Seattle was am-az-ing!Here is the low down on our weekend! Sorry for the play by play...this could be partly to help me later remember our weekend! It's a not-so secret fact that I have the short term memory of a goldfish (thank you, medication!) So, I apologize in advance and hereby warn you of the long post! Feel free to just scroll through the pictures :)
We flew in on Friday afternoon. My adorably pregnant cousin Erin picked us up at the Seattle airport. Can I tell you how beautiful she looks pregnant?! From here is where my curse with electronics started. My phone wouldn't work when we got off the plane, and then my GPS wouldn't turn on...dead. That's ok! Erin had her own GPS that worked just fine...until I touched it! Seriously, as we were trying to find the recommended Italian restaurant for dinner, I touched Erin's GPS and it went absolutely nuts. Literally it kept taking us in circles going nowhere near our intended destinations. I say "destinations" because we started out trying to get to Christy's swanky hotel 2 miles away and finally gave up when the crazy GPS took us nowhere. So we gave up and tried to find the restaurant. Which took a while. Finally found it - and it was soooo good! I had this stuffed melanzana (eggplant) parmigiana that was divine!
Saturday morning was Christy's race day, and she had to get up at 3:30 AM! Holy crap! She was supposed to start running at 7 am, and then called us a bit later to let us know that they were running a bit late. Poor Sue had a migraine and was sleeping in a bit, so my mom, Mike, Erin and I headed down to the 12 mile mark at about 8:30 AM, hoping to get into position to catch Christy. The main problem was we didn't really know when she started or how fast she would end up running. We were so worried that there was a slight possibility that we had already missed her and a large possibility that if we hadn't yet missed her, we could very well still not see her with ALL THOSE PEOPLE! Christy's good buddy Taylor (who now lives in Seattle and was awesome this weekend. I just love him - such a good friend. But I digress...) met up with us at that mark and we waited and cheered.
The weather was amazing - it was scheduled to be 77 degrees in Seattle that day (did I mention that it was sunny and in the 70's all weekend?!). We sat there about 20 or 25 minutes waiting and then Erin spotted her. She was running at an amazing pace and didn't see us for a bit. We started cheering and calling her name. When she saw us, her face lit up! It was probably one of the single best moments of my life! Seeing my sister, who while growing up had to walk the mile in school because of her juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, run a half-marathon - it was amazing! She ran it in 2 hours and 24 minutes. We walked over to the finish line area and actually met up with her without any problem (it was like divine intervention). We got some breakfast, took some naps, and then relaxed for a bit.
Sue was feeling better, so we headed down to Pike's Market for dinner at the brewery. We had about an hour to kill until our table was ready and for Taylor, so we split up for a bit to walk around. Sue and my mom made it across the street to one store in that amount of time! I think they made the store owner's day! Two adorable jackets later, they met us up for dinner. After dinner, we got gelato and then split up with the mommies. On their way "home," they found Chico's and my mom introduced Sue to the store...lol. They joked about sprained wrists from swiping cards so much this weekend!
On Sunday we "rode the ducks," which is this old WWII transportation vehicle that can go on land and sea. It's an hour and a half ride that goes around Seattle and in the lake. The driver was an absolute trip, which I'm guessing is a pre-req on these kinds of things. I personally love those kinds of tours, because you can go around the city and spot out places that you want to go back to. Oh, and learn history. We loved it, especially Sue and mom! (Actually, Erin and Mike went to the science museum while we did that.)
=After that, we went went to the gay pride parade (wonderful!)...let me tell you one thing. I feel so freaking vanilla. Holy moly! What a drab, plain jane I am! It was great and I loved seeing the city celebrate equality. My mom got her picture with cross-dressers in rainbow colors and we got to see naked people ride bikes (ouch for the men?!).
After that, lunch at this cute little cafe. Lunch was great, but it was right around then that I started to feel really bad. I had been fighting a cold all weekend and it was starting to kick my ass a little. Erin had to get back to the hotel and take off for home, so Erin, Mike and I headed back while Christy, Sue and mom were able to do more touristy stuff (I was envious!). We said goodbye to Erin (sniff, sniff....it was such a wonderful weekend with her!!) and then Mike and I took our beloved naps. One thing that Mike and I share in common is our love of a nice nap. I woke up way before him, though, so I started reading. It was way cold in there, so I turned off the air conditioning. Or thought that I did? I guess it was not only turning off the air, but turning on the heat. Whatever it was, it felt great underneath a blanket. When mom, Sue and Chris got back, they just about screamed when they opened the door. Apparently it was a blazing inferno in there!? Mike hadn't noticed because he was sleeping. Needless to say, it dawned on all of us that I had a fever. Apparently I was flushed and completely hot. BUMMER.
They all went to dinner, and my pathetic but stayed home. They brought me back food though, so that was really kind of them :)
The next day, Monday, Christy and Mike took a super early flight out. Sue, mom and I just lounged around the hotel and watched TV, until our flight in the afternoon. I've been sick all week since (you should hear my cough). It was an amazing city, and I absolutely fell in love with it. We went there about 11 years ago, but I don't remember it that well. I know we got spoiled with the weather and the excitement of my sister runnning a half-marathon. But it's up there in one of the coolest cities ever! I'll let Christy explain the half-marathon experience to you...ask her about how she quickened her mile pace by four minutes in the mile-long tunnel...us Elder girls have very claustraphobic tendencies, especially in crowds. Hugs to you all!
P.S. Since I was sick, my pictures pretty much suck. I didn't take much of them, and I am not exactly happy with them! And my hair that weekend?! Well, you can tell that I wasn't feeling well and wasn't going to fuss with my looks! Anyways, some more pics of us all happy after Christy's race!
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