Seattle Day 1

September 3 2011

Collin and I needed to leave our little town for a while.

So, we decided to go to Seattle for the weekend.

It was 3 days and 2 nights of adventure.

Early Saturday morning,

(because the munchkin woke us up)

we finished loading the car and took off.

We drove into Seattle and went straight to Pike's Place Market.

We didn't realize that there was a 'front' and 'back' to this place. 

Thus, we ended up coming at it from the back.

That is we came at the market from down by the waterfront.

Again... little did we know that we would have to go up 6 stories to actually get to the market!

This whole area is built on a couple of big hills.

So, when we came in from the 'back'... 

we had to go all the way back up to actually get where we wanted to go.

This is the view from above once we reached Pike's Market.

We were able to go out on a little walkway and see down to where the bottom of the market begins.

{Kinda... this is a skewed perspective because you're not seeing out to the ocean.}

Then the real adventure began.

The market was CRAZY. There were soo many people there it was ridiculous.

I'll admit it was Labor Day weekend and all... but W.O.W.

We wandered around and I had to get the 'classic' shots of the market.

The main sign that everyone knows.

{It really is a cool sign in person.}

 

Collin by this point is done with the crowd and chaos-ness of the place.

Eithan is being his usual self and looking around.

There's my happy, handsome man!

And Eithan was trying to pull off his sunglasses once again.

It became a game for Eithan to try and get them off of Collin's head.

{Anyone notice the time change between the pictures??}

The one thing that really stood out to me while looking around were these beautiful flowers.

 And they were only $5 or $10 a bunch!

I have never seen such quality flowers for so cheap ever in my life!

{It made me wish I could do my wedding reception over again 

so that I could have beautiful flowers on my tables... ya know what I mean?}

I thought that by the flowers would be a perfect little spot to take a family picture.

 Our first shot with me holding the camera.

{Eithan was pulling my hair all weekend long. It was torture for me. Fun for him. Thus I had to include this picture}

 

This second one a sweet lady took for us. 

(I think she was from Australia or somewhere around there. Adorable accent.)

She actually took two..

but this was the best one because I was actually looking at the camera instead of trying to get Eithan to look at the camera. But... as you can tell I am still trying to get Eithan to look at the camera... thus the array of arms all over the place.

At least we are all smiling.

*************

As we wandered around the market... our time for our parking was running out.

BUT... I still wanted to look around. 

So I sent Collin to go move the car and find another spot.

Simple enough, right?

No.

It took Collin about 30 minutes to find another parking spot and come back to us.

In that time frame... Eithan decided that he was done and started screaming bloody murder at me.

I mean screaming.

People started staring at me as they walked past.

I was given some dirty looks, some sympathetic looks, and some looks of complete shock.

I was SO embarrassed. 

Collin finally came back... and we decided we should just get our dessert and go.

Well... our dessert was sold out. 

Go. Figure.

So I went to find a new dessert. And it was only OK.

Then we started to head back to the car.

On the way we passed the original starbucks {which had a ridiculously long line},

and a little grass park.

By this time Eithan really needed to get down and crawl around.

Thus, to the park we went.

{When I say park... I really mean some grass in the middle of a big concrete surrounding.}

And that's when this little guy decided to be his adorable self again and pull this cute stunt.

Eithan didn't want to crawl on the prickly grass.

So he stuck his little bum in the air and waddled/crawled around in the grass.

He's been doing this a little more in grass.

Something about it just doesn't feel right on his 'wee little knees'.

While Collin and Eithan played for a little bit...

I shopped some more.

It was fun... but I was exhausted, and the boys were too.

So we headed back to the car.

Eithan slept all the way to the hotel.

Then decided he was ready to go again.

We were not.

But what do you do with a little one in a hotel room with lots of outlets, cords and other things?

So we went to a mall nearby.

Collin was really excited because we went to REI.

He shopped. I walked around.

Then I was excited because I was able to go the best store ever!

Pottery Barn.

I shopped. He walked around.

{Who knew it could be so fun to see those beautiful items in person?}

Then... it was time to call it quits.

We went back to the hotel and crashed.

Well... Collin and I crashed but Eithan didn't.

He slept really fitfully that night.

So much so that he was up every 2 hours.

It was like having a newborn all over again.

So he slept... we didn't.. and that ended our adventurous day 'numero uno' in the city.

Total for the day:

$20 in parking fees.

$20 in food from the market.

$15-$20 in gas.

$65 for a room.

= $120 {ish}

Everything we did was free... so not to shabby.