Three Playgrounds, a Zoo and a BBQ

We spent the entire weekend in Seattle. It was mostly warm and sunny. We arrived Saturday morning at 9:30 AM, picked up our rental van, checked into our hotel, and called our friends Sharyn and Paul. We had a few moments to rest and then went off to Bellevue to join them and their relatives for Dim Sum. It was a great start to a great weekend. After lunch we went to Playground #1 and met up with several other families. We read the weather report and dressed our girls accordingly. It turned out to be a lot warmer than predicted and our girls were overdressed.

After the first playdate, it was time for the whole group to head off for dinner at Tutta Bella's Pizza. We put all the kids at one table and all the adults at the other. It was more great fun.

We were too tired to join the after-dinner party at the hotel, so we just went to our room and hit the sack at 8 PM. We had been up since 4 AM and we had a full day ahead of us.

Sunday morning we all met up at Playground #2. Even more families showed up this time and the kids had a blast. Parents brought blankets, chairs and snacks. After a couple of hours of playtime, we walked over to the zoo. We started off on the carousel ride and then it became increasingly difficult to stay together as a group, so we drifted apart into smaller groups. At this point, Chris (our former exchange daughter) met up with us. She had just started college at the University of Washington the week before. It was so good to see her again. The girls hung all over her and eagerly received their gifts of the school mascot, Huskeys. It was such a short visit, only two or three hours. Chris is clearly independent and ready to be on her own.



Later that evening, a few families gathered at the adjacent homes of two of the families for a BBQ. The weather turned cold, but the company was warm and the kids were still full of energy. In fact, when it was time to go, Chloe had her first and only meltdown. She was just too tired and had too much fun.

MONDAY
We stayed over an extra day so that we could attend all the activities. After checking out of our hotel, we went back into town and found playground #3. This one was really cute and shaded. We took lots of pictures.

Dad was really anxious to find a nice restaurant by the water, so we drove around and stumbled across this place, and they seated us at the best table in the house with full views of the harbor on all sides. After that, we returned to the airport and arrived at home by 10PM that night.