Last Saturday morning, we left our house and our car in the hands of my brother, got on a plane in SLC, and landed in Seattle. We got here at 9:30 in the morning and couldn't pick up our key for our apartment until 5:00 in the evening, so we spent the day finding things to do in the area. First on the list was just driving around while the kiddos slept in their car seats (it was a VERY early morning for them). Then we went to lunch at Panera Bread in Redmond. Then we made our way down to a park Bellevue where we played and walked and watched some ducks. There was a mall right next to the park, so we walked around there for a while and ended up in an indoor play area that Lacey and Amy absolutely loved. From there we went to pick up our key... found our that that we were just a little bit too early, so we went to the grocery store to grab a few groceries to last us until Monday, and back to the key pick-up place, only to discover that the cleaners had been late to our apartment so our key wouldn't be available for another hour. By this time we were all very tired and grumpy and just not in the mood for all this nonsense. We drove around some more looking for a place to eat dinner, didn't find one, and ended up back at the key pickup place, and, of course, our key wasn't there. So we drove around a bit trying to figure out what to do, afraid that we'd be stranded for the night with two small children, and I was ready to get back on the plane and go home, and Phil was ready to break something, Amy was ready to get out of that car seat and was fussing. Lacey was almost supernaturally cheerful through the whole thing, but she was just super excited to be having an adventure. Eventually we made our way back to the key office, our key was there, and we got into our apartment, exhausted, starving, and oh so glad to be "home." After we at dinner, the girls climbed into their beds climbed into bed and stayed there all night. I was expecting some resistance to their new beds, but they surprised me.
Our temporary apartment is huge. It's two levels and almost as big as our house (especially if you only count the living areas), and has two bedrooms (three, if you count the gigantic walk-in closet that Amy sleeps in), two bathrooms, a decent kitchen, two living rooms, and a "den" just off the kitchen that's perfect for dance parties.
Most of the week Phil has gone to work and the girls and I hung out at home just trying to get adjusted. It took a few days to get used to new beds and new sounds and a new time zone and all that. Sunday we did try going to church. We got through Sacrament meeting, but Lacey did not want to go to primary, and since we were all so tired still, we just went home and rested. (Update: today we tried again, and Lacey was super excited for primary. I'm pretty sure she just needed a good night's sleep.) We've been for lots of walks and taken lots of naps, and pretty much had a good time together. There's a nice maze of trails, and we're within walking distance of pretty much everything we need--grocery stores, parks, the library.
On Saturday, we went out to a Children's museum in Bellevue. It was very fun for the kids, and for Daddy, too. :)
