Seattle

The reason we went to Oregon was to soon after head off to Washington for Damon's uncle Ken's memorial.  Damon wasn't able to come, because of his jobs and hard to find time off.  The kids and I represented. 

We left my Dad's house in Oregon and spent the night in a hotel close to Kent Washington.  The morning of the service we got to play in the pool for a few hours.  It was fun to have it all to ourselves.  Apparently no one else wants to swim at 6 am. Weird.   

I got zero pictures of the memorial, because Finn decided to scream the entire time, and I just walked in and out of parked cars in the parking lot trying to distance the service and my screaming spawn. Fun fact, while we were waiting in line for the funeral procession our car died and had to be jumped.  People are so kind.  A man heard Bucky turning over and offered us a jump before I could even step out of the car to look for help. We were one of the first in line as well, so that was a fun race, to try to get Bucky (our car) to start before the leader of the procession went.  

Night snuck up on us pretty fast after visiting with family at the luncheon, and later an Airbnb. I drove my 3 teenys into Seattle, to a new hotel.  I've never been to Seattle and thought it would be fun to take a day to explore the city with the kids before going home.  What I didn't love was driving at night, through a new city, in the pouring rain, trying to navigate the fast and many freeway changes.  I thought once we got off the freeway and into the city my anxiety would do a little better.  I so looked forward to finally being able to transfer sleeping kids into the hotel room and being able to de-stress. Well. 

One way streets, a blanket of rain, and impossible parking made finding our hotel very difficult.  Some red lights might have been blown and some horns may or may not have been sounded. We circled the hotel a handful of times before I finally figured out where to pull in. I got us all checked in and went back to the car to wake the kids and start packing our stuff into the room. 

Stella could not recover from being woken up and Finn could not stop crying. Indie normally liked to push the cart full of luggage but couldn't navigate this one.  As I was taking a second to work out how I would divide the load & kids into trips a nice family walked in and offered to help.  We must have looked pretty pitiful. My arms filled with two screaming babies and Indie melting on the floor next to our luggage cart protesting that it was 'too hard', with sleep in her eyes.  

It turns out this family lived just 15 mins away from us in Idaho. They had one grandson, who was also named Finn, and born the day before our Finn, at the same hospital in Boise. Which meant we were all at the hospital at the same time.  Small world. The family walked us all the way to our room, and offered to sit in the hotel room with the kiddos while I went downstairs to park the car.  I'd been travelling by myself with the kids for about a week now and felt like we had our routine down pretty well.  I thanked them, but declined and they went on their way.  I was SO grateful for their help.  It was such a small thing, but I felt so loved and supported.  People are good. 

I turned on the tv, gave the kids some snacks and went down to lobby to park the car.  This is where the fun began.  It's around 10:00 at night now, It had taken me a long time to navigate downtown Seattle and I did not want to have to get back on the street in my car to find parking.  So, I made sure to check in with the front desk (twice) where the parking garage was and how to find it.  They gave me clear instructions, and I went on my way. No big deal. No big deal until... 

I parked the car in one of the last spaces available and took the elevator back up to the 4th floor.  I found the room, put in the key card.  It didn't unlock. That's weird. I tried again. I must have remembered the room wrong. Digging in my pocket for the sleeve that tells you your room number, I realize I'd forgotten it in the room.  I spent a few minuets trying a few doors similar to the number I thought we had been in.  After trying several with no success I took a moment to wonder the hall, trying to find anything that looked familiar. But guess what.  Hotel hallways all look familiar (and reminisce of the shining).   I didn't want to keep trying doors because it was nearing 10:30 and how creepy am I?  All these people in their hotel rooms are like... creeper. This ain't chus room!

So, I went back down to the lobby. It looked a little different, but I remembered from my many circles around the block, that our hotel had two sides that seemed to have two entrances.  I explained away the new lobby by reasoning this was a busy hotel.  Maybe it had two lobbies on either side of the block to help the intake of patrons.  I told the receptionist that we had just checked in and I had already forgotten my room number.

