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We had a whirlwind of a tour yesterday. I'll let it unfold as we move through the pictures. We left home at 7am after a quick trip into Cock-a-doodle doughnuts and hit the 9:30am ferry into downtown Seattle. Our primary goal was to get the boys to the Seattle Aquarium. Mission accomplished. We saw every exhibit twice. We saw a diver show. We saw the seals and otters and the octopus being fed. We realized that we have seen the Port Angeles puffins on occasion after better seeing what they look like closeup. It was fantastic!

But even twice through aquarium we were done by about 12:30. So we decided to brave the Pike Place Market with two boys who were still in rare, simultaneous, adventurous and fine moods. So up, up, up the stairs we went to the Market. It was full of the sights, sounds, and smells of Market plus Christmas. Quick trips into the French Bakery and the Turkish Delight dealer ensued; as did some admiration of the Market Piggy Bank.

After an extended and relaxing lunch on the harbor we thought we might try one more quick event. We popped into the arcade and rode the Carousel-twice. The boys thought the French Horses and the Viking Horses were the best!

Amazingly the boys still weren't all that tired. So we thought we might go check out the Harbor Stairs and grab a coffee before getting back on the ferry.

And, by the time you get to the top of the stairs, the Seattle Art Museum is staring right at you. The boys still were full of energy but winding down just a little...

So we went on into the SAM. I knew there was a cool, free, fiber-optic CarStar exhibit in the lobby. Since downtown also wasn't terribly busy I stepped up to the ticket office and asked if there were any tickets left to the immediate showing of the Picasso exhibit (that is usually quite difficult to get into due to the amazing-ness and short duration of the exhibit).

We walked right in...

Sorry no pictures in the exhibit, but it was mind-expanding. The boys did extremely well. We even talked about some of the art with them. Simon loved the series of four escalators to get up to the event and by the end was ready for the trip back down them. We saw it all-so did the boys. We didn't even cause a scene amidst all the art critics, art students, and other intellectuals packed into the exhibit on Friday afternoon.

Here's the website if you want a peek for yourself.

This one, and several others in the exhibit, are the masterpieces that elevated Picasso.

So then it was pretty much back down the escalators, down the Harbor Steps, into the coffee shop and back on the ferry.

But not without one more quick, side-trip to admire the engines and fireboats at Fire Station #5 right next to the ferry terminal. We managed to hit the evening rush on Bainbridge but were still home by 7pm. A long, full, and fantastic day of adventure for Katie, the boys, and I.