33 days

the best part of business school is having 33 days of christmas break. 

we had grand plans for how we wanted to use the free time, but we ended up spending a whole month in seattle with a few little side trips thrown in.
it. was. the. best.

for my own memory, let the iphone dump begin...

 sage proved that she really can sleep in any position on the airplane

we arrived just in time to help my parents trim their tree

i actually don't enjoy shopping, but malls at christmas time just feel so festive. my favorite kind of shopping is still spelled a-m-a-z-o-n.

we spent many hours visiting uncle chandler in the hospital as he recovered from surgery

 the girls were so patient at the hospital, and one night we slipped in a carousel ride downtown before driving home.

 

nate rediscovered his love for icees and talked me into buying the largest popcorn because, of course, it's the best value.

 lots of christmas stories

my parents surprised the girls with tickets to the nutcracker ballet. sage was enthralled and knew most of the songs.

we rode the monorail to westlake center to meet up with the boys

  

one rainy afternoon, we wandered the seattle public library. it's by far my favorite library.

^^ the red floor

 we watched the snowflake lane performance, complete with a downpour of fake snow and real rain.

 we ate at our FAVORITE dim sum place of all time, and it completely made me miss singapore.
 

 dear old santa came for a visit

we drove up to snoqualmie pass for a day in the mountains. the kids skied and went sledding for hours, plus we took as many chairlift pictures as we wanted.

 snoqualmie falls on new year's eve at the golden hour. sage love love loves my mom.

 we projected top gun in the living room for our family NYE party. uncle matt brought the wacky hat and fireworks. it was simultaneously the best show i've ever seen and the most scared i've been that some roof would catch on fire.

 we made foil dinners and roasted them in the fire pit + s'mores for dessert.

 a trip to the pacific science center, which has barely changed from my childhood memories here in the 90's.

 lunch with this beautiful grandmother of mine.

 my dad got suckered into doing the 200 piece frozen puzzle with sage and wouldn't leave until he'd finished it.

one of our last adventures with my dad was walking the seward park loop, a bakery stop, and lunch at geraldine's counter. this tree-lined path on a misty day screams pacific northwest to me.

my parents were pretty good troopers for letting us borrow their cars and house for a whole month (thankyouthankyouthankyou). i can't ever get enough seattle time.