Author: Terumi
An easy weekend getaway from Seattle to the Central California Coast
February 17, 2023My family was recently hosted by Visit California to see three Central California Coast destinations: San Luis Obispo (which locals call SLO), Oxnard and Santa Barbara. We only had four nights to visit all of these destinations but if you have more or less time you can adapt this trip or even visit one or […]
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All about the Taco Trail in Oxnard California
February 11, 2023This should really be called “All about three places on the Taco Trail” in Oxnard California because we only got as far as three places before our bellies were too full to eat anything else. My family arrived in Oxnard on our trip with Visit Oxnard on an extremely rainy and unusually weatherful weekend and […]
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Best dessert combo to order from Madonna Inn in SLO
February 8, 2023Have you ever heard of the Madonna Inn? Maybe you’ve seen the Madonna Inn from viral videos on the internet and they’ve popped up in my instagram feed too but I had no idea I would ever visit. This is a hotel famous for its over the top decor and individually decorated rooms-there are 110 […]
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The Gum Wall in Seattle, Bubblegum Alley in SLO and how these relate on Feb 3
February 3, 2023Did you know Feb 3rd is National Bubble Gum day? I had no idea until it started popping up in my social media feeds today. As a Seattleite, bubble gum is something I always think about when I go to Pike Place Market because we have a Gum Wall there. And then I recently went […]
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Connecting rooms at the Wayfarer hotel in San Luis Obispo for California family travel with teens
February 1, 2023Just 10 minutes from Pismo Beach and in one of the friendliest small towns in the nation is the Wayfarer in San Luis Obispo, and it is a perfect family-friendly hotel especially if they keep the Super Mario arcade game in the hotel restaurant. (This hotel just changed over from being the Kinney if you […]
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Things to Do in Seattle in February 2025
Did we just survive the longest month ever (I wrote this last year and it still holds) and are we going to blink and have February disappear too? It still feels like we might get one more weather system before all the cherry blossoms start to pop but you might want to start keeping an […]
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The Friends’ Experience Seattle: yes, the one where it actually comes to our city.
January 30, 2023Did you ever watch Friends (and did you know it was almost called six of one)? The Friend’s Experience has come to Seattle and it’s a lot cooler than I imagined (I liked the show but I wasn’t obsessed and I bet I’ve missed some episodes) and it’s something I’d go back to again now […]
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Room Tour of the Hilton Zachari Dunes on Mandalay Beach in Oxnard California
January 27, 2023First of all, have you ever heard of Oxnard, California? It’s an area just about 60 miles northwest of LAX and we went to visit because I heard it would be an excellent home base to explore the Channel Islands. It turns out, Oxnard is also a really great foodie destination- my family tried to […]
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Ain’t too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations Musical at Seattle Paramount Theatre (don’t miss out)
January 25, 2023I admit that when I first got the media invite for Ain’t too Proud: the Life and Times of the Temptations Musical in the mail I almost didn’t go. I had a lot going on this week and I hadn’t heard anything about it. But then I asked Alexa to “Play the Temptations” to give […]
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How to go to the Whistler Audain Art Museum for free if you are from Seattle
January 24, 2023I checked Whistler for the kids’ mid-winter break and it looks like all of Seattle must be headed there. The prices are sky high! I think President’s Day now coincides with BC’s family day holiday so this is one reason why it’s getting more difficult to visit the area during that time. But there are […]
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Best Western Plus Santa Barbara: an Airbnb alternative for families with a pool
Big checkmark for the Best Western Plus Santa Barbara because it has the pool that all families seem to need when we travel with kids. By teenager stage, the pool is no longer the biggest selling feature for a hotel on a holiday but it’s still something I look for and helps a place rank […]
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Asean Streat in Westlake Center: a unique place to eat in downtown Seattle
January 17, 2023**Updated March 2026: Asean street in Westlake center is closed. We have been needing a food hall like this in Seattle forever and thank goodness Asean Streat has manifested itself in the heart of our downtown. Westlake Center is such a perfect spot in the center of our city, attached to Climate Pledge Arena andSeattle […]
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Three Irish chocolate shops with factories you can visit
January 10, 2023Our family has been interested in chocolate factories ever since the Theo Chocolate factory opened in our Seattle neighborhood ages ago and we learned about the bean-to-bar process. Since then our kids have been to Costa Rica to see chocolate, and visiting chocolate factories have been a big part of our family holidays. Most recently […]
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Kafka’s Coffee in Vancouver BC with a playground next door
January 9, 2023Kafka’s Coffee has been part of our Vancouver adventures for decades now- my best friend baked for them years ago and they have really delicious coffee and food. But the newest Kafka’s Coffee location is so perfect for Vancouver families (and Seattle families visiting Vancouver) so I needed to talk about it here. It’s downtown […]
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Things to do in Seattle in January
December 30, 2022I just found out we don’t have to jump right into January for Seattle Schools-the Monday falls right after New Year’s so we get until Tuesday to start the year. So will this be the theme of our 2023 year? Can we actually ease into something in our city for once? Will we slowly sip […]
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All about Sean’s Bar, the oldest pub in Ireland and maybe even the world
December 28, 2022Old time Irish pubs remind me of Starbucks in the Pacific Northwest, like where my dad has his Grande Americano every morning with a crew he’s somehow gathered over days that have become years and maybe even decades. I don’t know how we even started looking for the oldest pub in Ireland on our five […]
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If you have Irish heritage make sure you go to the Epic Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin if you visit
December 22, 2022There are many things to do in Dublin and we found out that you can probably do almost all of them if you really want to even if you are only in Ireland for 5 days but you can also choose to do just to do a few and take your time and even go […]
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Schengen countries and why you need to know about them if you travel with your family from the USA
December 19, 2022I love to dream about all the places we’re going to go and often spend my free time looking up flights on Expedia. But we have had a passport mishap before where we found out our kids’ passports had expired just days before we left on a trip so we’ve been very careful about how […]
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Is 5 days enough time for a family to visit Ireland with a direct flight from Seattle to Dublin?
December 18, 2022Yes, travel is about bucket lists and places we dream about. But it’s also about budget too. So when we booked our Ireland trip from Seattle we were actually dreaming about going to Japan. We found that tickets for Japan were on the spendy side and we only had 5 days (with teenagers who have […]
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Unboxing and using our Lomi Home Composter for the very first time
December 14, 2022I was gifted a Lomi Home Composter and this post contains affiliate links and as always the viewpoints in this post are my own. I also have a coupon code for a free skylight with purchase. Add Lomi and a Skylight to your cart. Apply code: emeraldcitylife at checkout. We are trying out the Lomi […]
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