We Love Warm Winter Breaks

Winter Break...

you'd think we would do what the smart people around here do for Winter Break...

Oh no, we haven't quite caught on yet I guess. While "they" have all gone to Hawaii, Mexico, or on a Disney Cruise for the week, we opted, once again for staying home. We called it our STAYCATION to make us feel better, but we were still totally jealous of everyone else. We tried to make it our own personal vacation. There's so much to do around here that we haven't done yet, and the possibility looms over us heavily that we just might could move from here at any given second. Everyday we wanted to do something fun... forget jobs and piano practicing (it makes me break out in hives just thinking about going without those things, but I truly wasn't in the mood to make MY vacation turn into a Stresscation.)

DAY #1 Start out the week pigging out at the Old Country Buffet. Yum at first, then Barf after. So much food!

DAY #2 Go to Sky High (a big fun trampoline place)

I love spontaneous group hand holding.

Ady loved doing her gymnastics flips and jumps.

Kaden surprised me with his daredevil skills and his not wanting to leave the pit.

After the Sky High we went to our favorite Mexican Restaurant and went and saw the movie "The Spy Next Door."

DAY #3 We stayed home and did projects; worked on our domestic skills Maryn made bread and Adyson made cookies. We also worked on a quilt that we've been doing for forever; played games, read, just sort of relaxed. Nice.

DAY #4 We packed our bags for downtown Seattle, checked ourselves into the Residence Inn and took off for the Space Needle. One thing that made staying home easier is that the weather was divine... perfectly sunny and 50's-60's the whole week. We decided that if were going to chose a perfect day to go to the top of the Space Needle this day was THE perfect one!

Another spontaneous hand holding moment.

We got to the top just before sunset. The view was amazing. The food was delicious. Here are some fun facts about the Space Needle: *the restaurant is 500 feet above ground and is indeed revolving... making a full rotation every 41 minutes. *When it was built in 1962 for the World's Fair, it was the tallest building West of the Mississippi River. *The Needle sways 1 inch for every 10 mph of wind. It was built to withstand 200 mph winds. Fortunately for us, there was no wind this day. *The elevator ride took 43 seconds to get to the top.

Elliot Bay with the Olympic Mountains.

Queen Anne neighborhood.

Lake Union

That big, white building is the Marriott Residence Inn where we stayed.

Bellevue with the Cascade Mountains.

Even on sunny days Mt. Rainer can hide behind a haze. This was breathtaking to have this great view.

Here we are about 3/4 the way around on our rotating restaurant. As soon as we stepped out of the elevator the thought crossed my mind that I should have brought my Dramamine. It is a weird sensation to be so high up, to be standing still, on a floor that is not moving and to look at booths, food and people that are slowly rotating with scenery that is also moving. Hul! I didn't know if I would make it. But, when we sat down and began rotating with everyone else I soon figured out where to look and where not to look. I mainly tried to focus on the fact that we were in the Seattle Space Needle and we probably wouldn't ever do it again so just relax and enjoy.

Ya gotta do this at least once... on a clear, non-windy day... at sunset.

Day #5 Swim in the hotel. Go to the Pacific Science Center. Good times!

A view from our hotel balcony.
This particular Residence Inn felt quite fancy. These kids are so darn spoiled but we'll chalk it up to quality family time and our version of a cruise (maybe next year we'll finally get our tropical Winter Break.)