Well, folks, it’s actually happening: we’re finally moving to California! Tomorrow morning I’m boarding a plane with the boys and, two hours later, we’ll arrive in San Jose ready to begin this next adventure.

Before we leave Seattle, however, I thought I’d give you a little (and by little, I mean massive) recap of what we’ve been up to here for the last month. It has been a very busy, action-packed summer for us in Seattle (which, by the way, is literally the most amazing place to spend a summer. It’s true. I looked it up on Wikipedia). So, just in case any of you want to visit Seattle some time, here is a not-so-brief rundown of what you could look forward to doing while you’re in town:

1. Squirt water guns

2. Shop at Costco (interesting factoid: Costco was founded in 1983–the same year I was born–right here in Seattle) 3. Visit the house that you own but never seem to actually live in 4. Go for a waterfront walk and marvel at the majestic beauty of Mount Rainier in the distance 5. Make Trader Joe’s “Fudge”: Combine in a food processor one whole box of Trader Joe’s unsweetened cocoa powder, one whole jar of Trader Joe’s coconut oil and one whole tub of Trader Joe’s creamed honey. Spread the mixture in a pan and fridge it until hard. Try to stop yourself from consuming the entire pan in one sitting. 6. Make yourself a breakfast of scones and Barry’s tea to remind you of Ireland 7. Visit Northwest Trek to get up-close and personal with some Northwest-native wildlife 8. Be so busy that your kids literally take all of their naps in the car while you are driving between activities 9. Run around Greenlake 10. Go on a private tour at Starbucks headquarters with an insider, and be jealous of the employees who get to use the do-it-yourself espresso stations located on every floor 11. Meet up with your mommy friends and cuddle all of their new babies that have been born in the past year 12. Watch the Blue Angels doing practice flights over I-5 during Seafair Weekend 13. Build sandcastles at Alki Beach 14. Take in a stunning view of the Seattle skyline with your even more stunning sister 🙂 15. Take your dog for a walk at 9:00 PM and revel in the fact that there’s still another hour of daylight left. 16. Decorate your own 100% recycled organic fully biodegradable Seattle placemat 17. Refuse to look at the camera or smile for a photo with your 91-year old great grandmother 18. Complete your first engineering project with Daddy: an LED flashlight! 19. Play in your friends’ awesome backyard  20. BBQ every day 21. Eat Dairy Queen Blizzards (you may get the idea of a DQ Blizzard stuck in your head, and you may have to drive to 5 different locations in 2 different cities before you find one that is still open, but it will be worth it) 22. Light sparklers, and always remember: safety first 23. Watch The Sound of Music at an amphitheater and get misty eyed when Maria literally walks down a mountain signing “The hills are alive with the sound of music…” 24. Play with Grammy in your secret hideout 25. Swim in a river 26. Spend the weekend with your grandparents who live over the river and through the woods 27. Play at your favorite place in the world: McDonald’s  28. Make a “Countdown Caterpillar” to count down the days until you move to California (!) 29. Visit awesome fruit stands 30. Bake treats 31. Find a book of your mom’s childhood books and spend hours reading them together 32. Jump down sand dunes at Pacific Ocean beaches 33. Play mini golf 34. Fly a kite with your grandpa 35. Strip down to your skivvies so you can swim in a lake on a hot day 36. Try–and fail–to capture the “Super Moon” with your iPhone camera 37. Spend way too much time spent in Seattle traffic. Seriously, folks, this is a problem. 38. Meet up with some awesome moms for a workout in the park 39. Get wet at a splash pad 40. Eat a picnic 41. Buy an entire family of Potato Heads off Craigslist. Sit back and relax with a magazine while your children entertain themselves for the rest of the summer. 42. Husk fresh local corn and grill it up for dinner 43. Get a pedicure with your mom on her birthday (Happy birthday, Mom!) 44. Pose as a Giant Pacific Octopus 45. Go for a walk at Chambers Bay. Well, try to go for a walk at Chambers Bay, but get a flat tire on your stroller and spend your time on the playground instead (and vow to always bring a patch and a tire pump with you from this point forward)

Go to iconic Seattle restaurants and wait in ridiculously long lines at 46. Dicks 47. Ivar’s 48. Red Mill 49. Salumi 50. Ezell’s and 51. Paseo. Consider it time very well spent.
52. Spend a day in the park catching up with dear friends 53. Jump on rocks. Why not. 54. Tend to your backyard garden. Sit in the dirt and eat kale straight off the stalk. 55. Pick apples, eat apples, throw apples for your dog like they’re tennis balls. Apples, apples, apples. 56. Pick wild blackberries and 57. Bake blackberry slump 58. Play on millions of playgrounds 59. Go to a U-pick organic blueberry farm. Pick berries until your buckets or your tummies are full, whichever comes first.60. Hike to the bottom of Snoqualmie Falls61. Drive a tractor62. Go on an alpine hike to Lake Colchuck63. Use a loo with a view64. Watch “Frozen” with your grandma and 65. Make paper snowflakes (who cares if it’s the middle of August and 90 degrees outside!)65. Visit the Bavarian Village of Leavenworth. While you’re there 66. eat a bratwurst, 67. dance to the oompa-band playing on the stage in the center of town, 68. sip a brew in a beer garden (extra points if you wear lederhosen or a dirndl), and 69. rent a giant inner tube or an inflatable raft and float down the Icicle River70. Maintain a 27 year-old tradition and go out on a (belated) birthday date with your dad71. Jump on your friends’ trampoline

72. Get a Chinese Foot Massage (it will be the best 20 bucks you’ve ever spent, trust me.)73. Wander through a rose garden 74. Reconnect with your college roommate75. Spend a day meeting the animals at Woodland Park Zoo
76. FaceTime with Daddy every night because you all miss each other like crazy when you’re living two states apart77. Drive down to Longview so you can get 4 generations together for lunch at Grandma’s favorite restaurant in the whole wide world: Sizzler78. Run out of gas on I-5 (I wasn’t driving, so we’ll just chalk this one up to another adventure on the road) and 79. Call 911 for roadside assistance (according to Google, this is what you’re actually supposed to do). Get a recorded message that all lines are busy, so please try your call again later. 80. Call 911 again and get the same recorded message 81. Call 911 for a third time and get the same recorded message. 82. Call 911 for a fourth time and actually speak to a person. Be thankful you didn’t have a REAL emergency. 83. Read running magazines in the car while you wait for roadside assistance and pray that a passing semi truck doesn’t knock your car over. 84. Thank the nice Incidence Response man who comes and gives you free gas so you can drive to the next gas station.

85. Watch the sun set over Puget Sound
…and just soak it all in, because there really is no better place than Seattle in the summertime. To all of the people and places that made this month amazing, thank you.

Until next time, Seattle! XxX