Seattle

Winter break was travel time for us. We went to both Seattle and San Diego. It was a bit of a challenge, but, overall, we're glad we did it, we had fun, and we were very glad to be back home.

First, we went to Seattle for four days. Because we were only there for four days, we really had to suck the marrow out of each and every day. Luckily, Natalie and Jacob helped us in that regard by getting up at 5am. To be fair, that's 7am Texas time, so they were actually sleeping late! 

But, um, the sun wasn't rising in Seattle until 8:30am - we were actually in Seattle for the shortest day of the year. So that was challenging. I just gave up on trying to keep the kids quiet in the hotel room in the morning. I'm sure karma will pay me back for this somehow, someday.

Here's Jacob napping on the plane to Seattle. So sweet, no?

Jacob was actually pretty challenging on this flight. But the real change has come with Natalie. She's now gotten to the point where she'll watch her two favorite movies (Totoro  and Big Bird Goes to Japan), color, eat some snacks, and be largely pretty easy to manage. Hooray!

Seattle was actually recovering from some overnight snow when we arrived. The roads were wet, but clear. And the snow was well on its way to melting. In fact, our local friends had made a snowman that morning and it had melted in an, um, totally hilarious way. Mother Nature does have a sense of humor, after all!

We were so happy to spend time with our good friends - we went to their favorite sushi place (Mike and I loved it; Natalie was unswayed, despite the example of their kids eating sushi. I guess I should be glad she's not a follower?), and then we came back for an afternoon of fun in their house.

Princess clothes: located.

The next morning, we were up and at 'em early (see above). We met SYL and Kris for a yummy brunch (Mike actually declared that this was his favorite meal in Seattle). Next up: the Market (totally touristy, but somehow important for me to show to Natalie).

Girl + tiny donut = true luv.

On the walk back from the market (because our hotel was supremely well-located - and friendly, too!), we passed a fancy outdoor goods store. They had tents on display in the window. Natalie wanted to go in. And I don't just mean into the store....

Then, Mike and the kids went back to take naps and SYL and I headed off on a serious adventure. We went to tour the Theo Chocolate factory! It was awesome! And, truth be told, a little bit of sensory overload. But mostly awesome.

Of course, no trip to Fremont is complete with a cruise by the troll:

We spent the misty twilight hour at the dog park with SYL and her new addition. Natalie was a little afraid at first, but then she really got into it. SYL then ran her beast home, and Mike and the kids and I hit up an old favorite. And then we all met for dinner at the yummy Chinese restaurant of yore. Natalie, while smitten with SYL, was being a bit tough to entertain. So she started coloring. And then she whipped out this and knocked our socks off!

Go, Big Girl!

The next morning, we had another brunch with good friends. We scheduled this one at one of our old faves, too. The big appeal of this place is the breakfast bar. I totally thought Natalie would go wild with all the potential toppings - but all she wanted was strawberries. Silly girl!

In the afternoon, it was time for something we'd been promising Natalie for months: a ferry ride! 

Let's just say Natalie was all in!

Jacob was less sure . . . .

We rode the ferry to meet up with some of my Summer Mothers friends. This may have been the highlight of my trip! It was so nice to finally meet in person some of my closest virtual friends! Here are all the kids (plus some younger siblings) together at the Bainbridge Kidimu:

 Here are a few more pictures of Natalie and Jacob at the museum:

And after the kids played, the moms got to play, too!

 We all went to dinner afterwards. Here's a shot of the moms:

Did the kids get along? Heck yes! This is a blurry picture, but here they are dancing together after dinner. So sweet.

Our last day in Seattle, we met some old grad school friends for breakfast. Then we met Jen Em at the fancy cafe at her work. We were impressed!

Although it had poured buckets during lunch, the afternoon was sunny and clear. It was time to go to a park! Of course, because we lived in Seattle pre-kids, I had no idea about the nearest park, potty, etc. It's funny how the way in which you know the geography of a city really changes. Anyway, quick pass by the hotel for warmer clothes and to call some friends, we Googled up a playground, and off we went!

Requisite shot of the Seattle skyline:

 Photobomb!

