The Hazard Chronicles

Last year we did a thing. This year, that thing became a tradition.

The Hazard Holiday.

See, we like our family. We like doing stuff together. And as much as we like work and school and friends and church and everything else, we also like blowing it all off for a weekend just to be...us. To celebrate the ties that we have together and hang out with no distractions.

This year we went to Seattle. We have been meaning to go and explore this city for a while, and our homespun leave-of-absence offered the perfect excuse.

To tell about it, I have enlisted the help of the kids. I asked each of them what their favorite part of the weekend was. Conveniently, we only had one repeat answer (Evelyn said being independent at Wild Waves was her favorite). This made it so that we could allow each kid to write about the thing they most liked. Except for Ev since it was a repeat. She was a good sport though, and wrote about something else. I'll try to insert parentheticals where clarification might be needed. It was a great weekend. Anyway, ...here goes.

Adalie: Wild Waves Theme Park

We finished our drive in the parking lot of Wild Waves. We went inside and met a new family. They had a lot of kids and the ones I remember are Dawson, Dean, Bentley, Blair, and Ty. I did a lot of fun rides. My first ride was the Pirate Ship. It rocked back and forth and I got a big tummy tickle whenever the ship came down. The next ride was the scrambler. Mom and Dad did not come on the Scrambler and I don’t know why (um...because it's called the Scrambler). I sat down on the seat and it double spun. I put my hands up. Dawson and I became friends on The Gambler (A different spinning ride) and we stayed together for most of the day.  The day was full of new rides and surprises.  Mom and Dad let the older kids wander around by ourselves with Mom’s cell phone, and me and Dawson were the only ones who did the Faced the Falls (log ride) ride. We got SOAKED!  Jackson and Lindsey loved getting splashed on the bridge!  We also got hot dogs and fries for lunch.  I hope Dawson, Dean and their family can come and visit us soon.

Us with the Walker Family at Wild Waves. We haven't seen them since we lived in Cleveland- it's been too long! It was so much fun to get reacquainted with them and their awesome kids.

Jackson: Hotels and Airbnb

We got to the airbnb and found a pond! The water was disgusting! It was almost mom and dad’s anniversary and there was a little dock. We tried to clean it off and make it romantic for their anniversary. That didn’t work because there was a lot of grass on the dock and the bench. We did not have the right kind of broom to sweep it off.  There were a lot of chickens, but the rooster did not wake us up even though they made a lot of noise. There was also a swing.  Dad took us out to play mission dot dot and I won! Also, I liked playing hide and seek because me and Adalie made dad say “I give up!” That has never happened before, ever. At the end of hide and seek we sat on the bench and high fived each other saying, “good job!”   I am excited for the next Hazard Holiday and I wish I could go and live in that house forever!

It really was a lovely house we stayed in. We had the whole place to ourselves and the owners had gone out of their way to make sure it was comfortable for our whole big family. And for the record, I think the moss in the pond added to the romantic flavor of the place.

Evelyn: Seattle, the city

Park: We went to a park (artist park in the city center) and it was amazing. There was a tube and ropes to get up. Two slides to get down, and rope bridges to get around. Also, we went to this big fountain. There were statures of dolphins and after sliding down one I tripped and got myself a bloody toe with a purple toenail!

Buildings: In Seattle there are HUGE buildings. They also have the space needle and TWO sports stadiums!

Pikes Place Market: We are in the bustling market. It is busy. There are jewelry stands, fish, and other goods too. We stop at a bakery and pick up some delicious snacks. Also there is a statue girl who wasn't a statue but looks like a statue but then twirls around or opens here eyes. They were blue and white.

Birds: Down at Pikes Place Market the birds were used to people so they got really close to you. I got to feed them some bread.

The Gum Wall.

Picnic lunch at the market

Maren: Tidepools

I liked how I was the first one to find the crabbies!  When I was walking I reached into the little pool place and a crab pinched me! That is how I was the first one to discover the crabbies! I loved turning over the rocks and finding the crabs living underneath. On one rock that I turned over when I was about to leave there were tons of gingantic crabs and they went running sideways all around. I liked walking around and putting the crabbies in the little sea place that I made out of a water bottle. Then, I lost it! Adalie and dad went walking to the pier and they found a sea cucumber. It was exciting! I loved going, but then we had to leave in the hot car.

Lindsey: Zoo

We went to the zoo and saw a real lion and a real tiger. So, Dad and Evelyn and Adalie were going to hold birds in the aviary. We saw a bird show and a bird landed on Mom’s arm and there was a piggy that played catch.  I wanted to sit on the top of the seat because the top is really nice and I could sit by Adalie and Evelyn for the bird show.  In the zoo we saw a little cute otter swimming, we saw a cool water snake and it was yellow and white. We saw two snakes.  We also saw ostriches and we walked a lot! I had a really fun time.  I loved the zoo!

I think this is the only picture of the trip that we got with our whole family in it.

Have a good week!