Inn at Harbor Steps

About a month ago, Jeremy reserved a hotel room for the two of us on the Oregon Coast for our birthdays in August for 3 nights. The plan was for the babies to stay with Dewayne and Evie (his parents) and Clara to go somewhere else. He was so excited about this little vacation, and was looking forward to it since he planned it. I was struggling with the idea of leaving the babies for that long, and also going that far away. About two weeks ago, with all of the chaos that has been going on around here, I gently suggested that a get-away in August was probably not feasible, since we're going to be moving then, and who knows where we'll be in that process, come mid-August. He was bummed, but he agreed with me. So, we decided to get a little 2-night vacation right now in July. He called his parents, who said they could come up to us, instead of us bringing the kids to them, and we booked 2 nights at a really nice place in downtown Seattle, where we were supposed to stay back in February for our "baby-moon" but didn't because I was starting to get too big to be able to walk around downtown Seattle.

We stayed at the "Inn at Harbor Steps" and let me totally recommend it to anyone who is wanting a little one or two night getaway that is luxurious, without breaking the bank. You can look it up on the internet for pictures, since I did not take ANY pictures while we were gone. It is on 1st and Seneca street, which is directly up the stairs from the waterfront, and about 1/4 mile down 1st Ave. from Pikes Place . . a perfect location, if you ask me. We had the best Seattle summer weather possible: High of about 75 degrees and sunny both days. Our room was nice and big with a king size bed, a whirlpool spa tub in the bathroom (which we got for free . . .they upgraded us!) bathrobes (which always makes the stay seem so pampering, if you ask me) and a nice sitting area. There was a community hot tub, lap pool, sports court, library with wine and appetizers served every afternoon, and a yummy hot breakfast served every morning! Here is a little synopsis of what we did:

1. Went to Alki Beach with a picnic lunch Tuesday afternoon. Sat on a blanket and read and got some rays
2. Got to the hotel and explored
3. Ate dinner at one of our favorites: The Crab Pot. If you haven't been there, ask us about it . . it's fabulous!
4. Sat out on the sunset deck with a wine cooler for me and a beer for Jeremy in hand
5. Slept ALL NIGHT without hearing crying babies or toddlers! Woke up at 7:30, looked at the clock, and smiled.
6. Ate our yummy breakfast, then went to Tully's for coffee and devotions. Gave our food time to digest before . ..
7. Our workout in the nice workout facility, complete with us running a set of stairs out on the "Harbor Steps"
8. Walked up to Westlake for lunch. Looked at the Bargain Book kids' section at Barnes and Noble for way longer than Jeremy had the patience for . . settled on one book to bring home to Clara
9. Sat out on the sun deck with a book and iPods and got some more rays
10. At dinner at a Mexican restaurant right by our hotel, outside on the patio
11. Walked to the waterfront again and had a HUGE brownie sundae for dessert

By the next morning, we were really missing our babes, so we had our breakfast, walked to Pikes Place for flowers for me, and got our little booties home to snuggle with our girls! This was one of the first little vacations I have been on where I was really ok with not doing much of anything, and, in fact, I wanted it that way. Usually, I'm pretty antsy and need to go, go, go on vacation (I get that from my dad), but this time, I was just fine with a lot of relaxation. It was such a great time with Jeremy. As he calls it, it was our "calm before the storm" that will be the month of August. :)