springdellgirl

Labor Day Weekend 2009

This Labor Day weekend we packed up the kids and headed to Seattle for a weekend of fun as a last hurrah before fall. We really had a great time. All our kids are great travelers...including Bryn...so that made it really nice.

We headed out in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday. We arrived in North Bend in time for some breakfast and the opening of the outlets there.

We ate breakfast at the restaurant where they filmed the old TV show Twin Peaks.

The weather was gloomy and wet but that didn't stop our fun or our shopping!!

We found a bunch of great clothes for everyone. I even found quite a bit to put away for Christmas. I love getting my Christmas Shopping done early!! It just might happen this year.

Oh Seattle how we love you!!

I always forget what a big city Seattle is and how small the town we live in is in comparison. It was so fun to go downtown and roam around. There is always so much to see and do.

There are so many great stores...restaurants...sites to see. The people watching alone is amazing. I forget how very vanilla it is where we live. I love seeing and hearing the variety of cultures and languages.

One of my first stops was the downtown Goodwill. I love thrift stores and we had been told that this was one of the best. We were not lead astray. I found so much great stuff. All for the price of around $30. Yay!!

After that we hit the pavement. We walked all over the place. Bryn rode in the back pack and pretty much slept the entire time.

Our first stop was Pike Place Market.

Just as we got down there the sun came out...perfect!!

We watched the flying fish

We went to our favorite Specialty cheese store for some amazing cheese and curds.

There was a big music festival going on so there were even more people downtown. It was incredibly fun. Downtown Seattle has such a great vibe. Street performers who are actually talented! I was THRILLED to see that punk is not dead!! There was fantastic music from every street corner and every kind of ethnic food you can imagine. Colors, Music, Smells galore. We were loving it. We just soaked it up.

The girls had fun spending money at Daiso a Japanese Dollar store. They found clear umbrellas, cute stationary, notebooks, miniature manicure sets and so much more. :)

That night we decided on Greek food for our cuisine of choice and basically collapsed at our hotel. It amazes me how much fun our kids can have at a hotel...ice machines, vending machines, HBO and the waffle/omlet breakfast bar the next morning was just icing on the cake.

The next day we drove to Bellingham to visit some of our favorite people. Justin, Hannah, Grace, Haylee and Gavin. They are so much fun to hang out with and we loved every minute we spent with them. We were blown away by how absolutely BEAUTIFUL it is there. Gorgeous. Justin and Hannah were wonderful to play tour guides and they showed around their lovely town.

The beach was a hit with the whole family. The kids had a great time beach combing. They could've spent hours turning over rocks. They had a ball collecting shells, finding sand crabs, and seeing an enormous red jellyfish. On our ride home we asked the kids what their favorite part of the trip was and they all said that playing on the beach with the Ellersicks was the very best part.

Gavin, Justin and Hannah

Kameron, Reilly, Ailey, Grace and Haylee

Grace and Kameron

So much fun was had that a trip to the Oregon Coast is a MUST this next year. After we could drag the kids away from the beach we drove into Fairhaven (I think that is what it is called). That was also a lot of fun. The little downtown area is charming with lots of fun stores. There was a fabulous toy store, great book store, cupcake shop, candy store, specialty cheese store, and a vintage clothing store...we hit all of them. I found a darling green necklace from the 50's. After that we headed back to Justin and Hannah's for an amazing BBQ dinner. It was so good. Hannah--Reilly wants me to get your BBQ Beans recipe. :)

Eventually the kids did fall asleep. :)

The next morning Hannah made us a delicious strawberry waffle breakfast and we left. Time flies by when you are having fun. Thanks again for such a fun time!! We love you guys.

The whole crew

After that we headed back towards Seattle. We stopped at another set of great outlets in the Linwood area I think. Banana Republic, Restoration Hardware, Gap, The Children's Place, Gymboree...just to name a few. We stopped at a few other places we wanted to see as well. Oh why oh why Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are you not in our area??

Even though we didn't time our trip properly to catch a Mariners Game Kameron had to make the pilgrimage.

Kameron and his FAVORITE player.

We made another attempt to score some Seattle Fudge and were denied. Bummer. Twice this trip!! We did however eat an amazing Teriyaki Lunch before leaving town. We also stopped to admire the beauty of the Seattle Temple and to walk around the grounds.

Then we headed home. It was a fun weekend getaway trip. We had great time, saw beautiful sites, ate great food, and got to visit one of our favorite families. It doesn't get better than that.

Now back to reality...school...fall...after-school activities. Ballet for two girls, piano, and swimming are all starting and things are starting to get CRAZY around here!!

Good-bye Summer. I will miss you!!