Jeff, Amie, and Xavi came to visit last week! I met them on Wednesday night at baggage claim; two weary travelers and one manic toddler, who was literally running around in circles. Poor little guy, 4 1/2 hours on a plane is long for me, so I can imagine it was eternity for him. He did smile when he saw me, and consented to being hugged and kissed :)
Thursday morning started out clear and sunny. Here's Xavi playing in my apartment while I made scrambled eggs:
We decided to do downtown Seattle things on Thursday. We bought CityPasses (www.cityPASS.com), which are a pretty great deal if you want to do tourist-y type things in a city. Having them helped give our week some structure, and saved us lots of money. We hit up Pike's Place Market first, and got there early enough that it was the emptiest I've ever seen it.
Little charmer. He enjoyed the free fruit samples.
Here we are outside our favorite Pirosky place. Unfortunately, they don't make gluten-free piroskys...so I couldn't enjoy a delicious meaty, cheesy pastry. 
After the Market, we walked to the Aquarium. I'd never been there, but Jeff & Amie had. It was a pretty neat place. They definitely focus on education and conservation and stuff (typical Seattle), so there are no dolphin shows or anything. But they do have a 'petting zoo' where you can touch starfish and sea cucumbers. 
After the aquarium, we went out for lunch at my favorite Seattle rodizio dining experience (okay, the only one I've been to): Ipanema Grill. Jeff, Amie, and I enjoyed the delicious meat smorgasbord, and Xavi inhaled his plate of feijoada. 
On Friday we drove up to the #1 place on Earth and did some shopping at an outlet mall. Xavi loved the play areas that were scattered about and climbing into those coin-operated rides, however he did not like when coins were actually deposited into the rides and they started moving. After shopping, we headed to a farm. I'd gotten a groupon (www.groupon.com) a few weeks ago for a family pass to this farm with a pumpkin patch and a giant corn maze in the shape of Washington. It seemed like an appropriate autumn outdoor activity. And it ended up being awesome!Xavi was sleeping when we got there, but he woke up on the hayride to the start of the corn maze. He had this look on his face that seemed to say, 'I don't know where I am or how I got here, but I see a huge tractor and it's AWESOME.'
Here we are in Olympia, the state capitol of corn maze Washington.
Xavi loved this playground. He went down the slide a million times. It was fun to watch him have so much fun.
After dragging him away from the playground, we checked out the animals. In addition to this pen full of bunnies (which we later entered), there were pigs and 6 day-old piglets, goats, sheep, chickens, alpacas, and kittens.
This kid was in heaven with all the tractors.
Saturday was cold and grey. We spent the day walking around the zoo and getting rained on. It was fun anyway, and gave Jeff & Amie a taste of 'real' Seattle weather (as it is always nice when they come visit). We saw tons of animals, but I think Xavi's favorites were the fake horses on the carousel :) Apparently at his zoo, he can ride the carousel as many times as he wants, so he wasn't very happy about only going once at my zoo.
After we got back to my place and dried up/thawed out, we decided to bum around for the rest of the evening. I ordered us food online from an Italian place nearby where you can get most things on the menu gluten-free (for an extra fee, of course). I had a delicious sub that was worth every extra cent. Fun with dominoes:
Sunday it was cold and grey and raining again, so we decided to go to the Science Center. Hooray for indoor activities! Jeff, Amie, & Xavi looking Lilliputian on a giant kitchen chair.
Included with our CityPass were free tickets to an IMAX movie. We were skeptical about Xavi wanting to sit through a movie, but picked the one about planes/flying and hoped for the best. The little goober shocked us all when he not only consented to wearing the 3D goggles, but also sat through 40 minutes of a documentary about flying. He was mesmerized, and it was fun to watch.
After Xavi's nap, the weather was dry enough that we decided to go to a park near my place. This park was so great! I told Jeff & Amie that I'm going to go back and be the weird lady hanging around the playground even though she doesn't have any kids. So, here's what Xavi wanted to do at the park:
And here's what the 'grown-ups' wanted to do at the park:
The other, legitimate grown-ups were looking at us like we were crazy :)Pre-bedtime silliness in Auntie Rachel's room:
Monday was our last day, so rain or shine, we were going back downtown to use up the tickets in our CityPass. We started with a monorail ride to the Space Needle. Xavi loved it, and for the rest of the day asked, "choo-choo?" By the last day (as usual), he had decided that Auntie Rachel was pretty great, and he let me hold him, even snuggling with me when he got tired. Melts me into goo just thinking about it.
On top of the world. 
It was definitely chilly up there, but clear enough to see (just not the mountains).
The day cleared up as it went on, and by the time we were ready for our harbor cruise, it was positively lovely out.
It's nice to have out-of-towners come visit and remind you that your city is pretty great. 
We went back to Pike's Market after our cruise, for one last run-through. Amie wanted to check out this chowder place that she'd read about online. 
Xavi entertained himself chasing pigeons and doing this. If you're thinking, 'hmm, that could be dangerous,' you are probably either a mother or a nurse or both. Shortly after this picture was taken, there was a minor incident. 
We cleaned the scrape very well to avoid any kind of hobo and/or pigeon infection. A few hours later, good as new, playing with his cars on my deck.
My friends Amy and Nelson came over for dinner that night. While I was cooking, Jeff, Amie, and Xavi walked to Gasworks Park just down the street from me (it has what I consider to be one of the best views of Seattle).
So concluded the visit. It was really wonderful to have them come, and I'm so thankful to have an extra bedroom/bathroom for guests. All pictures were taken on Jeff's awesome camera, and I tried not to use all the good ones so CXI (xavilution.blogspot.com) can do a blog pictorial, too :)
