Mini-Vacation to Seattle

A very well deserved vacation for Kyle. Working a crazy 26 straight days, or something ridiculous like that ... a 4-day weekend was well deserved and very well needed. What did we do? We headed up to Seattle, WA for a mini vacation. We were total tourists and dived into just about as many touristy traps as you could imagine. Actually, we went to as many places as our littlest A would allow us to travel. And, we had a blast!

First we headed to Boeings Museum of Flight. Wonderful attraction. We had already visited the Boeing Factory in Everett, WA so we knew we were in for some fun. Boeing did a great job and had a wonderful display of planes. Little chef fell asleep almost immediately so we were able to tour around at our leisure with a sleeping baby in the stroller.



Once Ms. A woke up from her nap, we headed to the interactive Kids Flight area for some hands-on fun. Here's a picture of the Iron Chef on a hand-glider video game and our littlest A enjoying "flying" her own plane.





How about a ride on a hot air balloon?





Or a posed picture of the Iron Chef and one of the airplanes. My memory is drawing a blank on the significance of this plane.

We ventured to downtown Seattle after the museum, taking advantage of the beautiful blue sky, we headed to the Space Needle for a visual tour of the city. You could see Mt. Rainier in the background a view of downtown. Ms. A wasn't too fond of being held and was wanting to run around so our visit up to the top of the city was short and sweet.







Ever been to Pikes Market? The market where you buy incredibly fresh fruit, wonderfully smelling flowers and see fish getting thrown in front of your face? Okay, so we didn't end up seeing the fish getting thrown in the air this time, but the Public Market in Seattle is definitely a place to visit and add to your list if you've never been. We headed there to find a nice local restaurant for dinner. The hostess must have looked at us like we were crazy and she thought little A was going to cause a ruckus at the restaurant because they stuck us in the back corner. Literally. Right near the kitchen and in a corner. However, we had a beautiful view of the water and Alki Beach. The iron chef and I didn't complain one bit. We had crab cakes, clam chowder and salad topped with fresh shrimp for dinner. Yum-O! Can't get any better than a little fresh seafood.









We spent the night at Lake Sammammish with some friends and then headed to Tacoma the next day for an outing at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium for the rest of Saturday. I must add that my turquoise dress was a last minute purchase from TJ Maxx. Love love love that store. Clearance rack for $15 and capris fit nicely underneath. Summer dresses are my favorite!



Here's a picture of the Iron Chef and his sous chef trying to catch a Budgy Buddy on their stick full of bird food. Needless to say, the birds didn't want to munch on our stick and preferred their bird houses. Thank goodness!





Our littlest had her first experience boating. Her first overnight trip on a yacht (thank you Bass') and her first time in a life jacket. She loved it, can't you tell?



Sunday morning we spent the day on the boat and then headed back up to Seattle to enjoy a baseball game. We watched the Mariner's at Safeco Field. The stadium was packed! We splurged and spent the extra money on tickets in the reserved Wells Fargo Terrace Club and it was worth every penny. We had room for Ms. A to run around, clean bathrooms, carpeted halls, no lines for food and drinks, cushioned seats and a canopy above our heads. We went to the game with our good 'ole friends from Kennewick.

Ms. A almost had her claim to fame on the camera as well. The camera crew was walking around during the break times to put kids faces on the big screen. Maybe on tv as well? Not sure. The camera crew had the camera pointing at Ms. A for about a minute ... but she wouldn't smile! Nothing. She didn't wave, smile, clap. Nothing. So, she missed out. We met a few of the couples sitting in front of us and they were all cheering her on because they wanted her to be on the camera as well. Better luck next time. Maybe it was the navy & white polka dot dress (Mariners colors are blue/green) and navy bow that was in her hair that made her look cute and festive for the game? Maybe they saw her laughing and smiling earlier and thought, we have to put her on camera? Maybe it's just because she's so stinkin' cute! ;) (I'm not biased at all).





After a long three days of sight seeing, missed naps, sleeping in two strange places, and lots of action. Our cupcake was tired. She was just plain exhausted. It wasn't but 4 minutes into our car ride back home and she fell asleep.



We're back safe and sound. Now, on to a busy couple of weeks. YEAH for mini vacations to Seattle. We're hoping to be able to do a few more trips like this throughout the upcoming months because we had so much fun.