Seattle/Vancouver

 Well, let's see - where do we begin.  My mom got covid, after my stepdad. Then brother in law and my sister also got covid.  Luckily, Avery dodged it.  Because my mom got covid, she did not come with us on the trip.  Numerous flights were cancelled because of the weather, holiday and system glitch.  My brother's flight was delayed twice but finally arrived at 11PM on the 3rd night.  Our amtrak to Leavenworth was cancelled so there goes that part of the adventure. 

Nonetheless, at the end of the trip, Amber said she loved the vacation and thank me for bringing her here.  Alice said - i like Seattle.  Adam is just looking forward to the next trip and the next meal.  They all couldnt wait to get back home and OPEN PRESENTS.  

The only mishap on the trip was the missing tamagouchi.  We left it at SWISH SWISH when Adam gave it to Ashley to play.

We rented the car via Turo and everything went well.  We gave ourselves so much time that there was no rush on the whole trip except for going back to sleep and/or putting the Ashley to nap.

When we came back, Amber started to cough really bad.  She was coughing nonstop today and she was so exhausted.  We drove out to La Quinta to meet with Sandy, Vince, Leang and Ivy for a few hours for new years eve, but we didnt stay because it was the Christmas dinner for Scott's family.  We drove back in traffic and thankfully Ashley slept (in my arms) while Amber was able to take a break from her cough and napped also.  Traffic was bad and we arrived at 7PM.  Since Amber was coughing so bad...we left early so she could rest.  This was the worst cough she has ever had!

The trip to Seattle was a good 7 days.  It was a different type of vacation since we gave a lot of flexibility on our agenda and just went along with what the weather allowed us to do.  There was so much rain that I did miss the sunshine.  The funny thing was when we came back from the trip, we brought back the rain too.  We continued to experience the rain from Seattle back home.  

It's February now and I am just able to upload those photos to the album.  Looking back, we did so much and its so rewarding to see their smiles and joy when we go on trips.  They have such a great time just seeing the world.  We went to Pikes Market Place multiple times, went Ice Skating at the Bellevue Ice Skating Rink, Ate a ramen place that Scott really liked, went to Vancouver and stayed at the Riverrock Hotel and they got to go on the water slide, we stayed at a lake side airbnb and also got to stay at the Fairmont Hotel for one night which was super nice because the in room dining of the dessert was so so good. We took a ferry to Victoria Island and went to an apple cider farm, went to eat at a greek restaurant and stayed at a hotel with unlimited hot chocolate.  Then on the last two days, my brother told me about the Starbucks Reserve which we indulged for 2 consecutive mornings.  The cornettos with prosciutto were so good and fresh.  I LOVE LOVE a fresh pastry!

We were going to go to Crystal Mountain so the kids can try snowboarding in Seattle but the weather was not good so we stayed in town on the last day.  With the extra day in Seattle, we toured the Seattle Public Library and the Space Needle.