D days

D as in Daddy. For the past two weeks Gracie and I have had the privaledge of spending morning, noon and night with the man that we love (daddy) and we've made the most of our time with him.

We kicked things off by going to a Mariner's game with my family. Here we are at the end of the game with my brother Andrew...

Some of you might be asking yourselves, 'Where is Anne?' Look closer, I'm the one squished in the middle. Andrew thought it would be funny to squish me out of the picture at the last second, and like a knight in shining armor Mark came to my rescue and said.... "okay, hee hee hee." 

Round two turned out much better...

 A few days later we traveled to Tacoma (we went slumming) and rented a hotel room for the night. The next morning we woke up and spent the day at the Point Defiance Zoo. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we really enjoyed ourselves. Here's Mark and Gracie on a camel...

I swear I heard the camel mumble "please no" when Mark hopped on.

Feeding the birds was fun! Well, for Mark and I. Gracie wanted nothing to do with them.

Puppy in a bird's nest?...

The zoo puts on a wonderful 40 minute show where all sorts of animals do tricks. Gracie was entranced the whole time and when they allowed kids to come down and pet the star of the show (a dog named  Harold) Gracie was one of the first ones down there (I'm pretty sure some elbows were thrown, but no one got hurt :)

Mark's childhood friend Jordan Dunn and his little family were up from Arizona and we got to spend some time with them at the Mukilteo Beach. Their two boys are simply adorable and super hilarious and we had a great time!

Bike rack tunnel...

(Mark putting out the vibe.)

A week ago Mark's sister Cami and her 4 kids traveled up here from Arizona and we spent the rest of Mark's vacation time with them.

We went to the Everett Children's museum...

We took a ferry boat ride over to Kingston...

then we stopped in Sequim at the Game animal farm where we nearly peed our pants on several occasions (if you've never been to this farm you MUST go!!!)

The animals get right up close to the cars

and sometimes in them...

Then we continued traveling to our cabin. When we arrived at Three Rivers Resort (Twilight headquarters), the boys set up camp for us people, while the girls and I set up camp for Barbie.

This was the original Barbie hut.

Then creative juices started flowing in the girls and Barbie went camo...

The next day we combed the beach.

This little hole in the rock is called "hole in the wall" (we have no idea where they came up with that name :)

Gracie was tickled orange and purple with all of the starfish!

On the trek back (about a mile walk in loose sand).

We found this poor, lifeless sea lion. Mark tried having a heart to heart with it - he's just a sensitive guy.

We hiked through the Hoh National rainforest. Here we are at a little part refered to as "mossey grove" but we prefered "orangutan forest".

'Group hug'. The grandkids with Grandma & Pop Francis.

Leaving the Rainforest, I spotted an Elk just 4 or 5 yards from the road. I got out of the car and got about three yards away from it but then I stopped - the thought of being gourded flashed through my mind.

It sure was magnificent!

At night we whipped out the graham crackers, marshmallows and hershey bars and made S'MORES!!!!!

On our final day on the peninsula we traveled up to Neah Bay on the Makaw Indian reservation. We hiked to Cape Flattery, the most Northwestern point in the continental U.S.

Gracie taking a break...

Vacation over. Time for Mark to shave off the beard and prepare to go back to work... 

Thank goodness this look doesn't meet the State Patrol's standards. Mark liked it a little too much :)