The Lovely Stairwell

Yesterday was quite interesting. The kids and I were hurrying out the door to meet the other MBA spouse Megan to go to swimming lessons and do some grocery shopping. The only problem was that when we got to the elevators, there were no lights, no response. I thought, "oh great!" So we headed to the stairwell. I was holding the diaper bag, jacket, swimming towel and Katelyn and holding Lindsey's hand while Brandon did the stairs by himself. We got to the next floor down and tried the elevators, but no luck. So I realized that we were going to be going down 10 flights of stairs. When we were between level 6 and 7, the lights turned off and it was pitch black. Brandon was down to level 6, so I tried to keep calm and asked him to try to turn around and head back up the stairs. Lindsey was starting to get really nervous, so I just kept telling her it would be okay. The lights ended up coming back on, but Brandon was very careful to stay very close to me so that we wouldn't be separated if the lights went out again. We made it down to the bottom and then had to find a way down to level D in the parking garage. Needless to say, we were very late for Lindsey's swimming lesson. At least we don't live on the 25th floor!

I wish the story ended there, but unfortunately Megan had her own mishap when we got home. She lives in the other south tower, so I always drop her off on her end in the parking garage so she can take her elevator up. Well, her elevators were not functioning. So she carried 4 bags of groceries and her 18 month old son up 12 flights of stairs. I felt so bad for her! I wish we would have known! I hope that the next time they decide to test the elevators they do it in the middle of the night, or at least let us know that we will be in a predicament. It's so funny....I feel like every time we head out we have some kind of adventure. I guess it makes for some good blog entries!

Happy Memorial Day!

Today we did something that was really fun. We spent the day with Justin's cousins down south of Seattle. We went on a hike in the forest close to Enumclaw, WA. The terrain up here in the northeast is very different than what I'm used to. Here's what home looks like to me:

Things here in the northeast are much different. Look at all that moss!

And some of the trees were so huge!

But it really is just beautiful here.

The kids loved playing after lunch too.

A very full, fun day!

Happy Birthday Katelyn!

I cannot believe that we celebrated Katelyn's birthday yesterday.
This last year has just flown by!

We had a fun time yesterday morning at the Seattle Aquarium looking at all the fish
(and that scuba diver guy).

Then we headed to Pike's Place Market. It is an outdoor market that is just about a block away from us. They are famous for their fish. They also have tons of beautiful flowers and farmers market produce. We got some delicious fruit and veggies and we're sold!
We'll definitely be going there often!

In the afternoon we took the kids swimming in our pool here. As soon as we put Katelyn in the water she started to laugh and kick her legs.

The kids had a great time swimming around in their inter tubes.

Katelyn was excited about her cake,

And she enjoyed opening her presents....
well, I guess the kids really enjoyed helping her open her presents!

And when it was time for cake, Katelyn tried a little frosting....

And then she decided that it was yummy!
Well, really yummy!
Bath time!
Happy Birthday Katelyn, we love you so much!

Random thoughts about Seattle

So I'm still getting used to this urban mom thing. Life is very different when you're living downtown. Here is a sampling of thoughts/random experiences so far that has made Seattle memorable so far, but beware, it is long and very random. This is my way of remembering our summer. :)

~First of all, I must say that our view is so amazing! That is my favorite thing about our apartment. The water looks so beautiful in the afternoons when the sun is out:

And today I learned why the water looks light green close to the shore and dark blue out farther during the day....it's because of the tide going out. It gets very dark blue again around dinner time, and now I know why!

There are so many beautiful plants. We just love driving around and looking at people's yards. It is so green and lush here.

~I am not very good at parking a van in a parking garage with skinny parking spaces. This garage was not built for larger vehicles, and I have found myself trying to park and having to go back and forth several times to squeeze in just the right way. I think since real-estate is such a commodity here, they make the parking spaces extra small. And people park along the curbs everywhere you go, even in the outlying neighborhoods. I have not been brave enough to parallel park the van yet! So that means that I get to keep driving in circles until I find a spot or a curb that is not packed.

~Grocery shopping is an adventure here. If you want a real grocery store, you have to drive a ways to find one. Thankfully, there is one by swimming lessons, so I shop after. But in 4 weeks when they are done, we'll see what we do. Many people here order groceries online and have them delivered. I may have to look into that! But at any rate, getting the groceries and 3 kids from the parking garage to the 10th floor is a bit of a feat. I have decided that the best thing to do is to take the kids up to the apartment, occupy them with lunch or a movie, and then take my new double jogging stroller back down to load all of the groceries in and then roll them to the elevator and then back up to the apartment. That way it only takes me one trip. This double stroller has come in very handy, and not just with my kids! Pike's Place Market is just a block away from us, so I plan to try out the fresh produce this week. We'll see how that goes!

