Today’s highlight was a long afternoon nap. Seriously. I love sleep, and between twin babies, working and keeping the house running, there’s never time for those. Today’s nap was made better by an activity filled morning that wore us out. Because of the three hour time difference we woke up fairly early. First on the agenda was the Space Needle. Our hotel is only a few steep blocks away from the Seattle Center, the park area that houses the Space Needle and various other museums and attractions. We got to the Space needle just as it opened, and enjoyed the views from the top before the observation deck became crowded. The views were great! We were exploring a different part of Seattle later in the day, so it was nice to be able to see out over those areas to get our bearings.
Next up for us was a little kayaking on Lake Union. Lake Union is a natural lake just north of downtown Seattle that canals were added to connect it to the sound. Its location makes it a perfect place for a little sightseeing-from the lake you can see downtown Seattle, some of the University, the area of Fremont and of course boats, and houseboats. The houseboat used to film Sleepless in Seattle is rumored to be on the lake, we didn’t see it. We kayaked for an hour or so, and then were tired. I imagine Keith was even more tired since we were in a tandem kayak and I took several opportunities to just sit there and enjoy the view, making him paddle twice as hard. Hehehehe.
Kayaking works up an appetite, and after a quick stop at a funky little park we headed to Fremont to have some grub. Hale’s Ales & Pub was great- it’s a microbrewery that had a brewpub and had a great lunch. Fremont is a really quirky little area of Seattle and we explored it before deciding that it was naptime.
Friday, Late. Very late
We met up with an old college friend of Keith’s, and had a great time. Good food, good conversation and a fun visit to an Irish bar with live music. Tomorrow we’re heading to Canada!
Thursday, 11:43AM Eastern Standard Time, En-route to Seattle
We’re on vacation. Finally. Keith and I normally have fairly minimalist approach to traveling, we pack lightly and spend most of our vacations afoot, exploring the destination. But times are a changing, so for the first time this parental unit is going high-tech for a vacation: we’re loaded with electronics!We decided to bring the laptop (along with several other gadgets), which might not mean much to you except that we’ll try to do one or two blog posts along the way. Currently I’m typing while we’re en route to Seattle. This morning was an early, early start. I don’t know *who* picked the 6AM flight, but that person needs to have his vacation planning privileges revoked. Our first flight was to Detroit, and it was quick and uneventful. The most notable moment was when the flight attendant thought I snubbed him after he greeted me as we boarded. It was 5:45AM, I’d been up since 4AM with no coffee yet, we were crowded in the aisle of a very stuffy airplane, and I was anxious/preoccupied about leaving the boys for a week, and I was wondering if I left enough prepared veggies for Gran GG to feed boys, so sorry to Earl on flight 1122, I wasn’t very enthusiastic in my “good morning” greeting. I didn’t think my response was that bad, but it caused Earl to try a different language, so he greeted me in Spanish. I apparently have a little Latina flavor?
Anywho, we got to Detroit, grabbed a bit to eat during what we thought was a 2 hour layover. Turns out that Detroit is not in Central Time zone as aforementioned Vacation Planner thought, and we made it to the boarding gate just in time to board the flight to Seattle. So here we are, with a few dozen immediate friends, crowded & eager to arrive in Seattle.
More from us later, right now I have to perform a Circue de Soleil-esque acrobatic move to catapult over Keith’s enormous electronics bag on my way to the lavatory. That’s suddenly occupied again. Amazing how quickly an old lady who needed assistance boarding will move towards the lavatory once the “occupied” light goes off.
Thursday, 4:23 Pacific Standard Time, at the hotel.
I’m not sure why Frank Sinatra left his heart in San Francisco-‘cause Seattle is a gorgeous city, and feels very similar to San Francisco, just cleaner and with more attractive people. (Sorry San Fran). We’ve had a good first day, we arrived here around 11:45AM local time and made our way to the hotel. After freshening up and guzzling some water we headed out in search of the Pike Place Market.
The Market, I am disappointed to say, was less than impressive. Sure, there’s the fish being thrown, and some attractive stalls with flowers and fresh produce, but there are also some really random sh*t being sold in stalls that reminds me of a flea market that used to operate a few miles outside of Athens, GA. I have strong feelings about flea markets, so part of the Pike Place experience left me wanting a shower. We did grab a few fun bites, some caramelized butter cake at a Swedish stall and a huge apple fritter at another. Here’s Keith, partaking in a healthy* afternoon snack.
