The Emerald City....

I had the opportunity to escape from work last weekend to fly to Seattle and see The Westbury Family. I had such a wonderful time and needed the time away.  My work schedule has been so hectic since November and I really needed the getaway.  Plus it was so much fun to spend 4 days with my best friend and a 1 year old.

When I arrived in Seattle on Thursday, the weather was a little rainy, so we headed to grab lunch at a great spot called "Oddfellows" up on Capitol Hill.  

Estelle had a chocolate chip cookie for lunch at Oddfellows....she was loving all the people watching

Seattle is a beautiful city and Bri and I decided next time we are going to spend a day or so just in Seattle.  Once we finished lunch we headed north to Bellingham where Bri and Josh live.  It is the cutest college town and from it you can see water and mountains.  So beautiful.

My cousin Alicia and her husband Ben are in seminary right now and happen to be doing an internship in Seattle for a year.  So Friday they drove up to Bellingham to see us and spend the day catching up.  We walked all over Bellingham and played a little Skipbo, which is much slower and less exciting than any of us remembered.

I was able to be a party of Bri and Estelle's daily routine.  She must have had a GREAT nap, because she woke up with some wicked bed-head.  Josh compared it to the photo of Nick Nolte when he was arrested.  :)

Saturday Bri and I went international.  We took the LONG drive of 15 miles to the Canadian border and headed to Vancouver for the day.  I told Josh to take this picture before we left so if we disappeared, he could show them what we were wearing when we left.

Vancouver was BEAUTIFUL.  I really hope next time we can spend a couple days there.  There was this part of town called Gastown that had cobblestone streets and cute shops and restaurants.  

 It also had a great view of the bay and the mountains!!  Even in the haze it was gorgeous!

We drove through the "yuppie" part of town called Yaletown. It was very happening and we couldn't find parking so we continued on.

Then we ended up on Davie Street -- which reminded me a lot of the Montrose area of Houston.  We spent like 2 hours walking around through the area and found this cool building....

We tried to get in there to see who got to enjoy the tree on the roof -- but it was locked.

Most of Vancouver is surrounded with beaches and views like the picture above. 

A chinese sculptor made these statues around his different faces of histeria.

Of course, we also spent a lot of time around with this cuddle bug!

Such a great visit and a much needed getaway!  Can't wait to take Alex to Seattle!