A coffee shop in Atlanta with Washington roots

May 27, 2013

A few weeks ago we were sitting in a lovely restaurant in Atlanta after a long red eye flight and the hubby thought his coffee tasted really good. He made a note of it just in case it was roasted in Atlanta and we had time to stop by. Imagine our surprise when we found […]

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hiking with kids near seattle

If you’re looking for kid-friendly Seattle hikes

Long before the kids, the hubby and I used to like to hike around Seattle, and now that our kids are a little older, we’re having fun exploring trails with them too and we’re always looking for kid-friendly Seattle hikes.  With kids you have to be a little bit more choosy when you plan your […]

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Global Entry: A Trusted Traveler Network

May 24, 2013

I’m lucky that the hubby keeps up with passport and international travel news.  We’ve had a Nexus card forever and it’s saved us hours going back and forth to see family in Canada.  Recently he heard of the Global Entry program and it sounded like a great program to reduce time in airport lines when we travel […]

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Stickers are a mom with a preschooler’s best friend (most of the time)

May 23, 2013

I keep tons of stickers on hand.  They are great for adding extra pizzazz to crafts and they’re so handy when you travel as long as they don’t get stuck on windows or other things but I’m usually stuck in the middle of the duo so it’s easy to keep tabs. The hubby recently bought […]

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Happy Anniversary Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum

May 22, 2013

I’m on the Chihuly Garden and Glass mailing list and when I saw it was their first anniversary this week I couldn’t believe it’s already been around a year and I haven’t visited them yet.  My mom and dad were in town and up for some touristy things so we decided this would be a […]

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Thank you Martha

May 21, 2013

There are some days when you get that type of epiphany where you know you’ve learned something that you’re going to keep with you forever.  Today that magic came from goddess Martha.  Thank you for the One-Pan Pasta recipe I found in your latest magazine.  (The one I have that’s covered in drool because the […]

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An inexpensive and adventurous way of getting to the airport in Seattle

May 20, 2013

Sitting at the bus stop near our house I got a text from my neighbor that went something like: “omg my hubby just saw you at the bus stop-we could have totally given you a ride to the airport!!” And as much as that was so totally sweet and we probably looked ridiculous sitting there […]

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Zoo Atlanta post-rain

May 19, 2013

One thing I’ve learned about going to zoos is that some of my best days have been on rainy ones.  You tend to linger a little longer at exhibits that are indoors that you might blow past on sunny days, the animals often behave a little differently and there are far fewer two-legged animals wandering […]

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Choose your carry-on items wisely

May 18, 2013

Tip #1: do not bring a table as a carry-on. Of course this is not my table.  I’m perfectly happy with the just over 8.5 x11 size tables we get in my regular airplane seats.  But if you were thinking of bringing a table with you on a flight I can tell you for certain […]

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Three reasons you need a car in Atlanta if you visit with kids

May 17, 2013

I wish I was telling you about car rentals because you need them to see all the fabulous toursity sites in Atlanta.  Yes, you’ll want a car for some of those too.  But we only rented one for a little while during our trip to Atlanta last week and I wanted to make sure we […]

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visiting costa rica with kids

Memorable stay in Costa Rica (Arenal Observatory Lodge)

May 16, 2013

If you are looking for an amazing affordable place to stay in Cost Rica, the Arenal Observatory Lodge is a place we’ve been twice and we we totally fell in love with it each time.  The first time we went it was years ago when Arenal still roared through the night with explosions.  We were […]

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Eating fish while watching fish (Downtown Denver Aquarium, Colorado)

May 10, 2013

Usually this kind of thing would freak me out.  Eating fish, while watching fish.  (Eeew!  Totally morbid!)  But, I’m the one who made the reservation because I so badly wanted to go to the aquarium in Denver last year when we were there for a family wedding and this was the only way we were […]

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A weird book my guys like (Books for boys)

May 6, 2013

I like books with stories that have a clear beginning, middle and end, but my guys get drawn to books that explain things.  They love this one by Richard Scarry called “What do People Do all Day?” that has these random tales about animals building roads and the bread making process and how someone got […]

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Two great local playground updates

With all the sun in the forecast, there are so many fabulous places to explore.  Last week we checked out one of our favorite spots: Kelsey Creek Farm in Bellevue for a tour with some friends and we noticed they’ve recently added a really cool tractor to their farm. You don’t know how much I […]

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slate coffee serves your latte in stemware and is one of the best espresso stores in Seattle

A friendly cup of coffee in Seattle (Slate Coffee, Ballard)

May 3, 2013

Sometime last week I heard a rumor that a truck called Slate Coffee was selling my favorite Fuji Bakery pastries, so I had to go check it out.  Nevermind that I am not a big fan of food trucks (gasp!).  I just didn’t realize that they have sinks and real cooking facilities inside.  Until we […]

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Sweet little moments

May 2, 2013

Wednesday was a busy day.  So busy that I didn’t want to get out of my pajamas.  I didn’t want to get out of bed.  I didn’t want to see the glorious sunshine streaming through all the windows in the house. One of the busy things was that I knew I had to run my […]

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inspiring quote about goals

5 places we want to visit in Seattle this summer

April 30, 2013

For some reason my facebook feed is filled with posts about goals lately and it made me think about the virtual Seattle bucket list the guys and I have been discussing.  And it’s so true that if we don’t actually put these things in writing, we won’t do them because we’ll forget or replace these […]

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dolphins swimming with our snorkeling tour

Snorkeling with Kids on Maui

April 26, 2013

I don’t know how I missed updating about this one.  I was going through our photos from our Maui trip and I found this dolphin picture. This wasn’t even one of those things they advertised that we were going to see on this snorkel trip we booked when we went to Maui but on the […]

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recycling crafts

If you buy a lot of stuff online: a recycled homemade paper craft

April 25, 2013

The other day my new purse showed up and as much as the beautiful wrapping is sweet there’s nothing more telling that I bought a ton of stuff than a big pile of tissue mongrammed with a brand’s name. So the guys and I got to work on a ‘craft’.  We got rid of the […]

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5 minute ice cream recipe for kids

5-minute ice cream

This is not exactly the same instant ice cream goodness you get when you open the freezer and just reach for a tub but it’s a little less plan-ahead than if you actually want to make ice cream in a MAKER and 5-minute ice cream is really fun to make.  I don’t know if it’s […]

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