Catch up: Part 3 Mother/Daughter Trip to Seattle

With determination to carry on the tradition, we ladies (me and my mom, Lisa and her mom, and our good friend Julie and her mom Karen) planned our 3rd annual Mother/Daughter trip. It's always been a rule that nursing babies can tag along, this meant little Miss Kellyn would have to stay home with Daddy. Thank goodness he agreed to this!



So, with our bellies full of candy from Halloween the night before we loaded on a plane and headed to Seattle. This year we chose Seattle for several reasons. 1st.......because it's an AWESOME and BEAUTIFUL city. 2nd.........easily accessible for everyone. 3rd........Karen has beautiful new home there she was gracious enough to open up for all of us. This was the BIGGEST selling factor considering all 3 of us "young" mothers were bringing 1 child with us. With kids, it's always better to be in a home rather than some resort/hotel. And I can't begin to tell you how prepared Karen was to have us. WOW that woman has some toys. Perhaps it's the grandmother in her, but I think she owns every toy on the market. Kellyn would have been in paradise!



Upon arrival, we snuggled into our cozy quarters......Karen's home is just beautiful, and then we headed off to the grocery store for some munchies. It's amazing how much damage 3 women (Julie, Lisa and I) can do at a supermarket without kids. SCARY!




Grammy with grand-daughter #2. Love at first sight!

Kaitlin enjoying having the highchair ALL to herself. She's not used to that!















Mr. Blue Eyes charming all the women. It worked!























Courtney (Julies kiddo) enjoying some playful Cheryl time during dinner. Despite my enjoyment of just having Kaitlin with me, Courtney sure did make me miss Kellyn a lot. Those 2 would have been fast friends for sure.

The "future" mothers (and daddy) of the group.






















She kept doing this "lying on my side in a sexy used car sales ad way" all weekend.

She's just too darned cute!

























We feasted on yummy food, put the kids to bed and then hunkered down in Karen's media room for a flash back in time watching the movie Real Genius with Val Kilmer (boy has he changed). Granted, being jet lagged........we all didn't make it to far but it was a good start to our long weekend.

The next morning started off early for us "young" moms. OUR mothers (The Grandmother's as I will refer to them) were soooooooooooooooo generous to treat us to a morning at a local luxurious spa while they stayed home and took care of the kids. I don't know who was more excited, us or them. However, we arrived at the spa only to get royally pampered with multiple treatments and a full lunch provided there in the spa. We actually ate in our robes. That was so cool!!!

I can honestly say I experienced one of the coolest things EVER at this spa. It's called the Vischy Shower. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was part of a seaweed exfoliation package and I didn't know what to think about it at first but once again.........all I can say is WOW!!! The first thing I thought of when I got done was........man, I gotta blog about that!! My intention was to go into FULL detail about this, but I just can't seem to find all the right words. There are dozens of little shower nozzles come down at you, the water temperature is just perfect, the water pressure is just perfect, the whole thing is just perfect. It's like having thousands of little fingers massaging your entire body at the exact same time. WOW! I could almost feel each individual water drop as it landed. PURE BLISS!!! Definitely take advantage of this if you have it available in your area. First thing I did when i get home is scour for a spa that provided this treatment. So far no luck. SO SAD!! Guess I'll be making routine visits to Seattle! :-)

Ok, back to reality.........after our spa morning, we came and relieved The Grandmothers so they could enjoy some spa treatments of their own. That evening after dinner, I took Kaitlin and Courtney (Julie's daughter) for a walk in Karen's stunning neighborhood. The cool crisp air reminded me of why I love that area so much.



















Back home, Kaitlin fell fast asleep in her crib in the closet (I know....sounds mean......but they are so dark and quiet......just perfect for traveling babies) and we mothers and grandmothers played a VERY fun game called Apples to Apples. We were literally rolling around in tears at some of our silly cards.







Basics of the game.........each person has 7 cards in their hands. Each card represents a place, thing, person, event, etc. Everyone takes turns being a "judge" and they draw a card from a separate pile that has a word (along with a description of that word). Each person has to lay down a card from their pile that they think "represents" that word and the judge picks which one they like best. The person who's card is picked gets a point and the one with the most points at the end wins. So............you can imagine how creative (and hilarious) this can get.




I just HAD to take a picture of this "round". The GREEN card is the Judge's card and the word is "LUXURIOUS". The RED cards were layed down by everyone else, their choice (from the options in their hand) of what luxurious means to them. Let me just say, my card was picked this round and the verdict is....Milk Duds truly are luxurious!!! :-) Much more so than Mold and Mud. So fun!








The next day, Karen arranged for 2 fabulous friends of hers to come babysit the kiddos so we could all attend a cooking class at Sur La Table. It was a "Pie Workshop" and we learned how to make 4 different things: Apple Pie (with lattice crust), Lemon Curd Pie, Pumpkin Pie, and Huckleberry/Almond Tart. I can't tell you which one was my favorite........SO YUMMY!!! I've always feared baking pastries so now I feel much more confident. Sometimes that can mean disaster but we'll see. Haven't had the chance yet to put my new skills in motion. Perhaps over the holidays!!! My mouth is watering talking about it.







Here we are with Chef Rachel. She was so cute....wish she would move in with me and bake me fresh pastries all day long. If only!!!























Leigh and Julie (very excellent cooks themselves) were apparently so busy talking they left out a few "key" ingredients for their tart. Still looked good. Luckily we taste tested Chef Rachel's!! :-)















My mom and Lisa portraying the "perfect students". In truth, they were both admiring the assistants PERFECT skin and sultry accent. If only we could look like that AND talk like that AND cook like that. (sigh)
















Before dinner, we all headed down to a local nursery that has an AMAZING gift shop packed full with just about every holiday decoration and tree ornament you could ever imagine. While there, we just HAD to take advantage of a cute photo op. They had a little cardboard penguin set up with 3 face holes. Just perfect for our size group. So.......we got a picture of each generation........as penguins. We all used the same head hole (if that makes sense) which made things interesting since this as really designed for kids but oh well.....we're all still kids, right??








Starting with the "elders" and so on......here you go!

That night all us girls sat by the fireplace and just talked for hours...........good old fashion girl talk. That is something I have missed terribly over the past couple of years. It truly is medicine for the soul!!!


The next morning, we leisurely packed and ate some breakfast. Then we headed to a local photographers studio to get a formal picture of the multi-generational and estrogen filled clan. Poor Merrick did his best to hold his own amongst so many females.....he was such a trooper!



An uneventful flight home and now it's all over with. I was excited to see Jim and Kellyn again (of course) but it was so refreshing to have a mental break for a few days. After spending my days corralling 2 little kiddos and maintaining a professional career - this trip was truly a vacation. Having just Kaitlin to concern over (especially with Grammy there too) seemed like a vacation in itself. She was THE PERFECT angel and made the trip that much more enjoyable!




Now, back to reality! Time to start thinking about next year. Where to next ladies????? ;-)