seattle

the term bittersweet was always weird to me.

here's my train of thought when i hear that word:

"...and it was just a bittersweet experience."

wait. like chocolate? i really want chocolate. do you think they have chocolate?

what is the fastest way to getting chocolate? ...raspberries.

(i realize that raspberries aren't exactly related to chocolate, but i can't control this thing. (meaning my brain.))

but i think i finally get it.

here's why:

my amazing grandmother, mary wintch wells, passed away at the end of june and my family and i had the opportunity to attend her funeral in bellevue, washington.

so while we LOVE visiting my dad's hometown and the place where my sisters grew up,

the reasonings behind going weren't necessarily ideal.

so there you go - the bitter and sweet of things.

(and let it be known that i still find the word bittersweet weird, i just understand it more.)

here's some documentation of our fave spot in seattle:  

(click the pictures to make them bigger!  amazing!)

ivar's fish bar

the crew.                                    the front of ivar's.

ivar's is a tradition if we're anywhere close to seattle 

(it's amazing the justifications that can occur for fish and chips)

feeding birds.                        famous fish and chips.

the thing about ivar's is that you HAVE to eat outside and you HAVE to feed the birds.

so...you eat your fish (or chicken if you're kajessa), but you save the fries for the gulls.

unless you're me...then you could care less to have birds nip at your fingers.

oldest and myself.                 mommy and blondie.

i'm sure that somehow we have documented our lives through pictures at ivar's.

more so the sisters than myself, but still...

just let me be cool, okay?

of course i would.                         evil with wings.

dad's a pro.                                        i hate you.

my dad is pretty fearless when feeding the birds.

(i say fearless like it's some sort of brave act...my 6 year-old nephew has done it.  i'm just a wuss.)

that, and my dad has been doing this since he was super young.

little baby devil.                                   fire boat!

i've never seen one of the fire boats spray water like this.

i'm not gonna lie...i thought something was wrong.

then my mom told me that it's built to do that.

oh mom.  always calming my irrational fears.