Alki and More, Seattle Part 2

On Tuesday, while Jim was stuck in South Dakota, the girls and I headed to Alki Beach....

...to meet Cousin Maya...

...Auntie Remy and Uncle Joe. We had a great morning playing in the sand...

...by the water...

...and on their makeshift stage dancing and singing.

We were joking that we needed to put out a hat and collect money!

It had been a long time since the cousins have been together and it was amazing to see how much fun they had together!

On Tuesday afternoon we had a fun time at my parents! The girls had a water gun battle...

...and we visited with my parents backyard neighbors...

Tuesday night we headed out to a local Italian restaurant, Johnny's, to celebrate my parent's 41st wedding anniversary.

While we were having a busy, but fun. day Jim was still stuck in South Dakota. The piece they needed to fix the truck was indeed overnighted and installed BUT, once the piece was installed another issue was found. Of course that meant that another part had to be overnighted so, he was stuck another night. Well...at least he got to see mount Rushmore.

On Wednesday we spent a relaxing day at my parents house.

On Wednesday Jim was finally able to get back on the road, THANK GOODNESS!  Luckily Jim found some mechanics that were very kind to him! The mechanics felt bad that Jim was stranded so not only did they not charge him for his rental car they also did not charge him the overnight fees for the second part...they felt responsible for keeping him stranded the 2nd night.

On Wednesday night I was able to meet up with an old friend of mine, Jessica, for a drink. It was a lot of fun to catch-up and to talk about old times!

On Thursday we had a GREAT day. Our first stop of the day was Vivace Coffee House on capital hill for coffee and pastries....YUM!

Then it was off to meet cousin Maya and Auntie Remy...

...for our fun day at the...

Here are a few pictures from our outing...

 

After the aquarium we went to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch, Hales Ale....mmmm cream ale!

 

It is amazing to be able to spend time with Remy and Maya! Thank you for making the drive from Gig Harbor for us!

After lunch we headed back to my parents house for the afternoon to play in the garden.

Yummy carrot right from my mom's garden

On Thursday night I was able to go have Thai food with my dear friend Corinne. It was great company and good food! Below is a picture from her condo. She still lives in the condo where we used to live together....I do miss this view!

Next post, more Seattle adventures!

Away We Go! (Seattle, Part 1)

Bright and early on the morning of September 7th Jim dropped the girls and I off at the airport for a 8:50 am flight to Seattle. As soon as he dropped us off he went back to the hotel to pick-up the animals and then, he hit the road. His goal was to make it to Naperville, IL for the evening, 13 hours away.

Our first goal, breakfast...

Once we got to our gate we had a bit of time to look out the window at the planes rolling by.

Then, it was time to board the flight...the girls were very excited!

We had two flights, one to Minneapolis and then the second to Seattle. The girls did good on the first flight. We had a few issues with Kera kicking the seat in front of her but they were really quite good. We spent our time coloring, reading, doing a craft, and playing with the few toys they brought. We also had fun trying to fit the three of us into the airplane bathroom.

Our layover in Minneapolis was NOT fun. We had to run across the airport to get to our departing gate, go to the bathroom TWICE, and have a major breakdown by Kera all within 40 min. Thankfully, once we got on the flight things settled down. I saved the portable DVD player for this flight, what an AMAZING invention!

From the airport we drove to my parents house. The girls were very excited to be at Burrs and Pepe's house! Saturday afternoon we relaxed at my parent's house,

played some golf...

...attended a neighborhood party...

...and did some gardening.

Kera was so exhausted that she fell asleep at 4:30.  To her credit it was 7:30 Maryland time. I was really worried that she was going to wake up really early on Sunday so, on several occasions I tried to wake her up but, no luck, Thankfully, she woke up at a very respectable time on Sunday morning.

 

Abby on the other hand was a trooper. She stayed up until 8:30 Seattle time (11:30 in Maryland).

 

On Saturday evening my dear friend, and old roommate, Corinne came over to visit. It was great to see her. I only wish I wasn't so tired when she came over...it had been a long day!

 

On Sunday morning my dad had to work so mom and I took the girls out to coffee at Victor's.

 

Then we headed off to Floyd Lamb park.

 

The girls had fun on the playground and seeing the animals but, they had the most fun playing on the parks amphitheater. They sang and danced on the stage for a long time.

