Category: The Seattle Times

Swanson’s Nursery in Ballard is a must at least once during the holiday season. We love the holiday train (this year’s is Toy Story-themed), the koi pond and all the pretty ornaments. Olympic Manor, off 85th in Ballard, is where we go for walks to admire the lights. This year’s photo with Santa, back in…

Snow day! In Seattle, everyone hunkers down and we wait and wait and wait until the ice melts. We don’t believe in salt or snow plows, and hills turn into giant slip ‘n’ slides.

I keep a ridiculous stash of cookie cutters for the one day of the year we use them: our annual salt dough ornament making event. 4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 2 cups hot water and the food coloring of your choice.

Win 2 for the Downtown Seattle Association. They lured me to Pioneer Square with ice skating, and now to Westlake — at night, no less — with these light installations. Enchant skipped Seattle this year, so these were a fun (and free) substitute.

Gingerbread house making and tree decorating. The boys did the tree themselves, and they did a shockingly good job. Miss the days when they were short, and all the ornaments would be grouped at the bottom of the tree.

We went to Great Wolf and lived to tell the tale. The key is to not think about what’s in that water! Great Wolf survival guide here.

It was a tough assignment but someone had to do it: we went to check out the new Arena Sports facility in Issaquah, which has an inflatables zone and 100 games in the arcade. Here’s a link to my story on ParentMap.

Letters to Santa written and dropped off at Santa’s official mailbox (in Ballard, at 80th and Earl).

It was 31 degrees at drop off this morning. Photo of the confused tree in front of McClure that thinks it’s spring.

Gingerbread houses at the Sheraton are BACK! This year’s theme is Buzz Lightyear. Smaller display than previous years’ but we’re just so happy this tradition returned after a 2-year hiatus. Paul took one look and say, “Hey, they used glue.” Yup, even the pros need a little help.