Monday, May 12, 2008

Seattle vacation

Well we got back Saturday evening from our Seattle trip. Ben had some work classes in Seattle and we decided to tag along. It worked out well because it was grading period so Alicia didn't miss any school!
We had a great time. I had been so afraid of rain but it was just fine while we were there. Wednesday we left around 4 after Ben got home from work. We got to our hotel around 8:30. This hotel was NICE. I mean the kind of nice that made me feel a bit uncomfortable. Ben felt fine but he was wearing business clothes and leaving early. I on the other hand had kids I brought through the lobby with a stroller and sack lunches. :) There just were not that many kids in this hotel. But it was very nice! Our room was on the water. We looked out our windows and saw cruise ships dock right next door! This picture is from our window.

It was so fun to see all the boats and was just beautiful at night with all the city lights. Thursday morning we walked FOREVER to get to a bus that took us to the Woodland ZOO. We hadn't slept real well the night before so almost immediately after we got there Alicia was asking when we were going back for a nap! We only stayed about 1.5 hours before we left! Partly because I was bone cold and then the kids were just wiped out. It didn't feel too bad leaving because we got in free with our Portland Zoo membership. It is a very nice zoo and I would like to go back someday. They have a lot of room there, seems much bigger then our zoo. So we headed back to our hotel room and took a nice nap and when Ben got back from his classes and we headed out to the Mariners game. We took a bus there and the front desk failed to mention this bus stopped running at 7:00 pm. We did not find this out to later. Anyway the game was pretty much a bust. They lost 0-5. BUT there was a good fight that put some life back into the crowd for about 15 minutes.

The kids liked eating but I am not sure they will be asking for a baseball game soon. So we left at the 7th inning and headed to our bus stop, only to see that they don't actually run that late. So we hailed a cab. This was my first cab ride ever. It was so nice. We were back to our room within minutes and we were unsure why we hadn't taken a cab there. Friday morning I decided on another cab to take us to the Pacific Science Center. We got into this free as well from our OMSI membership! The kids had a great time here. The butterfly exhibit they have is AMAZING. I could have spent hours in there. When we got hungry we headed outside and ate the sack lunches I had packed. then we took a monorail to the Seattle shopping area and walked down to the aquarium. This was the first time I had to pay to get in to an attraction and I wasn't too happy. But Alicia really wanted to go. Now if you have never been to an aquarium or a zoo you may think this place was great. It is nice but the kids had JUST seen starfish at the Pacific Science Center and can see seals and sea lions at the zoo so I found it to be a waste of money. It costs $15.00 for adults and $10.00 for kids. I think it is a tad overpriced. It did have a large felt board with all kind off sea life that the kids really enjoyed. We then headed back to our room on the free 99 bus line. When Ben got back we went to dinner with his boss and his family at the Cheesecake Factory. YUMMY. Then we went back to our room for a good nights rest. Saturday we we to the Pikes Place Market with Ben. Got some treats for the road and were off by 11. I think the market was getting ready to be swamped for Mothers Day. Such beautiful tulips to buy a mother! I saw one daddy with his kids picking out a blueberry plant for mommy.
Overall it was a nice trip. We traveled by cab, bus and monorail so the kids loved that. We did a lot for free which was very nice. And our hotel was very lovely. The kids loved sleeping with us and I think that may have been Alicia's favorite part of the whole trip. Ethan really liked watching the boats and the planes that fly right overhead. I liked being away.

1 comment:

God Made Playdough said...

What?! You were only 30 minutes away?!!!!!