End of Summer Seattle Trip

We decided to go on a short, end of the summer, little getaway to Seattle. We went to an early sacrament meeting and then headed for Kent, WA. We stayed at the Holiday Inn there. I had imagined in my head exactly what would happen: we would arrive at the hotel and eat a nice dinner at the hotel, go swimming with the kids, put them to bed early, and stay up and play sequence for a couple hours. Did it go that way? No, of course not. Things very rarely go the way I plan them out to be. Jace acted like a circus performer at dinner, the pool ended up being outside with the rain, and the kids would NOT go to sleep. They were exhausted but couldn't sleep - too much excitement. We finally ended up taking them on a drive at 11:00 that night. The kids were out in 5 minutes and Craig and I enjoyed the scenic views of Seattle by night -very spectacular. Why had we not thought of this earlier? Actually I think Craig mentioned it but I was too busy trying to get everyone to be quiet while we sat in the dark waiting for Brooke to fall asleep which obviously didn't end up working.

The next day was much better. We started it off with a hot breakfast at the hotel then we headed to Alki Beach, WA. It was raining again which was frustrating because I did check the weather first and it was suppose to be clear. Go figure. The weather cleared up a little by the time we got there and the kids had a blast running around on the beach. Daddy "tried" teaching Jace how to skip rocks into the Puget Sound. He couldn't get them to skip like daddy but still had lots of fun throwing them into the water. After about 30 min. it started down pouring on us. We ran for the car as fast as we could but we ended up drenched. Positive point is that we wanted a Seattle experience and we got one. It cleared up again and the kids played at this really cute park for a while. They loved driving the boat. They didn't like having to take turns. Craig and Jace also reenacted the Titanic scene at the front of the boat. Next, we drove back into Seattle and headed for the waterfront because that is where the amazing restaurant The Crab Pot resides. We love watching Man vs. Food on the travel channel and this was one of the places he had visited. It looked so fun and we just had to try it out. We got one of their Sea Feasts so they cooked up some crab, mussels, clams, shrimp, potatoes, corn on the cob, and sausage and brought it to us in a huge pot with lots of spices and seasoning on top. The kids loved that we all had matching bibs and got to use "little hammers" to pound our food with. Side note, Jace with a mallet is not a good idea. After dinner we shared a large double scoop ice cream with a home made waffle cone, let them ride the carousel, and got a large blue cotton candy to share. We all had a blast. I think that was first time they had cotton candy and they were in sugar heaven. They just kept saying " more blue stuff please". We walked along the waterfront for a bit and put some quarters in the telescope for Jace so he could look at the boats.

Before we headed home we drove out to the Deseret Book in Bellevue and stalked up on churchy movies for Sunday afternoons. The drive is so beautiful. You pass over a gigantic bridge and go through Mercer Island to get to the Seattle Temple. The houses on Mercer Island are HUGE! That's where Bill Gate's main home resides. After Deseret Book we took off for home. What a wonderful day! The kids were asleep within 15 minutes so Craig and I were able to enjoy some cruisin' music, road trip corn nuts and some much needed adult conversation. We all had a great little mini labor day vacation. Seattle has a rockin' vibe to it. We will be back again! Hopefully for a Mariners game.

ALKI BEACH, WA

Watching the puget sound waves roll in.

My angel Brooke Michelle.

My smarty pants Jaceroo.

Skipping rocks.

Mommy me.

Brooke flying high on mommies shoulders.

Craig

Brotherly luvs . . . luvs are hugs at our house.

Fighting over the boat.


THE CRAB POT: Seattle, WA

"It's raining it's pouring" - it's Seattle.

Both kids were intrigued by the fisherman statue while waiting for our table.

The waiter took our picture. It turned out a little fuzzy but we were all excited and ready with our mallets.

Yum Yum Sea Feast!