A Small Glimpse of Seattle

The week before Thanksgiving, my wife and I flew out to Seattle to visit our daughter, son-in-law, and two grandsons.  Due to other obligations on my part, we ended up traveling separately on our outbound flight.  My wife flew out on Monday with the goal of helping our daughter organize her kitchen, while I did not fly out until Thursday, thus giving me just a small glimpse of Seattle.

My daughter’s family lives in a 100-year-old house and the kitchen is, well, the size of kitchens they built 100 years ago (can you think small stoves, no dishwashers or microwave ovens?).  Counter space and cabinet space comes at a premium and so efficiency of space utilization is critical.  Over the days before I arrived, they did a great job of reorganizing the cabinets.

When I flew out on Thursday, what has become a tradition, I travelled with LEGO sets for our two grandsons.

I had previously purchased them prior to my trip as the LEGO store in the Salt Lake City airport, our frequent connecting city on these trips out west, is small with just a limited selection.  But I did stop by there on my layover and procure two of the iconic yellow bags, which the salesman kindly gave me even though I offered to pay for them (Thanks!).  I suspected this would be a critical part of the gift as I have walked through the door with these bags in hand before.

Our daughter likes to keep it a secret from her boys when we come to visit so when my wife went to go pick them up from school on Monday, it was a nice surprise.  While they both asked about me, no information was relayed as to if I was coming.  So, on Thursday, I got to spring the surprise on them again.

Having gotten up at 4:00 AM for my early morning flight and having gained two hours, my wife and I made it an early evening that night and went over to our rental house a few blocks away right after dinner.

On Friday, we both went back over to our daughter’s house and then during the morning all three of us pitched in on the organizing effort.  In the afternoon, I first went to pick up our oldest grandson from school and then when he came in the door, his yellow bag was sitting on top of the shoe rack by the door.  He was most pleased with its content and soon after wanted to begin putting it together.

When it was time to pick up our other grandson, I got to repeat the LEGO surprise all over again with similar results.

Part of our purpose for visiting was to give our daughter and son-in-law a night away by themselves, their first since May, the last time we came to town.  In the afternoon between school pick-ups, I drove them to their high-rise hotel.  Then the real fun could begin for all.

For our daughter and son-in-law, they started off their evening with an adult beverage at the roof top bar…

…and before dinner, they had a nice view of the sunset over Mt. Rainier in the background.

For us and our grandsons, it was the unabashed fun of a sleepover with Mimi and Granddaddy! Starting off with LEGOs…

…followed by ordered in pizza.

The next morning, we had the boys to ourselves until it was time for Mommy and Daddy to come home.  While comparing notes of our evenings, we discovered that all parties involved had had a great time.

After lunch on Saturday, we headed to everyone’s favorite museum, what is affectionately referred to as the airplane museum (Museum of Flight).  Upon entering and heading to the children’s play area, I discovered to my delight that they were having a R/C model airplane exhibition.

Some of these models were really huge with five-foot wingspans.

I was duly fascinated taking them all in with child-like enthusiasm.

Next up, we headed to the WWI plane exhibits where I got to see a full-size version of the Sopwith Camel model I was currently building (more future updates on that coming).

I also admired a display of a skeleton model of the same plane in 1/8 scale.

Then it was off to see the static display of famous planes outdoors.

After a quick snack to restore everyone’s energy levels, our last stop was the gift shop where, as tradition holds, Granddaddy bought each boy a model plane of his choosing.

Returning home, we got in one more good visit over a delicious hors d’oeuvres tray before it was time for my wife and I to head to our hotel by the airport for our early morning flight the next day.

Before heading out the door, our son-in-law got a nice shot of us with our daughter and upon receiving the photo, my first thought was the hand-made hearts on the wall above my head were the perfect real-life emojis that expressed the deep love we had for this precious family.

On our flights home the next day, I kept my daughter apprised of our progress and one of the sweetest texts I got back was of her telling us that our oldest grandson, while on their way home from church that morning had said: “I miss Mimi and Granddaddy.”

As always, it was an all too short visit and one that we will have to plan for again in the new year.