Seattle is for lovers

 Or for just extremely tired parents who want a break...

When Mr mentioned his county was paying for him to take some training in Seattle, my response was "You're taking me."

Cons of a trip to a big city:

• Parking. I hate having to pay for parking and the fact they are in these really sketchy garages where who knows what has been done in that stairwell...
• Traffic. We actually stayed in Bellevue (city across the water) and went to meet a friend in downtown Seattle. It took us at least 30 minutes to make the 12 min drive on a Friday night. Blerg.
• One way streets. Multitudes of them. So we finally get to our hotel smack dab in the center of the city and tried parking before checking in - it spat us back on the street. No problem right? We'll just turn back around & get back in there....Nope, cement dividers everywhere so we had to make a huuuuge square to get back there. Mr was not amused.
• Smokers. Living in a smaller town where we have stricter rules about where people can smoke is nice.  I generally just tend to make a mini-scene and cough/hack/make faces like I'm dying. Mr was not amused. hahaha 

Pros of a trip to a big city:

• Super nice hotel. They let us check in at 11am (usually is 3pm) so I didn't have to sit in the lobby for hours. They gave us a king bed without asking. The front desk filled out a breakfast order for me even though I forgot to put my order outside my door. Basically they were total bosses.
• Not having to clean/cook anything. Can I get an amen from other mommas?
• The skyline. Day or night, it's GORGEOUS.
• Eating on the coast & getting the smell of the ocean again.
• Spending quality time with Mr. Even though he spent all 3 days at the conference, we had our evenings and the 3 1/2 hr drive there & back. Love that man.

Doesn't do it justice (hotel pics never do). I even filled out their questionnaire, which I NEVER do. Who does?

 Our first night there we grabbed some Cheesecake Factory (we don't have that here in Eastern WA and missed it). I may or may not have saved my leftover dinner and ate it cold the next day for lunch. It. was. amazing. Which is weird since we never had been impressed with their food. But even Mr said it was the best pasta he had ever had.

So of course we brought back our cheesecake to our hotel and ate it in bed. Classy!

 I don't even know what's going on here...

 Dinner with our friend Ryan & his son at the Crab Pot. I'm not a big sea food person but hey, we were on the wharf. My fish & chips were really good (no, I'm not 5 at all...) and even tried some scallops (eh...no taste whatsoever).

Then I had to beg Mr to take a picture with me... this is usually how this process goes...

 1) Mr does something inappropriate (i.e. gang sign, grabbing butts, touching his chest)

 2) I get annoyed and tell Mr "Stoooooop! I just want ONE good picture!" He acts innocent until we have proof and then we crack up.

 3) I go on to instruct Mr on why we wanted to get this picture anyway since it's taking 'forever'. Mr finally agrees to give a real smile 'for reals'.

4) FINALLY, a keeper! And yes, there were other steps I didn't include for the sake of the length of this post. Getting a real smile out of my boys is a toughie but so worth it! Loving this picture.

Mr gets offered training (state training for all prosecutors) about every 6 months. A mini-vaca every 6 months? I think I could handle that.... :)