Cousin Get Together

Two years ago, my wife and I flew out to San Francisco with our youngest son and his two children to visit our oldest son and his family.  It was the first time for all four cousins to get together in our son’s home.  A great time was had by all, and it was wonderful for the cousins to get to play together.

In June of this year, we took a similar trip but this time to visit our daughter and her family in Seattle, WA.

We flew out on a Thursday but since our two grandsons in Seattle had not yet gotten out of school for the summer, we did some touristy things just the five of us on Friday.

We had purchased tickets in advance to go up in the Space Needle and tour the Chihuly Glass Museum. The Space Needle, the iconic image of Seattle built for the 1962 World’s Fair, is always a must see for anyone’s first visit to Seattle.  The Chihuly museum, which is right next to the Space Needle, was also on our list as both grandchildren had admired a book I had of his art.

We arrived a bit early for our timed entry for the Space Needle and found a wonderful playground for the kids.

Once we went up in the Space Needle, the kids enjoyed a great view of the city on the outdoor observation deck and once we went downstairs, they had even more fun.

When originally built in 1962 the lower level was a revolving restaurant.  In fact, there is even an Elvis movie where he attends the World’s Fair and dines in the revolving restaurant with a beautiful woman he is romancing.  In spite of having such great views, sadly the restaurant closed in 2017, and the still rotating restaurant floor was replaced with glass panels.  In one section, there is now a cocktail bar where you can sip on an adult beverage and watch the city go by.

When I visited the Space Needle with my brother in 2021, I could not even force myself to step on the glass floor.  But my youngest grandson, only four, had no fear at all.  He even pretended he was walking a tight rope at the intersection of two of the panels.  Based on his fearlessness, I got up enough courage to at least step on the glass floor this time, although only briefly.

After an obligatory visit to the gift shop, we made our way over to the Chihuly museum.

Both grandchildren were awed by the beautiful glass and even recognized the piece from the cover of my book while I found my favorite type of his artwork for sale in the gift shop, although well above my price range.

We next rode the 1962 World’s Fair monorail from the Space Needle into the Westlake shopping center downtown where we also enjoyed lunch.

Once the boys got out of school, we went over to our daughter’s house to let the cousins have some fun playtime together.

With the time zone change and the two-hour time gain, everyone was getting up early in the morning.

So, after a very early morning swim, we met our daughter and her family at the beautiful Snoqualmie Falls east of Seattle, a site we had never visited in all our many trips to Seattle.

Before leaving the breath-taking 270-foot drop vista, someone was kind enough to get our picture as well.

We next went to a close by park for the kids to play before getting lunch at an Irish pub where I had a beer from Portland that I had not had since traveling to Portland in 2018.

We then found another great park nearby for more cousin playtime.

On Sunday morning, we checked out of our condo…

… before meeting our daughter and her family at our favorite museum, what we affectionately refer to as the “airplane museum” but more accurately the Museum of Flight.

It happened to be Father’s Day, and the museum had a special admission that day.  All father’s and their sons were allowed in for free.  So, us three generations of sons all got in for free and my wife and granddaughter got in using our two-person annual membership card (we visit Seattle enough each year to justify a membership).

With two 10-year-olds, a seven-year-old, and a four-year-old, there were a variety of interests and so us five adults accompanied different children to different parts of the museum.  Our youngest grandson particularly enjoyed launching this rocket bottle skyward after pumping it up to the maximum line on the pressure gauge with air.  We later asked him how many times he had done it to which he replied 42.

While we each went to different exhibits in the museum, we all met up for lunch before shopping together in the gift shop.

On our way out, we got one more shot of all of us together.

Once we got back in the car to head to another park (they have so many parks in the area, there is almost always one nearby wherever you are), I told everyone that I was having the best Father’s Day ever!

After that park, we met up at a frozen yogurt shop for the cousins last time to get together.

It was sad to say goodbye for what turned out to be a way too short visit, but it was wonderful for all the time we had had together.

We checked into our hotel by the airport and then found a great restaurant nearby that we will definitely have to go to again on another trip (below is my dish, salmon and bacon on sourdough bread).

The next morning at the airport, the souvenir our youngest grandson had picked out at the “airplane museum” kept him fully entertained for the 90 minutes prior to us boarding our flight home.  In his small hands, his plane flew through the air as he excitedly watched plane after plane take off.  In fact, at one point he said he didn’t love cars anymore, he now loved airplanes.

Our journey home went well and after a full travel day, everyone was tired but most pleased with our visit, one we will have to repeat on another occasion!