Wrapping Up My Seattle Trip Part 1

I am back home after my flight to O’hare/Chicago and a quick Uber ride. The photos in this post will all be from Wednesday and Thursday and I will post about the rest of my trip in part 2 tomorrow night. 

The picture above and the one below are from Wednesday when we went to Pike Place Market. This is the second time I have been there in my life, but only the first time the real me got to experience it 🙂 With the kids there, my sister and I did not spend as much time shopping as we probably would have if it were just the two of us, but no complaints here as we all had a fun time. My kids got some souvenir tops and I held off on buying anything for myself. As usual, I am not posting pics of my kids to respect the wishes of their Mom. Most of my photos from this trip are of them or of my niece and nephew. 🙂

After the market, we saw the original Starbucks but did not go in as the line was insanely long. However, my daughter and I both were craving some Starbucks. A little later on while my sister, her kids, and my son went to Tully’s to rest, we decided to walk back to the Starbucks location that is around the corner a little ways from the original Starbucks. We found an alley to walk down that turned out to be filled with shops and restaurants. It was so cool. Seattle has so many nooks and crannies to explore! It was busy at the other Starbucks too, but the line was doable so we waited and got our favorite drinks. That location is called 1st Ave Pike Street and I recommend it if you find yourself in the same situation! 

^^Original Starbucks^^

^^1st Ave, Pike Street Location ^^

On the way back to the house, we got stuck in a traffic jam in the heart of the city. My niece started to get fussy, so I took the wheel while my sister attended to her. I put my Chicago driving skills to the task and got us back as quickly and safely as possible in a major traffic back up 😉 Thankfully we brought just enough snacks and my daughter was tossing some of her recently purchased Salt Water Taffy up front to help sustain us 🙂

The next day, we planned to split up. My sister, my daughter and I were going out for some girl time, while my brother-in-law, my son, nephew and niece went to my nephew’s soccer game. The plan was for us all to then meet at their cabin on Hood Canal for a two day stay.

Our girl time started with a trip to a cute little shop called Tickled Pink in Gig Harbor. I bought some souvenir earrings and a ring for only $12. The pics below are of my outfit for this day and I took a selfie while shopping there because I was having so much fun 🙂

^^ I was so excited for some girl time with my sister and daughter 🙂 ^^

Okay.. actually I took two or more selfies at Tickled Pink! haha..

After shopping, it was time to grab some coffee at Starbucks, then we went to a local nail salon for pedicures, sorry about the cropping in the image below 🙂

After grabbing a quick lunch at a place called the Pita Pit, we headed out to the cabin. Unfortunately, shortly after getting there I realized I forgot my cell phone charger and no one had a matching one so I spent a lot of the time there with my phone turned off so I could be sure to have battery when needed for photos. This is why I am posting so much about my trip several days late!

^^ Finally at the Cabin! ^^ 

^^ A Quick Change ^^

Putting on my sweatshirt for a campfire and roasted marshmallows and chocolate (no graham crackers as I am gluten free 🙂

My brother-in-law and my sister have a beautiful cabin with a private dock. The canal is teeming with seals swimming around catching fish. The picture below shows the dock and boat. It is a picture of low tide, if you look closely you can see the water lines on the posts of the dock. At high tide, if I was standing in the water next to the dock, I would be submerged! It was interesting to see the tide roll in! The beach was filled with tiny crabs and clam shells before the tide came. My son actually cut his leg on a sharp clam shell but thankfully it only needed to be cleaned and have a small bandage applied and he was fine. He later went out in the kayak with my daughter and I could hear them laughing and having fun together. 

In the midst of all of this wonderful stuff, I actually started having a little bit of a tough time for a short while there.. because that was such a great moment seeing my kids just having a perfect brother/sister moment.. and I was finally feeling relaxed and away from all the stress of everyday life and dealing with being attacked by people, by our own government, by attitudes within my own family, etc.. That’s when things finally bubble up. I started to cry and my sister was there and I told her I was struggling a little bit at that moment. My kids have been through a lot. They missed out on vacations and a lot of other stuff over the past two years, and money is tight due to divorce costs, the settlement, medical costs, etc.. I just told her that I do feel guilty. No matter how justifiable and right my transition is, I know and fully recognize the cost my kids have had to pay for me to stop lying to the world and be who I truly am. They are amazing kids who support me and love me and deserve the best the world has to offer and instead they have to do without a lot for a time as I bear the brunt of the financial impact of my divorce, my transition, my kids medical costs, and the debt from a marriage that is over. It hurts. It is not fair to them and I am so sorry. Adding to that, they have to witness the cruelty that our current political climate directs at me, their father. THEY DESERVE BETTER. I love them so much and I will always strive to see that the world does not harm them the way it harms me. My sister, who is my strongest supporter in my immediate family, simply said.. “but they are here now.. so that is good.” 

She was right.. and it was that simple. We have weathered the storm. We are cresting the hill and turning a corner. I gathered myself back together before the kids came in and we had a lovely night. Later, we roasted marshmallows by the fire pit on their deck. Then, we did some stargazing and learned some new constellations. It was amazing. 

More tomorrow as I am already over the photo limit and you will already have to click on the last few above to even see them 🙂

I hope this post was not too hard for some to read. I felt it was important to share though. Until tomorrow..

-Ari

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My goal in sharing my transition is to represent transgender people in the positive light that we all deserve. Re-blogs are always okay if they are for this purpose, but if you are a fetish blog or fetish website then I want nothing to do with you and you do not have my permission to use my images.

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