FAMILY TRAVELS
Staying at the Mimaru Hotels Asakusa Station on a trip to Tokyo with teenagers
September 30, 2024We’ve traveled to Tokyo several times with our kids over the years but Japan travel has changed a ton since pre-2020. We finally made it back this August as part of a trip to see family in Singapore and the south of Japan and it turned out that this kind of trip with teenagers is […]
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If you go to Japan in August you might need waterproof hiking shoes
September 20, 2024Sometimes there are things you don’t always think about needing on a trip when you go to a place with weather vastly different from where you are coming from. On a recent trip to Japan in August my family found out about the typhoon season and how summer rain there can literally come out of […]
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Why childhood vaccinations are so important for my family (and yours too)
August 30, 2024this is sponsored post about vaccinations on behalf of the Washington State Department of Health. All opinions are my own. I don’t think anybody ever thinks they’re going to get really sick. But about a year and a half ago, I got a diagnosis that ultimately changed my life forever and last year vaccinations became […]
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All about the new Museum of Illusions in Seattle
July 18, 2024A few weeks ago I was invited to work with the new Museum of Illusions with my Instagram and I ended up having such a great time I thought I’d share here too. The Museum of Illusions in Seattle is a franchise of a chain of museums that now has around 50 branches around the […]
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All the Strawberry fields near Seattle I was recommended on Threads
June 21, 2024My friend and I took our boys berry picking together maybe 10 years ago and wanted to recreate the day before our giant teens can drive together without us. I thought we would go to Duris Farm, a farm that feels the closest to where we live in Seattle. Unfortunately it wasn’t open the day […]
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The time I took my teenage son to Frankfurt Germany by myself
June 7, 2024Ever since our twins were babies we’ve tried to do as much together as a family as we can. My husband had just started as an attending at a busy hospital when our guys were born and after years of residency and med school it now meant even more call, more presentations, and more responsibilities […]
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Hotel Alt Montreal is a great hotel if you go on a trip with one of your besties and their family
April 1, 2024Funny that it’s almost summer and I’m just getting to this post now. And I wish we had time to do a trip like this for summer too as we’ve also been to Disneyland, Vancouver Island and a bunch of other places together over the years but now all of our kids are involved in […]
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Two nights at the British Colonial Nassau in the Bahamas because of a non-stop flight from Seattle
March 9, 2024There used to be days when we would have to get paper airline tickets fedexed by a travel agent and trips needed to be planned months in advance. Nowadays, we can often even cancel our flights hours before a trip. We can book whole itineraries in minutes. And while this is not totally how our […]
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Seattle to Bahamas – a nonstop flight to Nassau I wish we had when my kids were small
February 23, 2024Sunny places in winter is what gets many of us Seattleites through the long dark season. And once you get into the school age zone, these trips often get squished into holiday breaks where you find everyone you know in the city on the same flight to Hawaii. That’s why my ears perked up at […]
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All the Musicals coming for the 2024/2025 season with Broadway in Seattle
February 8, 2024The other morning at pottery class I heard a song that I heard in Ain’t too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations which was our favorite musical last season. And then I got a message in my inbox that the 2024/2025 Broadway in Seattle season was just announced and there are so many […]
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Seattle neighborhoods you need to know about if you come here for a visit
January 18, 2024Before I moved to Seattle over 20 years ago now, I used to live in Vancouver Canada and we would often come to visit Seattle on shopping trips. Most of these adventures took us to downtown Seattle or Northgate or to eat at the Fisherman’s restaurant on the Waterfront. But I didn’t really get to […]
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Family Fun especially on a Thursday in Pioneer Square Seattle
January 12, 2024We’re always passing through Pioneer Square in Seattle, for school, for soccer games, for events at the stadiums so I really appreciated that the Pioneer Square Association invited my family to learn more about the area with a stop at Zeitgeist Coffee: a long-running coffee shop in the area, a Beneath the Streets tour and […]
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Klondike Gold Rush National Park-a National Park in the heart of Seattle
January 5, 2024There were maybe two other people in the Klondike Gold Rush National Park when we visited so we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. Unlike most National parks, this one in the center of our city is not a traditional outdoor park. This place is more like a visitor center and museum. And […]
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Connections and why you should enroll your kid in a Museum of Flight Summer Camp if you live in Washington state
December 19, 2023You don’t always think that a summer camp might change your life, but in our family we absolutely know it can. My husband and I met years ago when we were camp counselors in college in Canada and it’s one of the reasons why we ended up where we are in Seattle today. But we […]
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Astra Lumina in Seattle on a clear night after Christmas might be a very “worth it” thing to do
December 15, 2023Is it worth it? I always get asked when I go to experiences in Seattle. Seattlelites are very wary about how they use their money and time. And I was a little curious too when I got the invite to Astra Lumina. It’s an immersive outdoor experience in Seattle’s Chinese Garden, a place I had […]
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Calder: In Motion at the Seattle Art Museum
November 13, 2023I always love the story behind the art in our city and if you go to Calder: In Motion at the Seattle Art Museum this exhibition has a really beautiful connection. This exhibition is part of an ongoing gift from the Shirley family to the Seattle Art Museum and it has a goal of helping […]
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A day trip to Bainbridge Island because of soccer
October 15, 2023Maybe your kids will have a sports game at Ballard High School from Seattle one day too or maybe you just need an excuse to visit Bainbridge Island. It’s so incredibly close to Seattle-only a 30 minute ferry ride and it even has a bridge that attaches it to the mainland so you’re less likely […]
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All the farms near Seattle we want to visit in October
October 4, 2023No to a fall bucket list this year-who needs that kind of stress? I just wanted a place to keep notes about some special farms near Seattle we might want to visit this fall. October is such a great season at farms in the Pacific Northwest as they are filled with pumpkins, corn and apples […]
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Things to bring to Seabrook if you are going there for a trip
September 14, 2023We finally made it to Seabrook this year and ended up making it a multigenerational trip this time just like we dreamed about when we first started visiting. My mom, dad, sister and her family rented a house, and our family rented a house and it was a great way to hang out with each […]
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Things you might only know about Seattle if you are a true Seattleite
September 8, 2023Here’s a list to add to the stack of all the other lists that exist about this city but I heard someone (a Seattleite even!) say Pike’s Place market again recently and I couldn’t just write a post about that without sounding too angry Seattle so I thought I better write this post instead. So […]
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