What an awesome weekend!  We are having crazy, unseasonably fabulous weather here in Seattle – temps in the 80’s all weekend long.  Even crazier since I think others are having unseasonably cold temps?  I have given up guessing what the weather is going to do here, and I’m just enjoying the sunshine as it comes!

Friday afternoon was nap-less as usual, but Cullen had some down time in the crib while I worked outside for about an hour.  Can’t believe it’s finally nice enough for a patio workstation!

Once Mr. No Nap was finished reading himself books, he joined me in the backyard for an afternoon snack and play date. 

Since summer has arrived a bit early this year, we don’t really have any fun backyard entertainment yet.  So I got creative and rigged up a homemade water table out of his old infant bathtub.  He splashed and played for almost three hours until dad came home and we dragged him inside for dinner.  

It was most definitely a big hit.

We also tested out his new super cool toddler sunglasses.  I figured there was no way he’d keep them on, but it turns out he loves them.  They had me laughing all weekend long.  He is a hoot.   

Saturday brought all sorts of excitement.  We were up early to head into Seattle to meet someone to measure carpet for OUR NEW HOUSE.  That’s right – we’re moving…again.  Yep, we are insane.  We are also ridiculously excited, and sort of in shock that this really long crazy story of home buying/selling actually worked out, and we’ll be in our new space in just a few short weeks!  More details to come eventually.  For now, here’s Cullen enjoying what will be his new (fabulous!) backyard.

We left the new place on cloud nine, finally seeing it all ready to go for it’s new owners (US!!!).  From there we decided to spend some time in what will be our new ‘hood, and headed over to Discovery Park for a family hike. 

Discovery is the biggest park in Seattle, and provides some of the most gorgeous scenery and views you can find in this area.  We stood at the top of the lookout in total awe of how gorgeous the Sound looked sparkling under the sun. 

Pretty excited to have this so close to us this summer (and beyond!).  Feels like a dream come true!

Also, I am looking massively pregnant.  I woke up the day I hit 16 weeks, and my stomach had doubled (tripled?) in size.  I’ll do an update here soon, but someone is most definitely growing in there!  I was feeling it too as we hiked up and down.  I don’t have the stamina that I used to!

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.  I can’t handle it.

We worked up an appetite on our hike, and headed to Homegrown in Queen Anne for lunch afterward.  Cullen was very excited to be getting his very own sandwich. 

Marinated portabella, avocado, arugula, pickled red onion, and homemade pesto on whole grain for mama.  My favorite sandwich there by far.

Kid’s peanut butter and homemade jam for Cullen, served with an organic orange.

A big bowl of vegan Thai curry soup for all three of us to share (Cullen loved it!)…

And a very hungry family to eat it all.  Yum!

We headed home for Cullen’s (theoretical) nap, and some downtime at the house.  I watched the Derby and ended up falling asleep for about an hour.  It was nice and lazy, just as Saturday afternoon should be.  In the evening, we ventured out to Downtown Kirkland in search of an early dinner.  We scored a patio table at a Thai place, which felt like winning the lottery on such a busy night. 

I don’t remember exactly what this was, but it was incredibly delicious.  Crispy egg noodles, tofu, and veggie with some sort of fabulous sauce.  All plates were cleaned. 

Finished off our evening with a few scoops of gelato.  It felt like the first day of summer – people, dogs, and families out everywhere enjoying our beautiful city. 

Sunday morning came painfully early, as Casey left at 5am to head to the airport.  He is in Toronto for a few days for work, leaving me and C to entertain ourselves.  I’m used to him traveling quite a bit, but not usually over weekends.  It felt really strange to be on my own on a Sunday!  I couldn’t get back to sleep after he left, so I went downstairs to enjoy some coffee and make pancakes for me and my little man. 

Just because dad isn’t here, that is not going to stop us from pancake Sunday.  These were some of the best yet!  Definitely bookmarking the recipe for next week. 

Sunday was hot, hot, HOT.  I knew all the beaches and parks would be insanely crowded since this is our first really warm weekend.  So Cullen and I headed to Kelsey Creek Farm – a really cute little petting zoo, farm, and playground area in Bellevue. 

Mr. Cool loved the goats and chickens!

He also loved the big sandbox!

I will certainly never complain about too much sun or heat here, but it was so warm I worried about keeping him out too long.  Despite a full coating of sunscreen, my little fair-skinned boy was looking pretty pink by the time we hit the playground. 

We stayed for a few hours and then headed home to relax, nap, and splash some more in the backyard.

We missed Casey, but having such great weather definitely helped move our day along.  Today was in the 80’s again, and it’s supposed to be really nice all week.  We are actually heading to Ohio and Indiana later in the week to see my baby sister graduate from college!  Hard to believe.

More to come!

So I had originally planned to write this post on Monday, but then Boston happened, and somehow today is Thursday.  I appreciate your patience, and for coming back here even though I’ve been a bit erratic and distant lately.  Among other things, I’m working on a big Babble project (that I’ll share soon when it’s done!) that has eaten up most of my working hours.  But I’m working hard to be here as well, as much as I can. 

And so while it is probably slightly ridiculous to share a recap of our weekend on a Thursday, I’m going to do it anyway.  Mostly because we had a lot of fun and I took a lot of pictures, and (selfishly) I don’t want to forget it.  Plus we ate a lot of yummy food!

Saturday morning started with a family breakfast at the table. 

I went for a bagel AND eggs (and my beloved OJ of course), and it ended up being way too much food.  I felt like I was going to explode afterward.  Those bagels are so filling!

