By now I should know that making vacation plans is a bit of a fool’s errand for us, but I do it anyway. We decided to take a weeklong Seattle vacation in late May and early June to coincide with this gaming competition Sean wanted to go to. I worked on setting up a trip that was fun for both grown ups and kids, lumping our activities geographically, and I was even starting to think through meals that might go with each of those locations. And then the next viral invasion hit our house.
Dis mah butt, Seattle!
Maybe a week before we were to leave, Maya got some kind of nasty congestion and coughing illness. She had started complaining about her ears, so we took her to the doctor. He sent us off with a prescription for antibiotics, and we thought we might have her feeling better before vacation. Then Sean got sick too, and he felt even more miserable than she seemed to.
The day we were to fly out to Seattle, Ian started sniffling and coughing. While he had more or less decided air travel was ok, he changed his mind when he spent most of the flight coughing and runny-nosed.
We arrived at a reasonable hour at our AirBNB house in Bothell. It was big enough that each kid had their own room, which was good since they spent our whole trip in various stages of illness. Ian’s favorite part of the house though was that the light switches were down where he could reach them. He went bonkers flipping lights on and off and on again. It finally drove me crazy enough that I asked him to stop. Apparently he slinkered back to the bedroom where Sean, unbeknownst to Ian, was resting. Sean tells me he muttered something like, “I’m gonna turn the light on. I’m not caring, Mommy’s caring.” Little turd.
Sick Dad went out and got us Burgermaster for our dinner. Sick everyone but me went to bed, and after a remarkably long day, I hauled my un-sick self over to the grocery store to stock up the fridge with breakfasts, snacks, and drinks.
Obligatory doughnut face shot.
The next day, even though 75% of us were sick, we managed to get up really early thanks to the time zone difference. We took our time getting out of the house, deciding that with two sick kids, we’d try to keep our outings small, but still try to make a vacation of it. Even though we had had breakfast, by 10 we were ravenous, so we had a “snack” at a local doughnut shop called Top Pot Doughnuts. I’d call it solid, but not out of this world. My favorite was the lemon iced old-fashioned doughnut. Maya seemed to like her chocolate doughnut with sprinkles. Ian, still not a fan of doughnuts, will actually only eat sprinkles.
Shortly before our vacation, Maya had watched the Moana movie and fell head over heels in love with it. It ousted long-running favorite Finding Dory, she loved it so much. Sean blew Maya’s mind when he bought the soundtrack for the movie so she could listen to the music whenever she wanted, even if she wasn’t able to watch it. Needless to say, Moana provided the soundtrack for our entire trip. By the end, even I could sing along with parts of it, and at that time, I hadn’t even managed to watch the whole movie.
It’s not hot here!
We spent a couple hours wandering around Volunteer Park gawking at ferns and towering evergreens and so many flowers in full bloom. We decided to climb up the stairs in the water tower, Ian even insisting on doing it himself. He made it probably 2/3 of the way up before I asked him if I could carry him since he was sick. No, he insisted he’d make it on his own. Maybe six or eight steps later, he said, “Mom, can you carry me? I’m sick.” Sure, buddy.
The view from the water tower was nice. The day was even clear enough that we got a nice look at Mt Rainier. We capped off our visit with some time on the playground, where Maya nearly made herself vomit on some kind of spinning ride.
We stopped at a gyro joint for a late lunch. I remember the food being good, but more than that, what sticks with me is how kind the people were with our restless and somewhat irritable children.
We met up with friends of ours from college that evening for dinner. Missy and Larry and their son Anthony braved illness and small children to hang out with us several times on our trip, and it was so much fun to catch up with them.
Again, with most of the family sick, we adopted an easy pace for our day. We got a late start and began our outing with lunch at Ivar’s. When Sean and I started thinking about this Seattle trip, that was his only real request. It’s fast food seafood, and it is delicious. Maya is oddly crazy about clams; however, while she plowed through some fried shrimp, she couldn’t have cared less about the fried clams we offered her.
