I can't even process how much fun I had on my trip to Seattle with Anissa. I don't think I have laughed so hard in a very long time nor drank so much coffee in one weekend. Never mind if it was decaf or not. Jillian and I packed up and headed to the airport early Friday morning. The older three kids wanted to see us off and that was nice. Mike dropped me at the curb and I lugged my bag to the checkout praying and hoping it wasn't overweight...it wasn't. Then we went off through security without a hitch and did the hurry up and wait for two hours. My plane was delayed a bit so we waited a long time and we were at the lovely small Burbank airport so there is NOTHING to do there while you wait. Jilly crawled on the floor and got nasty dirty but I needed to wear her out! Finally we boarded and I was lucky enough to get an extra empty seat. She spent the flight looking out the window and sleeping and was an absolute dream. For the record Alaska Airlines moves up another notch on my good list for being very acommodating to a nursing baby. We landed on time and made our way down to baggage to meet up with Anissa and Addi.
It was so exciting to see them waiting for us! Addi had a big grin (almost as big as Anissa's). Our first round of business was to get transportation to the hotel. A very nice desk lady told us to get a shuttle and so that is what we did and we were tickled that they had car seats provided and everything because the thought of riding them on our laps was scary. We arrived at the Ramada and I got us checked in.
The offered us two rooms with one room for free but we turned it down because we wanted to stay up all night and girl-talk..and knit.
The room was nice, just the right amount of space. The girls crawled around and had fun climbing on our suitcases. They bonded quickly and Jillian was yelling "ADDI! ADDI!" in no time at all. By now we were ready for some good Seattle Seafood was we loaded the babies into their respective K'Tans and strolled into town. Although we felt like we might die from hunger we did NOT want to eat just anything. Finally we found a huge building that claimed to have restaraunts inside. After a short elevator snafu rocketing us out of the building a la Charlie and the Chocolate facotry (not really but almost! It was scary) we found the first of our many eating out locations. Palomino And yes, we took babies there, funny how that sat us off in a remote corner. We both ordered crab cakes and greens on a bed of marscapone polenta and it was A-MA-ZING. The girls shared a bowl of 4 cheese penne but Jillian was still coughing bad at this point and really did not eat. In fact she did not eat at all on Friday. A stop for coffee and then we headed back to the hotel for some rest.
Jillian was on speed or something because that baby would not fall asleep! Or rather she would fall asleep only to wake immediately upon laying down and giggle hysterically. She thought sleeping on the floor was just too cool and exciting. Addi was snoozing blissfully in her scary industrial crib jail (note to Ramada-Upgrade your baby sleeping recpticles please!) Finally Jillian fell asleep next to me in bed and that is where she slept both nights. Both babies slept through the night without a hitch and we were so fortunate about that!
The next morning we woke up with an intense desire for ...coffee. After dressing the babies we headed across the street to the fabulous Top Pot. Honeslty, the best doughnuts you will ever eat. The mochas left nothing to be desired as well. Huge steaming mochas, see picture. Jillian loved their fresh blueberry muffins and I was so happy that she was eating again. We left Top Pot and made our way to a yarn shop we had read about. They were having a moving sale so we wanted to take advantage. So Much Yarn was such a neat little store even if they had never heard of 12" circulars. We browsed, petting yarn and helping Addi avoid the adorable dogs that were tormenting her for kisses. I bought yarn to make a kimono and petal hat for Jilly. Sigh...so much beautiful yarn, the store is appropriately named.
Leaving the yarn shop we strolled down to Pike Place Market. On the way down we needed to stop and nurse the nurslings and a homeless street musician offered us assistance in finding a place to sit. We sat, we nursed, we strolled along. Suddenly the same musician was ahead of us and it was eerie how he had ended up there when he had just been behind us. He asked if he could play us a song to earn money for his breakfast and we were honored to assist him. He sang quite well actually.
Pike's is an adventure. Street musicians, cat whisperers, piano players, crowds of people and fresh fresh food everywhere. We took it all in and so did the babies. Oh, wait...Jillian was asleep. She zonked out and slept for 2 hours in the BabyHawk while we shopped.
We found the mecca (for me) of the entire trip. Kitchen Basics which has the largest selection of Fiestaware (Retired and current) in about 4 states. I made my chocies but we did nto buy so we would not have to lug everything around til the end. More shopping followed, browsing and sightseeing...and coffee.
It was about time to met Berritt and her 4 girls for lunch at Anthony's at Pier 66. Berritt was stuck in traffic so we looked around and enjoyed the sea air. Finally we all sat down to lunch. I had a phenomenal Alder Planked Halibut with Beurre Blanc which is one of my favorite things to eat hands down. Beurre Blanc on anything is amazing. It was so fun to be able to chat and enjoy each other's company over lunch. Of course we had to take pictures of Addi, Jilly and Marisol all together. They were adorable. Finally we were off to purchase the things we had looked at earlier. And drink more coffee. The babies were behaving so well, we were so proud of them. I bought some raspberries and Anissa bought some blackberries which we lugged back to our hotel and polished off for snack. We had arrived back at the hotel at 5pm and we realized that we had been gone since 8:30am. I could not believe the girls were not upset and fussy! What a long day! But they were wonderful and happy and adorable.
Not to be sedentary for too long we packed them back up and went over to the Space Needle. Our original plan was to eat dinner up at the top in the spinning restaurant but the only reservation available was for 9:45. Do people eat that late? Not with babies. We waited in line for about 30 minutes to take the elevator up to the top. That was an experience! I am glad I did as we had never done that when we lived in the Pacific Northwest. We fed the girls some yogurt at the top of the needle and then came back down to buy some gifts for the kids back home. And $8.00 pens. Must satiate Anissa's desire for office supplies. by now it was about 8:30pm and we were so hungry for dinner so we made it back to a pizza place we had passed. But not before Anissa spotted a man on a segway and had to take a picture. Zeek's pizza was so good! We had a salad of greens and cashews and split a Greek Pizza with Kalamata olives that was so very good, Anissa snuck some back to the hotel for midnight snack.
The walk home was idyllic and we saw a horse and carriage and also a glass blower in a shop. We really did not see a lot of children on our trip but we learned from Berritt it was because we were staying in BellTown which is more catered to the yuppie set and their little dogs. Nevertheless it was a really nice area. back at the hotel the babies crashed out pretty easily and we stayed up all night knitting and giggling which might have been my favorite part of the whole trip. Even if morning came far too early.
The morning meant it was back to Top Pot for more doughnuts and Mochas including one doughnut to stash away for the plane ride. Then back to meet out shuttle and head to the airport. We had time to shuffle around the airport and shop some more (interestingly our shopping interests once more leaned towards food). Anissa waited with me at my gate since my flight left sooner. The babies waved goodbye to each other, we hugged and parted. The flight home was nice and uneventful and Jillian was once again a good traveller.
We cannot wait to do this trip again! What a blessing to have such a wonderful friend. Anissa, I am so glad we were able to do this and can't wait til next year, One more year of babies fly free!
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