TRAVEL

Birth week, the Space Needle and a Lunar Orbiter

July 23, 2014

The guys’ turned 6 this week and as usual our birthday celebration has exploded into a birth week celebration and the guys requested that we eat at the Space Needle for their family night dinner. It’s busy in the summer so I made a reservation a couple weeks before and it was pretty booked up […]

Read More
easy to make octonauts party balloons for swimming pool

Shopping things I’ve been asked about lately barely making it on a Monday

July 22, 2014

Whew. Now that was definitely a weekend. I’ve barely started to put away the decorations from my guys’ birthday but it’s shopping Monday and since shopping is the one thing that gets me through most Mondays the decorations can wait.  I’ve been asked a lot about my shopping purchases lately so I totally thought I’d […]

Read More

Cloud City Coffee and Pianos in the Parks (Seattle, WA)

July 19, 2014

Some things on a Friday are to wonderful not to share.  We wanted to hang out at the park with friends before some errands at Costco (and you know how how I feel about Costco) and we spent the morning at a great park in Maple Leaf. (It even has a zip-line!) And then playing spilled […]

Read More
aardvark at Point Defiance Zoo where kids can get close up to animals

A Day-trip to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma (part of our summer staycation in Seattle)

July 16, 2014

I 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 […]

Read More

Where my kids discovered cucumber cream cheese sandwiches and scones (adorabelle tea room, Steveston, BC)

July 11, 2014

I always knew my kids would love sushi and perogies because those ingredients are a part of their souls. And they have to love Taco Time because the hubby and I have had some of our best dates on Taco Tuesdays long ago. And they will have no problem understanding the different nuances in different […]

Read More

Seattle Summer Bucket List 2014

July 1, 2014

We know it’s summer in Seattle when the cruise ships start announcing their arrival, the Ride the Ducks amphibious vehicles pass us every couple minutes on our city adventures and we start to see less visible moisture in the air.  And when we start getting calls from friends to go berry picking, we start making […]

Read More

Golden Gardens and Pancakes for lunch (Seattle, WA)

June 24, 2014

An alternate perfect ending to this adventure would be stopping at the Ballard Paseo window on our way into the park for a yummy picnic lunch.  But we decided that we wanted pancakes for lunch that day so we made sure to end our trip with Portage Bay Cafe.  We were surprised at how many […]

Read More

Because I’m not traveling on a Monday

June 23, 2014

Mondays are better with painted toes and my sis and I managed to have a much needed sister date this weekend at a neat branch of the Absolute Spa Group at the Fairmont Hotel at the Vancouver airport.  It was so nice to just sit back, chat and watch our ugly toes turn pretty colors […]

Read More

How nature affects kids’ art (near Granville Island, Vancouver, BC)

June 17, 2014

So much can be learned about nature just by going to the beach with kids.  I visited a dear friend for an afternoon in Vancouver and we wandered our kids down to the beach near the Aquatic Center across from Granville Island (my favorite place on Earth) so we could sit and chat while the […]

Read More

Little secret garden at Pike Place Market (Seattle, Wa)

June 13, 2014

The hubby and I joke about how often we come to Pike Place Market.  And since I decided that I love the mint ice cream at nearby Bottega Italia, I think we’ve been coming a LOT more than usual (We visited at least 8 times in the past couple weeks and each visit except our […]

Read More

Running Mantra #2

June 12, 2014

And by crazies I sometimes mean bears.  This past weekend my sis and I did our 10km with some lovely friends and family up in Whistler, BC and it’s the first time time in my life that I ever saw a real life bear without having some kind of protective barrier like a window, or […]

Read More

Trail Mix and a Brave Adventure with my guys (Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, near Olympia, Washington)

June 11, 2014

Every so often I get a whole day with my guys all to myself. I let the dishes pile up. I leave the little messes to figure themselves out until after the kids go to bed. And I plot some ridiculous adventure. And we go. On days like these we’ve ended up at the Northwest […]

Read More

Another Hiking Adventure with our kids (Discovery Park, Seattle)

June 9, 2014

So many lovely days start off with pancakes and although this past weekend wasn’t a pancake weekend, (I’ll let you know about our fun and wild adventures from this weekend’s trip to Whistler soon enough!) the morning of our hiking adventure in Discovery Park with our kids was and I hope we can repeat this […]

Read More

Exploring tidepools with the Seattle Aquarium (for FREE in Seattle!)

June 2, 2014

Oh you know I already have some serious love for the Seattle Aquarium and their great kids’ programs, but I just found out about their low tide Beach Naturalist program and my guys and I had so much fun exploring Tidepools with the Seattle Aquarium last week. I didn’t realize how many lovely things lived […]

Read More
riding the cogwheel train and funicular in mount pilatus with kids was a switzerland treat

Because I wanted to ride a funicular (Switzerland with kids)

May 23, 2014

I think our travel formula has stayed the same since the hubby and I started traveling together back in college.  We always look for places based on the time we have, how much it’s going to cost (and what we can afford or want to pay) and some kind of weird or wonderful thing one […]

Read More

Before you take your kid to see the Seattle Gumwall

May 21, 2014

Remember, knowledge is enlightenment. I took some friends and their 4-year-old daughter to the market last week after a lovely but busy morning at the zoo.  I gave the little one the market prep-talk because my guys always like to know what to expect in their adventures and it’s always hard to be the one […]

Read More

Local love on a Monday

May 19, 2014

Happy Monday lovelies! I can hardly wait for the boys to go to school this morning because this book arrived in the mail this weekend and I haven’t had a chance to open it and read it yet.  I love star signs and the fact that these Astrologers are twins is something very cool to […]

Read More

Where to bike with kids in Seattle

May 17, 2014

This is actually more of a question than a solution. We have two active boys who love to ride their bikes but it is so hilly in Seattle.  Our streets have a lot of traffic and the park near our house doesn’t have enough trails for them to ride.  So where does one bike with […]

Read More
best ice cream in seattle mint gelato from bottega italiana

Ice Cream addiction 2014 (Bottega Italiana, Seattle)

May 15, 2014

Ice cream season has only just begun and this one is a clear best ice cream in Seattle EVER.  (According to me, of course.) I’m referring to the mint gelato from Bottega Italiana and it might not even count as ice cream because it’s technically gelato but it is the PERFECT treat for a sunny […]

Read More

Because men are so much harder to shop for on a Monday

May 12, 2014

You 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!) […]

Read More