Seattle

Dan and I used up some miles and took a long weekend trip to Seattle just the two of us. We definitely missed our boys but we loved sleeping all night! The days seemed forever long because we didn't have to plan around naps or get back for 6pm bed time. We ate whenever we wanted and walked everywhere! The weather was unusually sunny and it didn't rain once. Fair warning, there are no pictures of the boys here.

Friday we got in around 2 and checked in to the hotel. We grabbed lunch at a yummy food truck and walked over to the city center. We started with the EMP.

First Space Needle sighting

Peyton played on this astro turf.

Listening to something about how the fans are the most important part of the game

 After the EMP, we went to the Chihuly museum. They had some beautiful pieces and some we had seen in other displays.

 Next, we went to the top of the Space Needle. It's like a Disneyland line getting up there, with "departure times" etc.

 We bought Camden a little Space Needle Lego set and wandered through Olympic Sculpture park.

 We headed back to town and ate and relaxed for the evening. We couldn't believe we had crossed a ton of our list in half a day. When we don't have to spend 20 minutes getting everyone's shoes on, the time flies!
We slept in the next day and grabbed breakfast on the way to Pikes Place Market. We also bought donuts and snap peas at the market. We had learned the day before that our Thanksgiving Point passes got us in to the Pacific Science Center for free so we headed back to the city center and did that.

There was a cool butterfly room with a giant praying mantis keeping guard

 All through the science center we kept saying "The boys would love this." We went to their special Lego art exhibit and Camden definitely would have been in awe.

Lego replicas of famous paintings

Dan hugging treas with Lego men

 We went to the Seattle Aquarium next and for some reason I have no pictures there but we did buy Wes a darling sea otter. The aquarium was a cool mix of indoor and outdoor but it wasn't huge. So, since we still had half the day left, we walked next door and hopped on a harbor cruise. The weather was perfect and it was kind of fascinating to see all the giant cargo ships being loaded and learning about all the buildings along the coast.

 We stopped for ice cream before dinner and then caught a movie. We were still in our hotel before nine and we hadn't stopped all day!

 We decided to get a little break from down town on Sunday and took the light rail out to University of Washington. It was almost 90 degrees and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We walked about 30 minutes to the arboretum and realized how massive it was. We were not prepared for a full day of hiking so we walked back and decided to canoe instead.

Walla Walla Rd!

Melting at the arboretum

A little better on the canoe

It was beautiful and green

We saw a turtle, crane, and lots of angry geese

 We took the light rail back, wandered around the air conditioned Seattle Art Museum and grabbed more ice cream for the walk back to the hotel.

A sunburned dinner

 We followed dinner up with donuts and reading in bed! On the last day we got yummy baked good for breakfast and added our spit to the gum wall before heading back to the airport.

It was a really fun trip and I'm so glad we could take it. I really can't believe how much we were able to see and do while still being super well rested and enjoying our down time, too. We couldn't wait to get home and see the boys even though they were perfectly content with grandma and were not anxious in the least to go home. Unfortunately every one in the family back home was sick all weekend and out kids picked it up on Monday. Both boys threw up most of the night last night and have been rough today. Camden is currently at the dr and Wes is fussing away in bed. I can't tell what's wrong because he is perfectly contented when I get him out of bed. Oh well, back to reality!