Seattle, Washington

Today's objective: Cameron's passport. Cameron, Jeff, Cara, and I met up at the passport office at 8 am and commenced the hours and hours of waiting. At times it was kind of nerve wracking, but by 3 pm we were in line to pick the magic book up from will call. Phew!

Government bureaucracy took up the bulk of our day, but we did manage to see a few of Seattle's sights. We drove by the Space Needle and the Boeing fields, which the kids were pretty excited about.

Since we were already bogged down in errands, we drove across the city to get my international driving permit, and along the way we saw the Seattle waterfront, including the ferries and Pike's Place Market, which we plan to check out tomorrow, along with the tallest buildings in the city, because Cameron is especially interested in finding out about that.

Our day included a few interesting new food experiences, too. For lunch we ate at a little Hawaiian place around the corner from our hotel, and for dinner we went to Chinook's in the Fisherman's Terminal.

We tried the mixed shellfish appetizer, to mixed reviews from the kids. Maia and Bria were definitely not sure about that one! But the rest of us loved it.

Bria looked out the window and wanted to know which boat was "mine," and was not super impressed we couldn't go for a ride.

The atmosphere was wonderful, as it always is at Chinook's. I love the feeling that it is a nice place, but you feel totally comfortable bringing your family.

The kids were totally in love with our waiter, too, and for the rest of the trip, every time they didn't care for the service, one of them would say, "I want Oliver back!"