Goodbye

I leave Seattle tomorrow. In many ways I'm sad; in many ways I'm excited to return to a new life in Baltimore. We went out to dinner on our last night here as a family. We went to Poppy in Capital Hill, which specializes in local ingredients; of course it was amazing. We were talking to the host at the restaurant, a long-time Seattleite. He was honest about the weather and said that even in the summer (yes the summer that everyone promised would make up for the bad weather the rest of the year) the weather is always worse than you'd hope for. But, tonight it was beautiful, so we really enjoyed everything about our last evening out.

I have many thoughts about our sabbatical here. It was really a very good experience, and below are some final thoughts and memories that I have and hope to keep.

• The playgrounds are awesome. And, the communities seem to really cherish them.
• My favorite park was Carkeek, where I could see the Olympic mountains, bald eagles, and trains snaking around the cliffs. 
• I only got through a third of The Grapes of Wrath. I really will finish the book someday. 
• On most days, Genna has turned into my dream daughter. She definitely still has her challenging moments, but I really enjoy spending time with her. She's turning into a wonderful companion. I think that her preschool has had a lot to do with it.
• I can't imagine a better preschool than Ladybug Montessori.
• I've had a ton of fun taking cooking classes and learning how to become a better cook.
• Seattle has the most amazing restaurants. I don't think there is another city in the US with a higher good restaurant per capita number. Likewise, the number of foodies per capita is equally high.
• I love how green the Seattleites are.
• Noah's barista skills have really improved; this makes me very happy.
• I always felt very safe in Seattle; crime never seemed to be much of an issue.
• I'll miss having everything I need within walking distance. 
• I'll miss the community centers; I will not miss the libraries.
• I'll miss how pedestrian-friendly the city is.
• I will appreciate every minute of sunshine from now on.
• I've learned to live with few possessions and the restrictions on buying things. I've become less attached to belongings, and it's been good.
• I've gained 10 pounds - not bad considering how much I've over-indulged for nine months. 
• Jonah has gone through his terrible twos. The worst of these are over, but he still has his moments. I'm looking forward to things only getting easier with him. 
• Seattle is a wonderful city and I'd probably move her permanently in an instant - except for one thing - I really think that I should be able to wear shorts in July - every day!
• Seattle Gymnastics Academy is awesome; we will really miss it.
• I hope to return to Seattle.

Noah lost my camera charger, so with a dead battery, I can't upload my photos today. I'll add photos to this post after my camera is charged, but in the meantime, below are some of my favorite photos of the past nine months.

Below are a few additions from our last day:

My last cappuccino 

Yep - not sorry (yet) to trade in 64 degrees for 94 degrees

Will miss the playgrounds

... so will Genna

She called this the space needle

Jonah is looking for passengers 

The swagger wagon is getting shipped tomorrow!

The Freemont troll - I'm so glad I got to see this on my last day

Haircut

Tomorrow will be my last day in Seattle. So, while I stayed home and packed, Noah took the kids out to get their hair cut. I checked into going to one of those kid friendly places where they play cartoons for the kids while they get their hair cut, but they were ridiculously expensive. So instead, he took them to Great Clips. The only downside is that we had to bring our own lollipops (Genna's been telling Jonah about how the kids get lollipops after haircuts). According to Noah, the kids did great while getting their haircut. I guess that means I just missed Jonah's first haircut today. Oh well, at least Noah took pictures.

Genna loves to people-watch

Waiting for their haircuts

My little guy

They took several inches off of Genna's hair

Noah took the kids out to lunch after their haircut

It looks like they ate pretty well

There are a lot of things I am going to miss about Seattle: the restaurants, the beaches, looking at the snow-capped mountains, but there are also things that I will not miss. Well, actually, there is only one thing that I will not miss: do I even need to say what it is?

We packed most of Genna's toys and ran out of paper for her to draw on. This didn't seem to be a problem for her. She and Jonah found some paper plates and cups and started coloring on them. Then Noah helped her make the hat.

Only in Seattle

As I was packing some of our things today, I made a stop at Goodwill to drop off a couple of boxes of stuff that we don't need to bring back to Baltimore. I spent quite a bit of time at that store during our first few months in Seattle that I felt a little nostalgic. I also spent quite a bit of money there too and felt like I should get some sort of discount or coupon as I was donating three boxes of kid clothes, a stroller (okay, this was the broken stroller - I did feel a little guilty about that, but it wouldn't have fit in our tiny trashcan) and a trampoline. I actually bought the trampoline at that very same store for $6.00 five months ago. Shouldn't I at least get some sort of 20% coupon? I'm sure they're going to make at least $50 on all the stuff I just dropped off. Oh well, at least it is for a good cause and I got the little tax deduction paper (which Jonah promptly shredded while I wasn't looking).

I really will miss the Goodwill store. They seemed to have a lot of kid-gear today. It was really hard for me to not go in when I saw an amazing Tonka truck that I know Jonah would LOVE. 

On the way to the Goodwill store, I saw one of my favorite Seattle landmarks, Chicka Latte. This drive-up coffee house is Seattle's answer to Hooters. Noah and I stopped there once after lunch for a macchiato. As the woman in a halter top, Daisy Duke shorts and 4-inch heels took Noah's order, we understood why they say it is the "hottest coffee" in Seattle. Noah was a little surprised, so the barista explained how she has been honing her barista skills at Seattle coffee shops for several years. She obviously wanted us to respect her coffee. Only in Seattle would we find such an establishment.

Definitely the hottest coffee in Seattle. 

Also, on the same street is Zen Dog Teahouse. I don't really think the teas are for dogs, but since Seattle is such a pet-friendly city as well as off the charts on Zen-followers, I like to think that the teahouse is just for dogs; that would be so Seattle.

As the sun was shining for a about a half an hour while I was running my errands, I felt a little sad that I'll be leaving in just a couple of days. But, then, as the cool wind blew and a light mist ensued, I started getting a little excited about our return to Baltimore. The only thing now between me and Baltimore, is packing - and lots of it.

Yes, it is July 16th and the kids are still wearing long pants, long sleeves and rain coats. I'm afraid I'm going to melt next week when I return back east.

Didn't quite break into the 70's today

I thought they said July was supposed to be sunny and beautiful

I thought this was cute

Ahhh.... we've eaten many meals at this pizza shop - very kid friendly. There are some things I will miss.