To Seattle and Back

It has been almost a year since we moved from the Pacific Coast to the Atlantic Coast. So we saw it fit to take a trip back to visit our house and friends. We also decided to travel during the weekend of our friend Kelly's 50th Birthday and Mother's Day. And Oh, how wonderful it was to visit.

After our early morning flight from Reagan International, we arrived in Seattle with only a few moments of sleep. Finn didn't sleep on the airplane at all, and Penny only slept for about an hour. Our sweet eldest child can sit and watch movies and do activities for hours. Our sweet baby girl is every bit different than he is. She can't sit still for any part of time, unless she is strapped down. And the woman in front of us was clearly unhappy that we brought our baby girl on the plane, and I'm sure she thought we gave our kids the pep-talk to be as loud and un-controlling as possible. UGH! Then she tried to give us advice of when we travel next time of "things she used to do with her kids on airplanes". WHAT?? You have kids and aren't compassionate of us! UGH!

We arrived in Seattle and were warmly greeted by cold and brisk weather, after leaving 80 degrees and our friends waiting for us at our house. As we drove from the airport to our house, Ken and I looked at each other and noted how much it felt like we hadn't even left. What a great feeling... to feel that even though we'd been gone for almost a full year, we felt like we hadn't left for a day!

That first night, I went to the city with one of my besties, Shawnta. She got a hotel room for us in downtown, and we walked through the streets, visited the Cheesecake Factory and had cheesecake and martinis. The next day, she'd booked a Glycopeel for us at a local salon and spa. And oh my! If you've never had one done, you should. It was so great! I loved how it made my skin feel. I never understood the idea behind a facial. But this was very nice and I enjoyed it. I felt very pampered. (This was my gift from Shawnta for Mother's Day!)

Shawnta is such a "tourist". We took all kinds of silly pictures. :)

The day when we returned, I went on a shopping trip with my other bestie, Sara. We went also and had dinner together.

On Saturday, we spent all day celebrating Kelly and his 50 years! We played RockBand, the men worked on Kelly's boats for this boating season, and the women chatted and cooked :) We spent "family" time together. Oh, how sweet it was. On Friday, we took the kids to a bounce house for some fun. They had a blast!! Here are some photos from our visit...

The men in the garage doing their thing... :)

The kids were SOO tired by the end of our trip (both our kids and the others) :)

I've had several people ask, and I've come to realize that with our move to MD, I really pushed my feelings down about leaving Seattle. When we arrived in MD I really put my nose to the grindstone and got involved and meet new people. And I just came with the idea and feeling that I needed to "pull my big girl pants up and move on". I wasn't going to be able to go back and there was no reason to sulk over not being able to go back. So I didn't. But going back (combined with the WONDERFUL trip we had in CT with our family) reminded me how much I love being with my family and my friends and how blessed we been for these people who mean so much to us. So, we look forward to going back. :)