New Years Eve and Vancouver

Big B's mom and step-dad came out for his birthday. They arrived on New Year's Eve. We grabbed some dinner at Duke's Chowder House and rang in the new year playing Rock Band.

The next day we drove up to Vancouver, BC. Big B rented a car and we ended up with an Armada. It seemed a bit large at first, but ended up being nice because there was so much room for all of our luggage.

The plan was to grab breakfast at Beth's Cafe, but we didn't consider the crowd that would be excited to eat off their hangover, there was a line out the door! We finally found Scott's Bar and Grill and the food was pretty tasty. After eating we continued driving north.

After arriving in Vancouver we checked into the hotel and then wandered into the downtown area. We walked and window shopped for a while. Eventually we all worked up an appetite and decided to eat at Joe Fortes. There was some great local beer and lots of local food choices, I had mussels and frites.

After dinner we walked around a bit more and visited an ice rink constructed in honor of the Olympics.

While we were wondering around we found a place with blueberry pancakes. So the next morning we went to breakfast there. Our waitress was great and said that the nicest people she meets are always from Colorado or Calgary...that is always nice to hear!

After breakfast we headed to Chinatown. We went through the gardens, which very peaceful

We stopped by a coffee/tea shop so that we could warm up. There were a lot of different items, but the thing I thought was the most interesting was the smelling bar to pick out your tea.

We did more window shopping, went by the triangle building, ate and had a beer at Steamworks Brewing Company, and walked past the steam clock.

We also watched a Omnimax movie about called Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk, which was about skydiving at the Science World at TELUS World of Science.

We ate at a Chinese restaurant, Big B's pick for his birthday dinner, and then walked around some more. Below are some of the sites we saw.

There was a variety of eagles throughout Vancouver, similar to the cows, this one was a reading eagle.

Sunday was the clearest day, so I took a photo of the view from our hotel room.

Before we had to head home we went and shopped at Granville Island. There is an open farmers market and several small shops.

A Quick Recap of December

In November I forgot to write about when we went to the Major League Soccer Cup. It was a great game that went into sudden death overtime and then a shootout.

Beckham about to kick during the shootout.

In December we attended the Washington vs. Cal football game. This game was free to all officers of law in honor of the Lakewood Police Officers.

In the middle of December my friend  and her husband came out for a long weekend. We ate a lot of great food and toured the sights.

Someone practicing a hang-gliding landing, again we assumed.

Our guests  with downtown Seattle behind them.

For Christmas Eve Big B and I drove up to Bellevue to watch the show on Snowflake Lane.

There were drummers with a lot of enthusiasm and other characters who performed to some Christmas music.

This is the only "snow" we saw. There is also fake snow falling in this photo, even though you can't exactly make it out.

Our Christmas decorations.

I had bought 2 stockings to surprise Big B with on Christmas morning. I came home one night after work and decided it didn't feel enough like Christmas and I couldn't wait to put them up. Shortly afterwards Big B
came home with the other stockings, tree and lights...he had the same idea!

For Christmas I woke up with a stomach bug, darn kiddos spreading their germs around :) My day was spent sleeping and opening presents. Not the best Christmas I have ever had, poor Big B though, at least I was sleeping through most of it.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday

I honestly can't remember what we did most of Sunday. I do know that we had reservations at Salty's. When leaving Seattle we had some extra time so we stopped by Pyramid Brewery to have a beer.

We then had dinner at Salty's. Here is the view from our table. Beautiful!!

The group.

Large martini glass full of seafood.

On Monday I went into work and my boss found out that my family was still here, so she sent me home. I met up with Mom, Dad and my brother at Mercer Island and we headed into Bellevue for lunch. My brother grabbed Chipotle and the rest of us had California Pizza Kitchen, I love their BBQ chicken salad! While we were eating we had some fun watching security guards try to chase down, what we assumed to be, a shoplifter.

After lunch my dad and brother headed off to find a tux and get my brother to the airport. My mom and I went shopping in Bellevue.

That evening we had dinner at The Whistle Stop.

The next morning we hung out at the apartment for a bit. Mars really enjoyed another warm lap.

We went to the Ram for lunch and then my parents' headed to the airport. It was great having family visit and I miss them!

Saturday

I tried posting this before, but ran into complications with the photos and gave up...sorry for the delay.

My sister and her husband flew home very early on Saturday morning. Big B and I didn't set an alarm so we could catch up on some rest. Once we woke up we met up with my parents and then made a plan to meet up with my brother and a friend of his visiting from Vancouver.

We decided to meet at Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum Hall of Fame. We really enjoyed the Experience Music side of the museum. It had a lot of history, especially musicians based out of Seattle. My favorite part was the top floor where you could play different instruments, mix your own music and sing...although I think this was a lot of people's favorite area.

Tower of Guitars

An old guitar that I thought was very pretty.

The Science Fiction area wasn't as interesting to me, but still neat to look through. There was a special exhibit of glass sculptures done by an artist in Italy. This one was my favorite, although hard to photograph with the lighting in the room.

After the museum with met up with my brother's friend's sister and their friend at the Elysian Brewery. We went to the one on Capitol Hill. The brewery had a wide variety of beer.

I can't remember the name of my favorite beer, but my dad thought it was too bitter.

After the Elysian we walked down to Cupcake Royale and enjoyed some cupcakes before heading home. These were good cupcakes, but not as good as the ones at the Buttercream Cupcakery in Fort Collins or the Tee & Cakes in Boulder.

Black Friday

My mom and sister met me at my apartment early in the morning. We first headed to Target, but decided it was way too crowded. After that we hit Kohl's and Old Navy and made some purchases. We ate breakfast at Panera and then had to grab some coffee at Starbucks.

After our shopping we met up with the boys at the rental house, they ate breakfast at Beth's Cafe. We all headed into Seattle, but had to stop on Alki Beach for a photo op. Check out my sister's blog to see a photo were more of us actually got some air.

In Seattle we wandered around Pike's Market, ate lunch (and if you know my family you can guess it, tried some beer) at Pike's Brewery, placed gum in Post Alley and got more Starbucks at the original store.

After Pike's we went on the Underground Tour, this has great insight into the "whys" that occur after you are in Seattle for more than a day plus is fairly entertaining.

We had planned on doing dinner at Salty's, but didn't call ahead for reservations. We ended up eating at the rental house, playing more games and drinking some wine. Eventually we decided we should go out, so my dad dropped us off at the Celtic Swell. The atmosphere was great and the boys especially had a good time.

On the walk home Big B and my brother brushed up on their Parkour.

The day everyone remembers to give thanks, hopefully.

We played lots of games and enjoyed some great food! It was great having family in town and I was so thankful for the chance to spend time with them.

We also had to check out the Black Friday ads and come up a plan for the following day.

My Brother joins us - Wednesday

Wednesday was supposed to be the "nice" day so we decided to do the outside stuff we had wanted to do. The plan was to visit the falls and to hike around the area, but only my sister and brother-in-law were ambitious enough to follow through with the hiking thought.

After the falls we visited the Snoqualmie Brewery. Their beer was more along our taste (a favorite was the Harvest Moon) and the food hit the spot!

After the brewery the plan was to visit a few wineries. We ended up spending a lot more time getting there and ran out of time, so we decided to visit the Novelty Hill/Januik winery so we could "kill 2 birds with 1 stone." The wine was pretty good, but nothing spectacular. The design was very modern, but warmed up a bit inside.

After the winery we went by Big B and I's apartment to have more wine and play a few card games. Later we picked up my brother from the airport and then had dinner at Duke's Chowder House (one of Big B and I's favorites for clam chowder and seafood).