At first I was a tiny bit horrified by the pictures that I have uploaded from my trip with the nibblings (I have usurped the term for a group of nieces and nephews to describe my nieces and son). They all seemed to be just luxuriating at a hotel. But perhaps that is not too far off.
Firstly I must say that nieces left to their own devices create quite a messy hotel room. To their defence Kyr said :"That is pretty neat." Probably it is but it definitely has the aura of a young teenage girl room. Oh to be young with your own hotel room to scatter your cosmetics about... Our first night required a tiny bit of primping in that we were meeting my friend Chris' family that includes two hot teenage boys for a great Italian supper then a night of Seattle improv. It brought back such great memories of "The Soaps" at the Broadway theatre in Saskatoon in the 80's. It was great fun. We all laughed uproariously, Nem thought that the late hour would render her unconscious for the rest of the weekend. She surprised herself.
Shopping the next day was exhausting. Kyr and I were completely delighted by our experience at Nordstrom Rack when a saleswoman approached us to help us with Kyr's incredibly stylish purchases - when we tried to haul it up to the til she stopped us with - "No - I can do it for you here." The transaction took place on her ipod - we didn't have to move from the clothing rack. I think she even took the hanger and cut off the tag and removed the offending ink thing right there - she gave us back the tag because Kyr wanted the tag to research this incredible handmade British clothing company. Fortified with Starbucks we muscled on to Macy's where the girls finally found clothing items up to their exacting standards.
All dolled up in the new outfits we wandered downtown to an Italian restaurant recommended by the conceirge ( 2 crossed keys club)- the Palamino, and then to "The Grand Budapest Hotel". So wonderful!!!
The next day we had brunch with the Kents at their home. The two teenage boys were on fire wooing the girls with talk of novels and poetry and movies - all old world but with a cutting contemporary edge. I hope that the girls don't think that this is standard behaviour for teenage boys - they might be a tiny bit disappointed later in life. Kyr then had to work on his writing projects - they seem quite amusing to him. We managed to sneak in some antique shopping while the girls braved the downtown Seattle mall on their own with an antique flip phone. When we called them to find out how they were doing and they failed to answer - Kyr said that they probably don't know how to operate a flip phone.
Exhausted by shopping on their own - "the American Girl dolls "(according to Kyr's assessment of the photo) the girls gird up their loins for going to the 73rd floor of the Columbia building and then dining at Purple.
