First (5+ Hour) Flight

I am in Seattle for the AAM conference this week and my parents / babysitters and Fiona are along for the ride!  I had been anxiously awaiting the flight since it is long, and she has never been on a plane.  I am happy to announce that she did a-maz-ing.  We had the seats behind the bulkhead, which helped, and she had three people to bounce around to, but I am thrilled with how well it went.  Granted, it is still not easy to travel with an infant, but we rolled with it.  Of course, we got the anxious stares at the gate while boarding with an infant, but it was very satisfying to have several people tell you how good she was and that they didn't hear a sound.  Phew!  Fingers crossed that the return trip goes so well!  

The travel day was so long that we didn't do much yesterday other than get settled into our condo and walk around our Belltown neighborhood.   But today we rose bright and early (thank you jet lag), my dad and I took Fiona for a walk to Pike Place Market (we beat the vendors) and along Puget Sound to the Olympic Sculpture Park.  Fiona enjoyed the ride, saw some beautiful sculptures, and the fresh west coast breeze of the Sound.  We even ventured down to Tacoma because I wanted to see the Museum of Glass.  I love Dale Chihuly's work (Tacoma glass blower) and thought she might enjoy the Hot Shop where they have resident glass blowers who offer demonstrations.  I had seen glass blowing demonstrations in Venice that were pretty impressive, but I think the Museum of Glass demonstrations top them (check them out on YouTube).  They have an amazing studio with an impressive vent system that Fiona was very interested in.  The collection itself and the Chihuly Bridge of Glass were fantastic.  Plus, the Hot Shop colloborates with children ages 8-12 who design glassworks to be blown by the resident artists.  They are incredibly amazing and fun.  So glad we went.  I have to work the next few days, but Fiona will be out exploring so hopefully more pictures to share.