 

On Sunday afternoon we headed over to the Gaslight! We had a nice afternoon of eating, swimming, and visiting...Corinne was even able to join us.

 

 

Even though the girls and I had a great day on Sunday we did get some bad news. I got a call from Jim while we were at the Gaslight asking me if I could look up a Nissan dealership in South Dakota. The check engine light had gone off in the car and he was only able to drive between 40-45 mph....NO GOOD. Jim ended up having to stay the night in Wall, South Dakota. This very small town had one mechanic and he had to wait until Monday morning before he was able to see him.

 

On Monday morning after seeing the mechanic...once he got in...it was decided that the car needed to be towed to the next biggest town, Rapid City. It was a 50 mile tow. Once at the Rapid City Nissan dealership it was determined that Jim was driving in a Molotov cocktail. The muffler had broken off and the exhaust was flowing onto the gas tank causing so much heat that the carpet in the back of the car burnt and the cooler melted. It was also determined that the dealership needed to overnight a part in order to fix the car so, after being stuck in Wall for a night now...he is stuck in Rapid City.

 

On Monday, while Jim was being towed, the girls went to see our friend Elin and her two little ones Cooper and Elliott at a local playground for some playtime and a picnic. It was nice to catch-up with Elin and meet Cooper and Elliott.

 

Abby's favorite part of the morning was climbing trees! She loved it and had to take a picture in every one!

 

On Monday night the girls and I headed over to my Aunt Ellen and Uncle Larry's for dinner. I was also happy to see my cousin Chad, Corey, Elaina, and Corey and Elaina's kids Scarlett and Beau. It was a lot of fun to see the kids together. Thank you everyone for the nice evening!

 

 

On Tuesday morning we were off to Alki but, I will tell you more about that in my next post.

 

Final Week in MD

As I mentioned in the previous post, we checked into a hotel on August 29th and stayed there until the morning of September 7th. This stretch of time might have been the LONGEST in our lives! We were all (Jim, me, Abby, Kera, Chewy, and Billy) in one room together with NO place to hide...naps were impossible, bed time was always too late, and nerves and patience were completely out of whack.

Here are a few pictures of our tight living quarters...

Even though it was a VERY trying time we still tried to make the best of it. Here are some pictures from our antics over our final week in Maryland.

Night at Andy's...

 

The girls were in heaven with their toy basement!

 

Final play date with our neighborhood friend and dance class partner Giselle...

Abby had a very hard time saying goodbye to her "BFF" from school, Madeline...

Some bounce house fun with our neighborhood friend Iris...

And, finally, matinee movie with Papa. We saw the perfect movie for the occasion, Planes. It was perfect because the girls and I were flying out the next morning to Seattle. Abby liked the movie but poor Kera was so exhausted from all of our activities that she fell asleep half way through.

Paper chain complete...let's fly to Seattle!

We were all VERY happy to get out of living in a hotel room...at least for a little bit...we still had quite a journey ahead of us before we made it back to our house in Vegas. Next stop Seattle!

The Beginning of the End

After a LONG but SHORT 18 months on Thursday, August the 29th it was finally time for us to pack-up the townhouse in preparation for our move back to our house in Las Vegas. We had been slowly packing over the previous month...

...and actually, even before the Pack Rat was delivered we had packed the beds...can you tell we were anxious to get going?!?

On the morning of the 29th our empty moving Pack Rat was delivered.

We had originally planned on staying in the townhouse on Thursday night but, Jim did such a great job loading the Pack Rat that we had to check into our hotel a day early. We had already planned on staying in a hotel until September 7th. The 7th was the day that the girls and I flew out to Seattle and Jim began his road trip across country.

On Friday we finished the final bits of loading...

 ...and then, the fun of cleaning began.

As the weekend progressed and the cleaning continued Jim and I began to get more and more mad!When we moved into the townhouse we had to ask for it to be cleaned before we could move in. Plus, during our residency the property management company was completely impossible to get a hold of whenever we had a maintenance issue so...the more we cleaned the more we thought, WHY?

We have our fingers crossed that we will get our deposit back but we are expecting that it will not be an easy process.

Of course a place is never all good or all bad. We had some great memories in Maryland. Our children grew here...(even though Jim hates it and never wants to come back East unless he is flying over it on the way to Europe).

March '12

August '13

And, we made some nice friends here BUT, we are ready to head back to Vegas!