Thornock Happenings 2016: Seattle

We had a perfect little getaway to Seattle this last weekend! Spencer's grandparents live there and we wanted to get another visit in before we left this half of the country. We went to see them last December for Grandpa's 80th birthday. Grandma used to work for Alaska Airlines, so she can fly us standby!

Well, on Friday we left for the airport when Spencer got home from work, planning to get there an hour before our flight. However, there was a big accident on I-15, probably about 5 minutes ahead of us. We got stuck in traffic for a good 20 minutes and saw all the emergency vehicles zip past us. I hope everyone involved is okay, but a couple of the cars looked pretty bad when we finally passed it.

So, as we are pulling into the economy lot to park I got a text from Spencer's Aunt telling us that they are already starting to board (40 minutes before take-off!) and that check-in would close in 5 minutes. I was sure we were going to miss it. We can never find the shuttle stop when we park there, so we just grabbed our bags and walked/ran to the terminals. I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to walk, but we did. And we might have squeezed past a gate or two to get to an actual sidewalk. Anyway, we get into the terminal and run to the check-in desk. The lady at the desk was nice enough to get someone with an access key to get us on the flight, even though check-in had already closed for the flight. She said we might make it in time, but it'll depend on how long security takes us.

We sprinted over to security (as much as I can sprint in my pregnant state...) and were lucky that the line for security was short. Plus, they sent us through the pre-check line where you don't have to take of your shoes or jackets or anything. Do you think that had anything to do with the frantic looking pregnant woman? As soon as we were though there we sprinted to the ticket gate. I always look at people running in airports and think, "Gee, I'm glad I'm not them." We made it just in time to be assigned a seat and get on. We didn't delay the flight or anything, but it was kind of a miracle that we made it at all. When we finally got into our seats (next to each other!) I just started laughing. The whole thing was ridiculous and kinda fun.

Spencer Uncle had picked us up and he drove us to Grandma and Grandpa's house. They had a nice dinner of croissants sandwiches and fruit ready for us. We talked about what we wanted to do while we were there and had a really nice time visiting for the rest of the evening.

Saturday was a lot of fun. Also, I like the pace that Grandma and Grandpa do things. By the time they were getting tired out, I was pooped too! We took the light rail down to the waterfront in the morning and spent a few hours looking at Pike's Market, the fun touristy shops down there, and riding the ferris wheel for a good view of the city.

For lunch we went to Ivar's down by the water. It's fried fish and french fries. Everyone else got salmon and I got cod. It was really good, and when we were done we fed our extra fries to the seagulls! That was more fun than I expected it to be. :)

After lunch we took another meander through the market, bought grandma a bouquet of flowers, and decided we were all tired out enough to make our way home. We picked up Papa Murphey's on the way home, too. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the house and chatting a lot and we had the pizza and salad for dinner. It turns out we came home just in time, because the rain really didn't let up much for the rest of the day.

After dinner we decided to play some games and I whopped everyone at rummikub. :) Well, I won the first 3, and then Grandpa and Spencer won one each. Then we decided to switch it up before Grandma got mad at all of us (haha) and we played a game of Yahtzee. I got a Yahtzee on my first turn! And then I got a second one later! haha. Grandma decided that the next night we'd be playing cards.

We slept in on Sunday and then went to church together. Grandma had some steaks marinating all day (she remembers how much Spencer loved --still does-- steak when he was younger), so when we got home we got them in the broiler. We also had potato casserole, cheesy cauliflower, fruit salad, and garlic bread and I ate so much food. The steaks were huge to start with and I ate almost all of mine along with 2 or 3 servings of everything else! It was so good. Plus, we had some pie for dessert a few hours later. It's been a while since we've eaten so well! We played some card games that night and my luck from the previous night was gone.

Monday morning we got up early to catch the 7:00am flight back to Salt Lake and we were home before 11! It was really such a fun weekend and we had so much fun just visiting with Grandma and Grandpa and listening to their stories. :) Spencer helped Grandpa with some computer stuff and we admired all of his woodworking projects (mostly done on a lathe) and crafts. They let us pick out something to take home, and Spencer was more than happy to have a very cool bowl he made. It's really beautiful. Hopefully we'll be able to see them again this summer and we'd like to take another trip out to Seattle next spring or summer if we can swing it.