FAMILY TRAVELS
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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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. […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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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 […]
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The Singapore Zoo, a breakfast, and a Behind the Scenes Tour
October 15, 2013I don’t think we’ve ever been to Singapore without going to their Zoo breakfast and we’ve traveled there a bunch of times in the past 10 years. I absolutely LOVE this breakfast. There is an abundance of good food (this is Singapore after all) and it’s a great place to get your feet wet if […]
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Cup Noodles Museum and the Hikawamaru (Yokohama, Japan)
October 9, 2013Yokohama is a really neat city. It feels like a big city and business center, but there were so many beautiful areas to walk and see things that it felt really peaceful too. We went there specifically to see the Hikawamaru, a ship that brought my mom, my aunt and my grandmother to Canada years […]
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Two days in Kochi, Japan (On the Island of Shikoku)
October 7, 2013We’re lucky enough to have family in Kochi Japan or I might never have heard of this beautiful place which is why if you want something off the well-traveled path in Japan, Kochi is definitely a place for you and your family. Kochi is a small city in Southern Japan, and it is absolutely stunning […]
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A night in Okayama
October 6, 2013I had big plans for Okayama. I really wanted to visit the Kurashiki area, and see little boats floating downstream, but when we finally arrived in Okayama, I realized we were pretty exhausted and decided I’d save those for another time. (Okayama is the 2nd stop in our Japan itinerary. It’s a perfect stop in […]
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A cool coffee shop, a secret bakery, a toystore and robotic sushi (Tokyo Family Travels)
October 1, 2013If you talk and walk with me, I could go miles and not have any idea where I’m heading or where we’ve been so use this loosely as a guide and plot your own route on a map. We had a plan for a day in Tokyo and it consisted of these 4 places: 1) […]
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What jet-lagged people do the first day of a trip (Travel to Japan with kids)
September 29, 2013I’ve read everywhere that once you land in another time zone you just have to embrace it. We arrived in Tokyo around 6 pm and we were all exhausted so we grabbed a light dinner and put the kids to bed around their regular time. And then they woke up around 3 am. We were […]
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