Life in the Emerald City

A Day in Paradise

One of my favorite places to visit in Washington is Rialto Beach on the Pacific Coast.  It’s about a 4 hour drive from Seattle, which includes a short ferry ride across the Puget Sound.  The drive is absolutely beautiful: forest-lined highway coupled with snow-covered mountains in the distance.  The beach always has this magical mist all around it; the grey ocean calls to you in rhythmic moans.

Of course wildlife abounds, both those filled with life and those whose life force has left them.  The beach is unlike any I’ve ever seen: covered in rocks of almost every color, lined with sun-bleach trees, and dotted with craggy rocks that rise up out of the ground reaching for the skies.

It’s a perfect place to take photos thanks to mother nature’s awesome backdrops.

Getting to the tidepools is about an hour’s hike down the beach, but it is one of the most worthwhile walks you’ll ever take.  The reward is tons of brilliant pools of tiny ecosystems just waiting for you to explore.

Huge trees, both natural-colored and sun bleached can be found all over the beach…also perfect photo backdrops.

The ocean has always held my attention; I am equally fascinated and fearful of its beauty and strength.

Olivia loves the beach!  She enjoys the hiking, playing with all the rocks, eating sand, wading through the waves, and the nice long nap that awaits her on the ride home.

If you’re looking for a wonderful weekend trip, head out to the Washignton Pacific Coast and find yourself a cozy beach motel or bed and breakfast…you won’t regret it!

What’s your favorite weekend getaway?

(Photo courtesy of this post, purely out of convenience)

This morning I saw this link on facebook about the No-Kid Movement…did you know about this?  Well, I sure didn’t and I am almost at a loss for words over the concept…almost

On our recent trip to Japan, we had one first class ticket and one economy class ticket.  Sean took the first class seat and I took economy with the understanding that we’d trade Olivia back and forth between us so neither one of us had to endure the long flight with the baby the whole time.  Brilliant plan, right? I know…

So after about 3 hours, I’m finally ready for my break.  First bad sign: the stewardess wouldn’t let me into first class to even talk to my husband, instead she went and got him for me.  He took the baby up front and just as I’d started to relax with a movie, he was back with the baby in tow.  ”They kicked her out of first class,” he said…I laughed, “What???”

Apparently she was being fussy with daddy (a normal occurrence as she doesn’t get much time with him) and they said she had to go back and sit with her mommy if she was going to be fussy.  That means I had the baby back in ECONOMY class for the entire 10 (yes, TEN) hour cramped, noisy, single-entree flight.  To his credit, my husband did come back and sit with us a few times while I pumped and ate, plus he did bring me a brownie and mochi, but still…COME ON!  Banned for crying, are you SERIOUS?

On the way home, we switched.  I sat up in first class and he in economy class, only this time I started with the baby in first class.  Guess what?  Those flight attendants were only too happy to accommodate us, even gave me a personal tour of the plane to find all the baby-friendly bathrooms.  I don’t know why the difference, but since we had an experience like this, I can now relate to this article much better.  

What is it with people hating kids these days?  And what’s with all the lame-o parents out there that are ruining all the fun for the responsible parents.  I try so hard to keep Livi happy and entertained when we’re out in public, because believe me I don’t want to deal with tantrum-baby anymore than you want to sit next to her.  Most of the time I’m successful (blessed with a happy baby), but sometimes babies cry…GET OVER IT.  I don’t think I should be banned from anything, just because I chose to bring a child into this world.  

But that’s just my two cents.  What are your thoughts?