Dinovember begins! The carnivores and herbivores were so intently arguing over the value of a pack of Skittles during their Halloween candy trade-negotiations, they didn't notice the Jurassic-sized arachnid making off with a Kit-Kat. . .

Welcome to Seattle Flat Katie!!!

She climbed out of her air-mail-envelope to see a beautiful rainbow 

over Lake Washington out the window.

The next day she got to visit Pike's Place Market in downtown Seattle with her hosts.  (The Amazon Fresh and Charlie's Produce trucks are very much part of Seattle.)

At the market she looked over the Puget Sound (where the Pacific Ocean comes in to Seattle) and spotted a ferry behind the downtown ferris wheel. 

She stopped to look at the piles of crabs and king crab legs on ice,

but she decided she was more in the mood for some mini doughnuts (more her size). 

Being on vacation, she stopped to smell the flowers on her way home from the market.

Later that day, she decided to follow her hosts to their Saturday art class.  She was a little too small to draw her own duck picture, but she was very glad she didn't get drawn on herself!

Later that week, she took a walk down to the Seattle Japanese Gardens to feed the Koi fish.  At first she was afraid that SHE was going to be their snack, but it turned out they weren't that interested in crepe paper and feathers!

One day, Katie decided to drop her hosts off at school in the morning.  She got to see a real-life-101-year-old Seattle elementary school: McGilvra Elementary.  She was amazed to see that, since it was so old, it only had one drinking fountain!  She did really love seeing the school gardens (lots of veggies growing), and sliding down the playground slides.  

Flat Katie stopped by the University of Washington to get her photo taken by the fountain with Mt. Rainier in the background, only to find that the fountain was under construction (nice fence!) and Mt. Rainier was hiding behind clouds. 

So, she settled for a picture with the lawn and some engineering buildings.

The next day, Flat Katie visited a park right on the shore of Lake Washington.  She was fascinated to see cars driving across the lake on a floating bridge!  Who knew roads could float!

No trip is complete without a view of the Space Needle from the Capital Hill neighborhood.  Katie got excited to discover that the building right in front was where her aunt Brenda sometimes works (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center).

While she was admiring the Space Needle, she was distracted by the humming of a plane motor.  

A Seaplane landed on Lake Union right in front of her!  

Hi Seaplane!  

Katie giggled as her cousins recited the family joke, 

"I hear a Sea-plane, do you see a Hear-plane?"

It was time to move on, even though Flat Katie was truly enjoying the sunshine!

On her way home, Katie was amazed at the huge freeway she crossed over -- 

Seattle must really be a big, busy city!

Katie walked down to the water with hopes of seeing another Seaplane.  Though she didn't see one, she did see some nice boats on Lake Union.

Katie was amazed at how much of Chihuli's glass art (he is a very famous glass artist from Seattle) was all around.  This piece was at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

(Now maybe we won't have to take her to Chihuli's museum!)

May 7th came around and Flat Katie's hosts worried that she might feel left out of the festivities back home, so they baked some cupcakes in honor of Kaitlyn's birthday.   

Yummy Happy 8th Birthday Kaitlyn!!!!!!

On her last day in Seattle, Flat Kaitlyn went for a walk to Marsh Island.  At the beach, could see the University of Washington's football stadium.

She was amazed at the constant stream of motor boats and sail boats passing by as they traveled from Lake Union to Lake Washington and back through the Montlake Cut (a canal connecting two big lakes in Seattle).

Goodbye Seattle!!!!

Costa Rica for you, Mom & Dad!

The dinos, knowing that their animated life was coming to a close for this year,
left a note of assurance (and warning) for the children.  

After realizing that there was to be a celebration in honor of the human who "owns" them, the dinos felt it necessary to wrap and gift their own offering to her. Since there were no dino-sized scissors to be found, Dinny improvised.

Before going to bed, the girls made sure the cake for Madeline's birthday today had a note on it: "Do not eat this cake or I will eat you!" Apparently the dinos respected that request and threat (after all the effort Madeline went into planning and decorating her Smaug-the-Dragon cake, we were glad they showed some restraint. ) 

After watching the feasting from a distance, the dinos celebrated their gratitude with the one leftover pie.  Though he enjoyed the dessert, Dinny wished a little turkey had been mixed in with the strawberry rhubarb.

Fascinated by the miniature humans made from rubber bands the children had constructed, the dinos began to make their own rainbow loom creations. Dinny started with bracelets, collars, and purses, but soon moved on to more ambitious projects: he began making a clone of himself.