All in the name of chocolate.
Our one scheduled outing for this day took place at Theo Chocolate. We could have done a straight up factory tour, but that wasn’t really an option with two small children. For kids in our age group, Theo offers a “chocolate story time.” They did their story time, complete with chocolate samples, and then we got a very succinct tour of the factor. All this was capped off with a wander through their store where there were mountains of samples to try. Sean and I enjoyed the whole thing. The kids enjoyed the chocolate and tolerated the tour. They kind of got a kick out of the hairnets, though.
Freemont troll
We squeezed in a quick visit to the Freemont Troll before heading home to crash. Maya seemed to have fun clambering over troll fingers and arms. Ian mostly just wanted to be held.
The next day, I was finally starting to get sick as well. I never managed to feel as bad as the rest of the family, but I certainly didn’t feel good.
We had decided to try something different with the kids during this trip. In poking around for interesting activities, I discovered that the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall offered a children’s symphony. It was great! Before the concert, the kids got to wander around and play with different musical instruments. The show itself, billed as a Playdate with Brahms, was of manageable length and highly interactive. Maya seemed to really enjoy herself. Ian mostly just felt terrible.
We were planning to go ride the ferris wheel along the waterfront after that, but Ian wasn’t doing too well. Instead we decided to eat lunch and head back to the house. Lunch was at Ivar’s Acres of Clams restaurant, situated right along the water. We initially tried to eat outside since the weather was so incredible. It was sunny but not hot; we had forgotten that could happen. Maya was all for it, of course, but sad Ian just curled in on himself and tried to hide. To her credit, Maya didn’t pitch a fit about moving inside though. Instead she steadily inhaled an entire appetizer order of steamed clams in a light, coconut broth. Then she ate some of Ian’s chicken fingers to boot.
We gave up on this day, went back to the house, and let Ian have a good long nap. Once he got up, we took him to the nicest urgent care clinic I’ve ever been too. I’m not kidding. It was actually a borderline pleasant experience. The person who checked us in was also our nurse. The doctor was actually nice to Ian. They called us to follow up after the fact. Unfortunately, poor Ian had an infection in both ears. It’s no wonder he was having such a miserable day.
The next day was Sean’s gaming tournament, so the kids and I drove him down into the city and dropped him off. Ian, as if on a mission, slept the whole way there and the whole way back. By mid-morning though, both kids were in the back yard swinging on swings and collecting rocks and pine cones in colorful buckets.
On top of the lighthouse – Maya and Larry
We went up to meet Missy, Larry, and Anthony for lunch at a burger joint called Nick’s Jr. The burgers were solid; mine had gyro meat on it. Afterward, to allow Maya a bit of fun since she was feeling so much better than her brother, we went to Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. Maya bonded with Missy over sea creatures, rocks, and the beach. Ian clung to me like a tired little monkey. Both the kids climbed the little lighthouse, Ian flatly insisting on doing it himself.
We drove home after that to let Ian have a nap. You know how some kids, after a nap, wake up feeling refreshed and relaxed, a sleepy smile on their puffy faces? That was not Ian on this day. He woke up pissed off, and he let me hear about it the entire time we were getting ready, the entire time we were loading up, and the whole way into downtown. Luckily, he was so happy to see Sean that his mood did a near-perfect 180.
After a quick dinner, Missy, Larry, and Anthony came over to our Bothell house for a while to hang out. I was tired, but it was pleasant to just talk to other grown ups for a while after kid wrangling all day.
The next morning, Sean and Maya went out to fetch us Top Pot again. We tried to squeeze in a quick lunch before heading into the city at an Indian buffet. Normally the kids are into that sort of thing, but not today.
In the ferris wheel!
Our day picked up when we boarded the Seattle Great Wheel at Pier 57. The kids were of course fidgety while waiting in line, but once they were loaded into our capsule, they seemed to sincerely enjoy themselves, especially once they saw the seagulls and their poop atop the buildings we were towering over.
