2 Weeks In Seattle

Left on a Sunday morning fighting the snow-ridden roads to the airport (but, luckily, had a nice neighbor to drop us off and save $80 in airport parking fees).

Charged the old man and woman sitting next to me on the plane for various things amounting to $25 by the end of the flight. Explained to him that the stewardess announced over the intercom to give the person on his left $20, ending at the aisle (I was sitting on the aisle). Getting up to let them in/out for the bathroom cost $1 each time and both of them went once. The last charge was getting his bag down from the overhead compartment. He found me at baggage claim and handed me 1% of his bill; a quarter. Said he'd have to owe me the rest.

Arrive in Seattle to the smell of cigarette's. Forgot how much people smoke until we landed - 2nd hand smoke is EVERYWHERE there.

Survive 3 days without power at the in-laws (severe windstorms knocked out their power for a week; other areas did without it for longer than that). Realized how boring life can be without electronics ;O) Whenever I would see the exhausted utility crews around town I would feel a little teary-eyed like I do when I see a soldier in uniform in person. Those crews were (and still are) working so hard to get the electricity flowing. 3 cheers for hard workers!

Lisa and I went galavanting around Seattle for the day to get some pics of Seattle so I could show you why we really love it there.

Went shopping at Bellevue Square for last minute gifts and found a little somethin-somethin for yours truly and a 20% discount because the cute sales clerk tangled it and couldn't figure out how to undo it (I had it undone before we left the store). In case there are any single guys in the Seattle area that are looking for a fun redhead chiquita... stop by and see Amanda at Banana Republic - tell her I sent you from my blog. Here's a picture of her I took on the fly... See, cute, isn't she?

The rest of the week until Christmas was fun hanging with the in-laws and all the family that were around. In the parents house alone there were about 13 people staying; mom, dad, the 2 brothers that live there, the 1 brother and his baby, us 4 then the sister/hubby/baby that are in between houses/states moving from Oregon to California with his job. There's another sister/hubby/3yr old in the area too, but they didn't sleep at the house.

Christmas eve we went to church in the morning (then again in the afternoon for a devotional). When the kids got out of the car they asked, "What's that sound?" I had to stop and pay attention to figure it out because there wasn't anything obvious like dog barking, construction or people. Oh. They heard the swish-swishing of the trees blowing in the wind; kinda sounded like a river. Don't hear that sound in Utah - no matter where you are... it's different in the NW.

We attended The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Pacific Science Center with the whole family. It was too packed for me to enjoy it thoroughly, having to manhandle the bored kids and maneuver around a bunch of people who didn't know how to keep the flow flowing. Saw some authentic writings from a bazilion years ago and learned some about how they survived so long, were sold a couple times (once for $250,000) and lastly transcribing them from ancient language to english. No pictures allowed, so there aren't any to share (but take another look at Amanda above).

There's more to write about but maybe this should be it for now. Phew. I have more pictures too ;o)