We wanted to get out of L.A. for a second.  We were basically just seeking some cooler weather, to be honest with you.  Yes, that could have been as simple as our annual drive up to San Francisco, but I was getting the itch and the urges.  You know… to go somewhere new.  See something different.  Cross something off the list.

I gently reminded my husband occasionally (AKA told him 3 times a day, every day) that a vacation was in order. When and where, babe?  When and where?  I had a list of expensive thoughtful ideas.  We weighed the options back and forth for weeks.  And still waited until the last second to book.  But we did it.

The day our flight left was… hectic. Because apparently no matter how late you stay up the night before to prepare for a trip or how close the airport is to your house (3 MILES), there is always a feeling of panic to get out the door.  It didn’t help that my iPhone took a huge crap right before we left and wouldn’t update/sync/be a phone.  But it all works out when you can get to the airport and through security in like 15 minutes.  We love you Burbank Airport!  You may have saved our marriage.

The flight was pretty good.  The day before we left, Stevie realized he liked YouTube all of a sudden, so we downloaded some videos about cars and buses for him to watch.  That helped a lot.  We also got him the fancy cheese & fruit platter as a snack on the plane.  Because that’s just how he rolls.

And we made it from BUR —> SEA in one piece!

We picked up our rental mini-van and headed for the hotel.  I swear we picked a van because it was the cheapest option, and not just because we are huge nerdy parents now.

ANYWAY, we ate fish and chips at a pizza place inside the hotel, which seemed like a cop-out because we were lazy.  But was actually really tasty.  Then we took naps almost immediately.  Then we had coffee and cupcakes after that.  At around 5pm, we finally went outside.  It was gorgeous out.  Warm, fall sunlight.  Red and yellow leaves.  I got to wear layers for the first time in forevers, even though I didn’t really need to.  Just what the doctor ordered!

About 5 seconds into our walk, Stevie had a tantrum.  I think 85% of his tantrums on this trip were over the freakin stroller.  He wants to push it.  But he is terrible at it. Drunky McDrunkerson.  So, we try to help steer a little here and there, which is obviously totally unacceptable and makes us huge a-holes. On the ground he goes.  Just wherever we are.  Collapses into a heap.  And when you try to help him up, he goes into octopus mode.  So there outside our hotel door, we looked like real winners who had it all together, right from the get-go. Holding our bags and cameras, trying to push a stroller and wrestle a screaming over-sized spaghetti noodle. There was a couple standing there who felt a little sorry for us.  And they felt even more sorry for us when we had finally gone about a block and realized we were going the wrong way.  We sort of had a walk-of-shame moment having to turn around and try that again.  Yes, they smiled, but there was pity in their eyes.

If you are a reader of this blog and haven’t gathered by now that I love tourist stuff, then let me tell you.  I LOVE TOURIST STUFF.  A lot.  I take pictures of popular landmarks like I discovered them.  So our first stop obviously had to be the Space Needle!  TADA!

We really lucked out that day because the skies were clear and you could see the whole city for miles.  You could also see Mt. Rainier off in the distance, so that was a real treat.  Even the people working there were kind of excited for that one.  At least they acted excited for our sake.  Stevie was totally into it.  He admired the views and basked in the sun.  He soaked up all the history and imagery.  Could have lived there!

Just kidding.

After the elevator ride up and successfully driving his red truck on a window ledge, he was pretty much done.  We stretched it out until sunset, but it took some major wrangling on our parts.  Lots of “Hey Stevie! Run that way!  Now run back to mom!  Now run to dad!  Now go up and down those stairs!”  Just doing our parenting duty to make the mundane things in life seem super great!

Once the sun went down, we walked around for a long, long time.  Trying to find something to eat.  But we hadn’t really done our research.  So we ended up in an area that was not really fit for kids.  We walked and walked some more as I frantically searched Yelp for ideas.  We ended up back at the hotel and then hangrily drove the van around the city for awhile before we finally decided on a little hole-in-the-wall pizza place out of sheer desperation.  Either we were starving or it was really good pizza.

Molly Moon’s was highly recommended (especially since they have vegan ice cream) so we had to have a scoop (or three) to top off our evening.  Little did we know the scoops were enormous and most of it ended up going to waste.  #wussies

Our heads hit the pillow hard that night filled with candy-covered dreams of all the fun that still lie ahead.

And… scene.