In the background is the stall where fish is thrown about. It’s a pretty exciting atmosphere, so exciting in fact, that a tourist passed out and an ambulance came to take her away. We saw her sitting up and talking after the circle of paramedics dispersed around her, so let’s hope she’s doing OK. We headed back towards the hotel, walked (for miles, it felt) through some parks adjacent to the water, which brings us to the present. We’re missing the babies, so we checked in with Gran GG, who sounds like she survived Day 1 of Ellerman Twin Bootcamp. Way to go Gran GG! We love & appreciate you!
Next up for us is the complimentary happy hour at the hotel (whoohooo!) and then dinner at a fun restaurant. Then some ZZZ’s ‘cause we have a full day tomorrow.
*We added some milk to complete the snack. That’s healthy, right?
Today, four years ago, Keith and I took the plunge! I can't believe it's only been 4 years, at times it feels like he's been around forever. In a good way, of course.
I'm always up for a little celebration, and today happened to be one of my days at home with the boys, so while Dada was on his way home, we prepared a little surprise for him...
What's in the bucket? A little wine I feel like I can relate to after a long day with two {sometimes} cranky babies. We drank wine, we ate cheese, we reminisced, reflected and giddily talked about our upcoming anniversary trip to Seattle (killer whales!!). Then we cooked together and gazed lovingly into each others eyes over our creamy tomato & shrimp penne. I couldn't think of a better anniversary dinner. The candleholder on the table are from Grandma and Grandpa Ellerman's house, I like to think of them as good luck for our marriage, so they make an appearance at every special meal.
Here's to having a Rufus-esque marriage, Keith! I love you.
Choatic is the best word to describe May, so all I've got for you are some pictures. I know, you're so neglected. Here you go, www.babiessquared.shutterfly.com, scroll down and click on May 09.
I mentioned in passing a week or so ago that Keith, the boys and I went to Knoxville to participate in the Ronald McDonald telethon. The RM House is a great charity that provides families with sick & hospitalized children a place to stay and meals. We stayed at the RM House the 2 weeks the boys were in the NICU in Tennessee, and while I thought of the whole scenario as being less than ideal at the time, in retrospect I feel we were very fortunate to have gotten a room at the house.
Now that our boys are doing so well, we keep saying that we want to do something to give back to the charity. We've toyed with the idea of donating a cooked meal to serve to current RM House stayers, but logistically that would be a challenge. Turns out the powers that be had something else in mind, because not a few days after we discussed how we can give back, we got a call from the RM House Manager. She wanted us to come back and be interviewed on live TV for their annual fundraising telethon! All we had to do was talk about ourselves for a few minutes. Now, we don't mean to brag, but both Keith and I are youngest children in our respective families, and if there's one thing youngest children do well, it's talk about themselves and hog the camera. (Ask our older siblings). Perfect! And how did we do on camera? See for youself...here is the clip that has our interview. It's shorter than we anticipated it would be, (only about 2 and a half minutes) and much to my brother-in-law's dismay, I did not get a chance to mention his name. On the other hand, the news anchor did manage to force Keith to talk. Keith agreed to go on camera as long as he only had to smile, nod and hold a baby, but things didn't work out exactly as he had hoped. I think he did very well.
As you can see, Keith and I are not the only two who enjoy hogging the camera. Since this appearance, Grady and Cole have become quite the divas, constantly preening for and making eyes at the camera. We're waiting from a call from Oprah any minute for a TV appearance. You reading this, Oprah?
Because of the three hour time difference we woke up fairly early. First on the agenda was the Space Needle. Our hotel is only a few steep blocks away from the Seattle Center, the park area that houses the Space Needle and various other museums and attractions. We got to the Space needle just as it opened, and enjoyed the views from the top before the observation deck became crowded. The views were great! We were exploring a different part of Seattle later in the day, so it was nice to be able to see out over those areas to get our bearings.
Next up for us was a little kayaking on Lake Union. Lake Union is a natural lake just north of downtown Seattle that canals were added to connect it to the sound. Its location makes it a perfect place for a little sightseeing-from the lake you can see downtown Seattle, some of the University, the area of Fremont and of course boats, and houseboats. The houseboat used to film Sleepless in Seattle is rumored to be on the lake, we didn’t see it. We kayaked for an hour or so, and then were tired. I imagine Keith was even more tired since we were in a tandem kayak and I took several opportunities to just sit there and enjoy the view, making him paddle twice as hard. Hehehehe.
