US vs. Belgium - Seattle

The next morning we got a good view of Mount Rainer on the ferry as we crossed over to the city.  There were lots of other passengers dressed in USA gear, headed to the game or just to watch at one of the many watch parties throughout the city.

We found our way downtown and met up with Mack, Sophia and Blake for lunch at Din Tai Fung.

Blake enjoyed eating the menu and the green beans.

The dumplings were delicious and the green beans may have been the yummiest I have ever had.

The dessert chocolate dumplings dipped in sea foam were a hit.

We made our way towards Pike's Place Market to meet up with Natali and Miguel and to see the market.  

Miguel was watching the Spain v. Portugal game at one of the street watch parties.  He could meet up with us till the result was final.  Oh the fun and excitement of the World Cup.

As we headed towards the stadium the crows grew in size.  I had to remind everyone to keep their eyes on Lily, she was the only one without her own phone to help me find her if she were lost. 

While walking Miguel got all excited and ran up to this older man and asked to take a pic with him - turns out he is the father of the goalie from the Belgium team.  Apparently, he is very active in his son's soccer career and is well known in the soccer world.

The crowd became a river of bodies singing, chanting, and making their way to the game complete with fireworks, sparklers, and cameras everywhere.

We eventually made it to the stadium, we were an hour early and some of our seats were still in the sun so we sat a few rows over in the shade till the place started to fill.  Our real seats were in the sun for the first 35 minutes and it was hot.  The environment was so fun; such a massive group of people. We were excited and optimistic that the US would do well.

Sadly, the game was pretty rough and we got creamed by Belgium.  We just didn't play very well and it didn't take long for the game to be pretty discouraging.  Natali, Miguel, Mack, Blake, and Sophia had seats closer down in the shade and Andrew's seat was just a few rows down from the rest of us so we could see him the whole time.

Blake managed to squeeze a nap in.

We had one exciting moment where we scored.  Beer was thrown and splashed on us a bit but Belgium's answering goal soon took the wind out of our sails.  

For the second half Andrew, Greg, Lily, and Emily took the better seats and I got hand with these guys.  Miguel took Andrew's seat a few rows ahead.

After the game Greg was randomly stopped for an interview with a Czech news representative.  He and Andrew shared their two bits about the game and our sad defeat.

It was crazy getting out of the game and we failed to meet back up with Mack and Sophia, so we drove over to their hotel to tell miss Blake goodnight and goodbye.  So fun to hang out all together and enjoy the madness of the World Cup together.

 

Boat ride and Olympic

After work on July 2nd we met Greg and Andrew over in Fruitland and headed to Seattle.  We had a wild time waiting in traffic to pick up Natali and Miguel from the airport.  Crammed in my car, we made our way to Bremerton for the night.  7:15am departure got us into to Port Townsend for our 8 hour boat tour.  Emily was thrilled that we got assigned to the "Red Head."

It was a bit cold and windy but we enjoyed the smooth water and watching for animals.

We had fun viewing all three species of puffins that live in the area.

We got lucky and got to watch a small pod of Orcas, probably 6-8 individuals in the group.  The best part was the tiny baby orca, Greg caught her in this photo.

About 3 hours out we stopped in Friday's Harbor for a two hour land break.

We found some yummy lunch and then I chose to try some of these tasty cookies for my birthday treat - and tasty they were.

While we wondered the boys were keeping us updated with the latest World Cup game.  One game went to penalties and I snapped this pic while they all gathered around Miguel's phone to watch, while standing in the middle of the sidewalk.

We loved wandering around the cute little town but eventually had to make our way back to the boat.

On our way home it was a bit warmer so we enjoyed the sun shine as well as the sea otter sighting.  He was just floating on his back in the kelp field.

The group of sea lions was fun as well and the illusive sei whale, that popped up every now and then. 

The last hour and 1/2 had been really slow, but we spotted this huge male orca in our last few minutes of our trip.  It was a great way to end.

While driving away from the boat dock we had an animal miracle: three little long-tailed weasels ran across the road right in front of our car.  We quickly parked and ran over to weasels - that sounds simpler than it was, the actual process included some seriously intense yelling, climbing over people to get out, and leaving the leige waffles in the parking lot while everyone fought to get a view.  All the hassle was unnecessary because the three cuties stayed within view for about 15 mins and everyone got to see them pretty well.

On that high note we drove to our air b&b where these three discovered free coffee creamers to drink 🤦.

The next morning we headed into Olympic National Park and enjoyed a beautiful walk through the forest.

I had to leave my pet pterodactyl in the car- Lily liked to make pterodactyl noises, it kept us laughing.

Limbo anyone?

Banana slugs are cool.

Then we drove to the beach area and had to wait in a queue for quite awhile while they let one car in every time one left.  But we still made it in time to enjoy some of the tide pools.

Emily and Natali were the most enthusiastic, Andrew and Lily headed back to the car, Andrew's knee can only handle so much.

We did some more hiking and found a beautiful waterfall.

On the way back to our place we had to stop entering into Forks, the town made famous by the Twilight books.

Natali had to have pics at all the Twilight stops just for fun.

We saw this amazing Hurd of elk a few different times but this time they were jumping the fence, very cool.

Sunday morning Natali and Miguel caught the ferry to Seattle so Natali could work Monday and the rest of us went to sacrament meeting before driving up Hurricane Ridge Road to find us a new marmot species.  We made some deer friends in the parking lot before recovering the big marmot friend.

We went on the less beaten path and found some incredible views.  We started a hike down to a lake that got so steep Andrew and Lily bailed after 15 mins, I headed out after 30, and Greg and Emily eventually turned back without having see the lake either.  That was a serious workout.

We had to take a picture in some of the snow we discovered at the end of our road.

We found one more waterfall, and a beautiful stream,

as we made our way out of the park.  Emily and Lily finished their puzzle while we took turns showering in the one bathroom and making dinner.  We loved our time in Olympic, but the next morning it was time to jump into World Cup madness.