So I meant to update the website last weekend with our adventures but never got around to it.  Now it seems timely to give a recap of our Thanksgiving celebration but I still haven’t talked about what we did last weekend.  Solution?  Thanksgiving talk is on hold until later this week.  This post is about the weekend of November 19-20.

I had Saturday and Sunday off again so we made plans to go to Seattle.  Having been in the Seattle waterfront area for a conference earlier this month, I wanted to come back with Scott and the kids.  The day was a bit chilly but very sunny.  Having had rain on our two previous free weekends, this was a welcome change.  We had fun walking up and down the waterfront and looking out on the water and into the shops.  After spending the morning in Seattle, we ate lunch at a local burger restaurant in Federal Way.  The burgers and milkshakes were very good.  We split a milkshake (except for Leo because he backwashes) and it was funny to watch how possessive Odessa became of her share, “Mama!  That’s enough.  No more swallows now.  It’s my turn.”

Sunday we watched the Packers game dressed in our green and gold finest.  After the game, we went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma.  Dave and Paula had bought four tickets for Odessa’s birthday and we finally had a nice sunny free day to use them.  As named the zoo is located in Point Defiance, a piece of land at the northwestern corner of Tacoma that juts out into Puget Sound.  We had driven by the zoo but had never stopped before and were looking forward to the experience.  It was a really neat area with a good variety of animals and very helpful zookeepers.  Odessa’s favorite animals to see were the jellyfish, sea horses, and the apes.  Scott most enjoyed the nudibranchs and the owl.  I like the red wolves the best and Leo loved the tigers.

Here are some pictures of last weekend.  A proper Thanksgiving update will likely come later this week.

Residency has really been busy lately.  I am averaging 10-11 hour days.  Luckily (?) since we only live 3 miles from the hospital, I’ve been able to drive home for supper and return to the office for more work afterwards.  This weekend was the first weekend we’ve had completely free to spend in Tacoma by ourselves since early September.  For the most part, we did a whole lot of nothing – and it was wonderful (with the exception of having to spend 80 minutes waiting at the DMV for new license plates).  We ate Indian food, watched movies, had Scott’s delicious home cooked breakfast, and attempted to go hiking at Mount Rainier National Park.  That and a lot of playing, chasing, shrieking, and screaming with delight around the house.

While tomorrow will bring a return of too much time away from my family, we are already looking forward to next weekend.

Here are a few highlights from the last week.