New Navy

An interesting conversation on the way to Old Navy baby sale:

Me: "Piglet, let's go to Old Navy and then we will meet some friends for lunch."
Piglet: "Mommy go to Old Navy. I go to New Navy. I don't like OLD!"

While there, I wanted to pick up a Halloween costume in case I don't find anything cuter as Halloween approaches. Wasn't crazy about any of them but it's hard to beat their price. Piglet, though, instantly knew she wanted to be this- a skunk!



So I guess my Piglet will be a skunk this year...

Afterwards, we checked out this new restaurant. I've dreamed of opening up a child-friendly cafe/restaurant like this. Except that this is so much more than that. This is a place where they take your kiddos into a giant playroom and play with them until their food [ordered by parents] is delivered. Then they sit them down, clean their hands, and FEED them. Of course there's a charge but it's so worth it. I think they are still fine-tuning things a bit but what a brilliant concept! And pretty yummy food too! Much better than this place, in my opinion. I was able to enjoy a delicious trio of quesadilla, caprese salad, and cream of broccoli [for $7.50] and chat with my friends for over an hour while Piglet played. The best part is that you can see your little ones through fun shaped windows that line the whole side of the playroom. I hope they do well because I would go back over and over.

First day of preschool

Today was Piglet's first day of school. I woke up extra early to make sure we don't rush out the door at the last second but... it happened anyway. Barely got there on time. The last few days were very warm here but today was a different story. Very dreary and cold and even drizzling by the time we got to school.



I think it was pretty hard for her. She's been so excited about it for so long I thought she'd do just great but I heard she cried on and off throughout the day. Sniff... sniff... Although she was doing great when I picked her up, I've never seen her so happy to come home [especially to her favorite toy- pail and shovel]. She had a big lunch and took a 3 hour nap afterwards.



I also took a nap and then we went out to our favorite Japanese restaurant for dinner with daddy. So nice to have him back!

Lucky

Hard to believe in less than a week, I'll be lounging around here, sipping my favorite drink, watching Piglet build sand castles and play in the calm lagoons...

Recap of Seattle trip

Let's see if I can remember everything....

Friday:

Packed our things up, threw them in the car, and started driving. Piglet napped most of the way [whew!] until we hit a pocket of traffic just outside of Seattle. Checked into our lovely room [good job, husband!] which was an instant hit with Piglet. Got settled in a bit then walked around Pike Place market and had early dinner. The best steamed clams I've had.... mmmm.... I could eat them everyday.

Where it all started... the original Starbucks


"Good night, Seattle!"


Saturday:

Woke up to a gorgeous day! Drove to the Woodland Zoo. So lush and easy to walk around. But we got hungry and didn't stay long. Drove to Uwajimaya for some yummy lunch and bubble tea [I miss good boba!]. Spent as much time as we could squeeze in at the Kinokuniya bookstore before Piglet's nap time. An origami book for my husband, a beautiful sewing book for me, and some sparkly stickers for Piglet. Drove back to the hotel and put Piglet down for a nap. Then I snuck out and walked to the Westlake Center to check out Daiso. Oh man, what a fun store. Came back with 2 huge bags of random Japanese things I didn't need but couldn't turn down. Then we rode the monorail to Seattle Center, checked out the Space Needle, and walked down to the Olympic Sculpture Park. What a calm, cool place this is. I loved all the modern architecture and how it leads down to the calm waters of Puget Sound.

These benches are so cool looking. And this photo just makes me laugh for some reason.



Looking just like daddy in her shades


Walked along the piers and had dinner. More clams and deep fried seafood. Walked back to the hotel and said good night to daddy who went to meet up with some friends at a Korean restaurant.

Sunday:

Lucked out with the weather again- another beautiful day. Went down to Pike Place again and had delicious breakfast. Dungness crab omlet... need I say more? Walked down to the aquarium and spent all morning there. We were pretty impressed with this place. Piglet definitely prefers aquariums to zoos, just like mommy and daddy.



Quick lunch at the Westlake Center food court [I don't know why we ended up there] and back to the room for nap time. Window shopping for me, hanging out in the hotel bathroom with his origami book for my husband while Piglet slept. Got some cupcakes and then drove up to a Korean restaurant for dinner [good enough to satisfy my craving for hot tofu soup].

Playing around in the room... we were bored.


Monday:

Checked out and had dim sum for brunch. We thought it'd be good with all the yummy seafood in Seattle but it was actually pretty disappointing. I think our local dim sum restaurant is way better. Started driving down and hit the Museum of Flight. What a cool, educational place! Will definitely go back later. I'm not really into history and planes like my husband but loved checking out all the cool designs. I especially liked the retro looking airplanes, haha.



Our last stop was H-Mart [a huge Korean market] in Federal Way. Stocked up on meats [the short ribs looked so good] and put them in the ice chest we brought along just for this reason. Gotta love traveling by car! Grubbed on noodles and dumplings, picked up some pastries and fresh rice cakes for the road and finally made our way back to Portland. Piglet refused to nap so the last hour was survived by back-to-back episodes of Blue's Clues. The whole trip was just perfect. Cannot wait to go back.

Piglet's still talking about Seattle and says that it's her favorite city. There are even paintings of it.

A little of this, a little of that

Cupcakes... who can resist them? Certainly not Piglet. She doesn't like frosting though which I'm thankful for.




Loving this bedding set from Ikea. For only 12 bucks, they must lose money just on the fabric! Our master bedroom is so blah [as is the whole house, but I keep telling myself I have tons of time later to work on it, for now I'm happy if it's just clean] and I'm loving the splash of yellow.




I made a duvet cover for Piglet's toddler sized comforter. The color and fabric choices are hers [stripes on top + polka dots on the inside] and little did I know it totally matches her quilt. Did she know this??? It was a super simple project and I thought I had it when I got the buttons holes all sewn. Then I got a little too excited with the seam ripper and ripped right through one of the holes... I was SO sad. Now I will never open a button hole without a pinning the back of the hole first.



Can you find the boo-boo? Still, it warmed my heart when upon seeing it in her bed, Piglet exclaimed "I love it!" Sweet girl...

A little budding artist

I'm not completely abandoning my blog... I have a ton of posts all conjured up... in my head. We had a great trip to Seattle [I'll post once I go through all the photos] and then I've been feeling a little out of sorts the rest of the week. My husband is out of town for many days longer than usual so I'm just trying to keep things run smoothly. Thankfully, Piglet's been taking l-o-n-g naps all week!

Piglet's starting school in less than a week. I can't believe it. But I really love everything about her preschool and her teachers are just awesome. She enjoyed the Open House so I'm keeping my hopes up for no crying on that first day.

Piglet's been spending all her time painting these days. And when she's not painting, she's asking for "painting movies" [various Blue's Clues episodes that involve painting or color mixing]. Of course I'm completely biased, but I love her creations. I loved the idea of framing children's artwork [can't remember whose blog I saw it on... oops] so I tried some myself. These are sitting in our entryway right now. I love how the 3 pieces go together so well.



By the way, I found the tote hanging in the middle at Claire's [Is that the name? I never go in but the this instantly caught my eye while walking by]. Love the print and only $12! I also got Piglet the animal backpack on the right from PBK. Neither of us love it but I didn't want her to be the only kid without a backpack.



Back to my little budding artist's work, a bunch more are awaiting to be displayed. All these paintings were done in 2 days. Love her use of colors here!