Seattle trip

After Christmas, we spent a few days relaxing at home and then we flew to Seattle for a visit with family and friends.  We got to see so many family members and take the kids to do winter activities and celebrate Roy's birthday.  It was another jam-packed trip but also really relaxing and fun.

Day 1
We had a really early start to the day.  Roy and I were up at 4:15 and the kids were up at 5:15.  Riley took a small nap on the plane to get her through!

When we got to the hotel, I realized we had forgotten something so crossed the street to Target (for the first of many trips during the week .... being across from Target was SO convenient!), and while we were there I suggested to Leighton that we look at their section for the local teams like we have at our Targets ... he was in heaven!

Day 2
Riley has been begging to go skating for a few years.  We didn't think we'd be able to help her much so have been avoiding it, so when we knew we'd be with Aunt Susan, we figured it was a great opportunity for her to try it out!  The rest of us were keen to try too.  It turns out that Riley was a natural and picked it up so quickly!  About half way through she started skating totally on her own. Leighton never ventured from the edges but had fun too!

In the afternoon, we went to a Seahawks store for Leighton.  We let him choose a few souvenirs (and he bought a couple inexpensive ones himself) ... we spent way more than we usually do on souvenirs for him, but it was considerably cheaper than when we had considered buying tickets for the game while we were there ($200-$250 each!) but decided against it because we thought sitting in the cold and potentially wet weather for a few hours at that price didn't sound appealing!

We spent the evening at Aunt Susan and Uncle Alan's having a delayed Hannukah celebration.

Day 3
We spent some time in the pool in the morning before Hope and Jon and the kids needed to get on the road home.

Then we got ready to watch the Seahawks game and celebrate New Year's Eve.  Heather was taking a walk to Target in the morning and had taken the kids and treated them to a new shirt to wear.  We played a hilarious game of Pictionary and rang in the New Year (early) with champagne and noiseless blowers!  We got back to the hotel before midnight local time and Leighton and Grandma and Papa managed to stay awake to see the fireworks on the Space Needle on TV.

The word was 'rancher' ... on the left was Papa's and on the right was Riley's ... who do you think drew a better picture?!

Leighton drew all these - rattlesnake, postage stamp, and igloo - and I was able to guess them all!

Riley drew these for 'pour' - she started with the rain falling to make puddles and then drew a little pitcher pouring syrup onto a waffle

Riley drew these for 'elephant' and 'idea'

Day 4
We spent New Year's Day with Lori and Michael and their two boys, Ben and Zach.  We hadn't seen Lori since we moved away from NYC and hadn't met the boys.  It was so nice to see them!

Day 5
This was our long-awaited snow day!  It was super cold, so the snow was a bit crunchy, but at least that meant the roads getting there were really clear and easy to drive on!  The snow wasn't good for snowmen or snow angles, but we had a great time sliding down and the kids loved eating it and throwing ice chunks around!

The kids ended up laying in the snow together and I was taking this picture, and Leighton said, "this is just like the one you took when we were little!"  It was exactly what I thought when I went to take the picture!

When we got back to the hotel, Clyde and Melinda and Azeliya had arrived.  The kids were so excited to play with her.

Day 6
We went down to Lake Union for lunch for Roy's birthday and then went back to the hotel to swim a bit.  In the evening we went to Fogo de Chao for dinner.

I always make Roy cake and custard for his birthday dessert, and I always take a picture of him with them at dessert time.  Since we were away this year, I still took the picture - but it was with a different dessert!

And looking back ...

2017:

2016:

2015:

2014:

2013:

2012:

2011:

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and the kids got in their jammies.  Turns out that Azeliya's pants matched the kids' - super cute!

Day 7
It was time to pack up and fly home.  We had a layover in Denver, but the weather was great everywhere and there were no delays luckily!  We didn't land until right before midnight local time, so it was a late night!