"So how's my butt?" " I don't know, are we grading on a curve?"

Let's talk about Seattle.

Hondo's birthday was last week (which I wrote about here.) He has been practically begging me to go on a trip, a "real vacation" where we could spend some time together somewhere that wasn't here.

I debated many locations, and searched for deals for several weeks before settling on the idea of Seattle a couple weeks ago. I told Hondo about the surprise the day I booked it because I am the worst at keeping surprises secret, and also I hate surprises myself.

Our flight was super early Friday morning. We landed in Seattle at 8 am. We were super tired but we couldn't check in to our hotel til the afternoon so...away we went. We found a place called Lola's for breakfast that was absolutely delicious. Everything locally grown, all natural farm raised animals, fresh squeezed juice and not a regular soda to be found. Mexican Coke is allowed, but not anything else. (This was the case at almost every restaurant we went to. What is this obsession with Mexican Coke? I don't even think it's good! And are they thinking it's healthier or something? Because really...I doubt it.)

Seriously, if you go to Seattle go eat here. Totally worth it!

Since we had time still we decided to fill it by sight-seeing right away. First stop--Space Needle. It was a little cold but not too cloudy so the observation deck was great. 

We also went to Chihuly Gardens, which was awesome. If the exhibit comes to your town, go see it. I heard that it is especially cool at night. What must it be like to be the guy who pioneers an entire art form?

We were so tired that we went after lunch at Red Mill Burgers we went to our hotel and took at long nap. Which is kind of a vacation unto itself seeing as that can't happen with a baby around.

Dinner at Ivar's down by the water was pretty good too. I tasted salmon (it's a little fishy) and we walked around the pier a bit, then went to a movie (which we also rarely get to do anymore.)

Parking in Seattle is a bit ridiculous, and by ridiculous I mean expensive. I think we literally spent about $100 just on parking this whole weekend.

Saturday, since parking is so horrible, after brunch at Boat House Cafe (which was fine but took too long) we parked and walked around downtown for the next four hours. We saw the famous market, sampled some local fruit and baked goods, saw the Gum Wall and then went on the Underground Tour, which is pretty cool. You learn a lot about the history of Seattle and get to see some of the oldest parts of the city.

Hondo "Underground"

For dinner we wanted to try the best pizza in Seattle, so we went to a place called Serious Pie and if that is the best then that sucks for Seattlites. It wasn't bad, but we got an appetizer that was possibly the worst thing I've ever put in my mouth. Thankfully we had a great waiter who didn't charge us for the gross food that we hated.

Sunday was our last full day so we went to breakfast at The Lucky Diner (who served normal Coke products, along with the Mexican Coke) which was everything you want a diner to be, but still a little healthier. They didn't serve hash browns or pancakes as a side, they served sliced fresh tomatoes and fruit cocktail. It was pretty good. The tomatoes made me miss Mo a lot (she would eat them whole like an apple if I would let her.)

We stopped by the Pacific Science Center to see the King Tut exhibit there and play at the other exhibits a bit. My favorite pics from the whole trip came as a result--gotta love photo booths.

We went up to Kerry Park to catch the great views of the city and Mt. Rainier, which is huge. We kind of slowed down that afternoon, after going back to the Market to pick up some souveniers and fresh fruit, we headed to Daniel's Broiler for dinner. It's a great steak and seafood house that I would also recommend, if you don't mind spending lots of money on great steak. We agreed at dinner that we felt good about our trip, and neither of us really felt like we had missed out on anything while we were there. We walked around downtown enough to last us quite awhile, and I know we were both anxious to get back to Monroe. 

Thanks so much to Holly and Eric who had Mo for the weekend so we could have some time alone. If you want to see how crazy Mo can be on a day-to-day basis, head over to Holly's blog here and see how the weekend went in pictures/video.

I'm very grateful that we have been so blessed to be able to afford this vacation. We definitely appreciate spending time together and getting to experience a new place. I love being able to try new things and see new places and I'm so lucky to have such a handsome man to experience  it all with!