SEATTLE

Jett’s Wild Flight:

By: Jett Lillie

6/3/23: Our first stop was Pike Place Market. There were so many people!

We took a photo in front of the original Starbucks store and then walked a block to another Starbucks store to get drinks. (Didn’t want to stand in line all day!)

We also saw the City Fish Market where people throw fish to one another and then clap.

Next, we went down a level into Post Alley to see the gum wall.

I stuck my gum on the wall to join the 1,000,000 other gum pieces! It was GROSS!

We then rode the famous Seattle Wheel (just mom and I).

It was so much fun, and we could see far away!

Then we all ate at a seafood resaurant overlooking the water. I had calamari which is squid and I liked it! YUM!

We then went to look at the cousins of the fish we just ate at the Seattle Aquarium.

We saw a diver in a 100,000 gallon tank which is 3 or 4 times bigger than our pool at home!

The diver taught us that this aquarium has an open system which means the water is pumped from the bay and released into the tanks and then flows back out. I got a "hug" from a sea urchin!

We saw all kinds of animals, not just fish! It was a cool place!

Northern Fur Seal:

Sea Otter:

Puffins:

My favorite part was sitting in the underwater dome where the fish could swim all around you.

Later that night we ate at the Pink Door and there was nothing I would eat. Everything was about $40-$70 per plate. So, mom let me have Ice cream for dinner and real food later for dessert! Like a backwards dinner!

As we were leaving, there was a trapeze artist doing aerial silks like my sister does!

6/8/23: We arrived at the Seattle Space Needle, which was built for the 1962 World’s Fair.

We went up in the elevator and arrived at the very top! It was AWESOME! We could see everything!

Then, on the lower level, we walked on the spinning glass floor!

I tested it out by jumping on it… it was solid!

After the space needle, we went to Chihuly Glass and Garden. It was a huge museum full of glass artwork by Dave Chihuly.

My favorite was the one with the Kraken!

We also saw a glass house and garden.

We also saw amazing glass blowing demonstrations. It was mesmerizing to watch. We ate pizza while we watched blow glass vases!

After lunch, we walked to Climate Pledge Arena where the NHL Seattle Kraken and the WNBA Seattle Storm teams play.

We toured the arena and went in lots of rooms!

Star's Green Room:

Star's Dressing Room:

Star's tunnel directly to backstage:

Backstage & the "Elephant" Door:

The Amazon Music Lounge where we couldn't touch anything or take any photos. There was a recording studio inside. It was super cool!

The Media Room where the athletes and coaches get interviewed:

My favorite were the Hockey Locker rooms! In the visitor locker room, there were some of the jersey’s & gear from other players who have played here.

But my favorite locker room was the Seattle Kraken locker room of course! It was super nice!

And they even had their own lounge room & theater!

We then took the walk the players take from their locker room to the arena...

We went up high to walk through the Media's booth:

We even got to tour the Seattle Kraken's owners suite:

We learned that this is a completely green and environmentally friendly arena. They use solar & wind energy only!

After our 90-minute tour, we went on a cruise and toured the Seattle Harbor.

We learned about Seattle’s skyline and shipping industry.

We had good weather the whole time we were here. I really loved Seattle!

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: My Seattle Highlights

By: Jaycie Lillie

6/4/23: First, we went to a statue of a troll underneath a bridge. He's called the Fremont Troll. Jett wants me to tell that he climbed up on the head of the troll. It was much bigger than I imagined.

After that we went to a flea market/craft festival outdoors. It was in the middle of a craft fair and flea market. We walked around for a long time.

I bought 2 hair clips and that’s it. That’s pretty good for me! Usually, I get more stuff I don’t need. I was tired and I think that’s why. 😂

In addition to the whole road being closed off, there was also a whole parking garage full of vendors!!!

It was a very big event, but the food was kind of sad. There was no coffee…Dad wasn’t happy about that. There were macaroons, though! We got a few to eat for desert after lunch. YUMMY!

Then we all went home 😊.

6/6/23: We woke up early to go to a visitor center and walk down to a waterfall. The waterfall was supposedly taller than Niagara Falls but I’m not sure that it was. It was called Snoqualmie Falls.

The gift shop/visitor center had cookies! Jett and I of course had to eat a cookie! We then went home for a while and cleaned the camper.

Then we went back into Seattle to go to the store!! Specifically, a yarn shop! It was called “So Much Yarn.” There was a lot of yarn!

I want to crochet so I bought some yarn and a crochet hook. I made sure to get the 70 % off yarn! The lady was very nice and helped us find everything.

After that, we got coffee and Macaroon treats at a Lady Yum bakery.

After that we went to the toy store for Jett. The store wouldn’t allow food or drink. 😒😑

Jett and momma went inside, while Daddy and I waited outside with the drinks. Jett spent some of his birthday money.

Lastly, we went to go pick up the bikes. (They got new chains). These were some of my favorite days in Seattle! (Yep, I'm a sucker for macaroons and shopping!)

Jules’ Journal: We’re making it, one DIY Fix it project at a time!

