The Atkinsons

Hello Seattle.

Every summer I head back to the place I will always call "home." I grew up in the greater Seattle area, just north of the city. I look forward to it every year for a million reasons, but mostly because I love to be at my parents home and you just can't beat summers in Seattle. You just can't. They live on five acres with lots of trees, horses, chickens, a bountiful garden, and a huge yard with a trampoline and play space. It's basically paradise for a two-year-old. They also live on something called the pipeline where pipes run underground. It's a dirt road that can't be driven on and it stretches as far as Seattle in one direction and just as far in the other direction. It is the perfect place for blackberry picking, finding secret trails, and meeting beautiful dogs and horses (also paradise for a two-year-old.) Within an hour of being home Olive had fed the horse about 50 apples, threw old raspberries to chickens (they go crazy for this,) gathered eggs, picked fresh tomatoes, beans, and berries from the garden, jumped on the trampoline, and ran up and down the whole length of my parents long and beautiful driveway. And then it was time for bed. She was in heaven (and as you can imagine bedtime did not go down so well.)

I think I only took Olive from the house a couple times in the whole 8 days I was there! There was really no reason to leave the house, especially when she was so happy there. Everyday was a new adventure. Olive finally got to drive a riding lawn mower (she has been pretending to drive one for 30 minutes every time we go to Home Depot or Lowes,) my mom took us for a ride in the dump part of the tractor, she rode horse with me, grandma, and by herself and got to stay on for as long as she wanted (I kept asking her if she wanted to get off just to hear her say Uh-uh,) and we took long walks on the pipeline so we could talk to all the dogs and horses, pick berries, and just enjoy being together and watching the hot air balloons pass by every night. Olive and I did one day out at Mukulteo Lighthouse Beach with my sister where we went out on the dock and watched fisherman come in, practiced our balancing on driftwood, took a short ferry ride, chased lots of seagulls and pigeons, and ate fresh fish and chips from Iver's near the pier. Next time I'll be better to go at low tide so we can also catch all the beautiful starfish and marine life in the ocean. 

As for me it was just what I needed at 34 weeks pregnant. Rest, relaxation, and my Mom. I slept 8 hours straight, which I don't think I have done since before Olive was born, and I spent lots of time talking to both my parents about life. It was a good change of pace. My sister and I normally head up to Seattle in July when her kids get out of school, but this year there were lots of conflicts at that time and besides it was my TEN YEAR REUNION this week so I came home in September instead. I think I need to start coming back around this time every year because it's the best time to be in Seattle. My ten year reunion was a blast, loved seeing and talking to everyone there. Kc flew in for the weekend to come with me which I loved. We got to take Olive to Gasworks park during the day and watch all the hydroplanes take off from the ocean, and it was fun to have him get a glimpse of my high school days and meet everyone and have him by my side the whole night. I also started my last year of my 20's while I was there! A little surreal, but not really feeling any different today than I did a week ago at 28. :) 

All in all my trip was oh so lovely. I will be reminiscing on it for a bit, especially since it was my last trip before baby comes and we all have to adjust and learn how to have an extra person in the home. So scared/excited for that transition! As always you can't have a blog post without some pictures! Here is what I caught on my phone while I was home. One day I am going to hire a photographer to follow me around my house to capture all the beautiful things I can't capture myself. 

One day. 

 

All in a day's work.

 

 Olive rode the horse by herself, with mom, and grandma. Is she the luckiest kid ever?

 

My mom hand in hand with Olive makes my heart happy.

 

 Around this house the tractor rides come from the grandma (I mean this grandma's been riding a tractor since she was 5, so she's pretty legit.)

 

Is it ok to wake surf at 8 months prego? Welp... did it anyways! (Don't worry I was fine.)

 

Miss bossy pants checking to make sure I am following her lead.

 

At Gas Works Park. These ducks quickly left after they realized Olive was throwing rocks, not food at them.

 

Our friend Tomiko let Olive have control of her dog, which made Olive think she was the Queen of the world. You can't quite make it out but the above picture is her taking the dog to the swing set where she eventually gave up control of the dog when she realized he could not climb up the stairs to go down the slide with her.

 

 

This sweet old man was feeding pigeons out of his hand, it seemed to be something out of a story book. It made me think about how every one brings some small good into this world in their own way. 

 

What Olive did when I told her we were leaving the beach.

 

Guess you are a true Seattle native when you pass up the fish and chips on the wharf for some delicious oysters and chips mmmmm mmmmmm.

And that about sums it up.