Leavenworth

We just returned from a lovely little 2-day getaway in Leavenworth, Wash. James had a retreat there for one of his clients so Emma and I decided to tag along. This post is very picture-heavy so I'm going to cut short the narrative and just let you look at the fun we had instead of reading about it. So to start it all off, here are Daddy and daughter playing on the laptop right before bedtime the first night in our hotel. This was Emma's first overnight trip and we're proud to announce that she did a FANTASTIC job sleeping in an unfamiliar environment!
After a day full of meetings, James joined us for a quick jaunt around town before we picked a place to eat for dinner. The entire city of Leavenworth was beautifully decorated for fall. Emma liked this scarecrow (or, more like Mommy wanted a picture of the baby by the scarecrow so there we plopped her).
Willkommen! The picture we obviously had to get.
James got a very authentic German dinner. Yes, those are four half-sausages. I will refrain from sharing my true opinions on that meal (gag). James enjoyed it, I think! I'm just not a fan of sausage as a main course. And the beer is a Hefeweizen, of course.
I got salmon, potatoes and veggies. It was yummy. That juice cup there is not mine, it's Emma's, who did not eat much while we were there. Too much else to pay attention to other than the spoonfuls of food in front of her face.
I FINALLY TRIED GELATO! If you haven't tried it yet, you're really missing out. The stuff is amazing. And I'm not sure how much of this is true, but the gelato guy said that gelato, made with whole milk, is actually 60% lower in fat than regular ice cream, which is made with real cream. It's denser and more flavorful than ice cream for sure! I had a small scoop of strawberry gelato (so tangy and delicious) and a small scoop of almond gelato (the smallest size you could get was this little cup of two flavors).
Yay for beautiful scenery in Leavenworth.
Yep. Like I WOULDN'T go there and get a picture, too. And yes, I'm aware of the fact that I'm still packing 10 extra pounds of baby weight. We're working on that. You know, with the two scoops of gelato I had the night before. Remember, it's less fat than ice cream.
Awww ... a family picture! This is the best! I'm so not shy about asking strangers to use my camera.

Emma checking out this huge bear. James told me, "Just get Emma in the picture." But how could I resist the cute daddy leaning over so the baby could get a closer look?
"We finally found a pair of glasses big enough for you!" James said. Now, if only he knew how THICK the lenses would have to be for me to be able to see out of them (I'm legally blind without my contacts ... I have TERRIBLE vision), he might change his mind. Scary.
"Whoa, Daddy. There are flowers growing out of your head!"
A complete stranger in the store was so enamored with Emma's smile. She put this hat on Emma's head and Emma got such a kick out of it! The stranger lady had a beautiful British accent. Emma has always taken to people who have accents and to people who speak other languages.
The taffy store! James and I got a half pound of taffy each. Look at all of those flavors! Some of those candy stores in Leavenworth made us feel like we were in Willa Wonka's chocolate factory. And yes, our taffy is gone already. Yep, that helps with the 10 pounds of baby weight. It's taffy, lighter than air, so that means no calories, right? Like negative calories. So really, I'm SUBTRACTING my caloric intake for the day by eating taffy.

Anothe family picture. That white bag James is holding? Yeah, that's our taffy.
I put the camera on a trash can here to try and get another family picture.
James took this one of the beautiful scenery that we enjoyed on the drive home last night. So pretty.
Look how tired our sweet baby girl was. While she napped (twice each day!) and slept at night very well away from home, all the excitement and adrenaline of our adventures tuckered her out. In this picture, she really could barely keep her eyes open.

All in all, James and I both labeled this first overnight trip with the baby a real success. We packed so much and didn't need half of it, but we're glad we were so prepared. My mom let us take her Toyota Rav-4 so we could pack more (not much fits into my little Jetta) and for that we are very thankful. We had the stroller, the pack-n-play, the activity center (which was used ONCE for just a few minutes), three bags (one for each of us), a food/drink bag, the jumper, our laptop/book bags and my purse and camera. Whew. Good thing we didn't think of anything else we might need. Nothing else would have fit into the car.

We never get out on little vacations like this so we were grateful for the opportunity to be together away from home. And we're proud of how well we all worked as a team. Can't wait till our next family adventure!

And on that note, I remembered that I said I wouldn't narrate so much in this post. Whoops.