Part I: Back From Seattle- We Saw and Ate it All! (Except for the Yeti)

seattle was amazing.

but there are a lot of hills. 

first, after all my anxiety about flying with a baby, henry traveled like a total boss. on both flights (non-stop, late night, 1 dose of benadryl), he slept the whole way and the few minutes before take-off when he was awake, he was charming and solicitous to the folks around us, so they all kind of seemed to be on our side after that.

on my lap, on the plane. safety vest for decoration.

i even got over the fact that, while we waited in the airport, he ran around and ate fallen crackers from the carpet that surely had SARS, MRSA, VRE, and both avian and swine flue's laced into the weave.

ahem. anyway.

our first few days there, he and robb spent a lot of time walking around the central business district while i was in a conference. we're so fortunate that we have some friends and family out there, so they were able to show us around and make sure we got where we needed to be. not to exclude beaches and donut shops. seattle is full of donut shops. apparently you have to have something delicious to dip in your delicious coffee.

i thumbs up this philosophy.

thursday, we flew in late. the drive into town from the airport is lovely- large evergreen trees line the highway and the cityscape is beautiful. i was surprised and disappointed that we did not see a sasquach on our way in, but i hear they can really mess up a front end, and we were driving a rental...so probably for the best.

(incidentally, we also saw no vampires. the trip was a total failure in the mystical creature department. perhaps we were in the wrong parts of the pacNW?)

wide awake, chipper. 3:00am

seattle is 3 hrs behind us at home, so the first few mornings, henry was wide awake and chipper at 3am, but he eventually adjusted. friday, robb shopped and beached with friends and family while i conferenced. and for dinner we all ate a sort of sushi buffet where the food travels past you on a conveyor belt and you just pick and pay for what you want. awesome. so good. want one in my house.

puget sound is perty

flashing the sign for "pig"(super proud of himself)

saturday, i conferenced some more and then we met up with some friends and explored pike place market and the aquarium.  both were very cool. PPM has some really interesting food (we ate bolivian for lunch!) and the produce is incredible. robb bought some "holy shit" peaches (their name, not mine, but i would have named them similarly) and chocolate covered cherries. we also saw fish get thrown and henry kissed a pig. (see below). the aquarium was a huge hit with monkey. he said and signed "FISHFISHFISHFISHFISH" for roughly 90 minutes straight.  then we ate ethiopian for dinner with my wonderful cousin and her hubs.

FISH! seattle aquarium.

sunday, before we checked out of the hotel, we went for a swim.

henry had a ball! he's totally comfortable in the water now, after all those swimming lessons, and he and robb are a fine pair of fish. they splash and dive and throw each other around and just laugh until they crap themselves.

no, seriously. henry totally pooped in the pool. robb and i had a quick wide-eyed, guilty-panic-look exchange and then we wrapped him in 3 towels and raced out of the fitness center, up the elevator, and to the safety of our hotel room where we could hose him down and try not to vom in peace.

so, that happened.

space needle

after that, we went up the space needle and to the chihuly garden and glass museum and ate great mexican food. then we found our way to my cousin's neck of the woods and we enjoyed a cool craft/flea market, some vegan desserts, and some delicious home-grilled salmon (and veggie brats!).

glass works at chihuly glass museum