Before I jump into telling you about our Seattle weekend, let me give you some insight into a European blogger's struggles when traveling in North America:
They live very close to Point Defiance Park, and during the hour or so that we spent there we saw more animals than in a whole week in Canada! No bear, though.
Christine and I grew up two villages apart and met when we both were temping in our early 20s. She left Switzerland soon after that (can you see a pattern here… it looks as all my friends move away to the North-West! Is it me??)
At least she is on the board of directors of her family's company that holds its annual meeting in March, so we get to see her now and then!
After the shortest shopping experience in my personal history we went for the real fun as it turned out! While I was scanning the Walmart aisles for allspice, Halloween stuff or contact lens solution the guys were cruising around with our cart and kept bringing "surprises":
That's right, plugs!!! Different ones. Painfully so.
The adapters are too heavy, so they need to be fixated.
Now that I got that off my chest (and bought a better adapter - on our second last day of the trip) let's see… we stopped at this awesome playground in Shelton.
Colin made a new friend, a 9 year old boy. With the little English C speaks they got along just fine. It is so amazing, he was able to order his own food and hold simple conversations with other kids, waiters and receptionists. Makes me want to send him to International School!
We haven't been to many other capitals before so Olympia's capitol was a major attraction for us!
Then it was time to make our way to Tacoma. It was Friday late afternoon, and there was going to be a Sounders soccer game at CenturyLink Field - an arena that can seat 67,000 fans, so we expected some traffic. However it went quite smooth, and we were there so early that we actually had time to kill by trying on Halloween masks.
Then a car pulled up in the parking lot, and witnesses observed two shrieking blondes jumping up and and down, hugging!
Patrice and I had become close friends when we were both working for Starbucks in Switzerland. The things we experienced would make for an entertaining book!
Soon after I left on maternity leave she decided the place wasn't the same without me and moved back to the HQs in Seattle. That's a true story. Almost. In any case she went back to the States shortly after I quit. And she has been missed! Not only by me, but lots and lots of Store Managers whom I occasionally see when I hang out at a store.
It was so great to catch up!
I couldn't believe how tall her boy Kellen had become! When I first met him he was in pre-school, and now he is taller than Patrice and I. Smart, funny and considerate, too.
Of course she couldn't believe the baby boy that C was when she visited us at the hospital had grown into an impish first grader who had the time of his life playing with a good-natured teenager.
The other morning Colin read him a story in German. What a sweet sight!
In the meantime I did what I do best had to be done.
Folding laundry is so much better when done on a spacious surface!!
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| Note to self: must buy a ping-pong table for my basement! |
Patrice and Kellen were pleased to hear about Colin's new interest in football in general and the Seahawks in particular and took him shopping.
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| All ready for tomorrow's game vs the Dallas Cowboys! |
Then it was time to say good-bye.
In German we say "auf Wiedersehen" which means "till we'll see us again" - soon, I hope!
We were on our way to Bellevue when it started pouring. Two accidents caused some traffic jam, so instead of being at the Cheesecake Factory early to get the pager we arrived late, and the waiting time was estimated to be 55 - 70 minutes.
More like 90 minutes, but who's counting when the company is excellent!
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| Wenche & Christine |
At least she is on the board of directors of her family's company that holds its annual meeting in March, so we get to see her now and then!
For the folks who come to my blog for the food pictures…
I ordered salad and - duh - cheesecake!
And again… auf Wiedersehen!
Now my blog is called confessions of… And what I am going to tell you is a confession I have a hard time believing myself:
On my shopping day at Premium Outlets I didn't have fun!
I am not kidding you :-(
Usually I park the guys at SBUX and run from one store to the next, trying on jeans, sneakers, hoodies, you name it.
This time? It was so crowded you had to get in line to be allowed to access Kate Spade's store! Not that I wanted to go in there, I was happy to be able to just walk in at GAP, but when I finally found a pair of jeans that could possibly fit… I had to get in line for the fitting room!
I found myself having the most fun at Kitchen Collection!!
I am not kidding you :-)
What's not to love about this awesome spice carousel! Unfortunately there was no way I could actually buy and take it on a long-haul flight. Still, I had a good time just looking at it. Which reminded me… I wanted to find some allspice on this trip.
I actually went to SBUX before the guys were back.
Yes, this time they didn't stay on the outlet premises but wanted to take the Everett Boeing Tour. Guess what: an inch or so can make all the difference. They wouldn't let C partake :-(
They still got to see some cool stuff. Like a Seahawk airplane!
Until our stomachs were asking for some meatball spaghetti at Olive Garden.
Before heading back to Canada there was one last request. C was craving sporting goods.
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| Also he wanted to take a good catch! |
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