Part 1: Seattle

Before I begin, I have to give a HUUUGE THANK YOU to my Dad, Shelley and Karen. They split up the week we were away and took care of the kids for us here in San Antonio. We are so blessed and so thankful that our kids have grandparent's so willing to be with them. Matt and I never worried one minute about them. We knew they were having so much fun. Without their help and willingness to keep the kids for us we would never get to take trips together. We are thankful!! We have been reintroducing the word "NO" to the kids since we have been back. It seems that they did not hear that word while we were gone. You think I am joking?? Short story before I begin....We went to Sam's Sat. night to load up on all the groceries we needed for the week. Hudson wanted a sprite. It was late and we said no that he could have water. UMMM TOTAL TANTRUM!! I mean FULL BLOWN SCREAMING FIT because we said no. I think my eyes popped out of my head because I was so shocked with his behavior. Hudson flipped out so much that Matt had to take him to the bathroom and SPANK HIM. That has never happened. And it was all because we said no to the sprite. People were starring at us, and then there were some that were coming just to see what was going on. Then Harper figured since Hud was freaking out she'd join in. I wanted to crawl on the bottom of the cart and just stay there the rest of the night. We were so embarrassed. To make matters even worse Hud still has his black eye. So I am sure these people were thinking we were HORRIBLE parents. I wanted to run to the car. We put the kids in the car and just died laughing in the parking lot because really, what can you do when your kids are momentarily possessed? It was not a good moment that's for sure! We are still working on the whole 'no' bit tho!

Matt and I got to Seattle in the early afternoon on Saturday. We only had about 48 hours to spend in Seattle, so we wanted to make every moment count! We were SOOO excited! We pretty much dumped our stuff in our hotel room, grabbed a coat, and were off! I have to say that I LOVE traveling with Matt. No, I REALLY LOVE traveling with him. We have so much fun. We laugh and have a blast together. I am always reminded when we are away together just how important it is that we always make time for each other. There is no other person I'd rather experience life with than him. We miss the kids so much while we are away, but have no problem having a blast while we are missing them.

In Seattle, we chose a cute hotel right smack dab in the middle of it all. Because we came during the 'off' season the rates were great, AND we were upgraded to a better room...that's always nice! The weather was nice too. It was in the 40's. In fact we walked around so much that we often got hot and wished we had a lighter coat on. We headed to Pike Place Market, the piers (so beautiful), and of course we visited the coffee shop that changed the way the world views coffee....The Original Starbucks! We had us a late dinner, and headed back to the hotel. We were excited about day 2!!

Down at Pier 66

What can I say....I do!

My guys. I did not see Jason, but these 2 fellas were just fine!

Matt did not care much for Bella in the back. Here's our buddy Dwight!

And OF COURSE with our lil' pirate at home we had to take this picture! We had a BLAST shopping for Huddy at Pirates Plunder!

The sunset!

We were EXCITED to be there!!!

The market.

We gave our respect to the very first Starbucks!

The guys throwing the fish at Pike's Place. LOVED that place!!!!

DAY 2: Since we were 2 hours ahead of Texas time we woke up BEFORE 6 AM on Sunday. Crazy, I know. We later adapted, don't worry. We headed back to Pike Place for breakfast. We went to this wonderful little diner on the water. We had a dungeness crab omelet (OH MY GOODNESS, AHHHHMAZING) with about 80 cups of coffee. We walked ALL over the market and sampled! It was delicious. The fruit is so beautiful, and the way they have it all displayed was just beautiful. And the fragrance by the fruit was enough to sell it! Now the scent by the fish...that's another story! After the market, we went took the monorail to see the Space Needle. That was really fun especially to be able to see all of Seattle that way. It was a beautiful day, so we were able to see things that on most days you are unable to see. Mt. Rainer was visible off in the distance, and they told us that it's only visible 60 days out of the year. (We planned that....just kidding). We spent several hours over there. We had Starbucks at the top, and enjoyed the view. Down at the bottom of the needle there is really neat sculptures and fun things to see. We had fun taking pictures down there. Afterwards we went to catch a ferry boat. It was beautiful. We loved it! It felt very Grey's Anatomy. I did ask this man where Seattle Grace Hospital was and he looked at me like I was a total idiot. Then I said, Mercy West Hospital??? And he walked away. I guess they aren't real hospitals there. (TOTAL made up story....I'm not THAT clueless)! We explored the city even more after our little ferry ride. We enjoyed a WONDERFUL dinner of Sushi at a really fun restaurant that I can't remember the name of. It was great. I left one of my gloves there, so I was Michael Jackson the rest of the week. Yes, I wore 1 glove. I never wear gloves here so I did not see a reason to go and buy more.

Day 2....

Space Needle

At the top.

The beautiful view with Mt. Rainer in the distance.

More of the city.

Having fun taking pictures.

It got a little cold... I did walk around this way...a LOT!

Making our way to the ferry.

On the ferry boat.

Such a pretty picture!!!!

Can we say COLD???

Monday morning we left Seattle on the Amtrak. This really was one of the highlights of our vacation. We totally VEGGED out and had a blast. It was only 3 and 1/2 hrs to Vancouver. We actually wished it took longer because we were having so much fun. It was SO BEAUTIFUL!! We had fun walking around. We stayed in the little restaurant cart, drank coffee, and read our books. It was so gorgeous that I did not even want to read in fear that I would miss something. The entire train ride was on the coast. It was spectacular!

My sweet hub riding on the Amtrak!

It was breath-taking!!

BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!

Up next Part 2 VANCOUVER!!!!!