a day in the city.

If it's not obvious yet, we really, really love Christmas around here. There are so many fun things to see and do! The other morning we decided to venture into Seattle for a few hours to let the kids see some of the special Christmas displays. We left right after breakfast, which was perfect before the crowds came. First stop - the Sheraton Gingerbread Village. Matt and I have seen the gingerbread houses the past few years but there are usually long lines and wait times. Coming in the morning was perfect since we didn't have to wait and could take our time viewing each one. And even better - this year was Harry Potter themed!! These pictures really don't do it justice, every single piece of each gingerbread creation was edible. They were huge and so detailed and perfectly depicted scenes from each book. Carter was in heaven!

 At the end was a gingerbread snake with a button to push and see what house you were placed in to. Carter and Lucy were in Hufflepuff, Matt got Gryffindor and Simon and I were in Ravenclaw! Luckily we all avoided the dreaded Slytherin House.

 This Christmas tree was so perfectly decorated too!

 We wandered down a few blocks to Pacific Place for some shopping at Barnes and Noble (thank you birthday gift cards!) and then over to the Monorail for a ride to Seattle Center. The kids loved the monorail and seeing the city from a higher level.

 At Seattle Center we stopped to view the huge electric train sets. It was such a pretty display and they even let the kids control some of the trains.

 Then it was time to go see the fountain. Even though the water wasn't on the kids still had to run down and touch it, pretending to not get wet from the water. Ha!

 We went back to Westlake on the monorail, said goodbye to the Space Needle and found the famous Macy's star and carousel.

After some coloring and waving hi to the Nordstrom Santa we headed home. Such a fun morning that was super laid-back and pretty cheap. The most expensive part of our day was parking! Making these memories with the kids and letting them see the big city is always such a fun time. Merry Christmas Seattle!