My 35th Birthday and a Seattle Adventure.

For my 35th birthday, Colin decided he wanted to take me to Seattle. It truly was the perfect present for me, because honestly I would love to experience cities right now more than I would like stuff (that's not to say I don't like a good Amazon gift card or Peete's coffee now and again). He couldn't hide his shock when I said I wanted to bring the kiddos. I really wanted them to experience a big city and live this trip through their eyes - they are always such a fresh perspective! We purchased Amtrak tickets (always a dream of mine to take the train up) and reserved a nice hotel (another love of mine - nice hotels) and we were off. I have to admit that bringing a three year old was a bit of a challenge with no naps and late bedtimes. But the memories were totally worth it. We swam in the hotel pool (we stayed at the Sheridan) which was really high up on its own floor and had an amazing view of the city. This swimming experience was Juliet's favorite part of the trip. We both helped the kids better their swimming skills, which was really good quality family time. We had the pool to ourselves most of the time.

This city definitely (at least where we stayed - right on Pike Street) had a very business feel, so we got some looks being a family of 6 wandering around downtown midweek. We walked to Whole Foods the first night and brought back pizza and sandwiches for dinner.  The next day we walked Pike Market and along the waterfront all day. We also walked to Safeco stadium - which was Samuel's dream come true. We were barely able to walk to the train by 4:00 that evening we were so exhausted. For food we had crumpets for breakfast (kids had Nutella crumpets, Colin and I had egg and cheese and ham crumpets). Lunch was fish and chips for them and more crumpets for me. Lots of coffee stops (I even walked by the world's first Starbucks). We grabbed Subway on the way out for the train ride home.

We visited the gum wall and all the kids contributed. Gross.

A testament to Boss' exhaustion - he literally slept on Colin's shoulders.

We snuck into a little creepy ghost town of a shopping center (if you can even call it that) and paid a fare for the kiddos to ride the carousel. Boss needed help, so I rode with him. Thankfully, he wanted off after about 20 seconds, because I was on the verge of vomit from the motion. Yuk. I don't know how kids do that.

This was everyone leaving the hotel for the last time.  We all miss that 4 star kind of life :)

We popped into a Starbucks (as you can imagine, there were many) to rest and charge my phone. We checked out of the hotel early, so we were literally backpacking around the city on the last day. Colin and the two older boys held our entire trip possessions on their backs.

Jude was pretty excited about the train ride.

Photo bomb - and yet another testament to how tired Jude was.

This was the backside of Pike Place.

We popped into a chocolate shop - Seattle does it up right with food.

Samuel contributed to the gum wall.

Sissy on the carousel.

Our train ride up was an experience in and of itself. 3 1/2 hours. Lots of iPad, snacking, coloring, talking, reading.

And watching the scenery rush by.

We made so many memories as a family. I can't wait for our next adventure!