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Category Archives: Places I’ve been

Spring!

It’s going to be a beautiful week in Seattle – it was almost 75 degrees yesterday and we were sweating! In celebration, we have some Spring posts for you.

Last month, we traveled to visit Grandma in Palm Desert. The week started off just right, because my cousin Anthony happened to be flying through Seattle on his way home. He and I sat next to each other ALONE on the airplane. (Well, Mom and Annabel were a couple rows back, but still!) He got to act as 3rd base coach at my tee-ball game during his layover:

Here he’s cheering me on while I run home:

Then we hopped on a plane and went to Palm Springs. We love the Palm Springs airport – palm trees greeted us:

Once at Grandma’s – we met up with Katy and Gabe – always a great day, when the Atchity cousins are all together.

As Annabel and I are quickly learning, vacations are full of things we don’t normally get to do at home. Sun and swimming aside, we got to do some other things we love.

Mani Pedi:

(My sister’s ability to sit still for grooming is astounding. Strangers were taking her picture.)

We went to Target to stock up on goodies:

Eating lunch at our favorite place:

Laying in the sun

Going out for gelato in Pajamas (I know this is shocking to many of you)

and a little golf:

This is the life:

And here are some swimming and golf highlights – we are all so proud of Annabel’s swimming achievements.

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Posted by benbbillings on 05/08/2012 in Family matters, Milestones, My favorite pics of me, Places I've been, Sports, Stuff I'm into, Videos

Park City 2012

05 Mar

What a way to spend our winter break!

Here are some highlights of our trip to visit Havana and Charley in Park City, Utah and get a little skiing in.

I was proud of my parents because after not skiing since high school, they both gave it a try and did quite well. While, they couldn’t keep up with me, they still did a great job – Mom didn’t even fall once! (She did run into a tree though.)

That’s me in the crazy pants between cousins, Mark and Natalie.

You can’t miss me flying down the mountain. (I don’t use poles because when little kids first learn to ski, poles just get in the way – or fall of the lift…)

We skied a path through these trees – Tia Karen lost her pole and had to hike up, Natalie fell hard and Mom ran into a tree – Mark and I did just fine!

A beautiful place to be…

Apres Ski – one of the best parts of skiing – the time spent in the lodge after a day on the mountain. Annabel didn’t ski this year, but kept the lodge warm for us.

My dad and Tia Karen – best buds.

The last day was really warm, and we were pooped from skiing all week. Just enjoyed soaking up sun before heading back to Seattle.

Here’s a little video montage to give you an idea of what the week was like:

We can’t wait to go again next year!

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Posted by benbbillings on 03/05/2012 in Family matters, My favorite pics of me, Places I've been, Sports, Stuff I'm into

Driving to Park City

20 Feb

Yesterday we visited a few new places that we have never been: tri-cities Washington, northeast Oregon, Boise and Jerome Idaho and after 16 hours of driving, we made it to Park City.

Here is the river that divides Oregon and Washington.

Beautiful snow:

While I love the scenery, I really love the TV.

Then we went to Costco to run around for a break – and found more TVs.

We visited a place mom used to work in Idaho:

People ask us why in the world we would spend 16 hours on a Sunday to drive to Utah.
Well…By 9am, Monday I’m skiing (that’s me in the lift on the far right):

And Annabel is in cousin heaven:

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Posted by benbbillings on 02/20/2012 in Family matters, Places I've been

Holiday road

22 Dec

Today we spent an entire day in the car to get to my Tia Karen’s house where we will spend the next week. We love driving!
We started about 4:30am:

Along the way we saw some crazy stuff:

Got to sunny California by midday.

Ate at a Mexican restaurant for a late dinner

And made it to the BaycArea

And promptly conked out the last leg of the trip.

No fuss, no drama, no problems! A great road trip with cousins at the end!

2 Comments

Posted by benbbillings on 12/22/2011 in Places I've been

Space needle tree

09 Dec

As you know, this is what the Seattle Skyline looks like:

Every year for the holidays, the Space Needle gets dressed up for the occasion. Last night we went to visit the restaurant LUC – a fabulous french restaurant in Madison Valley by our friend the Chef in the Hat: Thierry. On the way there we passed the Space Needle and saw the lights!

If you don’t celebrate Christmas, you could call this a Pyramid of light to recognize the Egyptian God of the Sun, Ra.

This could also be an acknowledgement of the enlightenment of Buddha to celebrate Visakha Puja Day.

This could be a homage to our own Mount Rainier.

But really, for us, it’s just a Christmas tree.

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Posted by benbbillings on 12/09/2011 in Places I've been

Florida and the Alligators

29 Oct

We spent 5 days and Miami – despite the constant, pouring rain, we had a blast. We stayed with our cousins, Tory, Bella and Christopher while Mom and Dad went to Isla Morada for Pablo and Jessica’s wedding.

We had so much fun with the kids!

When Mom and Dad got back, we went to the Alligator Farm – it stayed dry for the few hours we were there, so even though we didn’t get any beach time, we learned a lot!

Annabel gets close: