grandma cheryl and grandpa durant's holiday visit

sorry for the silence over here. we just wrapped up a week-long visit from thatcher's parents, so i'm just getting to post about it. this was the first time they both came together to visit (we managed to make our 900 square ft living space accommodate two extra bodies :)) and we had such a nice time with them. i love that cheryl and durant become ballard "residents" when they are here. they got their own refillable bus cards, and spent lots of time exploring our neighborhood on foot. thatcher was able to take some extra time off work and his parents watched the kids a lot for me/us, so it was a treat! 

here are some highlights of their visit: 

- cheryl and durant took a trip downtown last thursday to visit thatcher's work and walk around pioneer square, pike place market, and the international district. 

- every night we had dessert by the light of angel chimes. it's a holiday tradition that thatcher grew up with and has continued with us and i love it. 

- last friday thatcher and i got to have a 12 hour "day date". it was really nice! my goal for the day (other than spending time together) was to get some christmas/birthday shopping done and we were fairly successful. we spent the morning at northgate mall, then went to the roosevelt neighborhood where we had lunch at "rain city burgers" (my first time) and checked out the light rail project/got a treat at whole foods. after that, we headed to the university district where we went to a used bike shop (for a certain someone's upcoming 5th birthday) and then drove over to madison park area of seattle for the first time. we went in some shops, and checked out the beach - which was pretty, but certainly would be more enjoyable in the summer ;)

 then we went to little saigon and had dinner at "tamarind tree". thatcher had been there before and wanted to bring me. it was great! we sat in the indoor/outdoor patio with heat lamps! our final stop of the day was university village to do a little more shopping. the kids were in bed when we got home and they had fun with grandma and grandpa. they took them to scooters for dinner, which is always a hit!

- on saturday morning, we went to mighty o's for donuts. 

later thatcher's cousin lloyd and his wife jammie came up from portland to see all of us. they gave the kids four(!) "where's waldo" books for christmas, so they were really excited! first we went to the locks...

then to downtown ballard for a (very small) holiday festival. the business district looks so pretty right now with the twinkle lights.

we also had dinner at patxis pizza. lloyd was being a good sport about entertaining the kids. it was a fun evening! 

- i surprised the kids by getting my own christmas onesie to match theirs. they loved it. and it's so comfy, i wanna wear it non-stop! 

- on sunday we met up with lloyd and jammie again and went to the nordic museum for the santa lucia pageant. it was really cute to see all the kids dressed up and to hear them sing. we spent some time looking at the exhibits too. 

- monday morning cheryl and i went to the fremont neighborhood to do the theo chocolate tour. it was really fun and we left with happy bellies full of chocolate samples. 

we went in a few shops in fremont and then headed to goodwill in ballard. cheryl loves second hand shops, so i was excited to take her because it has so much good stuff. not surprisingly, we both came home with some new clothes :) durant took ashford on a bonus trip to mighty o's. lucky boy!

- tuesday cheryl and durant picked up the kids from school and watched them while i did more christmas shopping. what a life saver! we all went to mod pizza for dinner that night. 

we will miss having them here! it has felt like a holiday week at our house with our tree up, lots of treats, and cozy time together. it's hard not being with family for christmas, but this week was just as special!