a holiday-filled holiday in Washington.

We got to spend the winter holiday season in Washington this year, and it was a wonderful visit.

We had just come from a three-week visit to snowy Michigan, so the Pacific Northwestern weather felt refreshing and not quite as frigid as we had been anticipating (but still cold!). 

It can be challenging to schedule enough time with family in Washington, but since our visit was three weeks long (and over a few public holidays), we were able to do a lot of fun things with everyone. We had a large family photoshoot, went on walks around the neighbourhood, and took our older nephews (ages 9 and 11) to see the latest Star Wars movie while Ben's sisters watched the younger kids (thanks girls!!). We reserved a week to spend with Ben's dad's side of the family, and we were able to catch up with Ben's paternal grandparents as well. Ben's older sister organized a huge family gathering for the extended relatives on his dad's side of the family, so we got to see lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and their children.

"Rise of the Skywalker" with our nephews

Kortlever/Mooney reunion 2019!

official family group shot by Starla Tercero Photography

a walk around the neighbourhood on New Year's Day

visting Ben's grandparents

yep, that's goose poop.

visiting the cabin that Grandad built

We loved being able to introduce everyone to Logan, especially since he's a very easy-going baby and actually let other people hold him (Arden's memorable first visit to the States was at around the same age, but she would burst into tears whenever anyone so much as smiled in her direction...). 

The cutest thing was seeing Logan interact with his cousin Laney, who is just three weeks older than him. Both babies were very excited to meet each other, squealing and flailing their arms around happily. Laney had just learned how to crawl, and Logan was very impressed (but a little frustrated with himself). She also taught him how to raise his arms in the air while being prompted with "How big are you? Sooooo big!"

Laney and Logan

Arden especially loved spending time with her cousins, grandparents, uncles and aunties. Even though she only sees everyone once a year (or in this case, it had been almost 20 months since our last visit..!) she has a strong connection to all her extended families, which is wonderful and special. On Christmas Day she was more excited to see family than opening her presents (but obviously she was excited about that too!), which was really sweet.

Christmas morning

all the cousins on a festive couch.

My cousin Evett and her family live in Vancouver, and every time we're in Washington they drive down from Canada to meet up with us. This year we went to a children's museum, and the kids had a good time doing museum-y things. Little Chris is about a year younger than Arden, and baby Carly is only a month older than Logan. It was fun seeing the kids interact, and we got to trade stories about sleepless nights and second-child experiences.

Canadian cousins!

Carly and Logan

One of my favourite highlights of our trip this year was going up the Space Needle. I used to work at the restaurant and the cafe (it was my one and only job during my four years living in Seattle), and many iconic memories were made at this tourist trap (including: my first sort-of date with Ben, lots of discounted meals at the fancy revolving restaurant, and countless meet-ups with visiting friends and acquaintances, as I was able to take up to 8 people up the Needle for free at any given time). This year an old co-worker of mine contacted me when he saw that I was in town, offering to take us up for free. I hadn't been up since late 2013, and totally jumped at the opportunity to revisit the past a little.

obligatory green-screen photo. I have an entire photo album of shots like these, of various visiting friends and family 

It was surreal and a bit cathartic to be back up there, this time with my little family. Arden loved the revolving glass floor and the glass balcony (the Needle went through a massive renovation from 2016-2018, and now it's more terrifying but also very cool!) Even though the restaurant is no more, a few of the former servers got jobs at the cafe and wine kiosks, so I got to see a few of my old coworkers while we were there. It was fun to catch up a little, and introduce my charming children to everyone. Massive thanks to my friend Alan for the free trip up the Needle (and down memory lane)!

where the restaurant once was

definitely miss this view!

Some of our good friends drove up from Eugene, Oregon to Whidbey to spend a weekend with us. We had a great time with them exploring Coupeville, enjoying an amazing lunch at Whidbey Pies Cafe, and we had a gorgeous hike at Ebey's Landing.

We also have many local friends in the area, and to save time we usually try to host a few casual parties closer to the city. It was hard to organise these get-togethers this time as it's a really busy time of year (also Facebook is our primary way of contacting friends and unfortunately it's become less and less reliable for communication purposes...) but we had fun with the friends who were able to see us. A big thank-you to the Washams and Hartmans for hosting us this year, as well as the Yoakums (who just had a beautiful baby girl a few days prior to our gathering..!). My cousin's daughter (who just moved to Seattle recently!) also stopped by one of our gatherings, and Arden had a blast playing with her and her partner Dan.

While it was a great visit, parts of the trip were a bit stressful with scheduling and logistics, even though every year we try to improve our scheduling strategies. We are blessed with tons of people and places to visit, and there's a lot of ground to cover on Whidbey Island alone, not to mention the greater Seattle area. It felt like we spent half our trip in vehicles - either driving, ferrying, parking, or sitting and waiting for the baby to wake up from a nap. No complaints - at least this baby sleeps peacefully in a carseat! - and it didn't feel like wasted time because most of our vehicle-travel was with at least one family member (usually Ben's mom), so it was still part of visiting family. At times it was quite comforting driving around rainy Washington, listening to holiday music while sipping on seasonal flavoured Whidbey Coffee. And traveling by ferry is still super cool, especially when it's daytime and you can see gorgeous mountains in the distance and wildlife in the water. Arden loved going to the back of the boat and watching the "bubbles" (the wake).

watching the "bubbles" behind the ferry

We'll always tweak the way we approach trip-planning in Washington, especially as the kids grow up and some of the logistics aren't so complicated (car seats, naptime, bedtime... etc). It'll be nice to have a bit more flexibility when the kids are older, but for now we're just grateful that our kids have been able to adjust as well as they have.

All-in-all, it was a really nice visit and a great opportunity for everyone in the family to meet Logan and see Arden again. Even though it was pretty magical and nostalgic to be around family during the winter holidays, we plan to eventually return to visiting in the summer (when it’s winter in Australia).

A huge thank-you to our families and friends for hosting us, visiting, spending time with us, for helping out with the kids, and for all the warm holiday memories to cherish forever. We miss you lots and can't wait to visit again soon!

CK