Seattle WA trip!

Well, business. I mean really, coincidentally, John's work took him to Seattle and so did mine. At the same time! Heck, we even stayed in the same hotel! Was gone July 24-29. Just got back yesterday (Friday). I had a blast. Really. It was such a great week! So I guess I'll start with the beginning :) Got up at 5:45AM on Sunday (the day we left). Easy for me, I'm usually up at 6 daily anyways. It was so easy. Got Jude up, fed, dressed, threw in car, drove to airport. Stood in line, for what seemed like hours, (45 mins), then ran to catch our plane. Literally ran, the last ones on. A nice couple gave up their seats next to eachother so that John and I (and Jude) could all be close together. I was so worried about Jude. He was screaming at that point. Feed him and he was actually out within 10 minutes. Took off, no peep out of him! He is the best baby ever. We read books, talked, ate some plane crackers, and boom, we're in Vegas. Then repeat all that and boom, we're in Seattle. He was amazing. Everyone on the flight thought so also!

Landed! So happy to have his own seat.

Don't be mistaken, he will only do this on plane!

Enjoying licking a cookie.

On way to airport! Had a smile on his face the ENTIRE trip.

So we're not the best at airports, and John was fairly new to searching for ramps and elevators with strollers. But we managed and found the rent-a-car place. Jumped in our sporty Dodge Avenger or something like that :)

Small, but we managed to fit everything in with no problems! Off to our hotel!

Thrilled to be in Seattle!

So we checked in easy and made it to our room! We either got really lucky or something. We got a corner room so there were actually two rooms. You walk into an "office" type area with desk, couch, and pack n play for Jude. A few friends told me to call ahead and see if they provided cribs. They did! It was a huge, nice pack n play. One less thing to cart around! Very nice!! Walk down a short hallway to the bathroom and door which led to our room. Soooo, as much as I love Jude, I just sleep better not hearing him all night cause I'd stay up staring at him thinking something wrong. So that was such a nice surprise! I'm obsessed with King size beds also. It was so nice.

So much fun in a big bed!

I mean seriously, the cutest thing ever...!

So anyways, our objective was to do everything we could because that was our only day we'd get to explore together at least. John's work was a bit more demanding than mine...As for Jude. I didn't know what to do other than keep him up for 2 hours so that he'd be on "Seattle time." He was pretty mad and crabby. He managed to do okay. We took a trip to the farmers market where they throw the fish. Eh, not impressed. Then we jumped on the monorail and went to the space needle. Very pretty view. Jude was just not having it at that time. Poor kid. Anyways here we are!

Space Needle!
Jude's first monorail trip. Pretty sure he's staring at the wheels of the stroller....
Right I forgot, he somehow managed to fall asleep walking with all the commotion. And I would like to add this is the best stroller ever. It's my upscale umbrella stroller. Or should I say banana stroller? Anyways, it has a basket and cupholder that normal umbrella strollers don't come with :)

Well sadly, we were only up there for a bit. Maybe 20-30 minutes. So we paid a dollar a minute to be there. Worth it though, check out what we saw!

John took most of these, nice job John.

Jude enjoyed the view also.

There we are staying! Can you see! Ha.

Stupid camera, need new one. Anyways, he's so darn cute.

So then we went back to our room, got Jude ready for bed, and ate dinner. All around 8pm. 10 "our time." This night was a bit rough. Jude did get up at 3 am, cried, then I gave in because I didn't want to wake anyone else. He went back to bed about an hour later and slept until 6 am. Not bad. Then Jude and I were on our own the rest of our trip. Sad to do it without John but our jobs are demanding. Here's a little bit of what Jude and I did.


He's SO cute in fall clothes! Had to buy some for this weather!

Yep, horrible mother reward! I actually brought his tylenol bottle b/c he loves to play with it. No joke, hours of entertainment. I gave in and brought it...go ahead judge :)

Still my favorite little jacket set. So darn cute. I may need this in a bigger size. He's so cute in it!

