There and back again- Seattle

We drove the rest of our way to Seattle the next day. The view was soooo beautiful. Waterfalls coming down on the side of the road, and many more shades of dark green than I thought possible. That plus the mist made for a breathtaking welcome into Seattle.

I was breathless in a whole different way when we had to take all our luggage from a seperate parking garage, the long way around to the hotel (hey we didn't know the quick way until later that day) and had to wait half an hour in the lobby of the Sheraton. Even though it was past check in time they didn't have our room clean for us yet. It wasn't that long but it seemed like it with our kids climbing the walls after a long car ride for the past two days and lots of business travelers eying our children.

Nice hotel! Thank goodness we didn't have to pay for it. Tim had a AIR (Association of Institutional Research) conference there so we were payed for. We spent that evening looking for a place to eat, first on foot, and then by car. We finally found a pizza place and it was good. We also stopped at a convenience store to get breakfast and lunch foods for me and the kids as we didn't want to eat expensive room service or have to march around town looking for food again.

I spent the next day in the hotel room with the kids. You may ask "Kristin, why did you do that?" and I really can't say. I have no idea what I was thinking. The city kind of overwhelmed me ok. I saw how hectic it was walking around the city with the kids AND Tim. I couldn't imagine trying it without him. I really don't need to describe that day do I? Lets just say when Tim got home that evening I answered the door with "Tim, will you please beat the children for me?" No beatings were actually administered of course. Honestly, considering the circumstances, the kids weren't really that bad and I told Tim to beat the kids with a smile on my face. I do have to add that I did take the kids out for a half hour walk so the maid could clean our room. We went to a little food store and hung out in the lounge. The concierge guy gave my kids free apple juice and put them in front of the TV. He was being nice to me and the kids but even more he was being nice to the other adults trying to enjoy the lounge.

We took the monorail to the City Center and walked around the Northwest Folklife Festival (hippy festival really) Later that night we saw on the news that there was a shooting at the festival the day before. Warm fuzzies all over. I felt like I had been living in Utah too long.

We got some food at a grossly overpriced and not that good a restaraunt. It was one of the most expensive things we did on the whole trip, only comparable to the ferry ride, round trip. After dinner which we spent with two of Tim's coworkers Andrea and Abby, the girls took me with them to get a Starbucks shake, mint chocolate chip. Yum. It was so kind of them to take me away from my children after spending the day in the room with them. I REALLY needed that

break.

The next day, since I had taken the Monorail and saw how it all worked I ventured out with my children and took them on the monorail and to the Children's Museum. I really had wanted to go to the Science Fiction Museum to be honest but it was a lot more expensive and I realized that kids were far more likely to drive me nuts at a museum they weren't excited by. The Children's Museum turned out to be a lot of fun and all went very smoothly. They had a lot of great exhibits and the kids were very occupied the whole time. I felt quite proud of myself for going out into the big city with the kids and without Tim.

That afternoon, when we returned, we went to Pikes Place Market with Tim. It was pretty fun, but I was distracted a lot by grumpy and tired kids. We didn't spend a lot of time there because we had an appointment to meet all of Tim's co-workers at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was great food. The kids were a little crazy but thanks to Abby they were pretty well occupied by her. . .and her drink. You are awesome Abby! After dinner we drove around and Tim took some pictures of the city across the water.

The next day we checked out and I took the kids to McDonalds at the mall while Tim finished his conference. Seattle was beautiful but I decided I am not meant to live in the big city. Way too hectic and definitely not for a family of 6!