My parents' visit

I realized that I've barely said anything about my parents' visit last week! They arrived on Tuesday afternoon, right at the height of Seattle rush hour. Since we live north of the city and the airport is south of the city, Mom and Dad got a good, long look at downtown Seattle. Fortunately, the fog that had been there when I drove down to the airport had mostly lifted by the time we came back through. That night, we just went out to dinner, and then Shawn and I did our best to keep them awake as long as we could. It had been a really long day for them...they flew from Akron, to Chicago, to Portland, and then to Seattle! But we all knew that if we didn't keep them up late, they'd be wide awake at 4:00am on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, we didn't do much. Shawn went to work, and Mom and Dad and I hung around the apartment all morning, basically just chatting. We eventually took a drive up to Anacortes so they could see a little bit of the San Juan Islands. Anacortes is a cute little town on Fidalgo Island, and we stopped at a little park so they could see the "beach" area. We also saw some of the "island" deer...so cute! They're tiny! I didn't have my camera with me, but Dad did. So if he emails me some pictures, I'll post them on here. This picture I found online does give a pretty good idea of how small the full grown deer are!
Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving, so we stayed at home most of the day. We had the Macy's Parade on in the morning (they show it on tape delay here) while I cooked. We also watched a little football, and in the evening, we went to see a movie. In my family, it's a tradition to go see a movie on Thanksgiving and Christmas, so the four of us went to see "Bolt." Shawn and I had been waiting to see this since we first saw the previews for it this summer, and we were not disappointed! We absolutely love the hamster, Rhino. :)On Friday, we took my parents downtown. The main part of our day was doing the "Ride the Ducks" tour. I know you can find these in lots of cities...as long as there's something worth taking a tour of and some water. :) The "bus" that you ride in is actually a WWII amphibious vehicle. So our crazy, funny tour guide drove us around the city of Seattle for about an hour, giving us some history and pointing out the sites. Then the "bus" went into Lake Union (because it's also a boat) and went around the lake for about half an hour. You may know that Seattle has a bunch of "house boat" communities on Lake Union, and our tour guide even pointed out the house that was used in Sleepless in Seattle as Tom Hanks' house.

My parents on the "boat."
Our tour guide in the first of many "costumes."
And the "bus" going into the water.
When the tour was over, we went to Pike Market and did a little shopping. Being the day after Thanksgiving, it was more crowded than usual, but my parents got a good taste of one of the biggest attractions in Seattle. Then on Saturday, we dropped them off at the airport a little before 7:00am for their flight home!

It was a quick trip, but we really enjoyed having them here. I don't get to spend nearly enough time with my mom and dad, and it was nice to be able to entertain them at our own apartment like real adults. :) Oh, and they didn't have any problems with our spare bedroom, so it is officially ready for guests...any takers? :)