By: Julianne Lillie, 6/2/23 – 6/8/23

Lately it seems as though we’ve been peppered with problems. Every time we turned around something else was breaking on us. But we used some of our Seattle time for our DIY fix it projects.

As we were pulling into town, God strategically placed our campsite 2 spots down from a Mobile RV tech. Once we were set up, Jason went to talk with Joe and he looked at our Master bedroom slide gearbox and confirmed it had stripped out. All the other parts looked good, just needed a new gear box. After learning that Jason and I had swapped out a slide cable, Joe said, “Man you sound handy. If you did that a gear box would be a piece of cake! I hate to charge you for something you could easily do.” He didn’t charge us for his time looking at it and we proceeded to order the gearbox on Amazon. It came 2 days later and after watching some YouTube videos, Jason easily swapped it out in 1 hour. (Jett watched, learned, and helped a little.)

During our testing it went out and back in super smoothly and then the 3rd time sliding we heard a loud POP. Never a good sign. Turns out this new gearbox stripped out only the 3rd time in use…. a defective part. We had read other reviews of other Amazon sellers of this same part with this happening. So, Jason decided to call around to local shops to find a better-quality part. He found a shop 40 minutes away that could order the part we needed and would be delivered to the store the next day. Jason strategically arrived at 2pm (when their daily deliveries happened) only to wait 2.5 hours until he had to leave to come back so we could make a dinner reservation that night. And of course, just 5 minutes after he left, the part was delivered. He spun around and picked up and we barely made our dinner reservation! But it was good to know we had the part in hand! That night after dinner, he swapped out the gear box (this time less than an hour) & Jett helped again.

Now we are back in business with our master closet slide and thankful for the extra space it provides by being OUT! Woohoo! Thank you, Lord, for a handy husband AND for providing a quality part!

Now rewind back to the first day we pulled into the Seattle campground. After Jason and Joe talked, we decided to get the bikes down and go for a ride. We finally had good weather and a fun campground to ride bikes in! After Jason got the bikes down, we realized that they were all in terrible shape! The chains were rusted, and the brakes were super squeaky (sounded like geese honking!) They were barely drive able and NOT safe. Knowing we have a 15-mile bike ride in Idaho coming up (Route to Hiawatha), we knew we needed to get our bikes in good condition quickly! And since this was the last big city until that stop, we figured we needed to work it in somehow. I had found several bike shops in Seattle, but all were several day turnarounds or even weeks. Then I found J&J mobile bike repair. We called him up and his name was Jason. He could squeeze us in one afternoon, but we’d have to drop the bikes off at his house instead of him coming to us. We agreed we could do that! So, one afternoon at 3pm we dropped the bikes off at his house and left to go sightseeing for a few hours.

3.5 hours later, our bikes were in great shape and safe to ride! And he only charged us $300 for all 4 bikes… the other shops were going to be $250/bike!

Man, I’ve come to learn that most Jason’s are pretty awesome guys! Thank you, Lord, for sending “bike Jason” to us! We are now ready to ride!

Let’s rewind just one more time to right after we learned our bikes were in awful shape. I was on the couch researching bike shops and the kids were watching a “Weird but True” episode. (BTW- this is a great educational series for kids/tweens produced by National Geographic). As they were finishing up the episode, the TV started fading and showing these thick black & white lines. It wouldn’t respond to anything… sadly, it was shot! The next day, after taking measurements the boys went to Best Buy and came back with a new TV. They dismounted the old and unpackaged the New one.

At this point they realized our RV mount wouldn’t work for this TV, so back to the store they went to buy a smaller mount. After some sawing into the wall to find the studs (Jett loved this part!), they were able to mount the new TV!

We were back in business and ready for the upcoming OU tailgate season! I was proud of Jett because he genuinely was intrigued and wanted to help Jason. We have a little handyman in the works!

And even though it seems like everything is breaking on us, we realize that the Lord is taking good care of us and sending the right people and parts to us. This is all part of the journey after all, right?! And more importantly, the Lord is growing our endurance which in turn is growing our confidence in Him ultimately giving us peace. God is good!

It’s hard to believe that on this day last year we were pulling out on this wild & crazy adventure! It’s been 1 whole year of full time RV travel. One whole year of making memories… good, bad, crazy, and everything in between. As I reflect, one thing that has been consistent through it all is God’s beauty. God’s beauty throughout the diverse landscapes across our vast country. God’s beauty in the timing. God’s beauty in the preparations. God’s beauty in our family growing closer and stronger. God’s beauty in our individual spiritual growth. God’s beauty as our self-reliance was replaced with deep faith. This trip has been a once in a lifetime opportunity that has not only changed who I am, but has changed my perspective and outlook on everything. This trip has been life changing, and I’m both sad and excited that we only have 45 days left. Sad that our everyday family exploration is coming to an end. Sad that our distraction free family time is almost over. But also excited to see my family & friends. And excited to see what God has in store for us in Claremore as we re-establish our “new normal” with a newfound perspective and zeal for life.