved DC traffic to visit the Air and Space Museum. We were hoping it would be less crowded because it was a rainy day, but that place was still PACKED. It was still neat though. I haven't been since I was a kid, and I definitely appreciated it it more after getting an engineering degree. 

Touching some meteorites

That capsule was in SPACE

The bloodlings absolutely adore Mimi and Grumpa's house. There were even a few times at the beach when Elliot said he would rather be at their house. I'm so lucky to have such awesome parents who love spending time with my favorite little humans!

Holden Beach 2019

Holden Beach is definitely one of my favorite Blood traditions! This year we had two sides of a duplex on the second row from the beach, and a bigger house a five minute walk away. Elizabeth and James were the only siblings who didn't come this year. My Mom and Dad ended up taking the room that was originally for Elizabeth before she found out she was going to have a baby this summer. It was fun having another Blood-Johnson crossover vacation.

This is going to be a classic family picture forevermore

Striking an unintentional Sasquatch pose

A babe on a skimboard

Learning fast under her father's tutelage. I'm ashamed to say that Annie and I are on the same level when it comes to skimboarding.

My talents lie more in the realm of finding beach critters

Teaching my nieces (mainly Catherine and Rebekah) how to find clams and sand crabs was a big highlight of the trip for me. Brianna was my most enthusiastic wave jumping buddy. 

The big daddy sand crab

Rebekah named about 20 clams before racing them in our clam arena.
How do clams race? Well, you wait a few minutes and then one of them will decide to dig down into the sand. That one wins the prize, which was lavish praise from the race officiators.

Annie was a big fan of the water and seashells. Elliot wanted to play in the sand the whole time. 

True to form, my mom broke her toe two days before we went to the beach. Luckily (or not) she already had a designated beach boot because she has had major foot/tendon injuries for the last two or three beach trips. 

Hottie alert

Annie loved going in the ocean with me- even when the waves were so big that I had to lift her above my head and jump to keep her head out of the water

Rebekah buried Seth. That's his face under the hat. 

Our Sunday night walk on the beach where we were "not going to get wet"

Everybody loves Beachy Glen! My dad spent hours launching Rebekah on boogie boards in the ocean. He said he was getting serious flashbacks to when he taught me how to boogie board.

Megan was awesome and arranged a meal schedule so that we could take turns cooking lunch and dinner. My Mom went first and chose a very complex Peruvian dish called causa. We cooked Tacos when it was our turn for dinner, and Aaron convinced me that Little Ceasar's Pizza was not a cop out for our lunch. The big house was big enough that we could all eat in in it between the two tables in the living room and the one on the deck. It was a great place for us to all hang out. 

Grandma Blood playing the ring swing thing game on the deck

Aaron and Stephen doing what uncles do best

A very short notice family picture

The bloodlings loved picking the firewheel flowers between the big house and the duplex

We were definitely spoiled by having Mimi and Grumpa around to watch our kids for us!

Stephen teaching Blood Rage to the next generation

It rained on the Fourth of July, which prevented us from going to the beach at low tide that day. Fortunately we could take shelter in the hot tub

A family across the street set off some fireworks in their driveway. Annie yelled "FIREWORKS ON" between every one. Hopefully they were amused instead of annoyed at the very enthusiastic audience across the street. 

It started raining again, so we did our sparklers under the duplex deck. Both my bloodlings were too scared to hold them. Elliot even ran away to the upper deck to get away from them.

Luckily, Grandma Blood brought some glow sticks for the younger kids. Elliot was thrilled until he realized Benjamin had a red one. Then he was dramatically devastated. It turns out that he has better cousins than he deserves. Brianna brokered a deal between Elliot and Benjamin. I could tell it was really hard for Benjamin to give up the awesome red glow stick, but he did it. 

The baby barricade to restrain Annie and Ethan from falling off the deck while we packed up the cars to head home.