Christmas in Seattle

My parents came to visit for Christmas and we planned some fun things to do together as a family.  Some of our plans had to be tweaked because Jeff ended up needing to work a couple of the days he'd planned to take off.  However, our trip downtown could not have been done without him so we waited until Friday to see the sites of the city.

We took the commuter train into downtown.  That's how Jeff gets to work every day, but the girls and I had never ridden it.  It was really smooth and quiet and NICE!  Lily and Claire were confused that they didn't have to be buckled in so they found handles to hold onto.

Here's my parents.

And here's me!  I got a new shorter haircut that is much easier to take care of.

Our first stop was to get our name on the waiting list to see Santa and Nordstrom's.  We heard that Santa was the real one so it was worth the 3 hour wait.  Fortunately, they call you when its time to come wait in the 30 minute line inside so you can keep doing your site-seeing.

Next we went to see the gingerbread village display inside of the Sheraton Hotel.  It was awesome!  I think my brother, Skye (who is a baker), would have freaked out.  There were a bunch more, but these 2 were my favorites.

Then we went to Pike Place Market - a must do if you ever visit Seattle. (hint, hint, Haley!)

On the way back from the market we stopped at a popcorn shop and my dad got us all some caramel corn.  It was the best I've ever had!  They had so many different flavors so I asked Jeff to take a picture of them in case I want to replicate the shop in my own home.  I don't know why I want to make a million kinds of popcorn, but this place as so inspirational to me that I kinda do. If you click on the pictures, you'll probably be able to read some of the labels.

Then we got the call that it was time to go meet Santa!  We walked back to Nordstroms and Santa's elf told us that the wait upstairs was much less and equally impressive.  Hooray!  We only had to wait like 5 min up there and they gave us free cookies and cider.  Santa was great and knew the girls names and made sure they'd been extra good this year.

After that, we went to eat lunch, visited Jeff's office for some sweet city views, and went to Lake Union.  We enjoyed seeing the wooden boats and the sunshine.  The girls played tag in the park with Daddy.

Then it was time to head back to the King Street Station to catch the train home.  The station is in the international district so we stopped to buy some pastries at a Chinese bakery before we got on the train and enjoyed eating them on the way home.  My coconut sweet bun was really good.