28th Birthday- Seattle Trip

Since we are living such a rare time in our lives right now where I'm not working (maternity leave) and Zach's not working (waiting to get called in to start IOE). At the beginning of my bday week, I suggested we take a day trip using our benefits to celebrate my birthday. No kids, just us, leave and come back in one day, and he agreed! We thought it would be a good time to try it out and see how this whole "flying stand-by" worked before we got out kids involved. I wanted somewhere warm but not California since we already had plans to go there the next week. From looking at what was available, we decided on Vegas and got our names on the stand-by list for some flights. Emily was so nice and was willing to watch all 3 of our kids at my parents house!

On the way to spend the night in Farmington to be closer to the airport, we stopped at the Hill Aerospace Museum with the kids. For a free museum, we were pleasantly surprised! The boys loved seeing all he planes and kept saying how "awesome" it was.

After our visit, I checked our flights and saw that the flights we chose had become oversold and there wasn't a way we'd get on them with stand by. So we put the kids to bed and started scrambling to find another option with an available flight in the morning and evening of the same day. It looked like the only promising options (without possibly having the spend the night somewhere and leave our babes with Emily over night) was Seattle. It wasn't quite the warmth that Vegas would have brought, but it was supposed to be near 50 and not raining the whole day. Win!

It turned out to be such a fantastic day and everything worked out flawlessly! The first flight we got on literally only had like 20 passengers on it so we were able to sit in first class!  Not gonna lie, we felt PRETTY cool getting to fly free and I couldn't believe the money we were saving. We added up the ticket prices for our two flights/two tickets on each flight and it totaled $1500! The life of a pilot takes a lot of sacrifices on the part of the pilot and his family. But this is definitely the GOOD part of the job. Flight benefits! I was giddy excited getting on our first flight in first class for the very first time!

Zach and I were like little children getting excited over the awesome snacks we were offered, all the leg room, and glass cups that our drinks were in! Not plastic. Glass. Haha. We had so much fun!

After arriving, we looked into renting a car for the afternoon, but it was more money than we expected so we just got an Uber into Seattle. It was sunny for us the entire afternoon. We were so lucky! We only had 4-5 hours before having to make our way back to the airport, so we spent the majority of that time at Pike's Place Market. I'm a planner. It's how I was raised. When we would vacation as a family, we would have a plan. But I loved NOT having an agenda for our afternoon. We just strolled around, walking into whatever shop looked interesting, buying little snacks to try along the way, sampling free items, and talking with the people at the stands. It was so refreshing, relaxing, and FUN. It was so incredibly wonderful just having the two of us to worry about and focus on. We tried some cheese curds and saw how it was made, got a raspberry crescent and macaroons at a bakery, tried lots of different jams and spreads, got some mandarins that had more flavor than any orange I've ever had in my life, had some mini doughnuts made fresh in front of us, and enjoyed looking at all the handmade items. 

Even though I lived in Seattle growing up, I'd never actually been to the famous gum wall. It was on my list of things I wanted to do. It was insane to me. And quite gross! Talk bout selfie central. We hardly could find a spot to get a picture taken but we managed. 

 Then we walked down closer to the water. Just gorgeous. We took a ride on the Great Wheel and I was in awe of the city and the scenery. I had forgotten how much I love being in big cities. Not that I'd like to live in one, but there is something beautiful about them to me. 

Then we ate at a restaurant back at the market with a beautiful view of Puget Sound. We both had halibut dishes and it was yummy.

 We still had a little time to kill after we ate. So we just walked around and found a Target. I had no idea big cities had stores like Target and it was the coolest thing to me! Three stories with escalators even for your cart! We did some shopping then got an Uber back to the airport. 

Everything went smoothly on the flight back and we made it back to our cute kiddos by 7:30pm. 

My actual birthday was Sunday and it was spent going to church together and being at home. A really normal, not too special day. Didn't even take a picture that day. I sure feel blessed for what I have been given in these 28 years of my life. A beautiful family I love so much and love and happiness. Excited for this next year!