~Whenever I am out and about with the kids, I always get lots of looks from people, and usually a few comments. The looks range from, "Oh, how cute!" to "You must be crazy!" I think I am quite the spectacle. You will see the occasional stroller, and very rarely 2 kids, but I've never seen 3. I'm getting used to the comments (I got them before, but now much more often!).

~Swimming lessons have been interesting, because once again, I look much younger than the other moms there and have more kids. The common comments are, "You've got your hands full!" or "I don't know how you do it!" I love mentioning where we moved from....maybe it will open up some missionary opportunities down the road.

~We went to Steamer's Fish and Chips Friday night and it was so yummy! That was my first real fish and chips and Justin had the grilled fish tacos. Oh so good!

~Going to the library....is it really worth it? It costs $13 to park there. So we walked. Alright. I know it's a great place to take the kids to get books, go to story times, etc. But seriously, I almost died when we went there yesterday. The library is 2 blocks to the south and 3 blocks to the east of us. Not bad, right? Except for the fact that the 3 blocks east are extremely STEEP! Like San Francisco steep (not that I've been there, but those streets look really steep too). The real kicker is the fact that between the weight of my new double stroller (which we love) and the weight of my 2 girls, it's about 85 pounds. So the first steep block was okay. I was feeling the burn from pushing that stroller up the hill. Then the second hill came and I was really huffing and puffing to get up it. The third hill was just about impossible. I struggled up that thing and felt like I had just ran a mile (and I am out of shape and don't like running!). I am sure that I was quite the sight to behold. And most of the looks that time were, "She must be crazy!" and rightfully so. Coming back down the hill was a struggle as well. It was almost all I could do to white-knuckle the stroller handle and pit my weight against the 85 pounds that was ready to roll down the block full steam ahead! I am positive that there were people laughing at me and I walked - half leaning back. I am really not looking forward to going there again, especially since I will also be pushing the weight of the 9 books we checked out! So I'm not sure what we're going to do next time.

~Today we came home from swimming lessons to the tune of our two maids cleaning the apartment top to bottom. I could really get used to this!

~Finally, I am very thankful that I have made a fast friend in a girl who is the wife of an MBA here to do an internship at Amazon as well (they're LDS) from Michigan State. She lives close to us, and we've done many outings together. We ventured out last Friday to explore the communities outside of Seattle. We enjoyed walking around the temple, and we got educated about a couple of suburbs.

We figure, we'd better look around now, in case we end up here next year. I'm thankful to have a friend to get lost with and be a spectacle with (she's got a son). Thank goodness for the church! If it weren't for that, I would feel very out of place here.

Justin's First Day at Amazon

Well, he did it.....his first day of work!

It was a good day starting at the main Amazon building for orientation....

and then moving to the Columbia Center where he will work every day
(it's the tallest building west of the Mississippi.....76 floors.)

It's a ten minute walk for him to walk to and from our place every day.
He is very excited for his project and his team. And he looked great too! Go Justin!

We're in Seattle!

Our summer adventures have officially started. We have been in Seattle for about 24 hours now. We began our travels on Tuesday last week by traveling up to Oregon to visit Justin's sisters Lisa and Lashelle and their families. It was a good trip until one of our back tires blew out on the freeway just as we crossed the Oregon state border. It was smoking and smelled very strongly of burned rubber. We quickly pulled off the freeway and Justin put on the spare tire. Then we found a tire shop in a nearby town to get our tire replaced. Well, we finally left almost three hours later with 2 new tires and a new radiator hose that had been broken when the jack under the van slipped and damaged it. So we changed our plans and found a motel, which the kids were very excited about.

The next day we made it to Springfield and spent the next couple of days having fun with the family. We ate good food, like homemade root beer,

Fed the ducks (and ducklings),

Played at the park,

Played some chess,


Met some new cousins,


Found pretty flowers,


And just had a great time.

On Saturday morning we took off for Seattle. Our trip was pretty uneventful, which we were very thankful for. As we pulled up to our apartment building downtown, I realized that my summer is truly going to be something very different than I have ever done.



We truly are right downtown, in the middle of everything. We are on the 10th floor of a 25 floor high-rise. Harbor steps consists of four high-rises, with tons of restaurants and shops on the bottom floors of each. We're right off of the harbor and we have a great view of the water. Here's our apartment coming in from the front door:

As you can see, very nice furnishings. We've moved a couple of things out of Katelyn's reach! The kids were very excited about their new bedroom (we'll see how sharing a bed goes....),

And their new bathroom which is huge (you can't really tell from the picture).

Our room is nice as well. We are very thankful that the corporate housing company furnished us with a crib and high chair for Katelyn.


This is our view out of the living room window and the master bedroom:


The kids love watching the boats and ships that come by. We have a great view of the Seattle Art Museum from the balcony and kids room:

As you can see from the video, Lindsey is very excited about the new balcony.



This will truly be an adventure for us! It is hard to believe that Justin is starting his internship at Amazon tomorrow. Wish us luck!