I have always loved to celebrate life.  I love to go to Birthday brunches and baby showers and take my boys to their friend's parties.  This year I'am focusing more on family.  It was my little sister's birthday last week and we planned a little day trip to Seattle.  I haven't been there since 2012 (ish), so I really wanted to go. She loves Seattle as well because that's where her and her now husband had their first official date.

I had a list of what I wanted to do in just the day and here are my top 4

1) The Dale Chihuly Glass Museum.

After grabbing breakfast with our cousins, we headed to the museum.  It's right under the Space Needle. There are some bundle deals at Seattle City Pass to get deals on tickets.  Especially if you plan to see more then one attraction.

The Glass museum is a must see. Seriously took my breath away from the massive sculptures made out of glass.  Every hour there is a glass blowing demonstration that's pretty cool to see how it's made.   I have a sister that is a funny thing.  She made fun of me HARD for talking about "glass being blown".  And how astonished I was of the ginormous glass pieces that were blown !  She was convinced I was being dirty minded and continued harassing me about it, even convinced my other sister that glass is not blown.  Just heated and some how made into forms.  I had to ask a person that worked there to explain the process to her.  He said "100% they blow into the glass " and proceeded to show us to the area we need to stand and watch the demo.  sigh, she sure learned something new that day.  ;)

2) Seattle Space Needle. You know those little souvenirs with people's names on them? well, I have never found one with "olga", until I went to the Space Needle ! (fact)  

3) Pike Place.  Here I wanted to see everything. The first Starbucks, get Piroshky at the "Piroshky Piroshky" place, browse the market, put my gum on the gum wall........ Its all a must!!!!! There are so many great places to eat there, but we were absolutely stuffed from the sweet and savory piroshky we had that we just couldn't think of food after that.  Coffee.  Coffee is a must in Seattle.  There, in Pike Place is the original Starbucks with a line a few blocks long, but they have pretty special coffee that is only in that location.  I have a favorite coffee that I brew at home, and Seattle is their home, so I had to go to a coffee shop that serves their coffee and makes them a special blend that I brought home and loving.  Caffe Vita ( you are so good to me).  

4) Seattle's Great Wheel.  MUSTdo!  "Ferris wheel climbs 175 feet high in the sky. Not only is the Seattle Great Wheel a colossal attraction, the magnificent views of the Puget Sound and the cityscape make it a perfect, one-of-a-kind ride" .  Oh goodness - I'm not afraid of heights - no, sigh. When they where loading, I got a bit anxious.  Dangling in a glass wagon or what do they call those?  Any way, I was fine as soon as we got going and took a few pictures.  The views are incredible! It really is one of a kind.  We explored the pier after and the shops inside because it started to rain.   

Perfect timing. We Were so tired and my pregnant little sister had enough, we headed home. 

There are so many places that were suggested to us to eat by the locals, I'll make a list here

Piroshky Piroshky, Pike Place Chowder, The Pink Door, Gelato at Bottega Italiana ( these are Down town ( Pike Place).  We just took a walk down to the pier from Pike place to go one the Farris wheel and explore that area, places to eat there are seafood ! The Crab Pot, The Salmon Cookery and Ivar's Pier 54. This is the area we explored.  There are so many amazing places to eat around the different areas of Seattle. Just ask a local and then look it up on Yelp to read reviews and go crazy and eat good food.  Check out https://seattle.eater.com/  to get some more inspo on where to eat. 

Near the Space Needle there are a few restaurants as well, or you can walk to the Seattle Armory around the corner and grab something to eat or a coffee http://www.seattlecenter.com/food/ . 

Next time I want to come with the boys and stay overnight.  There is an incredible Aquarium and Zoo and a few other places I would love to visit with them.  We actually talked about it with the girls that we really should have planed on staying over night, We were so tired after our exploration time that we wanted to just crash, not drive three hours home.  Then in the morning we would have went shopping and see more of Seattle.  You live and learn.

Go explore Seattle !