Sleepful, Then Seattle

Last weekend we paid a visit to the Evergreen State (Washington) by spending a day and night with our good friends Brian and Alexa. It's about a three-hour drive from our house to their house, and so we always debate about when to leave. Early afternoon Friday and risk rush-hour traffic out of Tacoma? Late Friday and have to rouse Alton from his warm cozy car seat upon our arrival in Seattle? Or Saturday morning, cutting our visit a little shorter? This time we opted for Saturday morning, because Alton's habitual weekday preference of awakening at 6:45, 6:30, 6:15a.m. had us assuming that we'd be on the road with travelmug in hand by seven o'clock at the latest. Nuh-uh. Of course, last Saturday morning became the one morning out of the week when Alton decided to sleep in, 'til past eight! Where were these luxurious mornings when I stayed up way too late reading (or blogging)? Of course I wasn't taking advantage of Alton's lie-in, I was up early brewing the coffee, looking at my watch and wondering why he wasn't up yet!
At any rate, we got on the road and left the little guy in his comfy monkey pajamas for the trip. Andy sat in the backseat with him for reading purposes, and you can see in the picture below Alton's customary car seat pose: ankles crossed, water bottle clenched between the knees, book open in hands.

We arrived in Seattle just shy of noon, needing to burn off some energy for Mr Sleepyhead before lunch and nap! We scurried around the corner from Brian and Alexa's house to a local elementary school for some playground time. It was dry but crisply cool outside, but we kept our blood flowing with fun and chatting on the playsets.
Alton and Brian, both happily crossing the bridge.

Brian took Alton in hand for much of the time at the playground, demonstrating for us why, when we go to stay at their house, the first words out of Alton's mouth in the morning are "Bee? Bee?" Fun on the slide, below.

Alton loves steering wheels on jungle gyms.

Brian showed him Oregon on the U.S. map painted on the blacktop.

Climbing a treacherous cliffside...

crossing the vast prairie...

conquering volatile mountaintops.

Andy took about 25 pictures of Alton with this stick. And yes, he stuck it in his mouth. Mmm, dirt.

Our little garden gnome with his pointy hood.

Heading back for food and sleeeep. (Note that gnome hood is beginning to droop.)

Post-nap, much of the day was spent reading...

(reading...)

but B & A had a few tricks up their sleeves. They babysat for some other children one day since our last visit, and had purchased a few toys for entertaining their charges (although I'm told the charges preferred a video). Alton was wide-eyed over the Etch-a-sketch.

He also enjoyed a little coloring time, although

his favorite thing to do with crayons is to take them out of the box, then put 'em back in. Out of the box, then put....

Next morning saw more reading, of course. Here is your typical manly morning: Bob the Builder, monster trucks at stage left, and a Diet Coke for breakfast. Yummy.

Artful monster trucks against a wet windowpane.

We squeezed in a quick outdoor trip, to a different park this time. We actually turned the lens around on Andy for once.

Hangin' out with Mommy.

The trip ended too soon! But I am glad to get to see Alexa later this month for her birthday. Until then, we'll gaze pensively out of the window with our long-lashed eyes and adorable chubby cheeks. Or maybe that will just be Alton.