ANIMAL LOVE
We visit so many zoos and aquariums, we have some serious animal love in this family.
Glamping in the closest almost-Serengeti to Seattle at Safari West in Santa Rosa
September 10, 2018Anyone else think a private bathroom would make camping absolutely perfect? That feature alone makes glamping at Safari West a dream come true because the tents here all have their own showers and bathrooms and feel a lot like hotel rooms. But if you think waking up to giraffes and flamingos is magical and you […]
A not so ugly baby store where you can find adorable sloth things in seattle (Ugly Baby and La Ru, Seattle WA)
November 20, 2015I love the days I spend at Pike Place Market. Even though I’ve been exploring it more in depth over the past year, I still get lost and I still find new things. The other day, I walked up from one of the lower parking lots near where the Pike Place Market is expanding (right […]
One sweet day in La Jolla with kids
November 11, 2015I’m not used to being the one who goes away for business, so when I was invited to an event in San Diego a little while back, I brought my family along and gave them strict orders to leave me alone while the conference was on and we would all hang out together for one […]
The best way to see a bear up close (Woodland Park Zoo)
September 24, 2015My sister who is an animal lover recently watched a horrific grizzly hunt that somehow made its way into her Facebook feed and it totally disturbed her so much even days after she saw it that she told me not to watch it-EVER. She described it as the story of a beautiful trapped bear who […]
Because the world needs more black rhinos and amazing human beings (Chizi’s tale, a review)
June 11, 2015My kids don’t know Jack Jones, but I wish they did. He’s a senior in high school in Connecticut and I think he must love animals as much as my guys do because he has written an amazing book about a black rhino and when I heard about his book “Chizi’s Tale” I knew we […]
We’ve been licked by a jaguar and now we love them even more (an inspiring visit to the Belize Zoo with kids)
May 28, 2015We are so lucky these days to have the world at our fingertips when we plan for our travels. We can buy tickets, research places and send emails across the world late at night without even leaving our homes and I am so thankful for the travel blogging community and how amazing and responsive people […]
Visitor Owls at Woodland Park Zoo and our first zoo visit of the New Year
January 12, 2015Is it just me or is it also difficult for you to drag your family out of the house on a lazy Sunday afternoon? I needed to get some fresh air so I told my kids we would either go for a hike in the woods or an ‘urban hike’ at the zoo and if […]
Wildlights 2014 (Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle WA)
December 3, 2014Wildlights at Woodland Park Zoo might be a newer light show in Seattle-it’s only on its third year-but we’ve been going since it started and it has become one of our family’s favorite Seattle holiday traditions. The other night when we visited, the sky was bright and clear and there was still a dusting of […]
Not Scary Shopping for lice-prevention on a spooky Monday
October 27, 2014Ok, so you might think the scariest thing about this week is Halloween, but in our kindergarten class we’ve been seeing scary things since the start of school. We’ve had TWO lice letters since school has started. TWO. And because we already fear bed bugs with all the travel we do, that is definitely something […]
Octonauts and the Cold and Rainy Pool Birthday Adventure
August 20, 2014I’ve always been stressed out about having park parties for my kids because we live in Seattle and there is always a slight chance of rain no matter how sunny a stretch of weather we get. I don’t know why I didn’t apply this train of thought to having an outdoor POOL party but suddenly […]
A Day-trip to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma (part of our summer staycation in Seattle)
July 16, 2014I can barely count how many trips I’ve put into my trip-finder in Expedia for this summer and then not booked my cart. Cabo San Lucas, Alaska, Costa Rica, Belize, San Diego and the Bahamas have all been super tempting, but the weather here in Seattle is just so beautiful, I can’t imagine leaving and […]
Because men are so much harder to shop for on a Monday
May 12, 2014You know how when you go to any big box store the minute Halloween is over you are already too late to buy Christmas things because Valentine’s Day stuff has already thrown itself up all over it? Well, that is how I feel about Father’s Day. ALL the men in the family (especially my grandpa!) […]
Lining up at The Eiffel Tower and the Paris zoo but not at the Louvre! (Paris with kids)
April 24, 2014Maybe the first thing you should check when you book a holiday is if things are actually going to be open in the place you’re visiting or if things will be super-crowded when you get there. But we didn’t and this wasn’t our first time making this kind of mistake. I was too excited about […]
A restaurant I wish I brought my kids to, one I’m glad I didn’t and my favorite Seattle window
April 2, 2014A few weeks ago we were craving some prata and I remembered a satay restaurant I’d popped into ages ago. The restaurant was actually called Satay and it was pretty empty when we came in and our lunch of prata, tofu satay and mee goreng noodles was definitely tasty and almost reminded me of some […]
Snowshoeing in Whistler for the first time with kids (Callaghan Valley, British Columbia)
January 10, 2014All Christmas the hubby and I talked about how we were so excited to go to Whistler for the first time with kids and how we hadn’t been in 6 years, but as we were walked through the village we both got some weird deja vu feelings and then realized we’ve actually been here before. […]
My nemesis the Fitbit and why you shouldn’t give your credit card info over the phone
November 22, 2013So the hubby got me a Fitbit for my birthday. “This is going to help you have many more birthdays” he said. “Blech.” I said. I was unimpressed. And I was right. The 10,000 step counter thing is driving me crazy. For some reason, this thing is totally addictive and I keep having to top my […]
If your kids love coin operated rides(Ueno zoo and Keio mall, Tokyo)
October 30, 2013When we first found this rooftop playground in Tokyo a couple years ago the boys’ eyes lit up like firecrackers and if we had enough 100 yen coins we could have entertained them for hours. Of course we looked for more magic of this sort when we returned. And we found a few fabulous ones. […]
Behind the Scenes at the Seattle Aquarium (Seattle, WA)
October 25, 2013The Seattle Aquarium was one of the first places I felt comfortable taking my twins to on rainy fall and winter days in their early years. Unlike more traditional kids’ play places, it seemed pretty clean and not as full of germs and we loved eating snack on the “bottom of the ocean floor’ under […]
Visiting Monkeys in Arashiyama Japan
October 23, 2013I’d like to think I had a calm conversation with the hubby about this one, a casual “hey did you know you can see monkeys in the snow in Japan?” But when I saw some National Geographic Pictures of the Nagano snow monkeys while figuring out our Japan trip I probably brought this on with […]
Five things on a Monday to make the day better
October 21, 2013I’m still pinching myself to make sure Domino magazine is actually back but it is and I have a copy in my hands. I love the instantly shop-able pages and it’s the loveliest read to peruse on a foggy Seattle Monday like this. (One of my sweet purchases even arrived today! Seriously, why aren’t more […]