Yep there are numerous pictures of my child playing with the stroller wheels. Sigh. I know. At first I would Lysol them off, then his hands, etc. Well, here's the thing, I was going through a bag of wipes A DAY doing this. Judge again, but he LOVES and is obsessive with wheels and it's pure entertainment for minutes, even hours sometimes. I'm not going to lie, I usually wipe his off, but don't always remember. But...building up immunity right? I remember when I meet up with my Wentzville group once. A mom let her baby chew on his shoe. I thought, "Oh that's gross I'll never do that, yada yada." Here I am. I would totally let Jude chew on his shoes, if he wanted and wore them :)

Okay anyways, back to the trip...We went over the "Floating Bridge" the first night for dinner. Apparently, Bill Gates has a house here with sand flown in from Hawaii....or something outlandish like that. Here it is and Jude, once again, playing with that tylenol bottle.

He actually took about an hour long nap (it was around 6 pm) so John and I enjoyed a date night. Went to a great Italian restaurant like Maggianos here. Oh yea, Jude was in the corner no worries. He did manage to wake up, right when the entre came :)

Guess I need to do more research. Not sure why it's called the Floating Bridge.

Second night we went to a brewery. Like Trailhead but worse. Ha. Then explored the baseball and football fields.

Just hanging out in the lounge. We did this quite a bit in the mornings to get out of the room.


John loves this picture. Loves his eyes here. I mean yea, anyone who looks like me is going to have awesome eyes. Ha.

So then on Wednesday we meet up with my friend from Canada. My cousin Matt recommended going to the BainBridge Ferry. So we took the small hike there and did that. Great views! We found a cute little restaurant for lunch where I paid $11.00 for a sandwich then went to a park to let the kids play. Abby is a doll!

I did love Seattle.

After putting up a fight, he gave in and took a cat nap on the ferry.

Seattle from ferry view.

So mad he wasn't in his bed napping.

Both a little tired.

Here we are! Abby and Rachel!

The cuties!

See!! My child doesn't like "toys"...prefers other things :)

They had so much fun!

Had a beer to toast another friends pregnancy ;)

So let me tell you, Seattle is all hills. Down and up! We managed but I did have shin splints after pushing Jude all day. Jude LOVED Seattle. NO JOKE. If anything we would at least go for a walk once a day (more like 2-3 times though). He would just sit there, watch the cars, listen to the loud city, and people stopped me multiple times to talk to him say how he's smiling at them. He LOVED it. Most everyone loved him there :0 We'd walk to Walgreen's daily to get lunch that consisted of Diet Coke and a fun size pack of butterfingers and a guy stopped us and said "He's the cutest baby I've ever seen." I said "Thanks!" then under my breath "please don't follow us and kill us." Ha. No, no, I felt totally safe the whole time! One day I was just skipping along and noticed a beautiful fountain. We crossed the street and was going to have a mini-picnic and watch the fountain while we eat our snacks. Well, we got there and there was a homeless guy that had cardboard boxes surrounding his suitcase. He was going through the trashcan and happened to find a starbucks drink (by the way there is a Starbucks on EVERY corner), well after a minute inspection, he proceeded to drink the remains, and this is when I told Jude we'd eat our snack back at our room and simple did a loop around the fountain :)

Other than that, I think we got really lucky. It rained one day for a bit but that was it. 70's breezy and sunny. Perfect. Went to lunch with my cousin Matt and this is where the one bad thing happened :( Lost my camera. I know what you're thinking "but all these pictures!" Odd, that morning, our hotel's internet was down. What was I going to do while Jude napped?! I downloaded every picture, thank goodness! So that's why I have them all. Lost it on the last day. I'm sorta going crazy! How am I going to do updates and take pictures. I may seriously go buy a disposable one. I don't know if I can live without a camera. It's like water to me really. I'm pretty upset but better that than Jude or my phone I guess :( I wonder if I complain enough to John he'll give in. Sigh. Crap me. Oh also, all that fresh air, Jude was a great napper there. In all the trip was great! So relaxing, great to do stuff on our time, and whatever we wanted. Hoping my boss takes me there soon again!

Cheers.

Your Favorite Family of Four.