Lovely photo of us taken by a kind and talented stranger:

There's a lot that's technically wrong with the picture below. And yet I love it. I feel like it captures Seattle on cold, sunny winter day. You can almost feel the wind and smell the sea. It has a very Nordic vibe, I think - but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Winter trees. 

The same friends that welcomed us to Seattle bid us goodbye at dinner at our favorite Thai place. 

(picture is of play time at the park, not dinner itself - although dinner [and the cupcake dessert] was appropriately chaotic)

We had a wonderful time in Seattle. We'd love to go back really soon - ideally, making it a family trip we take every so often. It was a little bittersweet to be back - Seattle truly is a lovely city and we love so much of what the city has to offer. But the city has changed so much (Ballard?! Interbay?! What the heck is going on there? And no more ride-free area?). And we've changed, too. Grudgingly, there's a lot to like about where we are in our lives in Texas right now. But I think that there's a part of me that will always measure anywhere we live against Seattle. And, well, that's a tough standard!

Playing Catch-up

I'm behind again. My goal in this post is to get the "I'm five months old" pictures up before next week's six-month milestone.

Things have been going well here. The siblings continue to do reasonably well together. I expect this to last exactly one more nanosecond.

In other news, motherhood remains exhausting:

But awesome:

 

Here's Natalie helping Mike make naan:

And here's Jacob up on campus for his liquid lunch.

It's been so long on the blog that we need to back up to Natalie's end-of-year party in her classroom. I wasn't there, but Mike took these pics.

It looks like a good time was had by all!


Also, here are some very belated pics of a dinner party that Mike and Natalie attended while I was in San Francisco with Jacob. Natalie initiated the group hug!

Mike and Jacob, just kicking back on the couch:

Our Fourth was very sweet and low-key. We had a few friends over, grilled, let the kids do their thing, etc. I'm not exactly sure what "their thing" was, but it seemed to involve ride-sharing and parading.

The other families left to go downtown for the fireworks; we put the kids to bed and watched Top Chef from five months ago. We're party animals, I tell you.

We've also been engaged in (what feels like) a massive room-shuffling project. Natalie's room became our new office / guest bedroom, the old office became Natalie's new room, and the guest room became Jacob's new room. We're only, uh, six months late on all of this! Anyway, more detailed pictures to follow once we put the finishing touches on each room, but here is a nice picture of Natalie and my friend Jen Em hanging the butterfly decals on Natalie's wall, plus a shot of Natalie's butterfly sheets. Any guesses as to the theme of Natalie's room? Hah. Major thanks to Jen for helping out with this (and to Meh for helping assemble the Big Girl Bed when she was in town in May).

When Jen was in town, we also went to see the cows. Our tax dollars at work! (We've been having a cool spell here, so it was considerably cooler than the last time I was at the cattle drive.)

And then we went to the farmer's market. And I bought some eggplant. And then I came home and took an arty picture of the eggplant. You're welcome.

Here are some slightly less arty pictures of blackberries and tomatoes from my garden.

Speaking of arty pursuits, I recently finished sewing Natalie a pool robe. I cut the pattern pieces from towels - this was kind of a fun project. It was also my first time working with bias tape. A little tricky for one's third sewing project ever. 'Tis far from good, but from far away, it's good!

And here's Natalie doing her thing at swim class:

In other milestones, Jacob's been trying a little food: cereal, sweet potatoes, bananas, and applesauce. His general reaction is to look something between angry and puzzled when you put the food in his mouth, and then to quickly express his displeasure that more isn't forthcoming quickly enough. Babies!

Natalie will be four (FOUR!!!) later this month, but sometimes she looks, like, seven to me:

The princess butterfly fairy, she is not pleased:

Although snack can fix many woes:

Natalie loves to play! Here she is playing music show, restaurant ( be she may actually be nursing her baby there - way to multitask, girlfriend!), and teacher.

Here's the cat - complete with ears and whiskers - that Natalie drew the other day:

Here are a few Jacob pictures. Jacob is such a sweet baby.

And here are the promised five-months pictures. Note the outfit change mid-photo shoot. We're keepin' it real.

Next post - all the videos from this last month. Coming soon!