Monday, the 23rd,  turned out to be a sunny day, so we took full advantage. While we got ready, the boys went on a rafting trip. Got to love the kinect.

We headed to Pike’s Market to check out the sights. I knew it wouldn’t be that busy, so we took the strollers along. We took a walk through the market first, to see what was out. Then, we went to the park for some lunch. Christina loved looking at all the “interesting” people in the downtown park. Jameson crashed as soon as he got in the stroller, and didn’t wake up will we got in the car to leave.

Since we had 5 kids and 2 double strollers, that left 1 kid stranded. You would think, the oldest child could walk, but he decided a ride would be better. So Ella found a new favorite seat.

As we were waiting for Kayden to take a potty break, I was standing there with both strollers. I had so many people walk by me and stop and talk about how adorable Ella was. Then they’d keep walking and see the front of the stroller and say, “You have a full load,” or “Don’t you have your hands full?” Ella was just happy to sit up top and eat and be able to give her little smirk at everyone.

Luckily, Drew fit right under Ella’s bum. We also ran into a group of missionaries walking out of the book store. I joked with them for a bit, and we talked about who was serving in our ward, and if they new them. Christina and Kayden finally came out of the bathroom, and we continued on. We picked up some fresh bread for dinner, along with a few other treats.

After the market, we headed over to the Ballard Locks. I have never been, but thought they would be fun to see. When we got there, there was a boat in the lock that was pushing gravel through. The kids loved watching the boat, but didn’t really get what was happening until the lock was empty and they saw the next boat come in.

Ella loved to act like the big kids. We walked across the bridges (which are actually the lock doors) and crossed to the other lock. There is a salmon run on the far side, so the fish can get through the dam. Unfortunately, they were upgrading or redoing the salmon run, so there were no fish to see.

As we were watching, the guy in the tower called out, “All right, kayaks. Come on in.” From around the corner came about 7 kayakers. They entered the smaller lock, and held onto a bar that ran the wall. The locks are about 15 feet deep, so the kids got to watch to small kayaks rise up to our level, and then paddle into Lake Union.

See how far they were at first and then were level with the lake. We checked out a few more things, and headed home. I do hate some Seattle roads, though, so we ended up taking the longer way home, which might have actually been the shorter route. And our first adventure in Seattle was complete.