Happy new year and welcome 2018!

2017 was a difficult year for us. In late summer, we lost my beloved Mother In Law. We started this blog as a type of diary, a way she could follow us along our fun adventures. I am pretty convinced she was often the only reader! We have decided to keep it up, in the spirit of how much she loved travel, but instead focus a little more on recommendations and tips from our adventures. Be sure to share yours with us!

We really love Seattle at Christmas. And it was a SUPER magical Christmas because it snowed! The whole city was covered and a winter wonderland. My family was in from Alaska and honestly, people tend to stay at home when it snows here, so the city often seemed empty. There is so much to do and over the years, we seem to have done it all but we keep finding more! I’ll focus on a few great highlights from this year.

• Speaking of magic, one thing we discovered a few years ago was the Christmas magic at Swanson’s Nursery. Swanson’s is a great place to take your kids! For the holidays, they have a wonderful Santa that you can schedule online beforehand, reindeer to visit, lots of photo opportunities like real sleighs, a themed toy train track, and so much more. If you child isn’t a fan of meeting a large, bearded stranger in a red velvet suit, they even have cut out santas so you can take a picture. Throughout the year, Swanson’s does kids crafts, lessons, activities and chickens in the summer to visit.
  

  
• We visited MoPop to check out the Jim Hensen exhibit that ends Feb. 25th. The exhibit covers his influence on television and puppetry, with artifacts like scripts, puppets, character sketches, storyboards, photos, costumes, television clips and even the chance to design your own muppet, from the Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, Dark Crystal, Sesame Street and more. It was like seeing long lost friends! From the Labyrinth ending, you can walk downstairs to catch the David Bowie exhibit. It’s our favorite museum in Seattle. MoPop is the perfect spot to visit the rest of the Seattle Center. During the holidays, there is a month long celebration called Winterfest, with an ice skating rink, a giant train table, performances at the armory and lots of activities for the whole family.
  

  
• Something new we did this year was check out the Christmas Ships. In the past, we have been passengers and it was a wonderful experience. But it was completely different to get to Gas Works park with a few hundred people and hear the choir sing to us from the boat – and the parade of 40 decorated boats that followed. Bring a warm drink! It was cold out there but beautiful! 
• We may have started a new tradition for dinner. My family always has crab on Christmas but this year didn’t bring any down from Alaska, so we went to B and E Meats in Queen Anne. We picked up steaks, King Crab legs, crab cakes and some Havarti to snack on – everything was super delicious. 

We have so much to look forward to in 2018. We are headed to Europe in February for mid winter break, we are reserving all of our yurts and camping sports for the year, we have a trip to Alaska in July and we are just beginning to think about our annual Thanksgiving trip. Follow us to keep tabs on where we are in the world and happy new year!