Madeleine's Bus Adventure

One of the more ambitious items on the summer bucket list is taking Madeleine on a bus downtown. Here's why: we live about 30 miles from downtown with limited public transportation; it's been a hot summer; and I keep getting more pregnant by the day. But, Madeleine loves various forms of transportation (and vehicles in general), so I was bound and determined to make this happen. 

Enough stars aligned last Thursday that we did it. Come along for a look at our adventure! 

Waiting for the bus: 

An hour later, and we were finally downtown. Madeleine was totally mesmerized by all of the vehicles, people, buildings, you name it. I thought she might be a bit shy, but she was actually really excited to say "hi" and wave to anyone who would make eye contact with her and wanted to explore as much as I'd let her. 

We decided to have a morning snack (sugar and cinnamon pretzel treat for our special adventure) while we watched the Monorail.  

On our way out of the shopping center, we stopped to browse and ended up buying a new Pete and Larry book, one of Madeleine's favorite series right now. 

Then we headed back down a bunch of escalators to catch our bus home in the bus tunnel. 

We were definitely approaching nap time by the time we headed home, and I was so grateful that we had two seats for the two (and a half) of us...unlike our ride into town. 

It was the Thursday before Seafair weekend, which means Blue Angels practice and lots of vehicular and marine traffic. The weather was beautiful, and it was fun to catch a glimpse of the Blue Angels as we crossed the 520. Madeleine was rather taken with the "special planes" and quite pleased that they made an appearance over our house this weekend, too. 

Madeleine loved riding on the bus, seeing the other vehicles on the road with us, and telling me when people were getting on and off the bus. 

Clearly, her urban adventure made an impression. 

After well over an hour and a half on our bus, we were let off at the last stop...which is when I learned that the very same route number that we took into town would not take us back to the park and ride where we'd left the car. Thankfully George was able to swing by and shuttle us back to our car, but it wouldn't have been an authentic experience without getting stranded by Seattle's screwy public transportation system. 

I had so much fun with my little girl, and I loved seeing her react to new surroundings. Any inconvenience it caused was totally worth it! 

What adventures are you taking this summer? Are they all going as expected?