Seattle.

We headed out last week for a quickish trip to Seattle. We took Ava and Jack and planned for some serious touristing so sweet Jem got left behind.

Jack listened to a lot of books on tape and Ava read the Rebecca books and they are both blessedly old enough to travel with and actually enjoy! No "when will we get there" or us having to be quiet so they can sleep. Just lots of funny stuff overheard from the back seat. We stopped in North Bend for lunch and some shopping and then got to our hotel with plenty of time for the pool before dinner. Side note here: we stayed in the best hotel we've had (and we've had a lot in Seattle!). Not the fanciest but perfect for kids! All suites (I'll do pretty much anything not to sleep with my kids!) that open into a five-story atrium, HUGE free breakfasts (made to order omelets, french toast, pancakes, hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, cereals, fruit, breads, drinks, you name it!), easy parking, great pool. All around awesome hotel.

After the swim, we headed to downtown Seattle.

First stop (after Red Robin of course): The Mariners.

Jack waved at Ichiro for a long time and when he got no response, he finally said, "that's okay--he's busy working."

So darn handsome.

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Oh yeah. A funny thing happened that night. At 1:30 am the fire alarm went off. Ed jumped out of bed and started pounding at any and all devices that could make that sound--the clock, the phone, his phone--then an automated voice hollered through the room that is was a fire alarm and would we please head outside.
In the pouring, freezing, Seattle rain.
I, of course, took the time to get dressed, get my money, and brush my teeth (priorities, huh?) and then we gathered with 200 pajama-clad strangers in the parking lot till we were let back in. There was a large number of high school kids in our midst so we have a good guess as to what happened. Also, I got a serious case of the giggles in the parking lot and literally could not stop, Ava did not think it was so funny:

But we all got tucked back in, safe and sound, and were immensely grateful we did not have a baby with us! Nothing like having to get your baby to sleep in a hotel in the middle of the night.
And the next day, contrary to the weather forecast, was sunny and beautiful!

Twins.

Heading to the zoo. Ava all set with a hot chocolate and banana to go.

Jack said, "you better hurry and eat that banana or the monkey's gonna take it from you!"

I love these two.

They did lots of hand-holding and hollering, "look at this! Come over here. Can you see?" Always looking out for each other--sort of makes our job easier.

Freckles.

We saw lions, and tigers, and bears. And, in fact, we got to see a bear rip through a campsite to show us what happens if you don't properly bear-proof your food.

Guess who we ran into at the zoo? My aunt Julie! From Coeur d'Alene. So funny.

Mmm, I love 'em.

After the zoo, we headed to the wharf for a late lunch and a bit of wandering.

Oh hey, I was there too!

Jack chowed a hot dog while the rest of us had fish and chips and clam chowder (in a bread bowl). Yum. And eating on the water in the sunshine? Double yum.

We zipped back to the hotel for another swim (for Ed and the kids) and 45 minutes of magazine reading for me.

After free appetizers at the hotel, we headed back downtown for dinner at the Crab Pot--a place Ed has been wanting to go for a long time now.

The place was packed so the kids had a ride on the carousel while we waited for a table.

Ta Da!

Worth the wait.

Ed and Jack chowed, chowed the seafood. Ed sticks to crab, Jack loved the clams, Ava and I got stuck with the shrimp and corn on the cob. We picked up a sweet treat and went back to the hotel. The next morning, after another HUGE breakfast (and some chocolate-dipped old fashioned doughnuts to go), we joined the throngs at IKEA.

Oh yes, and it was our anniversary. And, if you can spend hours and hours at IKEA with your kids and millions of other people hemming and hawing and then finally loading up all your purchases (which generally takes a good 45 minutes) and still like each other in the end, then you must be doing something right.

The kids had some chocolate milk and a cup o' meatballs (something about this menu item pleases me immensely) while they waited for us to load.

And so we spent the rest of our anniversary with these two monkeys, listening to greatest hits from the 80's on Sirius, eating sour patch kids and chocolate almonds, and driving home to pick up our sweet Jem. And a little note here about Jem. We had a lot of fun without her and at one point, Jack, who had been jabbering nonstop, took a break to say, "aren't you glad Jemma's not here so we can have some peace and quiet?" But when we turned for home, everybody was missing her and there was lots of fighting about who would hug her first! And when we pulled into my mom's driveway, she was standing at the glass door yelling at us and about flew off the deck to hug us. And she was giggling nonstop, and saying everybody's name, and rubbing our back and arms and legs and literally shivering with joy.

Just the sort of welcome back you want!