Seattle Trip: Part 2

Saturday morning rolled around after another long night. Again, Bob slept with Alexis. Only this time I tried sleeping with Michelle. And her cat, Smokey. And her dog, Godiva. Let’s just say that Godiva is a bed hog. She is only a little King Charles Spaniel, but that dog can spread out! Now, I love and adore Godiva. In fact, I gave Godiva to Michelle so she is like my little god-dog (like a godchild). However, I have no desire to sleep with her again. If she couldn’t sleep on me, then she wanted to sleep between Michelle and I. And slowly work her way sideways and push me off of the bed like a toddler does. What a stinker!

Anyhoo…. We all got up and visited some more and got ready to head out for our day. Bob went back to the Arlington Fly-In to try and hit some of their workshops and talks as well as drool over some more airplanes. Michelle, myself and the chitlins (as Michelle calls them) piled into my trusty Durango and, with Michelle at the wheel, we headed to downtown Seattle. We plopped the kids into my uber cool Phil and Ted’s stroller that Michelle had sent me as a shower gift for Logan and walked down to Pike’s Place Market. I love that place! Granted, with it being summer there were tons of tourists crowding the sidewalks. Not that it slowed us down. First, we went to a French pastry shop and bought a few pastries that were OH SO GOOD! I love and adore baked goods, much to the detriment of my desire to lose more baby weight. Then we went down to a fruit stand and bought some apples, grapes, Rainer cherries and some nectarines. Next was some iced coffee and then we sat at a park across the street to munch on our goodies, admire the gorgeous view and visit. And swelter – it was another hot and humid day. After our brunch we stopped by Beecher’s Cheese shop and I loaded up on some of my favorite cheese as well as their mac & cheese (soooooooooo amazing). I had my little refrigerated cooler in my truck so nothing would spoil.

From Pike’s Place we headed over to Michelle’s Aunt’s house. Her name is Barbara and her husband’s name is, John. They are just amazingly lovely people and they live in one of the most beautiful Victorian houses I have ever seen on Mt. Baker. Michelle, Rese, Katya and I stayed with them in March of 2005 when we went to Seattle for a vacation. We had so much fun and Michelle’s aunt and uncle did their best to make sure we had a great time. It was so nice to see them again! Barbara, Michelle, the chitlins and I loaded onto a city bus and headed back downtown to attend an International Festival in Seattle’s Asian District. There was lots and lots of great smelling food, vendors galore, free Starbucks samples and a stage that had some great drumming demonstrations. It would have been more fun if it hadn’t been so darn HOT! And, as I found out, Seattle doesn’t really have air conditioning anywhere because it rarely is ever that hot. So no matter where we went, there was no escaping the heat. It is disconcerting to stand up from sitting for a while and feel like you wet your pants. Yulky. We eventually loaded back onto a bus (Alexis loves buses) and headed back to Barbara’s house and met up with Bob there. We hung out with them for hours and they were so nice as to buy pizza and salad for us all.

All in all, it was a great day. Great food, amazing company, gorgeous location and very relaxing. Man, I miss seeing Michelle every day!