Switch, the giant pacific octopus
Seattle Aquarium was our next stop. It is meant to largely represent local habitats, and it was beautiful. The kids were able to touch sea urchins and anemones. You could even feel the anemones react to you and kind of brush their tentacles against your fingers, trying to figure out what they had gotten ahold of. We saw all manner of gorgeously presented sea life. Best of all, we saw two Giant Pacific octopuses named Switch and Tako. These two meandered around a two-column tank with a tunnel connecting the tunnels crossways. Switch, the female, was very active, her tentacles oozing around corners, suckers dominating the tank walls. She would occasionally propel herself across the tank, skin smoothed and tentacles extending behind her, landing in a bunched up heap amongst the rocks below or suctioning herself to the side of the tank. The male, Tako, mostly stayed huddled up in his particular corner of the tank, though we did get to see him unfurl and change color at feeding time.
That evening, we wandered up to Everett to see Missy, Larry, and Anthony again, and they fed us dinner! Maya and Missy toured their garden. Maya drove Anthony nuts with her endless talking while he was watching TV. Ian, much to his delight, got to clean off the countertop. All in all, it was a nice evening.
On our last full day in Seattle, we said eff it and went into full tourist mode. We pretty much just parked the car and spent the day at the Seattle Center. We started by taking the kids to the Pacific Science Center to let them run off some steam. They had a lot of fun making music and building large-scale carbon nanotubes, and trying to make giant bubbles.
Budding photographer
After a quick lunch and some dessert fudge at the Armory, we headed to the International Fountain. Maya and Ian LOVED IT. The weather was warm, but not blistering. They could run around and play in the water a bit. Maya (and most of the kids there) had a game where they’d run up and smack the fountain when it wasn’t squirting water and try to get away before it started back up again. Again and again, Maya did this. Bolstered by her success and because he wants to do anything his big sister does (she has the *best* ideas), Ian gave it a go. He crept up and touched the fountain. You all know where this is going – about the time he was ready to turn and run away, the water started back up, and he got soaked through and through. Now Maya would have laughed it off and used that as an excuse to give up on avoiding being splattered. Ian, however, was upset. Luckily, we had brought spare clothes (I figured they’d get wet on purpose), so we could make him comfortable again.
Did not make it out in time
Before our trip to Seattle, we had tried to prepare the kids a little bit for the different things we might get to see. It’s fun to see them get interested in what they might get to do. The thing that Maya really seemed to fixate on was the Space Needle. Every time she saw it as we were wandering around town, she pointed it out. You can imagine her excitement once we were actually able to go up in it. And then we got way, way up to the top. And about 30 seconds later, she was ready to go back down. We walked around and showed the kids Mount Rainier. We watched sea planes flying through the air. We saw giant buildings at eye level. Maybe they’re still a little too young to appreciate it. We did spend a long time in the gift shop in at the bottom, trying to let the kids select a souvenir. Ian left with a straw cup which, to this day, he refers to as his “skedaddle cup.”
On the way back to the car, we played for a while outside the Pacific Science Center again, mostly shooting things with water. The kids had a car nap on the way up north, and we met Missy, Larry, and Anthony for one last dinner.
Our travel back the next day was largely uneventful once we finally made onto our airplane. Thanks to unfavorable traffic and a small GPS whoopsie on my part, we were cutting it pretty close on getting the whole rental car, bag check, security line shuffle completed before our plane took off. But alas, we made home, back to the sweltering Texas heat.
Group selfie!
This vacation was hard but also great. Traveling with little kids is always a bit tough, but it was the illnesses that really made it grueling for us. Seattle was beautiful. We weren’t sure what to expect since it was early summer, but we had almost no rain while we were there, and compared to blistering Texas, the Seattle version of “hot” was just fine with us. We probably didn’t get to do half of what we wanted to do, and we certainly didn’t get to do any kind of deep dive on the local food scene. But, we meandered around at kid pace, and because we weren’t busy being tourists, we were able to spend lots of time visiting our friends. I think I’m going to call it a win.
