Overnight Trip

For our 9th anniversary, Brad and I decided to play a cruel trick on ourselves... to take the kids on a road trip to Seattle. The day side portion was awesome, however, the nights, not so good.

Thursday morning we left for Seattle for our 3 day, 2 night adventure. We did really well, missing the morning traffic. Then again we were going the opposite direction of where people really wanted to be. The first hour was uneventful. We're still in the process of potty training Amelia, so we made a pit stop near Centralia to use the potty. She did awesome at the rest stop. All was great until we got to I-5 and I-405. Great, lots of traffic. I had forgotten how awful traffic was in Seattle. Bumper to bumper traffic at 12 pm! We finally got to our hotel at 1pm, unpacked, used the potty and took a nap. Then it was on to see our cousins, Jennifer, Eli, Sophie and Gabriel. Traffic sucked. Thank goodness for those HOV lanes. We cruised past a lot of the traffic, not all of it, but a good portion of it. It took us 50 minutes to get from Redmond to Renton, which is normally a 20 minute drive.

Amelia had a blast playing in the pool with Sophie. Even Elaina got in the water.



Sophie & Amelia both wearing Ariel swimsuits!


Drying off in the sun.


Eli, Elaina, Brad and Jennifer


Gabriel




Dinner was great - nothing beats a BBQ! Then it was time to go home. Amelia said she didn't want to go home with us and would rather stay at Sophie's house. Awww!

Let the fun begin. Elaina did not like sleeping in the crib/pack and play. All night long she would wake up in crying fits. I ended up sleeping part of the night sitting up in a chair with Elaina sleeping on my chest. Brad also took a shot at it, pacing up and down before she finally zonked out and slept in the PNP.

Weary and bleary eyed, we woke Friday morning and got ready to head in to Seattle. Our first stop, Seattle Center. We took the kids for their first ride on the monorail, a short jaunt to Westlake Center. From there we headed down to Pike Place Market. We stopped at the Flying Fish, but since Amelia didn't like the smell ("What's that smell?" with an upturned face), we kept walking. We made it down to the waterfront. We stopped at the Seattle Aquarium to look at the fish tank. Then we continued to walk towards Bell St. pier, or Pier 66. There was a big cruise ship docked there... Celebrity Infinity. Oh, how we longed to be boarding that ship. (Brad and I went on a cruise to Alaska and Hawaii on that ship!) After gazing and longing to be on the ship, we headed back up to Pike Place and back to Westlake Center. We stopped briefly to grab some lunch we packed (thanks Fairfield Marriott!) and then hitched a ride back to Seattle Center on the Monorail.



Waiting to ride the Monorail.


Celebrity Infinity


Daddy and Amelia (and a bird in the distance)


Once back at Seattle Center, we walked down to the International Fountain. It was too cold to go playing in it, but we managed to at least get our feet wet! Then it was on to the Space Needle. We had a wonder quick ride to the top and we walked around the top a couple of times before we got tired. Amelia picked out a great souvenier, a Space Needle t-shirt!







At the top of the Space Needle.




Now the girls were tired, so we headed back to the car and they quickly nodded off. Our next stop, UW campus. My, my, that campus has changed. There are so many new buildings, I couldn't believe it. The charm has kind of gone out of the campus. There are so many different facades that it doesn't look like a unified campus.

We made it back to home base around 3:30 pm. We decided to have an early dinner so we could go swimming afterwards. Amelia enjoyed swimming in the pool with Daddy. And Elaina had a blast with Mommy. Too bad the swimming didn't tire Elaina completely, because it was another up-all-night night.

We eventually used the recycle bin as a lid to the trash can. Someone had a poopy diaper, so we stacked the cans on top of each other. Worked like a charm.




Swimming with Daddy.








Saturday we met my friend Sam and his Dad, Bob, for lunch at Red Robin in Renton. That was fun. Chatting it up with old friends is always good. :) Then it was on our way back home. A fast trip, but I am glad to be home... away from the horrible Seattle traffic.