Where are the DeGroots?: Trip to Seattle

We're back in St. Louis after a great trip to Seattle to see family. The trip didn't start out so great because St. Louis had an ice storm last Thursday, the day we were flying there. Our bad luck with air travel as of late is becoming legendary. It took an hour an a half to get the airport (should be 20 minutes) through about 10 accidents and a major freeway shut-down. At that point, our flight was still on time. We boarded at 8:45am and then sat on the airplane for 3 hours...they showed an entire movie while we went nowhere...too bad it was Jane Austin Book Club. At one point, the pilot came on and said that it had to be 1 degree warmer for the plane to fly. It was -6 and it had to be -5. Can't they just breathe on the thermometer and pretend?!? Later, we taxied out and they de-iced us and we were told to "fasten your seat belts for take-off and enjoy your flight to Seattle." Yeah, not so much. Two minutes later, they told us the airport was shutting down because weather had deteriorated. When they finally cancelled the flight C.J. was able to get through to someone at American Airlines (while we were still on the plane) and get us on a flight going through Dallas at 5:45pm.

We were really disappointed to have to wait that long and seriously considered just moving our whole trip to a different weekend. We decided to move our return flight to Monday (instead of Sunday) and sucked it up and waited. In the mean time, we saw every flight to Dallas (and everywhere else in the country!) before ours get cancelled because of the weather. The weather cleared up at about 4:30 and it was looking like we were going to be able to go, but then our flight got delayed until 7. Thankfully, the flight from Dallas to Seattle was also delayed.

We made it to Dallas, but had to RUN through the Dallas airport to catch our flight. They had already closed the gate, but because there were about 8 of us running to catch that flight, they let us on...and then told us that the plane was still at the gate because it was having a minor maintenance issue. It was minor, but after we ran, we sat on that plane for an hour before it took off. After all was said and done, our quick trip to Seattle ended up taking us about 20 hours.

On Friday in Seattle, we drove up to Mount Vernon to have lunch with C.J.'s Grandpa, Grandma, and two sets of uncles/aunts and cousins. It was so great to see them, even if for only a little while! We were blessed all three days we were there with beautiful, sunny weather. Keri has been to Seattle 4 times now and has gotten good weather every time. If it weren't for how green everything was (that has to come from somewhere), she wouldn't believe it rains there all the time!

Saturday, we got to go out to Haley's (our sister-in-law) parents' cabin on Vashon Island. We took a ferry there and spent a relaxing day watching our nephew Nate throw rocks in the water. We saw two bald eagles very close up, a sea lion, and some otters. We also had a gorgeous view of Mt. Rainier the whole time. There are some pictures of our time at the cabin below.

Olympic mountains from the ferry

Nate and Aunt Keri on the ferry

Bald Eagle #1

Picnic lunch in the sun

Excuse the "graphic nature" of this picture, but Nate is potty training and it's just so cute!

Mt. Rainier

Uncle C.J. and Nate throwing rocks in the water

Bald Eagle Number 2

It was SO fun to play with our nephews! Nate is 2 1/2 but has a very advanced vocabulary! This is the first time we got to see Dexter (5 months old), and he is adorable as well. We feel so blessed to have seen them and Jon and Haley, and it was very hard to say goodbye. We miss seeing those little boys--they change so much between visits! Nate didn't make it any easier when we got to the airport. He just turned away from us when we had to leave with sad eyes and a pouty lip. When Keri asked him to give her a kiss goodbye, he said, "Ummm, not right now." Thankfully, kids get over stuff like that. It's the aunts and uncles that have to deal with that guilt! :)