     'No problem.  Whats your name.'

      I tell him. He searches. 

     'Hmmm.  Do you have a confirmation?'

      I pull it up. He looks, then searches on his computer some more, before ultimately looking up at me, confused and telling me,

     'We have no record of you checking in or booking with us.'

     I tell him: 'that's impossible. I literally just put my children & my things in our room. I have a room key, I know I have a room.  Look again.'

     He does, growing uncomfortable as it pulls up nothing and I'm starting to get visibly unhinged. He asks if I'm sure I'm in the right Hotel. 

     I counter, 'This is the Holiday Inn, Yes?' 

     'Yes.' 

     'Then yes. This is the right hotel.  I put my kids in our room, came down to park my car, and came back up.' After fighting back tears (because apparently I'm useless when tired and accidentally misplacing my kids), and after some more back and forth we finally reach an understanding.  

I had booked with Holiday Inn. When I parked I had entered the wrong garage and ended up in the Holiday Inn Express. Like really? ugh!  Why.  So he walked me out and showed me somehow I'd ended up on the wrong side of the block. Okay. Thanks. I run back to the car. Re-park, and try again. In hopefully the right parking garage. 

I chance that I'll remember the right room number and go back up to the 4th floor instead of stopping by the lobby to confirm my room. The room where I'm hoping the kids are not only at, but fine after an almost hours absence. Success! At 11:00 at night I walk into the room and find Stella passed out on the bed, Finn in a blissful cloud of half eaten snacks, and Indie.  She was semi concerned, (Where were you!?) but mostly she was just glued to the TV. Seattle you kicked my butt. 

The next morning we met up with cousins to explore the Aquarium, Pike Place, and Seattle's Great Wheel. (We also tackled a 3 story Target which I'm disproportionally proud of navigating and adulting in)

We spent a hot second in  Pike's Place before the kids were done.  We called it and went back to the hotel to regroup for a second before grabbing a late lunch/ early dinner.  There was a restaurant next door to our hotel that the kids could eat free at. Score.  We were all hangry, I realized I'd forgotten to eat all day.  We get down to the restaurant and it was closed! Noooooooooo!  No way was I getting back in Bucky to brave the streets of downtown Seattle, and the over priced parking.  

We went back to the room to regroup again. I briefly looked into ordering something to our room, but felt pretty stuck.  I mean. The whole reason we were here was to explore Seattle.  I didn't want to just hole up in our room for the evening (even though the kids were so done).  I looked up some nearby places we could walk to and found a cute diner with really great reviews. Great. Done. 15 mins walk? No big deal. No big deal unless... Unless you are Stella.  Stella complained cried the whole way there. Poor thing.  

We get to the little restaurant and, you guys. It's not a diner. It's a pub.  Everything online said diner but when we got there the sign had pub in place of diner. Just your friendly small dive. I thought about trying to find something else, but Stella was so done walking.  So I take my 3 teeny kids into this raunchy, over crowded place.  

We were SO out of place, crowded into the corner, overflowing onto the people next to us.  Bartenders constantly tripping and falling over Finn's small umbrella stroller. I tried so very hard to help the kids not only behave but hopefully become invisible.  To stop attracting all the stares from all the people. Because we clearly didn't belong. But it'd been hours since they'd eaten and over a week of late nights, early mornings and adventures packed in. All of this culminated into this final moment.  We were definitely not invisible. We were very, very visible. Painfully visible. 

Indie kept reading things on the walls about boobs and sexual innuendos and yelling over the music for an explanation to these cryptic things.  We ordered $20 mac and cheese, and got out of there.  It was for sure a new experience. 

Bucky only slightly broke down once on the way home, and we all made it out alive.  Some of us still with unanswered questions about sexual pub signs. 

Traveling with the kids by myself was hard. But so many fun memories and I'm so proud of everything we did and took on, despite their meltdowns, and my anxieties. We pushed on and it was so worth it. It wasn't always fun, or pretty. But it was worth it.