In True Seattle Fashion...

Hey!!  It's my second day in Seattle and in true Seattle fashion, it's rained most of the time I've been here.  Well, what can you expect?

I arrived yesterday afternoon to a drizzle-filled day.  My awesome host pointed out where the lovely mountains would be, could be, if only there wouldn't be, so many clouds!  After leaving sunny, hot, dry Oklahoma the cool rainy weather was just fine.  It reminded me of a cool Autumn day in Oklahoma--the sort where I light candles and sit down to read for hours.  [Oh yeah...I just imagine those now.  Well, I light the candles anyway.]

We headed to Tacoma to chat with the wonderful folks at Faith International for a while before making our way back "home" to Des Moines.  The road home was full of twist and turns, which had my stomach churning!  It was worth it, however, in order to see the lush terrain.  WOW.  Seriously green ferns and moss and deep forest that is unlike anything we have in the midwest.

I slept so peacefully last night with the chilly night air wafting into my bedroom and myself cuddled under several layers of comfy blankets!  Seriously, best night's sleep in quite a while.

This morning we headed into Seattle "city center" where my new friend "L" showed me around her home turf.  I must say, this city is laid out so well.  Everything is within a perfect little distance of the other thing.

We had a fun and relaxed time walking around the area, taking in the various sights.  We walked through The Science Center, which my kids would totally enjoy!  Took a short walk through the butterfly garden, where I had to take several photos for Kendi, my butterfly girl. =-)  We sneaked a peak and some absolutely amazing glass sculpture.  Simply amazing.  Then it was time to head to the needle.

What a lovely surprise--"L" had arranged for us to have weekend brunch at the Space Needle!  So rather than simply going to the observation deck we went to the restaurant where we were seated at a lovely window seat.  It was neat to learn that people leave notes on the rotating ledge for others to enjoy as the restaurant goes round and round.  I'd never heard that before.  Of course, right as we sat down it started a steady rain outside!  Ah...Seattle.  On a sunny day I would have seen mountains and much more surrounding area, but even with clouds literally passing us by, it was a neat experience (and the food was super yummy).

After lunch we walked to The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a quick tour of their work.  This is where I know my daughter Taevy (the Technical one) would have loved to spend more time.  It was pretty neat to see all that they are doing around the world.

Our day went quickly, and the weather wasn't cooperating, so it was back to Des Moines were, upon homecoming, the sun decided to peek out behind the clouds and put on a show for us once again!

It was a LOVELY late afternoon/evening, so "L" and I took a walk down on the pier/dock (not sure of the correct terminology) where I actually did get a peek at those mountains, and the sun setting over the water.  We even saw a sea lion!

******

I realized half into that post last night that it was well past-midnight rather than the 10:30 I thought it was.  Don't know which of my clocks to trust!  Needless to say, I stopped writing and put my head to bed. 

Now it's Sunday around noon and it is GLORIOUSLY sunshiney today!!!  Hopefully I didn't spook "him" by saying that.  I've learned real quick that could change within a few hours here.  But so far it looks like we'll have sunshine for our little Ghana gathering that will occur from 2-4pm.  Hopefully some folks will show up because my hosts have made an incredible amount of strawberry shortcake FROM SCRATCH and this house currently smells phenomenal!

Tonight I'm to head to Port Townsend to spend the evening with another board member.  Looking forward to that, but I've really had such a good time here getting to know "L" and her family.  She runs her family a lot like how I run mine (except better, because she's not constantly working), and I LOVE the results.  She's ahead of me in the parenting game.  Her family is an inspiration.  Her kids are cooperative, hard-working, and understand it takes a team to run a tight-ship.  They are learning each day how to become independent so that when they are adults the transition will be minimal.  I love it!

Anita