Lavendar Festival, Squim, WA

We attended the Lavendar Festival in Squim, WA over the weekend. The hour drive from Bremerton to Squim was really beautiful. After we got to the festival we hopped on a bus that took us to a lavendar farm. The lavendar fields were beautiful, not to mention they smelled amazing. There was music, food, and crafts as well. Roman had a blast running free on the farm and he even got a lavendar balloon.

Pike Place Market, Seattle

Pike Place Market was #1 on our list of things to do once we got to Seattle. The day we went the famous famer's market was a zoo!

As you first enter under the Public Market Center Sign the first thing you hear is cheers and you see fish flying at the fish market. I was thrilled to see it. It was more of a "show" than I thought it was going to be. But it was a well orcistrated show and they fish throwers are really funny. I don't know if anyone remembers the Real World Seattle, but there was a girl on the show who fell for a guy that works at this market, well he still works there and I saw him! My first thrill of the day!

OK. Anyway.

Beyond the fish market are lots of fresh fruit and veggie stands. Now, I grew up on a farm so I've seen pleany of fresh produce, but this produce was bigger and more colorful than any I've seen before. We sampled chocolate pasta from a pasta stand, smelled the fresh cut flowers, there were lots of jellies and other canned goods and art vendors as well. Everything was beautiful. Rich bought some local blackberry honey. It's so good! I bought some peppers and garlic that were strung beautifully so you could hang them in your house. The stand I bought them from had them hanging from the ceiling, there were so many so colorful i found myself just standing in front of the store with my mouth gaping open (which is something I try not to do often). A young man with bright green hair came over and explaned what they were and how to use them. He and and other guys who worked at the stand were SO freindly! It pretty much made my day. Hopefully we'll make pleany more trips to Pike Place Market. I loved it there.

Seattle, first impressions.

Well, we made it to Seattle! My first impression? It's beautiful, it's green, it's amazing! The weather in the last month has been heaven. After living with the year-round unforgiving heat in Key West for a year, Seattle area weather has been a relief. It has not rained at all since we've been here, but I hear there's plenty of rain in the fall, winter and spring. We live an hour ferry ride to the west of Seattle in Bremerton. We love our house. I have enjoyed hanging my pictures, putting out my family photos and decorations that I didn't even bother to unpack in my miserable pregnant state in Key West.

Most everyone has heard things about Seattle, whether they've lived here or not. It rains a lot, there's a Starbucks on every corner, there's a space needle, and it rains A LOT! But the best thing about this area that I can tell so far are the people who live here. I was fully prepared for a city mind set, don't look anyone in the eye, only speak when your spoken to and try to look like your not a tourist. I was taken back our first week here, while staying in a hotel. People said "Hi", as they got on the elevator and "see ya later, have a good day" as we exited on our floor. Strangers tell me I have cute kids and the cashiers smile and make conversation, and the Starbucks barista even asked me how my day was so far. Excuse me if I sound shocked, and I know this is how it should be, that strangers smile at each other and even strike up a conversation, but that's just not the world I've been living in for the past few years. And quite frankly when I got to Seattle I expected everyone to be dressed in black with a venti nonfat double-shot espresso on their way to their Pilate's fusion class and the least of their cares would be if I'd had a good day or not. But I love the people of western Washington. There is such a diverse cross section of people, but they pretty much all have one thing in common, they look you in the eye and smile. It's nice!