FAMILY TRAVELS
Something fun in front of Seattle REI
January 12, 2014So dare I say REI is growing on me? This is the hubby’s favorite store in all of Seattle. It’s probably the only catalog he hasn’t used paper karma (an amazing app that gets rid of junk mail!!) on and if he could go daily, he probably would. And ever since they had a members’ […]
Read More
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. […]
Read More
Sketches of Seattle and a good place to stop if you’re trying to figure out what to see (Mohai, Seattle)
January 5, 2014The other night the hubby and I went for date night at the Mohai‘s Member Night featuring the Drawn to Seattle Seattle Sketcher Exhibit. (We pretty much ran out of the house screaming DATE-NIGHT!!!!!!! the minute my parents arrived but here we look rather civilized, I thought.) I’ve seen Gabriel Campanario’s work before in the […]
Read More
Family-friendly Christmas Activities in Vancouver
January 4, 2014I’m going through my photo roll and it feels like I’ve blinked and weeks have magically flown by. We’ve spent a lot of time in Vancouver, BC in the past few months and though we didn’t really plan on doing too many festive things this year, we definitely have some fun Christmas activities in Vancouver […]
Read More
Five Delightful Vancouver Eats with Kids in Tow
January 2, 2014Whenever we head to Vancouver, we have some regular stops but we’re always trying to expand our food repertoire. We spent a good week up in Vancouver for Christmas Break and while we had a lot of family events to eat at, we had some fun eating around Vancouver too. The first place is a […]
Read More
Perfect present for parents of Lego-lovers and a fun night in Bellevue (Snowflake Lane)
December 18, 2013In Bellevue last night we braved the crowds to see Snowflake Lane. I thought it might not be busy because it was a weeknight and school isn’t out yet, but it was still pretty packed. It has changed a lot, even since last year. In the past few years the best spots to watch with […]
Read More
Some of our Favorite Holiday things in Seattle
December 15, 2013This festive season we’re trying to fit in as many fun Christmas activities in Seattle as we can. We began our holiday countdown with the Macy’s parade. I remember trying to wheel these guys around when they were just a few months old so that they could ‘see’ the parade. This time they stood for […]
Read More
An inspiring visit at the Gates Foundation Visitor Center (Seattle, WA)
December 12, 2013I had been meaning to go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Visitor’s Center forever, but I kept putting it off. I think it was a little too intimidating, like I was preparing for a visit to Mr. Gates’ house or something. What would I wear? What would we do? What if we were […]
Read More
Santa then and Santa now
December 5, 2013When the kids were about one year old we were in Phoenix in December and noticed there was no line at the Santa at the mall so we hurriedly bought some Christmas sweaters and excitedly waited for our visit. Unfortunately the boys were not as thrilled as we were and this was our souvenir: Now […]
Read More
A great almost-kid-cafe and an experience gift idea (Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA)
November 26, 2013I am always amazed at how few kids we see at our local art museum, the Seattle Art Museum (SAM)_. Kids under 12 are always free with a grown-up and there is a neat little place to play on the 3rd floor. (I wish they had pictures of the art screened on the tv in […]
Read More
Pre-Black Friday CyberMonday and an elevator preparedness checklist
November 25, 2013Before you go and start panicking that you set your alarm too late, don’t worry yet, because it’s still not Thanksgiving. I keep getting all these pre-Black Friday sales in my inbox and I have to constantly check today’s actual date to make sure we haven’t missed Thanksgiving this year by accident because of all […]
Read More
A cliff-hanger of a birthday in Vancouver (Capilano Suspension Bridge, Vancouver, BC)
November 20, 2013Maybe the story shouldn’t start with the cliffhanger. But, I was oh so proud. This is what everyone with a fear of heights should do to celebrate just being alive. We weren’t supposed to be up in Vancouver for my birthday, but one thing led to another and here I was in my hometown. We […]
Read More
New to us Seattle Restaurants with kids
November 13, 2013We’ve been in a family restaurant rut lately. Though we love our usual haunts, the Spaghetti Factory, Red Robin and Boom Noodle have been so over-used in our rotation lately that I can’t imagine going back to them anytime soon. (And we love them). Thank goodness we spent some time this past week venturing out […]
Read More
Easy French Toast for your weekend
November 8, 2013Sunny weekend mornings need yummy breakfasts and this is the type of recipe for easy French toast that doesn’t really matter if you add a little bit too much or too little of anything. We usually use leftover potato bread from either Macrina Bakery or Tom Douglas, but I’ve even used sliced bread and it […]
Read More
What we do on rainy days in Seattle
November 7, 2013To be honest, now that the kids have preschool every day, on days that it rains and storms outside it’s such a nice excuse to just hang out and have a slow morning together at home. We stay in our pajamas a little later, play some soccer in the basement, make some crafts and simmer […]
Read More
Yummy food and gorgeous gardens to walk it off in Singapore (and some of them are free!)
November 6, 2013When we go to Singapore, a fair amount of time is spent eating. We often search out places for prata and kaya toast. We found a really yummy prata stand in United Square Mall (an interesting kids-mall with lots of things aimed at ‘gifted’ kids) this time. I am also a big fan of the […]
Read More
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. […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
Sumo with kids in Japan
October 18, 2013It might be my fault that I’ve had to buy one of my guys a sumo costume. It started with a book we read. And then he decided that he’d like to see Sumo in real life. (And if you’re in Tokyo in January, May or September, you’re definitely in luck.) I thought we might […]
Read More