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It has been two days since I got back from the beautiful state of Washington, and I am finally unpacked and recovered.  It was a crazy rush to get on the road.  I was delayed by two days of buyback training and a root canal, but with antibiotics in my system, I was on my way.  As a little side note, the root canal was so much more productive and enjoyable than the buyback days.
 The top picture is the view of Mt. Rainier from my niece and nephew's bus stop.  The beach and Puget Sound are just on the other side.  They have adorable little bus stop shelters too!  So beautiful! 
 We took the ferry to Seattle.  My first ferry ride!  It was everything it seems to be in the movies...LOL!  Of course, I took the obligatory tourist pictures. 
 As we were leaving, I managed this picture of the Seattle skyline.  It was right after that when I realized that my FitBit had died during the day at 13,057 steps and 27 flights of stairs.  Technically speaking, the battery died, but I think it really died from shock
 Yes, I know these are just shots of green stuff.  You need to understand that as a native Southern Californian, the green stuff was the most amazing to me!  Does anyone know what that Dr. Seuss looking fern is called? 
 Dead Man Island and a beach of sand dollars!  Yes, those black rocks are really live sand dollars!  Never in my life have I ever seen anything that incredible.  I was afraid to walk around and mainly just stood there saying, "Oh my gosh" - over and over again. 
 The view down the hill to the beach and bus stop below my brother's house, and the view up the hill.  And yes, I went down and I went up.  Fortunately, my FitBit was not around to experience it or it would have died permanently from shock.

While I was there visiting my brother and his wonderful family, in between my outdoor adventures, I made a Greek costume for my niece, a stuffed snake for her staff, two quilt tops with my niece and nephew,  and attended two Little League playoff games and an amazing middle school band concert.  I tried to squeeze all the super aunt time in that I could.

On one of our grown up day excursions, my sister-in-law took me antique shopping.  At one of the stores, I found these for $8!

 They are magnets!  Magnets!  Plus, they were only $8!!!  My mind is reeling with ideas on how to use them, so many that I can't even narrow them down.  They would work great under the document camera.  There are enough for small group work with tiles on cookie trays.  They would work on the whiteboard....!!!!!  I can't decide!  Any ideas?
When I got them home, I realized that they came with decimal points!  Plus, some weird dollar amounts from $100 to $100,000.  Where did they come from?  My sister-in-law and I came up with a couple possibilities, but my favorite one is that they came from some backroom bookie!  What were they used for in their previous life?