The day started out kind of cold and grey, so we opted for an indoor family activity and took Cullen to the Pacific Science Center.  Cullen has this Goodnight Seattle book that he absolutely loves, and we read it to him every night.  Casey and I both know every word by heart.  We decided we’d make it our goal for the year to hit up every attraction featured in the book.  Now with the Pacific Science Center checked off, we only have one left (Museum of Flight!).  Cheesy, but fun. 

We knew many of the science museum’s concepts would be lost on Cullen at his age, but we were also hopeful for some fun toddler areas.  We were not disappointed!  Cullen found this play table of carbon atoms that he was totally obsessed with – much to his dad’s delight.

He also loved watching the levers and rollercoaster cars zooming around.  Check out that mullet!

Upstairs, we found a huuuuge separate toddler area just for the little guys, complete with cars, slides, instruments, a water table, and much more.

Cullen’s latest obsession is the slide.  I think he did this one no less than 50 times.  He worked up a LOT of static going down over and over again!

I watched him climb the steps, sit down and slide, and then run around to the other side to start over again and again, and I wondered how the hell he got so big and when it happened.  I feel like I blinked and he started doing all this crazy stuff. 

He had so much fun that we ended up buying a membership.  There was plenty more that we didn’t get to see or explore, and I look forward to going back on rainy afternoons to come.

Afterward, we headed out to lunch before we needed to get home for nap time.  We went to Baguette Box in Fremont – one of our favorite spots from when we lived there.  This is hands down my favorite sandwich of all time (braised tofu, avocado, carrot, daikon, cilantro, aioli).

They even made a mini version for Cullen – so cute!

And we all shared a large basket of fries.  Yum.

We got home just in time for Cullen to take a nap, and just in time for me to jump back in the car and head out for more fun.  My friend Lacey invited me to her birthday celebration – a tour at Seattle’s Glassybaby candle factory. 

Before we lived here I’d never heard of Glassybaby, and I was surprised when my friends all started raving about these (expensive!) local candleholders.  We saw the whole process of making them from start to finish, and it was pretty incredible.

It took about eight minutes and four different people to make one glass candle holder, and each one is completely different from the next.  The company was started by a three-time cancer survivor, and giving back to charity is a big part of the company’s mission. 

We learned all about how the colors are selected and produced.  In the backroom, we go to see a wall filled with nothing but bars of glass.  These are heated and snipped off in small segments to add colors to the individual candle holders.  Very interesting to watch.

Afterward, we had free reign of the store to test out candles, check out colors, and considering buying some ourselves. 

After seeing them be hand made and hearing what a great local company it is, I couldn’t resist getting one myself. 

And of course, now that I know about them and had time to browse the hundreds of colors, I’m already itching for more.  I am not allowed to start collecting $45 candle holders.  Dangerous!

Afterward, we all headed back to the birthday girl’s house to celebrate!

I has assumed we were having a cake or cupcakes or something simple, so I was shocked to walk in and see that she’d prepared an amazing spread of food!  Highlights included brie with homemade chutney.

A wheatberry arugula salad – love that she served them in individual cups!  So clever!

A veggie dip (that was a recipe from my friend Ashley!) served with cucumbers and an assortment of crackers.

Three different kinds of delicious homemade cookies…

And two different homemade ice creams to make ICE CREAM SANDWICHES!  Seriously – so cute. 

Lacey was actually my very first friend in Seattle, and she’s been a huge support to me and my family.  I was happy I could be there to help her celebrate and kick off a year of new adventures. 

Can you believe that was all just one day?  I was pooped by the time I hit the couch.  I think I fell asleep around 9pm – wild and crazy!  On Sunday we woke up to warmer temps and sunny skies, so the whole family ventured out for some fresh air.  We took Cullen and the pups to Greenlake for a three mile loop. 

It was gorgeous and sunny and almost warm enough to take your coat off – spring IS coming.  I can feel it.  The dogs absolutely loved it, and I can’t wait to take them out more this coming summer.  Huey loves to swim!

After our three miles, we were all hungry and headed to lunch.  The dogs took a snooze in the back of our car, while we went to Chaco Canyon for delicious vegan treats.  I got the Mighty Mofo sandwich, which is my favorite thing there – so tasty. 

Served along with this “cheesy” potato soup, that I could have eaten ten more bowls of – so so good. 

Cullen shared bites of both our lunches, and also ate his own banana chia pudding.  He basically licked the bowl clean.

I have no idea what Casey ate, but it looked delicious.  It probably seems like we eat out a lot since I write a lot about our weekends here (and much less about our weekdays), but weekend brunches/lunches are just about the only meals we eat out.  Dinners are a lot harder with Cullen these days (tough time of night), and we like to cook at home after work.  But we love to treat ourselves to yummy brunches almost every weekend.  The great food in Seattle just makes it hard to choose where to go!

We spent the afternoon at home while Cullen napped.  I think Casey did yardwork and I did some napping of my own.  I peeled myself off the couch just in time for my favorite Sunday afternoon Barre3 class.  It was the first time I had to modify some positions due to being pregnant, which felt strange.  But I still love the workouts, and I plan to continue them as long as I possibly can (hopefully up to the end!).

I walked out of the studio to find the sun shining and people out everywhere.  I called Casey and told him I was picking them up and taking us all to the beach. 

We finished up our weekend all sitting in the sand, looking at the water, and feeling very grateful to have so much beauty all around us here.

Our fun came to an end when Cullen got hungry for dinner and decided to sample a few handfuls of sand.

But it was another great weekend here at home, and I’m already looking forward to the next one!

Up next – the 14 and 15 week pregnancy update!