THE END OF AN ERA. I've had car seats in my back seat for the past 14 years. Paul finally outgrew his. We dropped it off and cleaned out two years' worth of crumbs from underneath.
Target's annual spring car seat recycling runs late April through early May. It's the only car seat recycling program I know of that's still around.
Washington State car seat law is super strict. They changed it a few years ago so you have to stay in a booster until you're 4'9". Joseph sat in a booster seat into middle school!
Pretty sure all of Seattle was at the Quad for the cherry blossoms, and so were we! Peak bloom is not to be missed. I actually enjoy the crowds; everyone's in a good mood and it's like a big cherry blossom party.
Because no visit to the U-District is complete without a bubble tea run... No, this isn’t my order, but I wish the lady who placed this order would adopt me! We counted ELEVEN bubble tea shops on the Ave (remember when it was just Oasis?). Don’t Yell at Me has the prettiest drinks and the longest lines.
Part 1 of our Ai Wei Wei tour. We started at the Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park. This room took my breath away. It's a cheeky take on Monet's water lilies at Giverny, done in LEGO. I left a piece of my heart at the Musée de l'Orangerie and this piece transported me back.
Ai Wei Wei Part 2, at the downtown Seattle Art Museum.
When we were headed up the escalators, the person scanning our tickets looked at me, looked at my kids, and said, "You know...?" Yep, I knew going in there were going to be interesting conversations. We saw the middle finger sculpture, f-bomb in neon lights and a condom in the exhibit and talked about their meanings and how this art is meant to be provocative.
We also watched a film attributed to Ai Wei Wei he didn't shoot. Read about a Lego art installation created by "deputized volunteers." And saw a straight-up U.S. Postal mailbox on a pedestal. What is art? Who is the artist? More interesting conversations.
It was a lot. If you want to see pretty art without the big conversations, go to Volunteer Park.
Ai Wei Wei took exquisite tables from the 1300s and spliced them together. It hurt me seeing the antiques destroyed. I guess that's the point.This I liked. A classical Chinese chair, rendered in marble.
* The museum is doing timed ticketing for Ai Wei Wei, but it was pretty quiet when we were there, on a weekend afternoon. The admissions person was sitting at the entrance casually reading a book. Ah, those were the days.
** Apparently a lobby remodel is in the works, to make the lobby less "bank-like." They took out half the admissions desk and put in two self-serve kiosks.
My story about ALWAYS FREE attractions in the Seattle area, in the Sunday Seattle Times! No magical tickets to pounce on, no specific day of the month, no pre-planning required for these fun adventures. Here's a link.
The Space Needle gets all the glory (and the tourists) but I love the Smith Tower observatory. Better value, better story.
Open air observatory on the 35th floor of what used to be the tallest building west of the Mississippi. Smith Tower remained the tallest building on the earthquake-prone West Coast, until the Space Needle was built in 1962.
While the Space Needle is mod and recently renovated, the Smith Tower is old school glam. It has Mexican onyx-lined hallways and birdcage elevators. It also has carved Native heads and faux chinoiserie as decor, which probably wouldn't fly today.
Tickets are less than half the cost of the Space Needle. We came for the views, and stayed for dinner. There's a school-night deal (Sun-Thurs) where you get $10 off your $20 restaurant bill.
When I left my job at MSN to be a stay-at-home mom, I would never have imagined it'd lead to a new beginning writing about kids’ activities.
As my kids have grown, I’ve graduated from covering splash pads and story times to family-friendly travel. I know someday they won’t want to go on adventures with me. And that’s ok. Right now, in this chapter of our lives, it’s pretty awesome.
The March/April issue of Seattle's Child is all about West Coast travel. I researched all the best things to do in San Francisco and San Diego. Spoiler: completely different vibes, we loved LOVED them both.
